video, un: j.k. [post-butterfly effect]

[aeturnus]

[ On the screen is one Cain, also known as Romulus, commonly known in the city as Jacob Kane. He looks normal. Normal as he's ever looked, really, but the confidence that he lacked during the recent event is back in full force and he's very nonchalant about it all. He's at a flimsy-ish table with a laptop off to the side where the camera is obviously his propped up phone instead. ]

Hey! Long-time no talk, Riverview Quarantine. Just a few things. If you met me over the last week and a half or so, that was... technically me but not. You know that thing that was going on? Yeah, that. Don't worry about it. Forget about all that.

Quick catch-up for those who have (or haven't!) met me, I go by Jacob Kane nowadays. [ Not Romulus. Nope. This total 180 is completely normal considering he hardly looks any older or different at all. ] My job while I'm here is designing phone apps. I've been here for about two months now and I think this is my first actual post on the network. Anything interesting happen while I wasn't looking?

to Doom; Still good for lessons?

to Shai; Thank you. For everything you did.

to Natsume; Seen anything like our colorful friend lately?

Comments

[aeturnus]

What about asking the friends?

[ Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Or however the saying goes. ]

Absolutely. Always good to live in the moment... to an extent.

[scholiast]

Yeah, I... I don't think so.

(She's too nervous to skin the cat either way, Cain. Nice try tho.)

What do you mean, to an extent?

[aeturnus]

Then may you ever live in wonder.

[ He's just gonna shrug, not interested in forcing her. Maybe another day. ]

Well, if you don't look forward or forget what you came from... that's pointless.

[scholiast]

That may be exactly what happens.

(She's not entirely gutted about that, though, as she's nervous to meet Taako's boyfriend.)

Oh. Yes, well. (She smiles wryly.) You're quite wise when you want to be, Cain.

[aeturnus]

At least it will always keep you on your toes.

[ Which is fair. He gets that sort of thing, even if he's usually a bystander to watching others go through it. When his kids find someone they like, it's definitely on the top of his list to meet them and make sure they're good enough, personally. ]

Ha, that's me taking my own advice. Sometimes.

[scholiast]

(Totally. Besides, she knows she's not exactly the most fun person to be around and that it takes a bit of getting used to her.

Lucretia shrugs.)

Only sometimes? You should listen to yourself more often!

[aeturnus]

[ Which is fine. Some people are worth digging under the shell for. ]

Where's the fun in that? Come on, now.

[scholiast]

(B'awww)

I guess there is a certain degree of responsibility you have to be held to if you listen to yourself all the time. Are you much of a rule breaker, Cain?

[aeturnus]

Ha. Believe it or not, no. [ There's just some he would never dare to poke. More arbitrary ones... ] Depends on the rules, though.

[scholiast]

Oh, so a rule breaker under the right circumstances.

(She grins.) I think that applies for a lot of people.

[aeturnus]

No one falls all rules all the time. Then we'd all be pretty similar, huh?

[scholiast]

Yes.

(A horrible thought, really.) I've been to worlds where it's like that. Where we had to follow a lot of rules, I mean. It was awful.

[aeturnus]

What kind of rules?

[ Just enforcing tons of meaningless laws and rules seems like a good way to kill a country, or the spirit of the people in it... ]

[scholiast]

Curfews, certain ways we had to behave. Sometimes worlds were uninhabited, but others were home to people who ran their lives according to rules we weren't exempt from.

It... makes sense. We were staying on their planets after all, so it made sense to abide by their laws. But... sometimes it was hard, and boring.

[aeturnus]

Did you ever check out the other countries? Or different cultures?

[ He finds it hard to believe that so many worlds in the vast universe would only have one culture per planet. Surely not...? ]

[scholiast]

Sure. But we had to stay closest to wherever the light fell, so. We'd be in more or less the same place for the entire cycle, unless we didn't see it fall at all.

(Those were the worst cycles.)

[aeturnus]

Never figured out some kind of radar for it?

[ Ouch. ]

[scholiast]

Nope. Not for lack of trying, though.

I'm hoping we can figure out a way to track it more reliably soon.

[aeturnus]

Maybe you could use some of the time here to figure it out. Did you ever record any of the readings?

[ What with her journal-keeping and all. ]

[scholiast]

I did, but...

(She frowns.) I only had one journal with me when I crossed over. The rest are on the ship.

[aeturnus]

Ouch. Think you could remember any of it?

[ He's trying to help??? ]

[scholiast]

Probably, if I sat down and dedicated an afternoon to it.

(If she closes her eyes real tight and thinks, she can remember her journals spread out in front of her in her quarters on the ship. Hopefully she can glean something from that.)

I really should start looking into a way to have all my information with me at once.

[aeturnus]

Oh, that's not too hard. We should get you a laptop or tablet or something. They've even got ones you can write on that will convert it to plain text...

[ Now he's thinking about it. ]

It'd basically be like a journal with thousands of pages and none of the bulk.

[scholiast]

Oh, like– is this another electronic thing?

(She's a bit confused, but the whole thing sounds very positive.)

That would... that would be a real game changer, honestly.

[aeturnus]

It is. We can take a look around later for one you might like, see what prices come out to be. I'm sure it'll help.