Mingle: For a limited time only...

[hearsthesea]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Anywhere on the hub
When: Days 134-139
Open/Closed: Open mingle goooo!

[Copper, lizards, and vines - oh my! With the recent installation of 9S and co.'s scanning equipment and the also recent, significantly wetter rainstorms there's quite a lot to check out on the island right now. Plus, the monitor robot still needs a name. You're not going to leave them nameless forever, are you?

Too bad Genette's put out word that everyone's about to be moving location soon. That means these are the last days the coven has for a little while to get everything in order, whether it's to take things to the next destination or to leave them behind. Get your bags packed and your huts cleaned, everyone!]

Comments

[alphonse]

Right, they're military ranks.

[He keeps an eye on Geir's reaction to make sure the simple explanation is enough.]

Well, maybe not exactly like Qri, since our world doesn't have magic. But we do have really powerful, dangerous beings who think they can control everyone.

...Or we did. [My Friends Are From the Future and I Don't Know How to Feel About It is still the theme of the week.] It's complicated.

[rootandbranch]

["military ranks" seems to be enough to go with for now; Geir isn't familiar with how human armies work, but if it's some kind of war-leader, that's enough context. maybe he'll ask Vern later.]

Would you mind telling me more about that? I'm kind of interested. Especially if you don't have them any more. That sounds a little like what Qri said about mages disappearing...

[did whatever got the beings on Alphonse's world get Qri's compatriots too? Geir doesn't want to pry too much if that "it's complicated" was code for "I don't want to talk about it," but it's a disturbing idea.]

[alphonse]

Mm, it's not really like that. They're our enemies.

[His voice drops just a touch at that, like it's something he's not supposed to be talking about.]

The General and Colonel Hawkeye are from further in the future than me and my brother, so as far as they're concerned, all that's already been dealt with. Or--.

[Stop right there. One impossible explanation at a time.]

I know I'm probably explaining it badly, but I'm still figuring it out myself. All I really meant was that they have experience in winning against bigger threats than just ordinary humans.

[rootandbranch]

. . . from the future?

["they're our enemies" and "winning against bigger threats than just ordinary humans"... hm. the evidence is mounting. Geir can't help but feel a niggling suspicion that Alphonse would consider him just one more of those quasi-divine threats on a higher level than humans. which... isn't wrong, per se. it actually isn't wrong at all. but it gives him an odd pang.

he likes Alphonse.]

They sound like, uh, useful people.

[alphonse]

Yeah. Maybe. Something like that.

[It's a sad day for him when parallel timelines are starting to sound like the more logical answer, but here they are. If any of Geir's uneasiness is readable, Al doesn't connect it to anything deeper than the convoluted nature of the topic as a whole. (It's probably best that Geir didn't lead with his backstory when they first met, but by now he's pretty biased in Geir's favor.)]

You and Vern arrived at the same time, right? And you both remember the exact same things?

[rootandbranch]

That's right.

[he's almost sure of it, and existential uncertainty about whether Vern is really his Vern sounds so terrifying that he mentally cuts it off before it even starts. no. bad. whether everyone is really the same everyone that they were yesterday is not one of the philosophical questions he needs to get hung up on, he decides; for one thing that's starting to sound kind of stupid.]

I'm pretty sure I'd be able to tell if he remembered things differently!

[alphonse]

[It's cool, Al will spend enough nights overthinking it to the point of stupidity for the entire coven and then some.

Geir's response seems to line up with what he expects, so he nods.]

Yeah, I'm sure you could. [Well, not really, but it sounds reassuring.] I'm wondering if it's less of an issue for people who are brought in as part of the same group, but I'll have to ask more of the others to be sure.

[Maybe with the next batch of new arrivals. Geir's right about that being right around the corner too.]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir turns his head to look at Alphonse with keen attention: it's probably unnerving, since his next statement hits exactly on an issue that Alphonse isn't likely to be comfortable with.]

You and your brother don't have any weird time things between you, do you?

[alphonse]

[Uncomfortable is right, but he's aware he pretty much asked for it by being so obvious about his fixating.]

It's not as extreme as with our friends, but what he remembers from home is a few weeks behind what I do. I didn't think that much of it until the other two got here, because we couldn't be sure Qri hadn't messed with his memories somehow. That can't possibly be the case with them, though, so...

I don't know. [With a little more helpless honestly than he'd normally let himself show. He's not so ridiculous as to think a minor time difference makes Ed any less his brother or anything, but it is yet another layer of complication.] It makes it harder to know what to do now.

[rootandbranch]

About what part?

[Geir likes things clear, and he can think of a few potential complications that Alphonse could be alluding to -- what to do when he and Edward return to their own world the least among them. he can tell Alphonse is genuinely perturbed about this, though, and softens his voice as he asks. this isn't exactly the same kind of personal dilemma that Geir typically struggles with, but he can recognize one when he sees it.]

[alphonse]

A lot of things.

[The most pressing being one of those long and messy alchemy explanations that probably goes far beyond the scope of how much Geir wants to listen to. Al struggles for how to put it more succinctly.]

Knowing more about the future could give us a way to get our bodies back, but if there's any chance my brother and I aren't from the same place, then the alchemy it would take to do it is way too dangerous to try. It puts us right back at square one.

[Which doesn't really leave them any worse off, but having a potential working method just out of reach is about as fun as it sounds.]

It's like...

I don't know if the magic that connects you to Vern goes beyond just being summoned, but if it did, and one of you was suddenly a little bit different...

[rootandbranch]

...I think we're both a little different every day. But I probably see what you mean. If you don't understand for sure what you're trying to touch, you can't reach out to touch it-- is it something like that?

[Geir can't help but parse Alphonse's explanation in terms of his own world system, but even if Alphonse is talking about physical components while Geir talks about a metaphorical reality, it seems to be more or less the same issue. some kind of understanding, whether intellectual or instinctual, is needed to effect change.]

I wonder if there's a way to find out.