It wasn't like I was doing anything special... just paperwork. Jobs you do on foot... like knocking around and asking about witnesses.
[ He sighs, and certainly not without a hint of both resentment but heavy resignation: ]
Kind of like a beat cop.
[ To be nice to you I basically wrote off Ryuki's six-year interim as him being assigned to back-end work like filing and generally 'tamer' activity still aligned with ABIS because again he still somehow works there first off, and secondly I guess they can't just let him go after they fucked him up this way and Tama also presumably refuses to leave him. ]
What are you talking about...? I mean... she did try to bother me about tailing me when I went to knock on doors for a robbery case? Something about wanting experience...
But you were there, so I don't know why I'm talking to you like you weren't.
[ Just incorporates mine and Anais's short psl in here (if Anais is seeing this as mod lite then hi). It's convenient. ]
she's quiet for a moment, before she strokes her thumbs across his cheeks. like she's pre-soothing him. okay, if he doesn't know, how much does she want to say? how much will rattle him?
... ]
I think... maybe, I have a few more memories than you do, Ryuki. You working the desk was a little while ago for me, like a few months. What's the last date you remember?
[ honestly he could have a nap, she would just keep holding his little face. she doesn’t actually stop the soothing thumb motion — although it does falter very slightly when he says the date. ]
Ryuki, we have people here who have pretty hefty evidence they’re from worlds that aren’t the same as ours. It’s… weird, and I don’t understand what the point of it is, but it’s not impossible we might’ve been brought here from different points of the same timeline.
But we already established it's impossible to leap across space and time, Tama.
[ He's already barely keeping it together most days trying to reconcile with this multiple worlds sort of thing. He has entirely opted to just disassociate from it entirely. ]
Do we ever know what we’re doing? Really? Does anyone?
[ no. ]
We start with the basics. Information. That doesn’t make it any less horrible, but if we can find out what’s going on, we can figure out what to do from there.
[ Ugh... he's still in the worst mental rut but he's trying to get it together because working usually makes him feel better (it's called a distraction). ]
[ distractions are temporary, but she’ll take it for now. one foot in front of the other. ]
I could probably hack something. But I can’t store the data like I usually do, so we’d need to get our hands on external storage.
[ … ]
The leaders are looking into it too. You might want to have a word with Phoenix about it, they seem pretty big on the idea of getting more information that we already have, although I’m not sure I want to throw all my eggs into the leader’s baskets. In case something happens and we can’t rely on them.
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[ Sorry this was just so non-specific it made me laugh. ]
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Nooo, I can probably guess that one. [ dummy. ] Before we came here, what’s the last thing you remember from back home?
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[ He sighs, and certainly not without a hint of both resentment but heavy resignation: ]
Kind of like a beat cop.
[ To be nice to you I basically wrote off Ryuki's six-year interim as him being assigned to back-end work like filing and generally 'tamer' activity still aligned with ABIS because again he still somehow works there first off, and secondly I guess they can't just let him go after they fucked him up this way and Tama also presumably refuses to leave him. ]
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…
she just gently puts her hands on the sides of Ryuki’s face and tries to coax him into looking at her. ]
Everything over the past six years. I know, but— you started investigating again. You don’t remember that? After Mizuki came and talked to us?
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What are you talking about...? I mean... she did try to bother me about tailing me when I went to knock on doors for a robbery case? Something about wanting experience...
But you were there, so I don't know why I'm talking to you like you weren't.
[ Just incorporates mine and Anais's short psl in here (if Anais is seeing this as mod lite then hi). It's convenient. ]
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she's quiet for a moment, before she strokes her thumbs across his cheeks. like she's pre-soothing him. okay, if he doesn't know, how much does she want to say? how much will rattle him?
... ]
I think... maybe, I have a few more memories than you do, Ryuki. You working the desk was a little while ago for me, like a few months. What's the last date you remember?
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...
[ He's quiet enough for a moment that you can almost believe he really did. But -- ]
February... 7th.
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…
February 15th.
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[ Yeah, like, that's in a week. ]
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That’s the last date I remember.
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[ she’s still doing the thumb circles. calm.. calm… ]
Maybe both are true? It’s just— memory, too much or too little, that’s the problem?
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Two things like that can't be true at once. Subjective things can, but not the date...
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[ noooo spiralling. ]
Ryuki, we have people here who have pretty hefty evidence they’re from worlds that aren’t the same as ours. It’s… weird, and I don’t understand what the point of it is, but it’s not impossible we might’ve been brought here from different points of the same timeline.
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[ He's already barely keeping it together most days trying to reconcile with this multiple worlds sort of thing. He has entirely opted to just disassociate from it entirely. ]
We did a whole VR bit about it.
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I know! I know— I don’t get it. [ ughhh. she squishes his cheeks. focus! ]
Look at me. Properly. No spacing out!
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He's squished. ]
I am looking... I've been looking.
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I’m right here. And so are you. That’s what matters.
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[ Probably. ]
But I don't know what we're going to do from here on... it's horrible.
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[ no. ]
We start with the basics. Information. That doesn’t make it any less horrible, but if we can find out what’s going on, we can figure out what to do from there.
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Do you know anywhere we could start?
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I could probably hack something. But I can’t store the data like I usually do, so we’d need to get our hands on external storage.
[ … ]
The leaders are looking into it too. You might want to have a word with Phoenix about it, they seem pretty big on the idea of getting more information that we already have, although I’m not sure I want to throw all my eggs into the leader’s baskets. In case something happens and we can’t rely on them.
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Are you going to talk to them too?
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