expiationnet | voice;

Entry tags:

voice;

So, can the witch in charge come out yet?

[ It's a simple statement, and for a moment it does sound like the message might just cut off there. Just that one flat statement, seemingly devoid of any emotion aside from a vague hint of annoyance.

But then there's a sound that's faintly like a step, then a grumble, and then the message continues anyway. Still mostly deadpan, but a little more annoyed this time. ]

Sure, I get it. The whole crime and punishment theming? Very cute. Maybe start using that talent to build an amusement park or something more productive next time, if this sort of thing is your hobby. Either way, it's really not done to let yourself be heard on the way in, and then just act like you're not there.

[ A slight pause-- and then a sigh. ]

Just tell me someone can point me to the witch. I really don't have time to be beating around the bush.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Echo's not typically the one explaining things, especially in such a weird situation. She feels a bit guilty for even bringing this up in the first place now. There's a very long silence as she tries to figure out what she's supposed to say.]

As I said, I am Echo. I was previously in a similar situation; I found myself in another world inexplicably along with many others. Among them was you.

If you cannot remember that, though, then it may be incorrect to say it was "you".

[She had no idea how many "Echo"s there had been before her, and it wasn't accurate to call them all one person in spite of so many similarities. This kind of feels like the same thing.]

Regardless, we became acquainted there.

[ Ange breathes in, breathes out.

More important, she thinks. Even when she's quiet, there's a whole lot of activity going on up there in her mind, trying to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. Thankfully something Echo says does help lead Ange's brain down the right path here, especially with what the girl knows of the way the world - all worlds out there - work. ]

.. a different Ange.

[ That feels like the obvious conclusion. Not a different person named Ange, no. A different version of her.

It's not like she's unfamiliar with the concept, though this is the first time she's met someone who met a version of her that wasn't the current her. It's a little odd, but she can roll with it. (As long as Echo is telling the truth - but this seems like way too elaborate of a ruse to pull off otherwise.) ]

I think I get it. [ Sure, she still sounds a little guarded, but Ange means it all the same. ] So you're saying that there are places like this all over? Places that just gather people from different worlds in one place?

[ How ironic, that multiple versions of her would get tangled up with places like that. Says something about her luck, probably. ]

Good.

[As nice as it would have been to have someone she had an established connection to, Echo is glad she doesn't have to push her to believe what happened.]

I am not sure if it's "all over", but there are at least two, yes. They seem to have few things in common apart from that fact, though.

[Strange technology, strange deities, and a world with little that was known outside of one town. That was about all that was basically the same. ...And Ange, apparently.]

Tell me about that other place. [ It feels like important information to have, after all. Even more so if there really is - was? - another Ange there at some point. Not to mention that Ange is naturally nosy enough to want to know.

.. A moment after she allows those words to escape her mouth, the girl does seem to realise that it was perhaps a little too direct..

Just maybe..

So after a slight pause, she does add a: ]

.. please.

[ This is her trying, okay! Even though she's very much on edge, considering she only just showed up in a strange place she knows nothing about yet. It makes her want to cling onto any and all information she can get right now. ]

[While she hasn't heard it much in recent months, and it's certainly new from Ange, Echo's had people ask/force her to do thing in far worse manners, so she's not really fased.

What does throw her is trying to think of how to describe Trench to this person who she was used to knowing more about it than she did. And how much did she need to know?

There's a pause of a few moments, before Echo takes a deep breath and begins.]

It is called Trench. It's a very difficult place to live. The land is mostly barren, and there are a wide variety of monsters and beasts surrounding it which must be dealt with. The people do a relatively satisfactory job of working together to keep it a livable place.

There are differences in the blood of most of those brought there, with several possibilities. It's...very complicated. Those of us in that situation also had a creature called an Omen to assist us if necessary. Also, in spite of its problems, the technology was rather advanced and strange.

[Should she tell her anything else? Is it good or bad for people know about their wife who they've never met? It's not like Echo knew her entire social life, either.

There's another pause.]

Oh yes, and everyone was actually a squid.

[Just another fact, no big deal.]

