riverview | [video | un: urtv.668]

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[video | un: urtv.668]

[the video comes on with Citrine looking at the camera as she begins walking outside. the picture's a bit shaky, but she figures it's better to make this introduction quick instead of getting tangled up in individual explanations later. for all its familiar technology, this place sure has the worst housing system for its newcomers.]

Since I have no other reliable way of addressing all of you at once...

To the inhabitants of floor six in communal housing: This is just to let you all know that I will be spending most of my time at work or scouting the outside, so we are not likely to see each other very often. Don't take it personally if I don't socialize with you.

[she stops in her tracks and hesitates a bit before softening her tone slightly. she knows better than to be rude right off the bat, after all.]

If you require anything of me, however, feel free to reach out to me via the network. I will see what can be done.

[still, the thought of sharing living space with a group of strangers (or almost-strangers, which adds a whole new level of strange to this situation) makes her grimace for a second and she can't help but add the last bit under her breath.]

People better have the decency to leave my space untouched while I'm out or else...

[she turns the video off, with just the audio on for the last part]

Citrine out.

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That level of tech is a little above my pay grade.

[At the next question, he smirks before shrugging slightly.]

I seem to be making a habit of it, even without mysterious portals and gods jerking me around. Back home I apparently send myself through a portal, too... More than once.

[At least in that case it's just one location. Still, if Citrine doesn't react to the mention of "gods" he's bound to entirely dismiss this as another coincidence. There weren't nearly this many in Attollo, and not many people here from Attollo now that he thought about it. No, duplicates pretty much only happened here, and they were at this point exclusively from Purg as far as he could tell. Something else to think on, apparently sinners and the displaced had some sort of connection.

If Val hadn't made it so clear who she was immediately, he would have said nothing to her, either.]

So, if you have any questions I've probably got you covered.

[such a casual mention of portal travel alone would not be something she would be suspicious of considering what her own universe was doing at one point, but the specific mention of being jerked around by gods makes her pause. she actually takes a moment to look at her device in silence, contemplating the possibility.]

Then I do have a question.

[more than one, and one that might make her sound crazy, so she'll start with the less strange sounding one first. better to confirm some things before making a fool out of herself by making connections too quickly.]

What was the place you were in before you came here like? Not your home world, I mean.

[He notes the reaction, the way she pauses to consider before speaking again. Citrine was always very thoughtful though, so there was no reason to believe it was for any reason but because she was taking in what he'd just said.

The question is hardly unusual, many people asked him about where he was before coming to Riverview and how they compared so he's unaware of just what she's trying to sniff out there.]

Attollo was an island with three residential regions and a major city for work. The gods brought us in because they needed energy or something like that, to keep the place thriving.

[A pause, he didn't like to get into the context of Attollo, so he considers his next words carefully.]

They did what they could to influence us to give in to their demands, but- other than that it was a pretty laid back environment, we worked, socialized, and researched the place and how to get out of it during our free time.

[There's obviously more to it than that, but no sense bombarding a newcomer right away with all of this information. Especially since it didn't really pertain to what she should expect in Riverview.]

[There it is. Some world she has never heard of, featuring gods. She smiles briefly to herself at that. Who would have thought that there were more worlds like Purgatorium, pulling the same yet different people in for a similar harrowing. ]

Interesting. My universe originally experienced similar phenomena to what is happening here. I suppose it is more common than we all thought.

[Miltia disappearing was seen as a complete enigma at the time. Now she realizes there could have been much worse happening. There's too much she doesn't know about the universe, and that thought makes her feel smaller than she'd like to be.]

How long have you been away from your home world? You seem--

[Older than I remember you, she almost says without thinking, but she changes the direction of the question without too much of a hiccup.]

--unfazed talking about these things.

Your home world?

[That got his attention, so far Jon had been the only one he knew of that seemed to be able to dismiss this whole concept as business as usual. Still, he shouldn't be surprised it was possible elsewhere. He didn't know anything about Citrine's life back home, their relationship had never really allowed for such discussions.]

Ah... About five years, I guess.

[Yes, he was entirely too used to it, and very aware of that fact but still having it pointed out makes him shift slightly.]

It's- hard to keep track of, the first world I was in kind of messed with time after awhile.

[Five years. That looks about right. Maybe. She doesn't even know how old Ed was when they met in the first place. That makes her pause again. What a strange relationship they'd had. They barely knew each other and still somehow talked frequently. And, more importantly, had their "deathmatches".]

Hm. Time contortion seems to be common within dimensional pockets. A whole planet was swallowed up in an incident back in my home world, which stopped time for everyone on that planet. I suppose you may have been in a similar situation.

