video | un: detdecker

[couldkillthedevil]

Besides all this mumbo-jumbo about portals and the fact I've obviously lost my mind and am lying strapped to a hospital bed somewhere, I've got a few things I'd like to clear up—

[The blonde woman frowns deeply at the screen, brows drawn tightly together in displeasure.]

—namely, it's been told to me that we can't leave this place until they've scrounged up enough 'resources' to send us back, which seems oddly convenient. Does anyone know if there's been success with that yet? Has anyone been sent back home, or is that some nebulous 'someday' thing they're telling us? Second of all...

[Her hand comes up to gently cup a small gold locket hanging around her neck; a gift from the city to her, it seemed. Her mouth works for a moment, trying to find the words.]

Trixie, baby, if you can hear me, mommy's here and going to find you. I promise. Just sit tight, monkey.

Comments

audio | un: detdecker

[couldkillthedevil]

[There's a quiet sigh on her end at that.]

That's what I thought. I know some of the new arrivals have been here longer than others, so it sounds like something they've been saying for awhile.

[yokunaru]

I'm sorry. [He says quietly.] It's not an easy thing to hear, even if you're expecting it.

I've been here a couple months already. I could try to answer any questions you have about the city, if you want?

[couldkillthedevil]

What questions don't I have at this point?

[More muttered to herself than at him, though the sentiment rang true.]

Anything you can tell me about this place would be helpful. Who runs it? What do they want with us, aside from workers? And what's the deal with the whole fountain gift-giving thing?

[yokunaru]

I know the feeling. [He doesn't blame her for feeling that way, honestly.]

Ah, I'll start with the easiest one. The fountain's part of the festival called Prijata. Apparently this place has a themed festival about every month or so--or at least, that's what I'm guessing. There's been one every month that I've been here.

[couldkillthedevil]

Got it. Seems like this place is really into their traditions. Any idea how they know what kind of gift to give us? The one I received was far too personal for it to have been a lucky guess.

[yokunaru]

[There's a sigh on his end.] Mine was like that, too. It definitely isn't a lucky guess.

My guess is magic of some kind. [He pauses.] Don't ask me how it works, though. Before I ran into these portal things, I didn't even know magic was real.

[couldkillthedevil]

Right. [She doesn't sound entirely convinced by that.] Whether it's magic or some freak act of nature, there's got to be some kind of explanation for it.

[Not that she's going to get it anytime soon.]

What about outside of the city? Others have told me it's dangerous and full of 'monsters'.

[yokunaru]

What did you get--um, if you don't mind me asking?

And...yeah. The monsters are real, unfortunately. It'll be dangerous for you to go out unless you know how to defend yourself. [He even sounds apologetic about it.] I've only been out there once so far--a lot of it's just rough terrain. There's supposed to be an abandoned part of the city out there, too, but I haven't seen it yet.

[couldkillthedevil]

This. [She holds up the small gold locket around her neck by part of the chain.] It's— there's a picture of my daughter inside.

[There's a sigh from her end that almost could be exasperation, if not for how tired it sounds. It sounds ridiculous, but with so many people saying the same thing...]

So have you actually seen these monsters yourself, or is that just a story people are running with? As for the abandoned part of the city and the terrain, does that mean this is the only actual populated city around here? Or are there more?

[yokunaru]

Mine was a picture my best friend and I took while we were in university together. [Fair's fair. She told him what hers was, so Yuuri feels compelled to do the same.]

Oh! Yes. I've run into monsters before. Once was--well, some giant lizard creatures got into the tunnels underneath the city. The other time was when I was traveling outside the fence. Our group ran into a handful of monsters out there.

[couldkillthedevil]

You must miss him. [Assuming said best friend wasn't here with him, anyway.]

This whole thing... all of it just sounds insane. You realize that, right?

[yokunaru]

I do. [No point denying it.] I never thought I'd be taken away from him and my family like this.

Trust me, I know it sounds crazy. The world I come from doesn't have anything like magic or...monsters. The only reason I'm not questioning it, is I've had a while to get used to it all.

[couldkillthedevil]

Yeah, no one would. It's not exactly a normal situation.

Right. Well, you'll have to excuse me for not being willing to just accept this right off the bat then. I've had plenty of experience with people trying to get me to believe impossible things even back home, so this is just another notch on my scale.

[yokunaru]

I don't blame you at all. I've been doing some research of my own about the portal and this place when I can. Just...just in case.

[After some of the experiences he's had, he's grown a bit paranoid about collecting information to be prepared for whatever might be thrown his way.

He sounds curious when he speaks up again.] What kind of impossible things did you have to deal with before?

[couldkillthedevil]

[That makes her perk up a bit, interest clear in her voice.] Really? Find anything interesting out?

[She wasn't much of a scientist, after all. Even though she could and fully intended to take a look at the portal, she wasn't very knowledgable about natural phenomena or how to find anything that'd yield actual data.

She hums thoughtfully at his question, though.]

Just... someone I know and worked closely with can do some really weird things that I still can't explain. He would always insist it's because he's the Devil.

private audio;

[yokunaru]

[Yuuri switches to the private filter after a moment.

While it's not exactly a secret, it's something he had to dig around a little to find. Yuuri doesn't really think it'll make that much of a difference of anyone else hears their conversation in the long run, but some of the paranoid habits he'd picked up in the previous universe still stick with him.]

I found a few things, mostly about this place's history. The portal was used in a war some time before people like us started arriving here in the city.

[He pauses, like he's surprised.] The...Devil? That doesn't sound like anything good, even if he isn't who he says he is.

permaprivate

[couldkillthedevil]

[She switches her filter to private as well to match him.

She'd been curious about this place from the start, really, so hearing that he'd found its history was promising. One more piece to a very large puzzle.]

Interesting. If you don't mind me asking, where did you find this information? Is it available to everyone, or is it a private source?

[She'd love to get her hands on the information herself, if only to read it with her own eyes. Not that she didn't trust him, but she was a creature of evidence and meticulous detail. If it were in a book somewhere, she'd like to comb through it.]

It's a persona he puts on. But either way, he's not a bad person. A pain in my ass, but he's a good partner. He's proven that plenty of times by now.

[yokunaru]

It's available to everyone. I found a few detailed histories in the library when I went digging around there. I can give you the books if you'd like to look them over yourself.

[A soft, thoughtful hum.] My fiance was able to get the same information when he asked around the Perimeter Guard, too. The members who have been here longer, I mean.

[He pauses again.] I don't think they're trying to keep the information from us... or they wouldn't have said anything at all or hidden all those books. It seems more like they just don't like talking about what happened.

[couldkillthedevil]

I'd appreciate that, thank you. Someone else mentioned a public records department, too, so I've got quite a bit of reading to do.

[She makes her own thoughtful little noise in the back of her throat.] I'm getting that sense as well. They seemed pretty open to questions, for the most part. Still, it's hard to get answers for questions you're not even sure you should ask. Someone mentioned something about other timelines, which was the furthest thing I would've ever thought to ask about.