gotosleep_idiot | September & October Test Drive

"Sure, no problem," Nita said, looking up from the table.

"Welcome to Nautilus. I can explain what this place is about after I get you that coffee, if you want...? Might want to take a seat, too."

She had some experience being a fish out of water, and knew how a reassuring face could go a long way.

Someone he didn't know, but still, that little bit of kindness and reassurance went a long way. Like seeing the face of a friend you were longing to see, someone who knew you enough to know when things weren't going the way you needed, wanted, them to go.

"Thank you." He would have gotten down on his knees and kissed her feet just for her getting him a cup of coffee... okay, no he wouldn't have, that was a little crazy. Instead, he gave her a small smile and gingerly took a seat.

"Is the explanation going to be just as crazy as this place seems to be?" Ren couldn't help but joke, and almost surprised at how good it felt to joke. Like he couldn't believe he'd ever get the chance to again.

That would have weirded her out a little, yes.

"Depends on what kind of crazy you're used to," Nita admitted, though she did smile.

"For some people, the stuff that goes on here is exactly like the world they left. Or calmer..."

Mostly, though, it was wilder.

Ren wasn't in the habit of trying to weird people out that much, at least those who weren't his close friends. Strangers, though, those tended to get him a little more introverted. Especially in a new place, but at least this place wasn't a school filled with rumor loving high school kids.

"Just a little crazy, but not too crazy." Ren laughed softly, even if it made his ribs hurt like hell to do so. "So, you're not going to tell me where're just in same strange part of Japan?" Because he had to hope for it, at the very least. But by mentioning that this might not be the same place, that was a trip.

Who knew he was going to miss a world where he was a criminal so much?

Nita shook her head, still smiling.

"Nnnope, though people who are from Japan have been here before."

Both those she'd met personally and those she'd just seen on the Network.

"How are you with multiverse theory?"

So maybe he might know someone here. Not that he knew everyone in Japan, there was absolutely no way of that, but if he said some very specific keywords, he might know if someone from back home was here. How he got in touch with those people, Ren had no idea.

"I'm better with Metaverse theory." Okay, so maybe only he would know what that was, at least the one in his world, but who knew? Maybe there was someone out there who also knew about the Metaverse, someone who wasn't part of his group.

"Multiverse is... other worlds, right? Besides Earth?"

Contacting people was easy unless people went out of their way to avoid the Network; finding out if one person's Japan was your Japan was a little bit harder.

"I think I've heard of that, too," Nita replied, moving up and bustling about to make that coffee; even with Bending, sometimes the mundane methods were soothing.

"Well, there's aliens-and-space-travel kinds of worlds, there's separated-by-dimension-but-not-space-or-time kinds of worlds... and then there's finding worlds with entirely different ideas at their core, which can encompass whole universes all on their own."

Ren looked at her with interest, about to ask another question, but then stopped himself. She might not know about the place he and his friends called the Metaverse, but there might be a theory about it. This whole thing was confusing already; wondering if you needed to keep certain secrets certainly added to it.

There was something he was forgetting, something important... his thoughts flashed through him too quickly and blurry for him to catch on, so he just watched her make coffee for a moment. It smelled so good.

"Which one out of the three is the place we're in now?" He wanted to lie his head down on the table, that's how bad he felt, but he knew that it would hurt more then be helpful. Just sitting hurt, but the pain from his leg wasn't as bad when he was sitting.

Nita frowned, sensing that there was something he wasn't saying yet...

"We're outside of the latter; a 'multiversal hub'. And, ah, what's your name? Mine's Nita," she added sheepishly.

There was a lot of he wasn't saying right now, but most of it was because he was starting to unscramble his thoughts. He had to protect people, though, that was for certain. Protect important people. And not... die.

That thought stuck with him, but he shook his head slightly, as if to clear the cobwebs there. "A multiverse hub, huh." Mutters, and then his head shot up, looking at Nita was a similar sheepish smile. He went and rubbed the back of his head, the action causing the severe bruising on his wrists to be exposed.

"Sorry, should have asked before." He smiled. "I'm Ren, Amamiya Ren. Nice to meet you, even if it's in a.... multiverse hub like this."

