lingeringlegacy | 04 ☆ Exceeding theoretical boundaries

It's a 9mm Kahr MK9. [Small, easily concealable, but packed quite a punch, as Crochet had commented when she made the purchase.] They said I could trade-in if I don't find good fit, though.

[She stepped into the backseat area and plopped herself onto the seat, then began unpacking the takeout.]

How have you been doing lately?

[PS. If he mentions anything about "tomorrow" being his birthday, expect some kind of cake.]

[Gene nodded in approval at the choice.] 9mm is what I would have recommended for you, and that sort should be decently easy to handle.

[He walked around to the other side of the car and scooted into the other side of the backseat beside Stellaris.]

Me? I've been alright, I guess. Busy dodging balls, bed-monsters, and everything in between. What about you? Had any interesting developments? [He had a feeling something had triggered the need to talk, but he figured she'd get to that when she felt comfortable about it.]

[RE:P.S. Aww. Sadly, he's annoyed by the fact that he's been here for a year with no change, so he planned on keeping quiet about it, maybe grabbing a drink at the bar. That said, Genius's announcement over the journals will make it pretty clear when his birthday is. XD]

Miss Crochet said something similar. Somehow I get the impression she thinks I'd fall when firing a .45. [She chuckled.] I really wouldn't! I've tried. But I do prefer the smaller grip of the sub-compact. Here you go.

[Having placed a plastic knife and fork besides the food on the styrofoam tray, she handed over Gene his lunch.]

Well, other than that, I... did a little sightseeing with new friends. Have you been to to the small island further from Stuff Inc.?

Naw, I doubt you'd fall, but they do pack quite a wallop. I'm impressed you tried it though. Some people let the .45s intimidate them.

[He accepted the meal with a smile and a nod.] Thanks. [He speared a bit of sausage and potato, popping it into his mouth as she spoke.]

Sightseeing, hm? ...Wait, you mean the one with the beaten up bridge that looks like it's covered in snow. [He blinked a little. He'd been curious about the island, but hadn't bothered crossing over since he wasn't sure if the bridge would support his weight.] I'll admit, I haven't been. What sights are there to see?

Aim has a really wide variety in his arsenal, and I am not keen to waste opportunity. [Om nom nom too.] I had reservations about that bridge, but it turned out fine. The sand shore is very beautiful, I think I would like to go back there once in a while.

The caves, though... [Pause as she took another bite. Then her voice dropped a notch, even if she had the controlled little smile in her face.] Aside from the fourth floor, the crystal and the dream, have you ever heard of getting clues from another source?

Huh. Good to hear the visit was pleasant, at least. And since it's not one of the more well-traveled spots, seems like it'd stay fairly pristine between visits.

[The mention of the caves and possible clues made his eyes widen slightly.]

There are other things. Usually mysterious writing that gives obtuse hints, but I've heard of clues being gathered in remote spots, too. [The note he and Kazahana had received in Crystala came to mind. Without quite realizing it, he let his voice drop a little as well, though a note of excitement ran through it.] Just what did you find?

[Still trying to project a smile, but those good at reading people would be able to sense the fakeness of it.]

We entered one of the caves, and soon after, the entrance just disappeared. I was there with two other people, and we heard... voices. Different voices each.

[She clenched the plastic knife, cutting a sausage in a rougher, slower than necessary movement. The irrational fear still lingered, it seemed.]

I heard a little girl.

[He could sense at least some of the strain in Stellaris's smile, but what she said suddenly took precedence. Gene's brows rose toward his hairline at the mention of the behaviour of the cave.]

Just vanished into thin air? Geez. Obviously you were able to find a way out but... still. [He shook his head. What did you do when a mountain was against you? He couldn't blame Stellaris for visibly tensing at the memory. Still she seemed more focused on the voices than even that.]

A little girl spoke to you? Could you make out what she said?

[It was not the voices that had scared her the most, but how would she even begin? She had freely spoken about space in her dream, was forthright about the tower and the battle with the brothers, but she had never told anyone about the second half of her dream. A trail of events so nebulous, in the realm of pure conjecture, emotions. How does one explain it? Not even to Gene could she find a way to begin. Or perhaps especially to Gene. Yet without a context, it felt like such a trivial thing—fear of darkness. An inferior, irrational trait. At least focusing on the voices was focusing on things tangible.]