[This isn't too bad, actually. Maybe it's because this Ed has experienced the whole world hopping thing already, but it's surprisingly nice to talk about the nature of portal travel so casually. Most people she noticed at orientation seemed confused when they arrived and the staff seemed more occupied with making people comfortable than giving extensive information. Maybe the previous Ed would have been a reliable comrade if she'd taken the time to get to know him better... Well, it's not too late to start now.]

I guess it's still too early to ask, but have you noticed time passing naturally for you in Riverview?

[She'd missed him when he actually looked his age, but he wasn't about to get into the whole not aging for several years before aging suddenly in a new world and then finding himself here with what amounted to a total stranger. He paused at the casual mention of a planet being swallowed, but recovered as quickly as he could considering.]

Well. Time moved where I was, it was just that no one aged so it can be difficult to know how much had. There was also an incident that made us think twenty years had passed when it was barely one. After what feels like over twenty years, the difference between three or five is .... Not as easy to follow.

[The reactions he'd gotten to mentioning that there was no sun for a lot of it made him pause at divulging that information. Someone as no-nonsense as Citrine would probably make that sound as ridiculous as Garrus had when he told him.]

It's only been a few months, you're right. Everything has seemed mostly normal since I got to Attollo, it's been about a year and a half since I first wound up there. Things don't seem any different here on that front.

[Ed had been keeping meticulous track of time since leaving Purg, because of how things were there. He didn't mention the rest, that since arriving here he'd actually regressed in age, because he wasn't sure he wanted to be the one to explain memory canisters to anyone, actually.]

So time here passes normally...

[She's murmuring that to herself, caught up in trying to match what she's heard so far with what she knows. Either version of events doesn't seem to match up - it's not what she knows happened in her own universe, and it doesn't quite match Purg either. Twenty years? She doesn't remember that ever happening to her. That confirms it, then. As familiar as talking to Ed feels, this can't be the same version she knew.]

This clears up some of my questions. Thank you for your insights. I...

[There's hesitation here. She realizes she's been talking to Ed for longer than she expected to, but the familiarity of it is...nice. Now that's a feeling she never thought she'd have.]

...I will start analyzing this place's climate data as I get it. If there is a freeze coming any time soon, we should prepare.

[Not only for the snowballs, of course. Totally not just for that. Although it would be fun to smack a snowball in this Ed's face and be the one to get the first hit this time.]

As far as I can tell.

[His experience and research so far points in that direction, at least.]

Of course.

[He does note the hesitation, but he's sure that it being Citrine she's being practical. It's not as if she said anything about snow or dropped a hint to those familiar days, all she mentioned was preparing for a freeze. Which was a survivalist mentality.]

You're right, and- thanks. I'm sure we'll find plenty of information to provide each other, I'm looking forward to it.

[The sincere smile that followed might actually support those words, if anything he'd probably seem friendlier and calmer than any version of Ed she might have known before.]

[He's smiling. For a moment, Citrine can feel the snow crunching in her hand and the wind blowing against her face. It's been a while since they had their last snowball fight but the familiarity of this interaction makes the memory so vivid she almost tastes the wet cold in her mouth.]

I have one more question, actually.

[Or more like a hundred more, but she has to keep herself brief for now. It's hard enough trying to remember this place is her reality now; it's better not to grasp at too many straws. The nature of Purgatorium made it hard to tell whether something was a play by the gods or in fact happening, and with this strange familiarity, she isn't sure which one it is.]

I realize you haven't been here for long either, but... How has this world treated you so far?

[She's not sure how else to word it. Scenery shifts and power changes had almost become an everyday thing in Purg. Riverview seems relatively peaceful in comparison, but that could be an illusion.]

[It's been even longer for him, the months here, the year in Attollo and then factoring in how much time he spent in Purg since Citrine's disappearance. When she says she has another question his expression shifts to something more serious, curiously. How did one answer this question?]

Well. It's better than the last two, for starters. Strange things still happen, but the authorities take control pretty fast and get everything back to normal. As far as we know it's not gods playing tricks or trying to control us, that's for sure.

[The biggest scenery shift that Ed had faced was the arrival of the General Store, there certainly weren't any huge landscape changes, holes in the ground or any strange happenings on that level. He does pause to consider, because if she's not used to Purg or Attollo there was the chance that the strange things happening here would be alarming enough on their own.]

I've been here since June and so far we've had acid rain, monster breaches in the city, a plant that caused amnesia, a spice that caused- weird behavior.

[Putting that one delicately. He skips over the kissing bubbles, considering that was one whackjob's mistake.]

Ghost appearances have happened. You just missed everyone's memories being broadcast on the network, and walking in other people's dreams.

[He ... Hopes that's over, anyway. It's been about a week since he heard or witnessed anything himself. A cake walk compared to Purg, so he sounds like none of it is any big deal.]

I think that's all? I'm happy to answer any other questions you have, though.