Nita nodded in confirmation... and her wry smile came back as he replied.

"This technically isn't even the first time I've been in a place like this, either - though there, at least, time at home wasn't literally paused for me."

On a delay? Sure. Absolute pause, however? Nope.

"But Nautilus has a different history behind why it's like that."

"Wait--" Nautilus might have a history behind that one, but Ren wasn't even sure he'd fully gotten that. "What do you mean paused? If we go home, things will pick up right where they left off?"

The thought made him sick to his stomach, to think that if he went home, right back to the investigators, and their burning needles and painful fists he would go. Sure, he was used to a long time passing in the Metaverse, but only a few hours or even a few minutes back home. That's just how the 'verse worked.

This? A pause, just like that? That turned his stomach. "Sorry, this is just... this is all crazy." Ren tugged at a lock of hair. "...You've been in a place like this before?"

Nita nodded from where she was standing, watching the coffee pot heat up with care.

"Exactly when. No one realizes you've been here, either. And it's not fun being in your own head either, I'll admit that much - like watching yourself on autopilot."

How the 'verse worked, indeed.

"Won't argue on it being crazy."

She looked up from the coffee at his question, nodding again.

"The aeschesis universes, yeah. There are some things that are just too dangerous to not do without a place to test-run."

Like kernel-work inside of another planet... or another person.

"But there it was just a massive time compression - you could go in and spend two hours, and have it only have been a few minutes real time, max."

So similar to the Metaverse.

That part confused him. Being in your own head? So once you went back home, things wouldn't be the right way they should be, apparently. Ren didn't know if that would be better or worse in his situation. Probably worse.

"...Right." Honestly, a lot of that went over his head. He guessed there was a good place for them to test things out, like Mementos back home, and sure that made sense. Just. What?

"Okay. I guess this is all good to know when... if? We all get to go home." Already he was thinking of other people, not himself. Because not just him going home was acceptable; everyone going home was the only way.

Ren had about the size of it, there.

"Technically, we can go through the Gates any time we want, and going back to Sleep is possible, too."

Not that all Wakened were allowed to go back through the Gate, for whatever reason...

"Though, the goal we're here for - helping Bind new worlds into existence, which usually involves Ascending at least one level - is kind of a long-term one."

Okay, definitely more confusion, but she'll get a smile from him for it. A sheepish smile, but a smile all the same.

"Okay, you've brought two more terms into the situation, and that's just not fair." Ren joked, tugging on a lock of hair. "Bind new worlds and ascend levels? One of those sounds like we're in some kind of video game." It didn't sound like something he had done back home, that's for sure.

Was that the whole point of being woken up here, though? Make new worlds, or, bind new worlds, whatever? Ren might have felt out of his depth for the past few months, but that was just too much.

"Well, I'll start with Ascension, then," Nita said, pulling out her Manual from- well, it wasn't quite thin air, or even her claudication; she'd just been practicing summoning it with utter stealth.

"The worlds we're from consist of Dreamers, and when we either raise ourselves beyond that or- like we are now- are Called, we become Wakened. Beyond that there are Angelii, the messengers who can see how the worlds are structured and have speed as their edge; Ashura, who can 'debug' the code of a world and work with Angelii in teams; Deva, who were generally supposed to make the worlds outright, shaping Chaos with their will and the Light as they saw fit - that's where the Binding comes in - and then there's Aeons. Beings who embody an idea or object or so on so completely that they... physically adjust in response to it, I think?"

She's never actually seen anyone Ascend to Aeon.

Nita also gave Ren another sympathetic look.

"So, yeah, there's layers. And I guess the video game comparison is kind of justified?"

If Ren hadn't needed coffee before, he would definitely be needing it now. This was like some kind of class lesson that he'd never expected to get, and he was ill prepared for it. He even started patting himself down for something to write with, because this seemed like important information that he would be needing for later.

His head was already killing him, now it was straight up torturing him before the murder. "The comparison works a little bit." His mind was turning over her just pulling out a book from thin air, too, and he gave her a small smile back.

"I have a friend back home and this... she'd be loving some of this. So, are you... on a higher level?"

Fortunately, the kettle went off right then.