[ At least this is all information Ange is able to wrap her head around. The ridiculousness of recent events back home helps with putting everything in a different light, making even the most absurd-sounding information (see: all of the above) seem more normal in comparison.

And considering this place seems to be just like it, just differently themed, it's not all that difficult to imagine this Trench place. ]

Sounds like we're getting the better deal here then. [ Even if it might be too early to say, but Ange hasn't been attacked by a single monster or animal so far, so she'll count that as 'better.' Relatively speaking.

Though there's a different thought that emerges. ]

Does that mean you're still a squid?

[ Does that mean that other Ange is still a squid? Or.. was a squid all along?

Now that's one thing that is definitely still weird to think about, even with how desensitized Ange has become to other things. ]

[Echo can respond very quickly this time. At least Ange hasn't shot back with even more complicated questions.]

There are significant improvements in many of the aspects here, yes.

[She had known more people there when she arrived than she did here, though. There was no Oz to just drag her into living arrangements, for one.]

No. My body seems to have returned to normal. ...Mostly.

[Echo had gotten used to having a body all to herself, but she couldn't forget that this was still unusual for her.]

.. how strange.

[ It's almost like the girl is muttering it to herself more than she's necessarily saying it directly to Echo. Because she's really thinking about this. It's easy to just file away the fact another world like this one exists out there away as fact, especially when she can't really investigate it more herself - hoping that the other Ange there is bothering to take care of that.

But this feels closer to a fact that's actually relevant to this place, and her investigation into it so far. Even if she doesn't have much to go off just yet, only just having shown up. ]

I wonder if that's because that other place's influence on you has disappeared now you're gone from there, or if it's instead this place forcing you back to normal. [ The latter would be more relevant to finding something out about this place, after all.

Maybe she should ask more people if their bodies have changed in some way, she thinks. Even if that requires.. ugh, talking to people.. ]

[Oh good job, now you've got her thinking about that.]

...I had not considered that. Under the circumstances of my arrival there, I would surmise it is the latter, but I could not say that for certain.

[Echo takes a moment to think. And maybe start jotting down a note about this in her journal.]

Unless there are others who have been to additional worlds or have undergone changes in coming here, it likely cannot be answered for the time being.

[ Ange releases a breath. ]

Yeah. Guess it's too early to say.

[ Especially when she has so little information about this place so far. Maybe it's something she should return to when she has experienced a bit more about this place - and maybe spoken to a few more people to see if they come from worlds similar to the one Echo comes from.

.. Or just ask Echo about it later. Maybe the other will talk to others more easily than Ange herself.. And it'd sure save her some socializing.. ]

Anyway, I hope you didn't stick that other me was super annoying, because it seems like we might be stuck here together for a while.

[ And while it's not completely impossible to avoid someone here, it's still.. not too easy either, given the relative size of the village. ]

I did not. You were very informative.

[Apparently this is praise from her. Because funnily enough, she was basically in your shoes minus the meeting another version of her before. Echo is still figuring out the social stuff herself, though.]

Sounds like me, I guess.

[ Hell, Ange will take that as praise, thanks. She doesn't know how to deal with being called nice, or getting any real positive compliment.. but something on this level? She can handle that, nodding slightly as she says it. It's close enough to an objective descriptor that it doesn't really feel flustering. ]

Well, I'll continue to be informative here. [ She's planning on doing so, anyway. ] The quickest way to get out of here is to find out information and share it.

[ And Ange is intending on getting out of here as soon as she can, thanks. The last thing she needs is getting trapped in yet another witch's game.

She's too busy for that. ]

Ah. Yes. Th-thank you.

[She sounds a bit unsure. Echo is well aware that Ange must be just as clueless as she is about this place, but still, information sharing was clearly the best path forward.

Wanting to "get out of here" also takes her back a bit, if only because she hadn't thought about it yet. At least in Trench, she knew what she was going back to (had she not ended up here). Where would she go from here? Back to the depths of the Abyss? Echo wasn't sure if she'd even been there yet, as she'd have no memory of it. Maybe she really had left Noise all alone.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

voice;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject