text (un: natsume.t)

[mingling]

It's a little weird, right?

Comments

un: anderson

[wronganswer]

Being here? More than a little.

text; user: katsuki

[yokunaru]

Depends on what you mean. What's weird?

[mingling]

Yeah.
Thanks
It would be weirder if only I thought it was weird.

[mingling]

Well

[Where to begin.]

It's not what I expected

[yokunaru]

[There's been an influx of new arrivals, from what Yuuri's seen, so he makes an educated guess.]

The city? I'm guessing you just came through the portal.

[mingling]

Yeah
But a lot of people have come through, right? That's what they said. And that's what it looks like, too.

[yokunaru]

That's right. From what I know, everyone who's here in the city right now came through the portal pretty recently.

[mingling]

So it is a lot
That's not what I expected at all

[yokunaru]

I guess it would be surprising how many people have been pulled through. The portal's been pretty busy.

You get used to groups of new people showing up after you've been here a while, though.

[mingling]

[There are a few specific reasons as to why he finds it so weird, but... notably...]

Doesn't it mean that that many people didn't want to be where they were?

[Of course, he feels awkward about asking it immediately, to the point of regret.]

No, I mean
The way they explained it

[yokunaru]

[Ah, so that's what's bothering him. Not too surprising.]

It does. When I asked the people leading the orientation, they said the portal seems to sense when someone feels like they don't belong somewhere or they need a new home. That's how we all ended up here.

Not sure if you've heard yet, but there's a way to return home if you think the portal was wrong.

[mingling]

[It's not that Natsume doesn't want to go home—being away from it makes his nerves feel frost-bitten—but feeling like he belongs there is... a markedly different story.

And who is he to say when a mistake like that has been made?]

So what if someone doesn't belong here, either?

un: pro.fisherman

[heavyhead]

You can say that again. What's with all the plants?

[He's not even new, but still.]

[mingling]

[That is decidedly NOT the weirdest part, in Natsume's opinion, but at this point... what does he know.]

It's beautiful here, at least.

[heavyhead]

I guess. On the moon, though? It's pretty weird.

[Moons don't have plants, that's his pressing concern. It's up there.]

[mingling]

But it's probably not a "moon" moon, right?

[Or... something. He's at least a little used to some things being referred to with terms he wouldn't otherwise use, because spirits are mysterious or...

Again, or something.]

text; un: KANEKI

[anthropophagite]

Most things in this place are.
What is weird to you, exactly?

[yokunaru]

I'm not sure... I've been trying to do some research on this portal when I can, but a lot of it's really confusing.

I haven't heard of anyone being sent to another universe if they don't like it here either, though.

[mingling]

Lots of things
I know they're trying to help, but
Isn't this technically illegal?
Maybe more than technically.

I don't want any police reports or anything. At my home. I could have left a note first, at least. But then I'd be a runaway, right? That's no good, either.

But, I know they probably weren't thinking about that. I guess it's not surprising. Even if it's not surprising, though, it's weird.

If they think I should be here, maybe I should be here, but I wasn't really prepared.

[mingling]

["Liking it" vs. "belonging"... It's unsettling in a familiar way, at least to Natsume. Regardless,]

I didn't really believe in this sort of thing before.

[yokunaru]

I didn't really either.

The world I came from didn't have magic or portals or anything like this, except in books and movies. It was a huge shock at first.

[mingling]

Do the people here come from a lot of different places?
Worlds, I mean

["Places" feels... easier to use?]

[anthropophagite]

They thought they were saving us. We are brought here because somehow we felt like we didn't belong, I think, and the Portal apparently should only pick people from dying worlds. Or meant to be dying, so they thought they were saving us.

I asked to go home and they said they are working on that. [ so there is that, at least ]

[heavyhead]

Uh
Maybe? What would it be then, a mini-planet?

[mingling]

Yeah

[That much has been understandable to him—or, really, when it comes down to it, he's internalizing the idea of not belonging where he was. It feels like some sort of cosmic confirmation. A part of him is resigned to it.

And yet...]

There are just some goodbyes I would have liked to say