[Business as usual, is what Citrine wants to say but keeps to herself for now. This is almost too much like Purgatorium. What if she never left at all? Is this only another variation of the same world? She stares at her device in silence again, contemplating. At least these mobile communicators are a lot more convenient than the ancient terminals they used back there.]

That is... quite a number of strange things.

[In fact, if she were to add these to the dossier she kept within White Fang headquarters, it would not seem out of place. Maybe it would be a good idea to continue this project here, more so if this might end up as another iteration of the world she already knew.]

Do authorities keep reports of these happenings? If not, I will propose such a collection at the Guard. I'm sure wall integrity and citizen safety could benefit from trying to find patterns in out of norm occurrences around here.

[Business as usual is how he's felt being here. It was similar to how things were toward the end, the prophets trying to fix things, the Powers themselves trying to fix things when they went haywire. Thylas, when it was his own fault and an accident. Not in any suspicious way, thinking it was too similar to be a different place. No, Ed had Attollo as a buffer between worlds and thinking he was in Purg still when he wasn't? Been there, done that, not naive enough to do it again. Even though Attollo hardly had so many recognizable faces he did attribute that to coincidence more than anything. It made sense in a way, to him. That people were labeled sinners and pulled into Purg would also be the types to feel an unease in their worlds, the burdens of those sins weighing on them in a way that might cause feelings of displacement. It was only a theory though, more a humorous mental note than a concept he thought seriously about. At least, being from a reality that lacked any sort of similar technology, Attollo also gave him the comfort with his own communicator to get through here with ease. It functioned enough like a phone to suffice.]

It is. We don't really get a break here.

[He almost says unlike back there, but he stops himself. She wouldn't really get it anyway, if she wasn't familiar.]

There's also a weekly festival every month, down time is a rare luxury in this place.

[Especially if one had friends or family to drag you to every event.]

I'm not sure, but that might be a good idea.

[Honestly, he was more concerned with doing his own thing and not having it policed by anyone else so proposing something official hadn't even occurred to him if it didn't already exist. Which, in this place, it probably did.]

There's a public record of who has left through the portal, I've been keeping track of that because apparently anyone who leaves does so willingly, no matter what they say about their preferences before disappearing. Otherwise, I've been keeping track of things myself where I can, anything I can't find answers to on my own I've researched-

[A pause before he offers a sigh.]

Some of that research was lost in a fire in August, the whole communal building practically went up in flames. I wasn't around so I couldn't recover anything. We're rebuilding, though.

[Festivals? Really? She almost grimaces at the prospect of wasting time with such trifling things, but then again, it makes sense, she supposes, considering this place is much more inhabitable than Purgatorium, even with the dangers surrounding the city center. Still, she knows she won't be celebrating if she can find more important things to do. Having orientation staff assign work to her from the beginning is a blessing.]

That fire... was it caused by someone living here or did it...

[How to say this in a way that doesn't make her sound crazy? Did it go up in flames by itself at the whim of a higher power? Or did an extensive drought and heatwave set a building ablaze? After what she's heard so far, it wouldn't be surprising either way. She knows to be prepared for anything now.]

Did it occur without a plausible reason?

[Festivals. Welcome to Ed's personal hell, Citrine. He escaped Purg to wind up on a sex island and then managed to leave there only to spend every month faced with some new party. Also pretend that said week long, not weekly.]

Investigation determined a resident accidentally set their room on fire and it spread.

[Not that Ed would find that crazy, after all he spent far more time in Purg facing the heat waves, droughts and fires that resulted from them than Citrine had.]

We are surrounded by forest and jungle though, an abrupt fire wouldn't be too out of the ordinary if it would ever stop raining here.

[She sounds like she knows a thing or two about sudden fires, but nothing said gives any indication of where she might have had that experience. He doesn't want to think about a drought in this place, unless the wall could protect the city from that level of destruction it was hard to imagine how things would go in such an instance. At least the forest here was safe, so if a fire did start there action could be taken in order to fight it before it got close, the forest fires in Purg were hardly the worst thing about the forest, it wasn't unlikely anyone would have been able to put it out even if they dared to try.]

Ah, so it was human error.

[There is one other thing that sprang to her mind when she asked because she realizes she has been so caught up with wondering about Purg that she didn't even bother to check if any of her siblings somehow wound up here. It wouldn't have been out of question that a fire might be caused by one of their powers. Especially if it was Rubedo somehow overusing his waveform. That careless chipmunk.]

I assume there are people here with certain powers here. It was the norm in my world.

[She is referring to both her home and Purg here, somehow almost feeling like considering Purg 'her world' in this scenario.]

If someone inadvertently misused their powers, it could have caused the fire, so I thought to ask. I guess if investigators found the cause, there is no reason to question it further.

I didn't get the details on the resident.

