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(no subject)

Who: Espio + anyone
What: One very belated intro
Where: Here and There
When: "November", if November exists
Content Warnings: Likely references to him being from a sex-or-die CRAU in the tags.

1. The Sky

[Why, you might ask, is there a short man with a lizard tail standing on a rock, arms spread wide as he laughs almost maniacally at the sky? There must surely be a reason, right?

Before he can be interrupted, he notices whoever approaches him and his laughter trails off as he turns to face them.]

Look at that! Five years, and they give me this - it's like going home! How long's that been like that?

[He jabs a thumb towards the sky behind him, where shapes are twisting and coiling just like in the weird part of the Special Zone. It has been so long since he's seen a sky as colourful as the one he was once used to that the little taste of home actually makes him feel slightly ill... still, seeing it, all he can do is laugh, even if it's not a happy laugh.]

2. How to Be Social

[Still convinced this is only an illusion, just like the countless illusions he's experienced in the past several months, Espio has not been particularly inclined to socialise. The problem with that is that while he does not want to go through meeting and greeting new people who might not even be real, being alone is... well, it's lonely! So while he has mostly been steering away from more obvious social hubs and has instead wandered what feels like the entire habitable area for he doesn't know how long, eventually he gives in and shows his face somewhere with people. What few people there are in this place, anyway...

The Heavenly Blanc is as good a bet as any, but he can also be found somewhere in the Underground Academy. Either way, his idea of a greeting is questionable:]

Still haven't seen anyone I know. How 'bout you?

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Simulation's a fair guess too, but I've seen enough illusions to guess this is more of the same... good thing you're so sure you're real, though. Last time I met illusions of people, their faces melted off.

[He'd rather not recall the details of that, even as the image decides to replay in his head.]

Hopefully I'm real, too. You can never be sure these days.

[ ... ]

Well, that's horrifying. [and while he's also not trying to think too hard about that one, he can't help but ask:] Where were you, when this happened?

The end of all worlds, or so we were told. Dirt, dust, ruins, and a warped reality that made no sense... this place seems a lot more alive, but just as insane.

This is the way the world ends ... [not with a bang, but a whimper -- or, in this case, with pure entropy, disorder]

I don't suppose you were brought there by so-called gods, to fight in some kind of war, were you? [he's pretty sure Midoriya would have mentioned the end of all worlds, if he'd been a part of something like that, but it can't hurt to check. not that Midoriya's even here anymore, as far as he can tell]

Not gods, just idiots.

[There's really no other way he can think of to describe the Hedonists... apologetic, energetic, incompetent and always unsure of everything.]

Don't think they ever claimed to have brought us there... their story was that this was how the world was supposed to be, and that it was our lives that were fake. Apparently we were supposed to somehow live by believing hard enough and - well...

[And he cuts himself off there, and gives a deep sigh. Let's not go into that.]

Long story short, zero out of five experience. Don't recommend it.

[not where Midoriya was, then, which is kind of disappointment, if only because that rules out there being a point of commonality there]

[though:] You know, there are two landmarks, here, from my world. [not that he believed hard enough to bring them here. if it were that easy, it if were a choice, he could have done so much better than the Merlaut]

Huh.

[Huh. That's interesting... Espio adjusts his position a little, giving the stranger a little more attention.]

Weird. There a reason for that, or do you not know?

[he shakes his head]

No idea.

[a beat]

But the train? The apartments, up to the lobby? They're the Chicago L and the Merlaut Hotel, respectively. [and another pause] Though, the interior of the hotel, the part where it turns into apartments? That isn't mine. [and he's yet to figure out who that part does belong to]

Huh. That's actually pretty interesting... that sort of thing common? Bits of home just existing for some reason?

[he leans forward a little in his seat]

Seen anything familiar, yet?

[which is to say: yes. everyone he's talked to has had something, even if it's been mashed together with something else]

Landmarks? No.

[He folds his arms, and his brows furrow as he pauses, wondering if it's worth mentioning. He's met a lot of people over the last five years, and none of them have seen a sky like the one he knows.]

But the sky is familiar.

[and Damien lets out a bark of a laugh, at that]

So, that mess is yours, then?

[that sky is definitely unfamiliar, but it's also kind of fascinating]

If I have to take credit for something, it's got to be that!

[He doesn't laugh, but there's clear amusement - it's nice to have something that looks like home.]

Place I come from's in the Special Zone. It's special, as you can clearly see.

Clearly.

[he pauses, and then he does laugh]

God, I have so many questions. [and isn't that a nice change, a nice distraction from the up and down clusterfuck his life has been this last month?]

Yeah?

[He doesn't get much chance to talk about his home reality... honestly, he prefers not to for so many reasons, but he supposes he can humour someone a little.]

No guarantee I can answer them.

The Special Zone -- that's, what, a country?

[he doesn't think it's the name of his world as a whole, but he could be wrong. he also doesn't think it's a city, if only because he said the place he comes from is in it. plus, 'zone' implies something a little bigger]

Nah - way bigger. It's a pocket dimension branching off from another reality, big enough to be considered a universe in its own right.

[Or it was, anyway.]

[and that raises even more questions. shaking his head faintly, Damien pops his eyebrows, clearly impressed] Had you been to the -- the hub reality? [for lack of knowing what else to call it] Were there other pocket dimensions like yours?

A couple times, yeah - visited a place called Mobius.

[He can’t quite help the puzzled frown on his face, because he actually doesn’t know a whole lot of the fine details about his own home. Those who did know are long dead, he is quite certain.]

I think there were other dimensions, but not quite the same... I know the Miracle Planet was in some other dimension most of the time and only appeared once a month. I’m not a good person to ask about that kind of thing though.

[hm, Mobius? the infinite loop. he wonders if that's significant, somehow, and he'd ask, but well -- he can pick up on the difficulty Espio's having, trying to explain it. he doubts he knows, then. disappointing, but what can you do, really?]

[he shifts a little in his seat, that in mind, trying to recenter himself and the conversation, before:] My world was nothing like that. There was a theory about other realities, but. [he shakes his head. Earth is singular, alone]

Edited 2020-11-29 15:06 (UTC)

I think the fact we're both here together kind of proves the theory, right?

[Hmm... Espio could make a wild guess and assume he's from some version of Earth or another, since that's a name that keeps popping up, but humans come from just about anywhere. There's even a handful on Meridian... and this guy, well, he wouldn't look out of place in that other world he's lived in...

~~Which has no name, which makes referring to it a pain in the ass.~~]

For me, other realities are just a given. If this isn't an illusion... it'll be the third time I've been dragged between realities against my will.

[he tilts his head in Espio's direction -- point taken. when he rights himself again, it's with an arch of his eyebrows] A third time? [he's heard stories of this being people's second, but third? that smacks of more than just coincidence]

Yeah.

Guessing there’s something about me that just makes me a target for that shit.

[He suspects it may have something to do with the fact he can’t go home, given that it no longer exists, but he’s not about to say that to a stranger. Getting him to talk about it to friends is like pulling teeth.]

[he can't really go home, either, albeit for different reasons. Chicago still exists, but soon he won't -- he's about half an hour out from his time of death, back home. he's not about to get into that any more than Espio is, though, even if he could. he's not a mindreader]

[that in mind, he studies him for a moment, instead] What I wouldn't give for some way of testing that. [a beat] Nothing invasive, mind, just ... [well, he wonders if visiting alternate realities hasn't left some kind of mark on him or anyone else that's seen more than one. he wonders if they all have something in common. rather than finish that statement, however, he ultimately just pops one should in a shrug. it's a moot point, anyway]

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