tongueamok | XOqNI

Hello, this is Carlisle.

I mean, it's not Carlisle as in I'm actually answering you right now, so if you're trying to reply to me at the second, you should probably save your breath because I'm not really here. This is some kind of a recording of my voice, but this is my communicator. I'm going to assume these devices are as common here as they are in other places — not my world, but others, ones more technologically advanced than where I come from— so if you'd like to leave me a message, then you may do so here, or er...

Right. Here is fine. So just leave yo—

[beep]

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From:

circumitus

Hey, um. You got a minute?

Need to talk to you about something.

From:

tongueamok

Me? Really?

[Because he's not sure Rey has ever needed to talk to him about anything.]

From:

circumitus

Yes, really.

[No, she hasn't. Which is all the more reason why she's been putting off this conversation. But ever since her most recent discussion with Muscovy, she's needed confirmation about a few things.]

What do you know about the "Rey" where you're from, and how similar would you say we are? And the people she was close with... What about them?

[Even now she doesn't refer to that "other Rey" as herself, simply because, in her mind, she views that version as a completely different person.]

From:

tongueamok

You're asking this now? After months of likely assuming I'm insane?

[Or at least that's the vague impression he has gotten every time he's spoken to her, though to be fair, he was high as a kite on fireflies one of those times.]

From:

circumitus

Don't say you'd feel any different if someone were to approach you, acting like they know you from some other universe. Have an unusual life back home, but not that unusual.

[But okay, that's besides the point. Sigh.]

Was not in a very good place back then. Things are... not the same now.

From:

tongueamok

[She does have a point.] Fair enough.

You seem colder here, and not just because I haven't seen you work your pyromancy. I mean, I wouldn't've called you warm in temperament either, but you're certainly less help than you were when I knew you.

From:

circumitus

[Rey can figure what he means by "colder" well enough. She isn't exactly a nice person. At least, she isn't the type anyone would expect warm fuzzy feelings from.

[Not all of her other selves were the same, though. Some were colder than others. More mindful than others. More helpful than others. She could name a few because they all had names, and they were all different people from her. And yet, despite that, they're a part of her in a way that she can neither deny nor ignore.

[She remembers all of that, though. What she doesn't remember is living the life of this other Rey in some other universe. So does that even count as the same thing?

[Fuck if she knows. She shakes her head, not sure whether to associate herself from this other Rey whose memories she doesn't even hold unlike so many others.]

Do you know how long she was there, in that other world?

From:

tongueamok

I don't know. I was there nearly a year myself, and she'd— I mean, you— you'd been there far longer than that.

[There's some muttering to himself on his end about a number and if only he could recall hers. He's fairly certain it was an early one.]

From:

circumitus

[Don't think she didn't catch any of that muttering, Carlisle.]

Number?

From:

tongueamok

[His voice gets louder as he brings the phone to him again.]

Ah, er. We were all given numbers on our arms, and they marked when we were brought to the Tranquility. I... suppose I never thought to even see if yours was there to determine if it really was you or not.

From:

circumitus

[Fair enough. Rey was wearing her armor when they first met, so it wasn't like he could check then. And the second time he was too high on those damned fireflies to probably notice.]

Everyone was branded with numbers? That's a little... barbaric.

From:

tongueamok

I was told they were key to giving us access to the ship, as well as a few other uses. Everyone had them, though.

From:

circumitus

Suppose that would make sense. Sort of.

[At least, it's no less unbelievable than "magic phones" and everything else that she's seen here. Plus, not even her world is advanced enough to have achieved spacefaring technology, so it doesn't sound too strange.]

So what do these numbers have to do with how long you've been there?

[Forgive the 20 Questions, Carlisle. Rey has them.]

From:

tongueamok

[He's just glad she seems interested now, though he has yet to figure out why.]

Ah, well, the first number -- no wait, maybe it was the second -- well, one of the numbers designated what jump you arrived on. It was a complicated bit of technology, the jumps. Didn't quite understand it all myself.

The point is that mine was forty-two. I don't quite recall yours. Only really saw it a time or two, but I remember thinking it was certainly an early number, and that you must have been one of the first ones aboard the ship.

From:

circumitus

[It's good that Maketh shared Rey her collection of notes regarding the Tranquility. Otherwise she wouldn't understand much of what Carlisle just said, plus the terminology.]

One of the first ones? Any idea how long that could have been?

From:

tongueamok

Let's see... there was a jump every month I was there, I believe? So... assuming we're going by a calendar of twelve moons...

[That sound on his end would be his pen scratching across paper as he does some numbers.]

The first people would have showed up on the Tranquility about three and a half years prior?

From:

circumitus

[Three and a half...?

[FUCK.]

Seriously? Was there for that long?

From:

tongueamok

Well, assuming you came in on the first jump. It'd be a little less than three years if you came in shortly after.

[NOT HELPING, CARLISLE.]

From:

circumitus

[NOT HELPING ONE BIT, CARLISLE.]

...

[She falls silent for a good moment, taking all of this information in. It's several seconds before she speaks up again:]

And this "other Rey" had been around long enough to take someone else's name and let some kid call her his mother.

Great.

[Now it's her problem. THANKS, OTHER!REYBAMA.]

From:

tongueamok

That's right.

[A pause on his end.]

I... did tell you about that, didn't I? I know I mentioned thinking you were related to Mr. Prochainezo, but I can't recall if I told you about the lad you two lived with in that treehouse outside of the camp. I mean, I suppose I must have, if you know about them.

[He knows he mentioned Firo, but did he mention the kid? He doesn't think he did, but he must have. Surely.]