[75][action/voiced]

[silversnowfall]

[It feels like she's been locked in that research room forever. Almost worse than legislative paperwork, turning five small piles of books about various worlds into something that might be useful. Synthesizing data, in a way that felt adventurously real at first before the familiar tedium of it all set in again. And there was more, left undone. There was always more.

Regardless, it will be a while before she attempts another mission. Even one that seems suited to her set of skills. Unlike so many others who go away on missions, Nephry walks herself toward home without difficulty. Thinking to surprise most of her housemates, she stops at the flower shop for something decorative and colorful. Anything to erase the lines of letters from behind her closed eyelids.

Once she does get home, however, there are some orders of business to address.]

Those of you who name your home as a planet called 'Earth': are you aware of just how many different worlds there are that share that name? That share most of a history, often an entire history save for one significant event? It was quite interesting. [Dull hours of reading aside.] Even more interesting that it doesn't seem to be true of most if not all of the other worlds represented here - there is only one Auldrant, for example.

[And now, the heavier news.]

When I returned a short while ago, I...I found Anise's room empty. It appears she has gone home.

Comments

[voice]

[etherealblast]

[...Interesting. He leans back on the couch he'd already made himself comfortable on before responding. It was something he'd wondered about as well, after all.]

Yeah. I've met a few people from different versions of 'Earth' already.

[A pause.]

Sorry about your friend, by the way.

[voice]

[silversnowfall]

Are you one of those people?

[She thanks him for the apology quietly. Anise, at least, went home to live.]

[voice]

[etherealblast]

Yeah, I am.

[Not that there was much, if anything of Earth left anymore.] I'd have to know more about these other variations to make any comparison though.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

[Flower shop, you say? Raine has been working for the better part of the day. When Nephry comes in, she's rearranging some of the plants in the main room, and looks up when the chime on the door indicates an arrival.

There's a face she hasn't seen in a while, a fact that had been noted during her trips to house 1 to check up on Ion's progress.]

... Hello, Nephry. Is there something I can help you with today?

[action]

[silversnowfall]

Yes, thank you, I'm looking for something...bright. [Something that doesn't smell of must or paper or contain the dull brown-maroons of a stereotypcial library.]

voice;

[contaeoro]

[It's been a while since he's spoken to Nephry. A carefree conversation might be nice on another occasion, but he keeps his tone sobered when he responds.]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, Miss Nephry. [a pause]

There does seem to be more than one Earth that people speak of. Although it's hard for me to tell sometimes; some of the Earth folks come from years I haven't seen yet, so there are chances they're connected without our knowing.

voice;

[silversnowfall]

For a while I thought it was possible that you all belonged to the same Earth, at different points in time, but some are from the same designated years despite very great differences - the presence of something like "magic" or the complete lack of it, for example.

[greenjacketed]

...I ain't certain I've met many from worlds what are all too different -- [ but he doesn't sound certain. troublingly, the small details are so small that most history books ignore them and most people never learned. who would care about a lone rifleman and his exploits?

sure, there was the magic. and the modernity. but now he's not so certain those things existed or were fated to exist in his world regardless. ]

[silversnowfall]

Some differences "arise" because you live earlier or later in time than others from your exact world. Others are more difficult to arrange - opposite outcomes of the same war, or someone dying in one Earth but living in another.

[Voice]

[geniustheveil]

[She doesn't offer comfort that can't make it right. But she can offer distraction.]

I came here from an Earth, too. I wonder just how many variations there really are. Sometimes, I wonder whether it still exists in worlds where we don't think it does - and if those planets exist in my own world, too.

[Voice]

[silversnowfall]

We have the word, of course. It refers in part to one of the fonons, and is also a synonymous term for the dirt, or the ground. While I was reading all of these Earth things I thought it might just be a string of uncreative discoverers.

It's the other similarities that I think prove me wrong.

voice

[descrier]

There seem to me a mix of events that happen at a particular time that differentiate the variations of Earth, as well...

