voidtreckernet | Status Check and Dream Review! [OTA]

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Status Check and Dream Review! [OTA]

Video (Several hours after everyone's awake again.)
From: Cabin 4-B
To: Everywhere

[Despite having turned one of the cabin's ICP units on, Nita is still writing in her own Manual in plain view of the camera.]

Anxiety dreams - what were those creatures anyway? They looked like they were made of wings-

[While from this angle the writing isn't clear, and given it's in the Speech it's a gamble if your character can make sense of individual syllables at all, it's obvious Nita is grouping details into lists.

Nita looks up, brown hair fuzzed from sleep as if the past day had been normal, like she'd just slept through the night instead of a whole day.]

Hey, all. I wanted to check with you - does anyone else remember that falling dream? Not the ones with flying, though there were a lot of those - but where you're lying back on something, just watching the sky, and then there's-

[Nita breaks off, shaking her head.]

It's not clear now, but it was like everything shattering. Like a dark version of the Big Bang, if I had to use an analogy, with everyone going everywhere. Then there was screaming, and I woke up.

Did anyone else get that?

[Nita pauses, considering.]

Oh, and if anyone was in the game car when the breach happened, mind telling me what it looked like? Or if anything like this has happened before, with the Void. That'd be good to know, too.

[Nita scratches down a few more lines.]

So, just in case we haven't met yet, I'm Nita Callahan, I'm in Cabin 4-B, and I'd really appreciate some kind of context for this!

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Nita can't help but grin, briefly just as wryly amused by him as she'd been when they first met.

"Not that I'd blame you for that, either."

As quick as it's started, the grin fades and Nita sighs.

"I remember holes. And- something about a party too big for the train?"

And alcohol, though she'll spare him that embarrassment.

He nods. Those are both things he remembers too, although he remembers more than that, even. Which is exactly the reason he came here, yet for some reason he looks oddly nervous before speaking up. It takes a while for him to even verbally answer, like he isn't fully sure of what to say.

Maybe he should just leave. Maybe she doesn't remember that she cried. Maybe she doesn't even remember he cried!

.. but maybe she does.

Inigo drags his hands down his face, letting out a frustrated sound before realising a moment later that must've looked weird.

"S.. Sorry. I just.." Another sigh. "Do you remember.. us hugging?" Is he deliberately avoiding using the c-r-y-i-n-g word? Yes. Yes, he is.

Nita's nod is answer enough for now.

"Yeah, and... And that we both needed it, when they happened."

She pauses.

"They don't happen often for you, do they? Hugs, I mean."

".. Not really."

Admitting that gets him to blush slightly. Honestly, there's no point trying to lie about it or cover anything up anymore after everything they saw and experienced both in his dream and her own. But it's still slightly embarrassing to say out loud like this.

"My parents died when I was young. And ever since then.. well, let's just say circumstances have been rough. There wasn't much time or occasion for that sort of thing."

Nita makes herself make eye contact, this time.

"... I know what that's like. When Mom died, it hit us all hard."

Losing both of them - she doesn't like thinking about it.

"And then I was away from home for a long time, even though I could go back... but we can change things here, while we're here, at least."

She lets a small smile tug at her lips.

"Guess that means we're stuck playing catch-up."

Inigo lets out a sigh.

"We both probably have a lot of catching up to do then."

His mind drifts back to the dreams, and without realising it himself his hand raises to lightly touch the skin on his neck, as if to make sure those words from his dream really aren't there even now. (They're not.)

When his mind drifts back into focus, he looks back at her.

"This might sound strange, or perhaps even kind of pathetic. But.. would you mind not telling anyone else about what happened in that dream? It's.. difficult for me."

Nita just looks at him strangely.

"Of course not! I won't go sharing if you won't."

She sighs again.

"Some things really hurt when they're brought to the surface like that."

Especially when you think you're fine, but you're not.

"I promise I won't."

Even Nita's own dream seemed very personal, after all. And although it was different from his own, he could feel some similarity in the issues that seemed to be brought into the light. And since Inigo knows oh so very well how much he wouldn't want other people to know about his own dream, he wouldn't be stupid enough to go talk about hers to anyone. Not on purpose, anyway.

"And.. yes, you're right. I wasn't prepared for that sort of dream at all. Usually when I dream, it's.. different." Still not fun, considering he has tons of nightmares - especially ones that do dunk all over him, making him feel like he's worthless to begin with. But he's never had a dream actually call him out that directly on the mental way he always kicks himself down that much. "I wonder if it had something to do with this place.."

Nita ends up shrugging.

"I've been in a place where we could walk each other's dreams before - though that didn't last very long either. So it's not so much the nature of the place as the nature of the people, maybe?"

Which, from the tone of her voice, she at least knew wasn't very reassuring.

It's not, but that's not what Inigo focuses on. No, it's the first thing that she says that ends up sticking out in his mind.

"Has this happened to you before?" The whole travelling across worlds aspect to this train isn't that surprising to Inigo. He's done it himself before, so that feels pretty normal. But he's never had this whole intermingling dream thing going on like what happened to all of them.

"Well," Nita begins.

"Aside from lucid dreaming at home, which usually doesn't land me in other people's dreams, there was one time in Nautilus where we had a Chaos Storm. During one of its phases we could access each other's dream worlds."

She makes a face. "Of course, after that we ended up bringing into existence everything we were thinking of. Which made our lives look a lot more like nightmares."

That sounds wild. Even after what he just experienced here along with everyone else, so that's saying a lot.

"And what exactly is this Nautilus place, if I may ask?" He doesn't think he's heard of it before.. "Is that your home?"

Nita shakes her head.