More accurately, vanishing into solid rock. The voice was vague, I couldn't make out anything other than my name. [Then she added.] This name. Not my real one. And also the words...

'Too late.'

[He gave a little nod-shrug in acquiescence of the 'into solid rock' correction.

When she recounted what the voice said, his brows drew together. That... was actually pretty chilling.]

Damn. And there wasn't anything else to it? [He paused for a moment before adding.] Do you think it was an attempt to scare you, or did it seem to have significance?

[She shook her head.]

That was all I could hear. I can't make guesses of the motivation behind it, but Huo—I don't know if you know him?—treated it as a sort of 'test'. We all heard different voices, each of someone we thought we knew. The little girl's voice... it felt familiar. In the same way as— you remember the man I turned into, do you? Like him. And... [Pausing, her gaze now straight at Gene, as if searching for something on his face.] ...like you.

[There was a distinct lack of 'Aim' there. By logical deduction, he should count among 'people she possibly knew' because of how she couldn't perceive his other name. But towards the others were the kind of familiarity she felt, not thought.]

[He nodded at the question of whether he knew Huo.] We've spoken over the journals once, I think.

[He wasn't at all surprised that she found him familiar in the same way she found the man she had turned into. He had seemed rather familiar to Gene as well. If they came from a similar background, it only made sense that they would know the same people. But as it was with her and Aim, his knowledge of her involvement in a life like his was academic, and all his personal experience with her came from his time in the Sphere. Looking at her expression, it seemed almost... expectant. He was missing something here, he knew it. But damned if he had any clue what it was.

Still, what he could do was help her figure this out with what little he did know. He swallowed a little, then parsed out what he knew of their situation.]

Well... I know that I've seen the man you turned into before. It was in this group portrait from someone else's birth dream, and he was standing next to other people from our world who have been here before. That makes me think he was part of the crew we talked about before. [The number in the portrait fit the numbers mentioned by Tieria in Adstringendum, after all.] So... do you think the girl was just as close to the group?

[Logically, a child should not be in the same situation as the rest of them. But for whatever reason, the idea didn't seem entirely foreign.]

[She eventually shifted her glance, focusing back to her half-eaten meal. Time and again, Gene's gaze lacked that recognition she sought, and it made a lump in her throat. If this place takes and grants memories as it pleases, she could only hope for the future to let him remember her. If he ever would at all.]

I don't know. Her voice was the only piece of information I get. It's not very helpful. [She pleaded with me, feared me. But it was another baseless conjecture.] How many people from our world have been here before? 00 told me one name, Dyad.

Mn. [One little voice wasn't much to go on at all, how frustrating.]

Yeah, Dyad came from the same place as us. Dark hair, two-toned eyes if that sounds familiar. Then there was Aurora, who had purple hair, glasses, and... wasn't the easiest to get on with. I found out his real name was Tieria and he had a twin named Yehuda. Then there was Cheers, a brunette woman with a bit of a drinking habit. And Gundam, who I never really had a chance to meet. I think Innovator may have been from a similar place, judging by his entries, but I never spoke with him in person. Then there's you, me, and Aim, of course. I think that covers it.

Oh. [She set the styrofoam tray on her lap aside, reaching to the cloth bag and took out a ringbound notebook. It was normal paper, courtesy of Tokyo. She flipped a few pages to one showing a short list of names:]

NOT HERE Black haired man with glasses Little girl? HERE Gene-1 Aim = _________? Stardust -> Stellaris Dyad Innovator?

[She crossed the question mark after Innovator's name and proceeded to append the list with new names along with Gene's description. At the name "Aurora" she slowed down and knitted her eyebrows together. Then her eyes widened as if in realization.]

Would Aurora happen to be friends with Smoke?

[He leaned forward to peer at the list as she wrote.]

He may have been? I don't know, I didn't keep track of his social circle.

