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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

[athousandcurses]

Oh. [A little bit taken aback, she nods. A situation similar? Her heart aches for him, though she knows not what his future holds in store. Painful things coming true she knows very well about.]

What if you did? Would it really be so bad if you walked away?

[timesbureaucrat]

Bad for events? No, not really. It probably wouldn't make one blasted difference whether I was there or not.

But if I walked away forever I'd never be able to look myself in the eye again.

[athousandcurses]

[His answer seems to depress her, for she loses a bit of her sparkle.]

... It seems that disappointing oneself is still the hardest thing to do no matter what world it is.

[timesbureaucrat]

You sound as if you have experience with that. First hand or just witnessing it in others?

[athousandcurses]

Oh, both. I am older than I look. Among some it is a common problem...

[timesbureaucrat]

How old are you?

[It doesn't occur to him that it might be a rude question to ask a lady.]

[athousandcurses]

It's hard to say. When I was young we did not use the calendar the modern people do. I usually just give it as two thousand years, give or take a couple centuries.

[timesbureaucrat]

Two thous-- But, you're older than I am!

[Suddenly everything he'd assumed about Grainne needs to be reassessed.]

I thought you were a human.

[athousandcurses]

I was.

[Grainne's never really been the kind of person to take too much glee in seeing surprised reactions, but she has to smile a bit at his.]

A long time ago...

[timesbureaucrat]

So then...what are you now?

[Narvin still hasn't processed it all, and isn't sure what to make of it. He thought for certain he was the oldest import (a change from back home where he was very young compared to most of his peers on the High Council).]

[athousandcurses]

In essence, a Heroic Spirit, though the designation is quite loose...

[It included people like Saber, after all, though Grainne never knew his true identity was Gilles de Rais.]

Though most mages would call me a Servant. It is very difficult to explain. [As is most of Nasuverse, really.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[A Heroic Spirit? A Servant? Narvin tries to translate that to concepts he's more familiar with.]

Do you mean like a Champion of one of the Eternals?

[athousandcurses]

[There's a slight hesitation as she tries to piece together what that might mean in his world and translated into hers. It could be? She doesn't know enough to really say, though.]

I would have to know more about those concepts. Would an Eternal be a god?

[timesbureaucrat]

Gods? Certainly not, although some cultures have sometimes worshipped them as such. [Including ancient Gallifreyans.]

No, they're simply powerful cosmic entities, incorporeal and practically immortal. They sometimes play games among themselves, using Ephemerals--that's us--as their game pieces.