video

[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

[athousandcurses]

Yes, you could say that. More out of necessity than wish.

[Grainne nods once.]

It is nice to meet you, Linda. Are you doing all right?

[domesheriff]

[she nods] Nice to meet you, too. I didn't catch your name.

Yeah, I'm all right. [the answer is quick--too quick, maybe. she's still pretty overwhelmed with it all, especially considering the circumstances she left behind, but at least most people here have been treating her well so far, so she wouldn't say she's unhappy] Got a job with the security patrol, and I'm just...meeting people and learning what this place is like. [curious, she adds:] What sort of work do you do?

[athousandcurses]

[Hesitating, she gives Linda a thorough look, as if she isn't totally convinced.]

Grainne.

[The other takes her by surprise, just a little.]

I do not have a job here. I came here before the quarantine so it was not required then. Sometimes I bring in skeleton bounties and specimens of plants for the research lab from my walks.

[domesheriff]

[Linda smiles] Nice to meet you, Grainne.

Oh...sorry. [she frowns, wondering how Grainne makes enough to get by like that, but she knows it's not her problem to solve--or ask about] You mean you explore outside?

[athousandcurses]

[Not having to eat or sleep is a major plus when it comes to money making. Perks of being undead.]

Sometimes, yes. If you squint a little it is not unlike my home. Sometimes I hunt skeletons and come back with a large sack of bones. I try to stay close by the resort though.

[domesheriff]

I bet Blackway appreciates that. [curious, she asks:] Is that why you were asking about things that are similar? Because outside the village, it reminds me of where you're from?

[athousandcurses]

Things along that nature, yes. It is less about places though. ...though that is not exactly accurate either. I am just thinking about things.

[domesheriff]

[she frowns, not sure she understands] Then what's similar?

[athousandcurses]

People. Going to a parallel world... your mother is your mother, but she is different too, isn't she?

[domesheriff]

You mean there are people here from where you're from? [she's surprised, but she supposes she shouldn't be. after all, Narvin and Wynter are from the same place, as are Elle and Boone. but she's not sure she really understands Grainne's talk of parallel worlds. she's trying, though, so she asks:] The same people, but...they're different somehow?

[athousandcurses]

No... but I am sure there is some version of them that existed.

[Grainne pauses, thinking on how to explain it in an easier manner to understand.]

It's like the story of the girl who went through the looking glass and found a strange world on the other side. All the people that were reflected were there, but changed.

[domesheriff]

[Linda takes a long moment to think this through. admittedly, she's not at all used to talking about other worlds in the first place, so it's not something that comes easily to her. finally, she tries:] So...they're not from where you're from. But there are people here like people you knew from...somewhere else?

[athousandcurses]

Yes, like that. Nobody I have known personally is here, but I have been to several other places that did have someone and it was very difficult, emotionally.

[domesheriff]

Ohhh. [she's relieved to finally understand] I...haven't met anybody like that.

[and now that Grainne has her thinking about it, she's not sure how she would react if she did. what would it be like to see a Rusty who wasn't exactly Rusty?]

[athousandcurses]

[It's very confusing.]

It is something that comes with universe switching sometimes. It can be quite strange at first, and there is always a risk you may meet yourself.

[domesheriff]

[there's one aspect of all this that's still nagging at Linda's mind, so she asks:] But if there aren't any people like that here--at least, not people that you knew--what's got you thinking about it?

[athousandcurses]

Many things. Some more than others. I would be specific but I do not feel comfortable yet saying more... many of them are... personal.

[Grainne's voice actually hitches on that last word, so not only personal, but painful as well.]

In the end, I suppose I am thinking if I should return home or not.

[domesheriff]

[Linda frowns, not sure what to say about a very personal decision for someone she doesn't know]

Sorry. Obviously that's something you've gotta decide for yourself, but...do you think you'd be happier back there?

[athousandcurses]

I am not sure. I have accomplished everything I wanted to back home.

[domesheriff]

[she's not sure if it's really her place to push Grainne about this, but...well, she's guessing Grainne must have started asking the questions in the first place for a reason. so she presses:] What about here?

[athousandcurses]

It would be comfortable and not unlike the place I lived in during my youth.

[Not really much of an answer, but she doesn't really want to face certain truths just yet. Those truths were already in the back of her head just waiting to be acknowledged.]

I think I would be alone though.

[domesheriff]

[Linda frowns, understanding that sentiment. she thinks she's starting to make friends here, but...well, it's not the same as the people she left back home. the people who had known her for years. unconsciously, she rubs her fingers together on her left hand, twirling the ring she still wears]

You mean you miss people back home, huh? That's... [she struggles for a word] ...tough.

[athousandcurses]

[Grainne's eyes fall on the idle motion when Linda plays with her ring, and staring for a moment.


He reached out to her, but paused when his eyes fell on the ring on his hand. The ring she had noticed earlier... on Waver.

"Grainne...there...is something I have to tell you..." He said, going slightly pale.

Her voice, when it comes, is soft, like she's speaking around a lump in her throat.]

No, I don't really have anyone to miss there. It's... a little more complicated than that. I have just spent so much of my life alone. Well... most of it. Sixteen years out of eighty-six is a very short time if you look at it.

[domesheriff]

[the ring is only an engagement ring--a sign of a wedding she knows will almost certainly never happen now. she still hopes, though, that someday, somehow she and Rusty will be together again]

[but Grainne's words catch her by surprise, and her response is probably not what it should be] Wait, you're eighty-six?

[athousandcurses]

Well, [Grainne pauses, lifting a finger to her chin,] I was when I died. I think.