Smoke once told me I said the same things, about liking stars and outer space, as a friend of his who is now gone. He didn't say the name then, but I think he wrote that name in a separate occasion. If Aurora was from the same place as us, then I suppose the facts fall into place. [She set the pencil down.] I hope it's alright for me to make this note. I tried compiling the scattered information we have about our world, and perhaps if others should come, they won't need to start from zero.

Would you fill in Aim's real name here too? Even if I can't see it, others may be able.

Hm. I suppose it does make sense. The Wilderness once turned into a moon base and it was hard to pry him or most anyone else from our world away from it.

[He waved a hand when Stellaris asked if it was alright to take notes.] It's not a problem with me. I do the same about plenty of things, so I'd hardly tell someone to stop.

[Gene blinked when she asked what Aim's real name was. The first thing that came to mind was his REAL, real name. Then it registered what she was more likely asking about. Too many damned names.]

You mean what he asked to go by? [He picked up the pencil and reached over to fill in the blank.] Do you want the names of that previous versions took on, too? Dyad, Aim, and Aurora have been through more than once.

[The mention of previous versions earned an head tilt of acknowledgment, but it was not surprising she was not the only one who had gone and returned.] Yes, please. If the images in our dreams are real and our names are keywords, then maybe we can derive something from them. Like a puzzle to solve.

[It was something Huo would likely say, she thought, with his unwavering sensibility even when no exit was in sight. Something she would like to learn.]

There was a puzzle in that cave as well.

Alright then.

[After writing down "Lockon" he took the liberty of writing Range before Aim's name and Sniper at the beginning of all of it. Before Dyad's name was written Raise and after Aurora was written Lithium.

He glanced up once she mentioned puzzles.]

It's possible. Every little bit helps. [The bit about the puzzle in the cave prompted him to tilt his head in curiosity.] Really now. What sort of puzzle was it? And what was it for?

[She paid attention as he was writing, stubbornly trying to guess Aim's name from the pen's movement, but static vision flashed over her gaze for a split second. The next thing she knew Gene's writing had already turned to inkblots. Apparently the Tree was more stubborn than she was.]

Oh. So even thrice is possible...

[She waited for him to finish writing, then flipped to the next leaf, containing the note she wrote after the Frost Mountain trip: The entrance was free, to exit has a cost. Answer the riddle and no more will you be lost. "What has roots as nobody sees, Is taller than trees, Up, up it goes, And yet never grows?" = MOUNTAIN]

A carving on the cave wall. We figured out the answer and as sudden as the entrance vanished, we found ourselves in the dojo.

And probably more than that is possible, though I don't think I've seen any record of it. [If only they knew how many times the various versions of Yuu Kanda had been through there.]

Huh. So the cave trapped you, required a riddle to leave... and left you on an entirely different island by the end of it? [He shook his head.] That doesn't make much sense. [Not like anything here did.]

I wonder if there was a reason behind it. It almost sounds like a test, but I don't know what it would achieve.

If reasons can be figured out by relative newborns, things would probably be different here, wouldn't it? [It could sound like a chide, but was just her expression of frustration. She leaned back to the cushion, exhaling her breath.] I'm glad nothing bad happened, but...

How do you deal with feeling so powerless?

Mm, well, sometimes it's just luck of the draw that some people find out what they do. But no, this place is hardly easy on the new people.

[Her question prompted him to stare at his hands for a long moment. How did he deal? Not always well.]

Gather what I can and hope it'll eventually make a difference in getting out of here. Whenever there's a clue or a tidbit that might help figure things out I try to write it down. Bide my time and try not to be obvious about poking into things. Basically trying to get the last laugh.

[He finally looked back up at her, his expression wry.]

And when it feels when that isn't getting me anywhere, sometimes it helps to just punch or shoot something.

[Sure, it didn't do anything, but it was cathartic. Sometimes catharsis was all you had.

He sighed, leaning back a bit as he sat sideways in his seat.]

I'm glad you came out of that all right, by the way. I'm sure getting shut up in a cave is anything but a good time.

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quicklog | pfft six times' the charm?

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quicklog--OOC