text, un: anonymouse

[aeturnus]

so hey i'm Asking For A Friend ;) but how many other immortals are here in the quarantine? any?

also! important question!! what did everyone get told when they got here? what questions did you ask? i wanna know what we're working with! Let's Work Together!

p.s., if you want to answer the first question without a name there are burner phones available at [ small list of locations ] to make unattached accounts. i'm just looking for at least numbers! names would be radical too of course!

Comments

[aeturnus]

[ There's a grin at that motion and he waves his hand vaguely. ]

What you know. Did you say you saw the portal itself? Or know people who have?

[signifies]

I've read everything in the library.

[ Living a double life in a closed environment with less danger is proving to be difficult. He can't just say he used his X-ray vision. ]

There've been some people who disappeared after arriving here. I'm not sure if they went home.

[aeturnus]

[ He doesn't sit up straight or act more seriously, but his expression flickers at that. Concern. ]

Any patterns?

[signifies]

[ Clark shakes his head. ]

The sample size is too small. I only know two people who vanished, and I've been here since the beginning.

[aeturnus]

What do you mean, the beginning?

[ He realizes he doesn't have an exact time frame for the history of this place, and immediately makes plans to fix that. He'll need to tighten up his understanding of this place if he has any chance of truly relaxing here. ]

[signifies]

With the first group of mass new arrivals. There seems to be one every month since.

[aeturnus]

It didn't always happen like that?

[signifies]

I'm not entirely sure. You might to dig for that.

[aeturnus]

That's fine with me.

You did say you read the library, though. Any insight there?

[signifies]

There's a lot of research on the Portal. It's some kind of magic... which I'm not used to.

[aeturnus]

Guess that's fair. Anything on that type of magic is probably kept around Gramarye instead.

[ He assumes. Maybe the internet will help, too, but with more specific stuff like this... It's going to be some pounding the pavement to get there and pushing past recent fears—another spike in his heartbeat—but he'll deal. He always does. ]

[signifies]

Probably.

Are you planning to have a look at the Portal yourself?

[aeturnus]

Yeah. I'll have to do a lot of prep work beforehand, though, maybe go with someone else, too.

[signifies]

I can come with you, if you like. They know me.

[aeturnus]

[ He grins. ]

That'd be great, Clark. Foot in the door is always good.

[signifies]

[ Clark smiles just as their drinks arrive. ]

Then just give me a call when you're ready.

[aeturnus]

[ He nods, takes his drink to sip at it. Dips his head minutely. ]

Not bad. You have any questions for me while we're here?

[signifies]

How does your immortal friend feel about being here?

[ "Friend."

He can play this game, okay. ]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain just outright laughs, chair dipping back further before he settles. After all this trouble of meeting in person and giving himself away, there's no point in talking about it. ]

I feel very, very out of place.

[signifies]

[ Clark smiles, glad to have precipitated laughter. Cain is an amiable guy but Clark knows from experience friendly doesn't mean open or relaxed. ]

Even with all the different kinds of people here?

[aeturnus]

[ They're definitely different things, but Cain doesn't mean any harm by keeping his own guard relatively up right now. ]

Yes? There's a lot of different things here, but nothing quite different in the same way I am. It's a pretty self-centered viewpoint but one I'll have to work my way out of.

[signifies]

[ Empathy and recognition flashes in Clark's eyes. He knows first-hand what that's like.

Even with family here, Kara and Jon's experiences are from their own realities. That's okay, but Clark has been feeling alone for a long time. ]

It's hard to be alone. How old are you, if I can ask?

[aeturnus]

[ He sees it. It says more than perhaps anything else Clark has said so far. Cain tucks that away for now because he doesn't know enough, doesn't care to pry enough. The seed of interest has been sown, however. ]

Two thousand, seven hundred and—either ninety-one or ninety-two if you count the fact that we skipped the calendar date of my birthday when I got here. I've just been rounding up to three thousand for brevity's sake.

[signifies]

You're born on February 29th?

[aeturnus]

No, March 23rd. Close as I can estimate, anyway. What I meant was it was December at home and it's May here.