Earth seems to be most commonplace in Luceti, but I would assume that has some sort of reason in how the Malnosso want to escape. I cannot say if other worlds are just as technologically advanced, but a varied spread certainly helps with their chances of finding out.

voice

[silversnowfall]

They didn't give me any possible theories they thought held water. Even if they didn't want to color my perception, it isn't as though I have an "earth" on which to base my assumptions.

[Action] - Later because I can!!

[distressedude]

[The last time Anise was sent home, Ion had been a mess of emotions. His health had been rather poor back then as well, hadn't it? And yet this time, he doesn't find himself filled with the same anguish he felt back then. It's not as though he wasn't sad. Of course he was! He knew all too well what awaited Anise back home, perhaps not even a few weeks after her return. He remembered how she once confided in him, telling him that she didn't want everything they had here to just disappear. And he knew in the back of his mind that it's entirely possible he would never see her again.]

[And yet despite all that, there was no heaviness weighing on his mind. Certainly there were still things he wished he had told her -- things he had no particular reason for putting off, simply taking for granted the fact that she was still here. But all the same, he didn't feel that same overwhelming sense of loss that he did before. Anise had gone home. That's just the way it was. Perhaps it's happened to him so much that by now, losing someone here was just a fact of life?]

[Or perhaps he's finally just gotten to the point where he can accept it, knowing that as long as he remembers the time they spent here together, he hasn't really "lost" her at all.]

[Regardless, the loss of Anise unfortunately still overshadowed the joy of Nephry's return. He's been quiet for most of the night, sitting in the living room and just looking out the window, with one hand aimlessly running through the fur atop Colonel's head.]

[Action]

[silversnowfall]

[After taking a careful look through Anise's room in case she left messages or other things behind, Nephry spent her earth-free afternoon cleaning up the room. Leaving the empty bed and shelves felt too mournful and empty for someone of Anise's spirit. It ought to at least look the part of a guest room. Once that's done, she joins Ion in the living room, giving Colonel an absent pat when she passes him.]

I'm a little surprised there are no letters.

[Voice]

[tailasoldastime]

Anise... [He recognises the name... when the memory comes to him, there is a hint of sadness in his next statement.]

She... wrote letters to me once.

[Voice]

[silversnowfall]

You were her penpal, weren't you?

[voice]

[generalflirt]

The other thing I hit on is a lot of worlds which aren't Earth seem to have less countries.

[voice]

[silversnowfall]

May I inquire as to the first thing?

[voice]

[handing]

Only since arriving here; apparently there have been eight or so variations of earth represented by people who have certain significant people in common, although each are different in their actions and choices--some of which were aware of those parallel worlds even in their home universes.

[voice]

[silversnowfall]

If I wasn't so very tired of making lists and keeping notes, I might ask for anyone from such a world to speak up for themselves. I'm sure the Malnosso know already.

[voice] /shoves Arietta out of the way and gives you this instead

[neverplaysfair]

Perhaps worlds where the planet is known as "Earth" tend to be more closely attuned to this world? Considering many of the holidays the Malnosso celebrate seem similar to some of those from at least my planet, it wouldn't be a stretch to guess that they come from one as well.

[voice] but isn't Arietta thrilled

[silversnowfall]

I have wondered if they only 'celebrate' things for the benefit of making us more compliant.

[Action]

[yourfononsarewhack]

[Jade is creeping about when she leaves Anise's room. The uniform is actually in the wash for a change, so he's chilling in his robe.]

It's virtually spotless. [He says, as if just stating a fact devoid of surprise or expectation - having turned the room upside down himself when she was gone to check and finding nothing aside from any notes or letters he may have left.]

[Action]

[silversnowfall]

They are thorough. [Stilted, and rather cold. Nephry is upset, however well she tries to hide it.] The same happened to your room the last time.