XOqNI

[tongueamok]

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]

Comments

[circumitus]

No--

Well, sort of. It's possible to shut off any emotional connection for a time, but it's only temporary and it may not always be the best solution.

[Pause.] Actually, um. That's what happened when we first met. The second time as well.

[Which would be all the times that they've met, actually.]

[tongueamok]

And that would explain your coldness, wouldn't it? It seems you're full of answers today.

[circumitus]

It wasn't without reasons. Rage was making people kill each other. Had no desire to be used for that by being forced to murder an innocent girl.

[Even if it made Miriam utterly terrified of her for some time. Better scared than dead.]

[tongueamok]

You mean Miriam, don't you?

[Miriam had described Rey as "a crazy lady who tried to kill her for no reason." He's going three-for-three on getting answers today.]

[circumitus]

Ah, yes. Think that's her name. Girl with the dog, right?

[tongueamok]

That's right. I wondered why you would attack her. When she told me, I wasn't sure I could believe it.

[circumitus]

So she told you.

[Not surprising, considering she was openly telling people on the network to punch Rey in the face and shit. Sigh.]

It was Rage, though can't entirely blame it all on her. Probably shouldn't have approached the girl in the first place. [That's easy enough to say when you're no longer being controlled by a godlike influence, Rey.]

[tongueamok]

Probably not, but she is fortunate no harm came to her. She seems clever, but also young, and perhaps a bit foolhardy.

[circumitus]

Yes, she is certainly all of those things. Particularly the foolhardy part.

[Considering that she still seemed to be under the assumption that Rey was out for her blood.]

[tongueamok]

Well, I don't think she was expecting someone of your expertise to come after her.

[circumitus]

Suppose not, but she's fortunate that a weaker willed person didn't come after her instead.

[tongueamok]

She is. She seems insistent that her dog can protect her from anything, and while he may be an intimidating beast, I'm not so sure.

[circumitus]

Dogs are good to have when dealing with humans. Don't think he can do much for her against many of the other dangers here. Am not claiming to be an expert on the animals, though.

[tongueamok]

Me either. I'd never even pet a dog until I met hers.

[circumitus]

Seriously? Do they not have dogs in your world or something?

[tongueamok]

Oh no, they do. We didn't get many coming through Bear Den, and I didn't venture far from the area unless I had to.

[circumitus]

A homebody, huh? Can't say that's a surprise. [Carlisle doesn't seem like he gets out that much.] Couldn't have been easy, being ripped away from your home like that.

[tongueamok]

It wasn't.

[He still feels guilt over leaving people behind. There's no telling if the folks of Bear Den will be okay -- they were already struggling economically, and now they're without a church, healer, and negotiator, as well.]

There's not much to be done about it for the moment, though.

[circumitus]

If it's any consolation, it seems that you're able to return back to your world at the point in time you had left it. Know this from personal experience.

[That way Carlisle doesn't have to think much about people being without him all this time.]

[tongueamok]

I do hope that's true in all cases. It would ease my mind to know that my responsibilities back home are not going unchecked.

[circumitus]

Have heard it to be true so far. Can't say for certain, though. Yours is a much different case.

[Who's to say that Carlisle wouldn't just return to the previous place that ripped him from his original home? But even Rey knows better than to feed him that food for thought.]

[tongueamok]

True. Most here seem to have been brought directly from their homes, whereas I've been plucked from a world already foreign to me.

[He's already thought about that, Rey. It's the nature of his paranoid mind.]

[circumitus]

Well, there's no surefire answer unless one of those gods come back with answers about that Door. Perhaps that thing could send you back home.

[Or something.]

[tongueamok]

Yes. Perhaps it could.

Would you go home if you could, Miss Rey?

[circumitus]

Not really. There isn't much to go back to.

Or, rather... am not eager to return, given the circumstances that occurred after leaving it last.