[Might have been human error, but having a room mate like Garrus could teach a person about assuming anyone here was specifically human. Even his experiences prior to Riverview cast a new light on his interpretation of those in the worlds he was in before.]

Yeah, full power as far as I can tell. It sounds like someone's backfired unexpectedly, from what I've heard of the story anyway. That doesn't seem to happen often here, though.

[Ed still isn't used to having alchemy at full power with less taxation even after all his time away from Purg, so it was worth noting in his mind that abilities were not nerfed here as he had come to acclimate to during his time in Purgatorium.]

Sounds like you're from a pretty interesting world.

[He's honestly curious, he'd never really talked to Citrine about where she came from before or what it was like. Possibly, like Lyle, this new meeting was a chance to do things differently. Not that he expected - knowing Citrine - that even here she would be the social or talkative type. It would take some work, but starting with a common ground such as the desire to research this place was probably a good position to be in.]

Interesting and collapsing.

[She's referring to her original universe here, although who knows, perhaps the nature of Purgatorium was more like her home than she thought. There was that one incident where Gnosis showed up. And that man...]

What I find more interesting is that people seem to have full powers here.

[She pauses there, unsure how to explain. Maybe it's better not to talk about it, even if Ed mentioned having been to a world with similar entities controlling everyone's stay. She's not in the mood to go into a storytelling session explaining her previous strange journey. Not after coming to a place that explains most of their predicament in scientific terms she's familiar with.]

I expected a force field suppressing at least part of our powers considering everyone here has to live together in relative peace. But I guess technology is not advanced enough for that over here.

Sounds familiar.

[He's assuming she means her own world and not Purg here, so figures the similarity is only a coincidence. After all, Riverview took in the displaced, whether a fleeting feeling, death or a collapsing world. Citrine just seemed to fit into all of those categories.]

I've been to a lot of places, having full power is hardly the exception.

[Full power here, full power in Attollo, nerfed power in Purg, no powers in Munich - it was actually more common for everything to be in control of their abilities than not in his experience.]

Maybe those more powerful are suppressed to a point, I just haven't noticed since I'm not. This place is supposed to be a peaceful sanctuary though, so the idea of being controlled like that hardly fits the bill.

[There were gods here, it wasn't impossible to imagine they weren't capable of things they should be. At least some of them should be able to get home if they wanted, in that case, shouldn't they?]

[Ah, yes, she remembers Ed's powers. How could she not? She even had it for a short period of time, not too long ago. This is the best part of ending up in the same housing area as Ed: She knows what to expect from him, powers-wise. But it doesn't make the thing he said less concerning.]

A self-regulated environment with no restraints sounds like a breeding ground for trouble.

[If what orientation staff said is true and people from all kinds of worlds are coming through the portal unregulated, who's to say there won't be conflicts and chaos? On the upside, being here might get more interesting that way. She might as well research what type of powers people have here while she’s at it.]

That said, I suppose I prefer this freedom over being controlled by a higher power again. People seem able to cause conflict with little to no power, too. Wouldn't you agree?

[What was not long ago for her was a lifetime for him, but he has no idea she even knows a thing about alchemy or that she's used it herself. She hasn't given him any reason to put two and two together on that front, yet.]

Every one of these places is a breeding ground for trouble.

[Cynical? Nah. He's not particularly impressed by how "dangerous" this place is, if only because he'd dealt with so many unknown worlds already.]

Yeah, that they do.

[That might sound a little bitter, after all - unlike the Ed she knew - he has memories of having to stop a completely powerless human from invading his own world and trying to destroy it. People were dangerous no matter the environment or their abilities.]

[The bitterness in his voice doesn't escape her when she hears his answer. Every one of them, he says. It makes her glad she's only moved worlds once so far. How frustrating would it become to watch the same mistakes being made by different people in different worlds over and over? It's probably better to be expect it here, too. All the more reason to research both the environment and its people.]

Greed and fear... the cornerstones of humanity's downfall...

[She's murmuring that to herself here. A part of her knows it applies to her, too, but she won't let anyone know about that.]

Anyway, I think I've taken up enough of your time.

[She realizes just how long this conversation has been going. It was not what she expected to be doing when she first turned this device on to make her announcement.]

I can share whatever I can gather on the environment with you if you want.

Greed and fear are human nature.

[It was weird repeating the words someone had used against him, in conversation. Still, it was true. If he'd learned that anywhere it was from Eckhart, there were worlds where humans couldn't be trusted to live peacefully together for the simple reason of fear. His own was a perfect example of the results of humanity's greed. It applies to all of them, every one, and it makes for terrible actions.]

Sure... and I'll keep you updated on any information I find that might be useful.

[He's not sure what she'd consider useful but time would tell.]

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[video | un: urtv.668]

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