"Y'want any sugar or anything?" Nita asked, before coming back to the topic at hand.

She managed a wry smile.

"I'm an Angelii here, now, but it wasn't like I was a stranger to power levels before Waking... my Manual comes from home, too," she added, indicating the book.

Sweet music to his ears right there. It was hell on the headache, but at least it was something he knew and didn't have to figure out. Coffee was simple, drinking it was simple, and it gave him the feeling that things might be all right again.

"If there's any cream? But if not, black is fine." Watches her with even more interest now because coffee, but also for the other parts. "Oh... so I'm not going to be getting a book, that's something that you brought from home?"

Not disappointed, just curious. "So it was easier to ascend a level because you've been dealing with things like that back home? That makes sense. Kind of like muscle memory and all that."

"I can do cream," Nita replies.

"And some people do get books, though a Network connection can come with just about anything short of being implanted in your own brain."

Which was a point in Nautilus' favor, frankly.

After mixing the cream in and passing the coffee along, she shrugs.

"Maybe? Deva and Aeons can pick people according to whatever method they like, but Nautilus uses Change. Being 'used' to something doesn't really make a difference."

But adjusting to the Powers not being the only of Their kind, and that not being a bad thing... that had been a change.

Ren breathed in the scent of fresh coffee, giving her a soft, grateful thank you as he took the cup. The heat felt wonderful against his hands; he hadn't realized how cold they were, like they hadn't been warm in days.

"Oh, okay. I think I got confused." He gave her a small smile and took a sip of coffee, eyes closing as a million memories seemed to wash over him.

Some more prevalent then the other. There was something there, in the back of his mind, that was getting closer to the surface with every new thought.

"Could you connect to the network with a phone?" Asks as he brings his own out. "I don't know if there's internet here... probably not, but." He shrugged, setting the phone down on the table.

"That's more than understandable, frankly," Nita said.

"And the Network can work through phones, yeah; no Internet here, though."

Ren might even be able to find the guides as 'starter files' - some people had been able to find them awfully quickly right out the gate; others ended up either being told the information or being handed Lelouch's original or Irene's updated version directly.

"So I'm going to miss my daily allotment of cat videos?" Ren joked as he opened his phone up, looking at the different apps on it. Most of them wouldn't work, he knew that, since they required the internet.

Plus, what was the point of needing to know what the weather was like back in Tokyo? He would need an app for the weather here more like it. But the one app he was looking for was...

Yeah, it was still there. He didn't dare push it, in case something happened, though it probably wouldn't work anyway without the right key words in. But still, the Nav was still there. Ren looked up at Nita, trying to push down the dread he was feeling at everything and instead gave her a small smile, taking another sip of coffee.

"What do you do here, all day? Not... I don't mean the Bending stuff, I mean more like... jobs, school, things like that. Do people have jobs?"

Nita chuckled, "Y'know, we had someone a while back who made a point about trying to change that."

Her smile fell a moment. "He's gone back to Sleep since, but..."

Nita shrugged again, good-naturedly.

"Explore, usually. Try to help people with whatever baggage they brought from home, research into how this place got founded and what Kalliste, the place before this, was like. We've had people make a school, too, but most of the people behind that have since gone back to Sleep, or are out exploring in the Between, helping fix other worlds."

September & October Test Drive

=DDD Have you seen the fandom Slack? I can shoot you a link if you'd like.

I haven't, I didn't know there was one!

Here's the link: https://youngwizards-slackin.herokuapp.com/

Thank you :D :D :D

^^ I go by AutisticAce, there.

Okay! Very cool :)

D'you remember which book was the last one you read?

I had to look it up, couldn't remember the specific title xD Wizard's Holiday, I think.

ebooksdirect.dianeduane.com (Then you still have more to read! ;) )

Ahahaha, omg awesome

^^

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I am once again trying to remember this word from A Wizard's Dilemma. |D

I'm awful at remembering things lol

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Pity the fairies aren't still here; they did weather forecasts!

Awww, that is a shame!

Ever heard of 'Humanity has Declined'? That's the world the mods took them from.

I haven't!

It's a short, very silly anime.

Another to add to the list then! :D

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