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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.

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[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.

[domesheriff]

[if anything, Grainne's answer leaves Linda even more confused. the age she could probably believe, especially considering that she's accepted there are aliens here and they're different from humans. but dead? one thing she still thinks she knows for certain is that dead people aren't up and walking around--or at least, she thought she knew that for certain]

But...what do you mean you died? [and then, almost tentatively, she adds:] How long ago was that?

[athousandcurses]

Hmm... oh, two thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries. [Grainne smiles sadly.] You haven't met Emilia yet, have you?

[domesheriff]

[Linda just gapes at her--and then shakes her head] No. [not sure what else to say, she settles on:] I don't understand. What are you saying?

[athousandcurses]

The short explanation is that I am undead.

[domesheriff]

[unfortunately this does not even begin to serve as an explanation for Linda] But you look... [she trails off, realizing mid-sentence that making some sort of zombie comparison would be idiotic. she starts again with:] How is that possible?

[athousandcurses]

[A small smile, and Grainne shook her head.]

A long story.

[domesheriff]

[she's still struggling to come to grips with the idea] So you're...thousands of years old? [she frowns] How long have you been alone? Really, I mean--not just in your...life.