"Nope. I'm from New York, on a version of Earth with wizardry. Just not where it's public knowledge, sadly. Nautilus is a whole other place altogether, outside of all the known worlds. Call it a multiversal hub, given how he could Call people from any world, as long as they chose to answer."

"That Nautilus place sounds similar to this train then." Although maybe a little less voluntary, based on that last part? "From what I have seen and heard so far, it seems like the void we travel through also is a place between worlds. Although that does make me wonder where Nautilus exists outside of other worlds then if we haven't encountered it while traveling on this train."

He's leaving the New York part alone for now.. if not just because Inigo's knowledge of Earth is basically zero. He couldn't name a single city there even if you really made him try. It's all mumbo-jumbo to him, to the point where the concept of a world existing between worlds seems more normal to him at this point.

Lots of people certainly complained about it!

She shrugs. "If we ever find a city named Kalliste, that'll mean we're on the same plane, crossing the Between."

But from her tone of voice, she doubts it.

And geography was in fact a pain sometimes; Nita wouldn't blame him for avoiding that topic. Metaphysics could in fact be easier than certain school subjects!

"But, what about you? What's the name of the place you're from?"

Edited 2020-02-16 15:12 (UTC)

Inigo is trying really hard to memorize that name here - it might be why he looks so taken by surprise as she asks the latter question instead. He didn't expect things to be flipped around to him.

It almost feels a little weird to explain that to her now. She's already seen such a fundamental part of him, the insecurities he keeps the closest to his heart, and yet Nita doesn't even know these basic things about him. It's slightly awkward, but Inigo smiles - awkwardly - as he knows the only proper thing to do here is explain.

"It's called Ylisse. I hail from the Halidom of Ylisse, although it doesn't seem like anyone aboard this train has ever known that name. It's.. a little backwards when it comes to this place and other places represented here, it seems. Technology-wise."

Halidon of Ylisse.

"And I thought Kalliste was a strange name!"

Nita's joking, mostly to try and get Inigo to smile - less awkwardly than just now, maybe? - but she nods, letting the information sink in.

"Not in terms of the year-date, though? Where I'm from it's 2011."

Sorry, Nita, there's no real laugh at that. Although he does seem to at least recognize what she's doing by saying that, so he's at least tactful enough to let out a breath that could.. almost be seen as amused? Look, he's trying.

"Well, I'm not quite sure if it's comparable, since I've heard people discuss different calendar systems here.. But where I am from, it's.."

Okay, so I can't put a specific date on this because Fire Emblem is a wild, wild mysterious series, but at one point it's implied to have been thousands of years after another game which had sometime during the 600s as its time, so he's mentioning a time that's definitely in the future for Nita. At the very least 2600-and-something, if not 3600-and-something.

Imagine being stuck in medieval times for that long. Wild.

They're both trying; that's the important part.

Fortunately, apart from briefly looking dubious, Nita mostly accepts his answer; she's heard of some pretty bizarre alternate New Yorks, so it's not as if this is that much moreso.

"There's still places on my Earth where even normal trains would look out of place," she says.

"Though most of them these days are island nations, that sort of thing. So your world not having this kind of tech isn't abnormal, just... maybe not common? Though our sample group here is really skewed," she adds, self-deprecation creeping into her voice.

"Perhaps it's due to differences between worlds? For example.. from what I've understood, the existence of dragons is not common in most worlds out there."

Not as an actual real thing flying in the sky rather than just something you read about in stories. Many people have given him weird glances for talking about their existence so casually, anyway.

"But they are very common in my world. In fact, if there hadn't been dragons, my world would not what it is today. So differences like those could have influenced history as well, don't you think?"

"Can't say I've met many dragons," Nita remarks wryly; Inigo does have something on her there.

"Abnormally-large fire lizards, yes. Dragons... outside of Nautilus, not very much."

And even then, there'd only really been the one.

"And yeah, I'll bet that's the case."

It's hard to tell whether he should feel sorry or happy for Nita's lack of dragons in her life, considering they both saved and destroyed his world before.. so let's just keep it at a neutral "it's a thing".

"Well, I can't say I've come across many people who could confront their fears as well as you did back in the dream." It's a bit of a shift in subject as to what they're talking about, sure. But what Nita said was a nice segway, and Inigo feels like it still had to be said anyway. Nita was really amazing back there, and she deserves to hear as much. It wasn't exactly the easiest situation, after all. And so she deserves credit for it.

Neutral works. Neutral can be good!

But right now, Nita's surprised enough by what Inigo's saying to not be neutral.

"Wait, what? Uhh, you mean the ball-kicking?"

One hand retreated to the back of her head reflexively, trying to smooth down hair - or rather, her nerves.

"I had no idea if that was going to work, really..."

"But it did work!"

He can at least tell that her gesture is a nervous one. If not just because Inigo uses that one himself all the time. But that's exactly why he's trying to not go as overboard with the dramatics right now as he speaks, instead trying to keep his tone more reassuring.

"That just makes it even more amazing, don't you think? You didn't know if it would work or not, yet you did it anyway. That takes courage."

Edited 2020-02-18 16:16 (UTC)

Nita's blushing, now - not like she was at the dream/party; this is honest surprise at the praise... and more than a little self-critique.

"I- I mean, I did take the Oath, and 'fear for courage' is part of that, but... I'm just not the best at sports, that's all."

She looks away. "And with how that dream was going... that's just another anxiety, isn't it? I'm surprised that- whatever it was didn't start picking on those, too."

Though it hadn't really had to, given it'd already latched on to the bigger issue of sacrifice. Namely, people sacrificing themselves to protect her, combined with them leaving.

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Nita: /casually infodumps about metaplot

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honestly, this thread deserves a cw for my brain breaking as i think too much about fire emblem

w h o o p s

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