[Voice]

[tearmeanewone]

[With all of the quantum shenanigans Elizabeth has ever been involved with, this has to be the one that feels the strangest.]

[The doctor and nurses had been uncomfortably nice, even though Elizabeth had reassured them that they didn't have to treat her delicately. If this was a tragedy, she had no point of reference to mourn it. Seeing them give each other significant, sad glances was only irritating. What was possibly even more annoying though was that Elizabeth waited for the memory of her previous self to come back to her... but it wasn't. If she'd been here before, if she'd broken the rules again, memories of what she'd been like, what she'd said, how she'd died-- they would have been there. Sooner rather than later. But days went by and nothing came. She wandered around the hospital, the staff asked if she wanted to contact someone ("Who do you suggest?" she'd ask, and they would usually shrink back. No one knew who to call), and the day the 'Ingress technician' stopped by asking to talk to her she smelled a scientist and refused to let him in the room. The next day they suggested she go back to her apartment.]

[They drove her to a nice place, that they informed her she'd purchased, and once she'd been inside for a few minutes and her vitals remained stable, they took their leave to let her "get reacquainted".]

[And there she was with the strangest feeling in the world: not knowing what happened to her here.]

[There's an entire room of books-- which makes sense immediately, but the collection is the most eclectic thing she's ever seen. There are clothes in a hamper, rotting food in an ice box, dying plants on a porch, a wadded up blanket and many, many empty mugs. She was lonely, even before her apartment went abandoned for days. Did anybody know her?]

[The basic functions of the device on her wrist were explained to her on the ride to her apartment, but she's still unsure and careful as she makes selections and sets up a broadcast.]

This is Elizabeth DeWitt, formerly of the Moira's crew... [There's a long pause, and she finally realizes there's no way to avoid being straightforward.] ...I'm looking for anyone who knows me. There was an accident-- [Or incident, probably.] --and I've been told I left my timeline months ago and have been living elsewhere. Anyone who can shed some light on where I've been and what I've been doing... I'd like to speak with you.

Comments

voice;

[shadowblends]

[It's nice, he thinks, listening to Elizabeth speak without sounding distressed for once. Little Blue may not have much to offer, but he's persistent and will help however he can.]

Would you like to meet up so we can discuss it in person? Last time, I brought homemade snacks! [Remembering the important things here.] Maybe that and a little show of my powers will jostle something.

[tearmeanewone]

I think I should be thanking you for coming over. [She shuts the door after him. The apartment is perhaps a little odd-looking. It's not entirely bare, but it does have the feeling of somebody trying to move in and make it a home... and failing. Personal effects are around, but at a minimum. There's furniture, but there's one armchair too many and none of them show particular wear. It's more sad than unnerving, though Elizabeth doesn't seem to notice.]

Almost everything went bad in the icebox, but I have tea?

voice;

[tearmeanewone]

[Little Blue being a friend is probably the best thing for Elizabeth right now. As far as she's aware, she has no friends and is incapable of making friends. The fact that people are actually responding is incredible.]

...Powers? [Homemade snacks sound great, but first-- powers?]

[tearmeanewone]

Sounds like an invitation for bad advice. [She can imagine no scenario where crowd-sourcing advice on heartbreak or loneliness or really any kind of emotion could go well.]

Sure, 'like that', but I'd bet money you have something that you keep around that's meaningful. Maybe it's not what I have, but people attach meaning no matter who they are.

[notyetsore]

'S not like it was too much trouble.

[Ginko looks around curiously; he doesn't really have much of a sense of how living spaces are... supposed to look, really. All he knows is that it doesn't look like Angela's house, or where he used to live with his older self (which, even now, is still weird to think about), but those are the only living spaces where he's spent all that much time.]

Tea is fine. [He hesitates for a moment. If he's supposed to be helping her remember what happened, that might actually be a good place to start.] Um... actually, you made tea back when I and a couple other people started working at the library, too.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Oh, no don't be like that. They do say that misery loves company after all, and if nothing else. It makes great entertainment for the rest of us.

Sweetie. [She laughs] I will take you on that bet. It'll be your lost.

voice;

[shadowblends]

[Had he known any of Elizabeth's thoughts about her inability to make friends, he might have some select words about it, but that won't be much of a problem with his lack of knowledge on the subject.]

That's right! I have the power of teleportation.

[tearmeanewone]

I can believe that. [Elizabeth smirks faintly-- plus ça change...] Tea has always made me feel a little calmer, I imagine I was nervous about meeting my first-ever coworkers. [But as hard as she tries to remember that, it must not have been intense enough to shake her brain.]

