[network] @ADMIN; Arrival

[snowblindmods]

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Comments

[devoutish]

AIs. Have you heard of them?

[advanced]

Fine. Contact me when you've been here a week or two and you're not so new any more. I'll wait.

[Nice try, but no. And with that, he'll hang up.]

[heavensreader]

No... if I am the one who remembers then it is her who doesn't count. Though perhaps, if we return for good... this is giving me such a headache!

[deus_ex_phs]

If she doesn't count, tell me, then. What part of her doesn't count right now? What part of her isn't a part of you?

[ecks]

I like to obey instructions sometimes. Not always but sometimes.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ The plaintive tone in her voice tugs at him, and shuts down his knee jerk response, which was to say that it had felt like a long time.

Instead, he focused on the positive side of the story. ]

Finding friends here, helped pass the time.

[fuckingwolverine]

Couch.

[She affirms, coming back into view as she peeks down at the tablet.]

Awwright?

[heavensreader]

[She's left herself open, hasn't she. Kesara chokes down a distressed sound.

What can she say?]

I've traveled in unmapped territories. Strategically crucial unmapped territories. I've seen cities no European has ever seen.

[Simplest, broadest, and convincing-sounding. She can slip out of giving specifics.]

[heavensreader]

Well - surely the part that is now back in Serindia and is doing the devil knows what. I do hope she is doing something sensible. I know that she is me, but really, can you trust anyone?

[A subtle shift of accent shows that the style of humour, if not the joke itself, isn't hers. She is trying to channel the only person she can think of who might be able to make sense of this, and this is exactly what she imagines Lao Dian would have said.]

[motherserpent]

[Tess nods, smiles.]

Couch, awwright.

[She points at herself.]

Tess.

[fuckingwolverine]

[She points to herself in turn.]

Lilly. Girl.

[devoutish]

And you've got power, then, do you?

[There's no dismissiveness in his tone; no how silly that she could think she has anything close to power.]

More power than you had before, when you were first here.

[motherserpent]

Lilly-girl.

[She shuffles over to pat the bag that contains a hiding RGBV.]

Roy.

[heavensreader]

Oah, yes. It is power. Because that is how the Game is played, Mr. Solomons. One map is worth a thousand jezails, everyone who knows anything says.

[She speaks low. She's a little afraid of talking about this at all. Perhaps more than a little.]

[devoutish]

The Game. Yeah.

[He remembers that phrase - the capital G practically audible every time she says it.]

Your power's worth more than mine in a place like this, Kesara.

[fuckingwolverine]

No.

[Friends are lame, Will.]

[fuckingwolverine]

Snake.

[That's what it had looked like from the brief glimpse she'd gotten, anyway.]

[heavensreader]

It's not worth a thing now. [She sounds very tired for a determined twelve years old.] I thought that it was good to have power but now I really do not know. There is so much back home that I need to do without also worrying about the power from here.

[motherserpent]

Snake?

[Tess pulls up the edge of the bag. Inside, only feathers can be seen, RGBV coiled up so his head isn't showing.]

Coatl.

[heroproceeding]

You can try. You might have more luck than us.

[ Maybe. Or maybe not. Because she is a child. But a younger child at that. And if nothing came of Zell and Jim doing something there, both around the right age for that school, he's not really sure Kesara will have any luck at all. But here's hoping. ]

You know though... Good chances whatever you find out about what happened to Samantha, I doubt- I doubt it's anything good.

[heavensreader]

I already know that.

[She sounds dismissive. Knowing from the start that you are not headed anywhere good is the best approach, in her estimation, because then one is prepared and one cannot break on what is inevitable plain fact. It isn't optimism moving her. It's the need to know regardless. That is the currency of the Game.]

But still it is important to know. It is not knowing that is the worst thing. Because then the task might be unfinished, and forgotten.

[devoutish]

But you can't do anything back home until things here are sorted, can you. You've got to take life in the order that it's given to you.

[deus_ex_phs]

[That is a different tone than he's heard from her before, but... well, it should be expected that she's grown a little, if she really has gained months' worth of new memories and experiences.]

Well, nice to know what you think of my trustworthiness, then.

[Humor can be met with humor. Besides, what better way to poke at this cycle of cynicism she seems stuck in?]

[heavensreader]

I'll do it, Mr. Solomons, I'll do all I can. But I shan't be happy about it.

[She tries for anger, there, but mostly just more tiredness comes out.]

[devoutish]

[He gets it, girl. Tiredness is all he can manage too, a lot of the time.]

No, no. Certainly not. We'll all be very angry and very fed up, and then we'll fucking use that anger.