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[athousandcurses]

I know that we are here voluntarily, and as such this may seem like an odd question to ask...

How do you adjust to not only come from a different planet, but a universe where everything is different? Does it make you happy or do you feel ever more homesick? I have heard it said that something familiar changed only a bit can be more unsettling than something completely alien.

Comments

[una_persson]

I'd have to agree. The subtle changes are often the most troubling. It's one thing to go from a world with no dragons to one that has them everywhere, for instance. It's another altogether to discover the new parallel is like your own, but with a different twist to its history.

[athousandcurses]

[Grainne nods, a bit of relief in the motion.]

That is the one I have encountered more often. With different versions of the people I knew.

[una_persson]

[A sympathetic look. Una knows that sort of situation well. Then the slightest of double-takes.]

More often? You've had that happen before, then?

[athousandcurses]

Ah... I... have traveled a few times between universes. Not always by choice. The people are the most difficult to process.

[A slight pause.]

Some people are impossible to do so.

[una_persson]

I—yes. Quite so.

[It's not often that Una is flummoxed, even a little, but she wasn't actually expecting to meet someone here whose situation sounded so uncannily like the people she dealt with in her highly-unusual usual line of work.]

I have a close friend who's been in a similar situation. I almost wish he was here too; he'd certainly sympathise.

[A pause, then she switches over to Private.]

Do excuse me—the truth is, when I'm not working here as a Travel Agent, much of what I do involves travels across different parallels. And helping people who have become displaced against their wills. [A small smile.] So I may have some sense of what you're talking about.

private

[athousandcurses]

[A small wave of goosebumps went up along her neck at displaced against their wills. Could this woman know? Has there been others that had been in a place like the Tower?

Grainne stares, an oddly blank look in her eyes before she answers, also in private, her voice soft.]

Have you heard of... of the Tower?

[Una may not realize it, but even to get that concession, that name out of Grainne is a major accomplishment.]

Re: private

[una_persson]

[The look on her face gives Una pause, briefly, before she answers.]

I've heard of many towers. [Said gently, not meant ill in any way.] What is the one of which you speak?

[Her demeanour has changed subtly; it's hard to put a finger on exactly how, but there's something older, more formal about her.]

[athousandcurses]

The Tower of A... Animus.

[Grainne's resolve disintegrated, any strength she had gained to speak of it used up in that brief moment.

What is worse is that now that she has spoken of it for the first time since... it's starting to feel real again.]

It's okay if you haven't... it is probably just a death-dream I had once.

[una_persson]

[There's a faint, haunting familiarity about the name, but that could simply be Una's years of experience talking; after a while, there seems to be very little new under the sun, after all. She shakes her head.]

I'm afraid I haven't; I'm sorry. You needn't elaborate, if you prefer. [It's clear that this isn't something easily talked about for this woman.]

[athousandcurses]

[Grainne nods, relief evident even in the simple motion. It had been a place of great loneliness and heartbreak for her, still weighing down on the soul that had once been ripped out of her body.]

It's all right. I think I would much prefer it to be a dream. I came very close to death that time so memories can be very... funny about such things.

[una_persson]

[Una shakes her head, a deeply sympathetic look on her face.]

Don't I know it.

[Una's sorry now that they're having this conversation remotely, because she really just wants to give the poor woman a hug.]

I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable. What you said surprised me, and my curiosity got the better of me.

[athousandcurses]

[A short shake of her head rustled her hair, pushing some of it over her shoulder to hang in front.]

Death and I are old friends, so it is all right. The matters of the heart involved are more troublesome, really.

[una_persson]

[Who is this woman, Una wonders.]

They are certainly the most difficult to quantify and predict, it's true. [A wry look.] Sometimes trans-temporal travel seems easy by comparison.

[athousandcurses]

What kind of things do you do in your work? I mean... you know so much about something people look at me as if I am insane about.

[If Una has had experience with these matters, perhaps she could help, somehow... maybe know some trick to universe hopping to make it easier

Please don't get up hope, please don't get up hope...

Grainne leans forward, intent on the answer.]

[una_persson]

[Una considers her response before answering. That she's an adept in transtemporal travel is no real secret, given her job description, but there are matters on which she is sworn to secrecy nevertheless. Still, she can give Grainne an answer.]

I am part of a small group of people who have learned how to navigate what some call the time-streams, others the moonbeam roads between the worlds. We are explorers and scientists, and we try to help those who have become lost in time themselves.

[athousandcurses]

Have... have you ever encountered universes where there was no life at all?

[una_persson]

I've encountered time-streams where life has failed to persist, for one reason or another. Or where intelligent life has failed to thrive. I don't think I've ever found one where any kind of life never existed at all.

But then, there's a first time for everything, as they say.

[athousandcurses]

I mean... where it was snuffed out but had once existed. Because I have.

[una_persson]

Ah. Yes, I've seen that before myself, I'm afraid.

It's not a pretty sight, is it?

[athousandcurses]

[For a moment, it's like there's relief in her voice.] No, it is not... such a sad thing.

[una_persson]

[A pause, and then Una just decides to go all in, because she really feels for this woman.]

Is there some way in which I might be able to ... help?

[athousandcurses]

[A pause follows Una's question, and then Grainne gives a sad little smile and shakes her head.]

I am afraid not. There is no cure for the emptiness left in one's heart after loss.

[una_persson]

[Una nods, her expression gentle and sympathetic.]

Not really. Only time, if that. I'm sorry.

[athousandcurses]

It is difficult... I have almost two thousand years in the way of time and it has only gotten worse.

[If Una wanted another reason to wonder who Grainne is, she got it.]

You need not be sorry.

[una_persson]

[Two...thousand years?]

...May I ask you something?