[She leads Ginko to the kitchen and she starts pulling out boxes of tea. There's a lot. Maybe she was more stressed than she'd originally guessed.] That was probably my first job, honestly. Black, white, or green?

voice;

[tearmeanewone]

[Someday she'll say things out loud and this won't be a thing anymore, whoops.]

...you mean you can spontaneously transport yourself without any kind of machine? [Incredible...] How? [Really, she's asking what made him able to do that kind of thing. For her, she lost her pinky and gradually tears became a part of her everyday life. Was it similar for Kurt?]

[tearmeanewone]

I won't argue that point, but if it's all the same I'd rather not be anybody's entertainment or miserable company.

Oh yeah? So, do you leave all your doors unlocked, or do you carry a key?

[notyetsore]

If you were, you hid it really well. [Even though that had been-- what, two years ago now? He remembers it clearly enough.]

Uh... green. What did you do before then, if you didn't have a job?

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Maybe you should try to put yourself on the other perspective, then?

Actually, at the moment I don't. There's a program or something close to it that allows me in. But I get what you're trying to say and again, no use poking there. I don't get attached to places enough. [Biggest lie. Someone is still mourning for Moira]

voice;

[shadowblends]

[Kurt shall wait patiently for the day!!]

That's exactly what I mean! I'm a mutant and the teleporting is my 'mutation,' as it were-- something I've been used to for years now. [He pauses, hmmms with contemplation then continues:] It's not a perfected technique, but as with many talents, the statement 'practice makes perfect' fits well.

The more I train, the further I could go.

[tearmeanewone]

I should pat my past self on the back, then. Nice job hiding what was undoubtedly a severe case of nerves.

[She puts the other two boxes away and pulls down a couple of mugs.] Traveled, mostly. Seeing the world, that sort of thing. [She glances up a moment to flash him a brief smile. It's more or less the truth, even if it leaves out the fact that she was travelling between timelines looking for purpose and connection. Not working a job that would fund this travel.]

voice;

[tearmeanewone]

[WHAT A GOOD]

A mutation? ...As in a genetic mutation? [Something hits her-- he's like a Houdini splicer. But, at the very least, he sounds more sane than all of those ADAM-addled lunatics.]

So this is just an innate ability-- nothing happened to allow you to start teleporting? [Hell, maybe Andrew Ryan was onto something about humans evolving. He was just trying to force the issue instead of... waiting for people like Kurt to be born? Maybe?]

[The man built a city underwater to escape the government. 'Waiting' was probably not in his vocabulary.]

I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions, I've been to a place where people voluntarily mutate their genes to gain certain abilities. [She'd done it too, technically.]

[notyetsore]

I know you definitely did better at that than I did, anyway. [Aaand that would be about the closest Ginko usually gets to making jokes. It's true, though; he has no doubt that he must have come off as kind of a nervous wreck.

Probably because, you know. He was. Even more than he tends to be now.

He tilts his head thoughtfully at that. It sounds similar to his past situation, but... probably more intentional.] Yeah? What kind of places did you go?

voice;

[shadowblends]

That's correct. [Less creepy-looking 'petals' and more sulfuric-scented smoke, but essentially, that's correct.]

Well, mutants are born with something called the X-gene, which allows us to develop powers at a certain age.

[Pushing it to the limit seems like Andrew Ryan's style.]

There's no reason to apologize, Miss Elizabeth! Though, if you don't mind, might I ask what sort of abilities those people were trying to achieve? Have you ever— [he hesitates, reconsiders then shakes his head.] Nevermind.

[tearmeanewone]

All sorts. Levitation, producing fire from their hands, making machines and people more sympathetic... [And that was just in Columbia. From what Elizabeth saw, there were dozens of plasmids in Rapture. Fontaine and Ryan hadn't shelved any idea, it seemed-- even the one that had the user shooting live bees out of their hands. It must have been some kind of simple, elegant solution for somebody...]

I did. [She can guess the end of the question there.] Though it seems to have... reversed itself in the time I've forgotten. I can't seem to use those abilities anymore, which I can't say I'm upset about. Drinking too much of that stuff will drive even the sanest person crazy. [Elizabeth had known that since the first time she'd watched Booker drink one of them. He'd stared at his hands and screamed at what looked like absolutely nothing.]

It's probably better to leave the evolution to those who are born to it.

[tearmeanewone]

Then... I hope I made you feel comfortable. As much as I could, at least. [He's just a young man, after all, and Elizabeth couldn't have been quite so jaded in the direction of a younger mind. She knows herself well enough to feel at least somewhat confident in her past self's aversion to scaring kids.]

Paris. [She smiles faintly. It was a place, it had been beautiful, but nothing like what she'd imagined.] I'd wanted to go to Paris since I was a little girl. See the Eiffel Tower, the cinema, the cafes, the Seine... But I didn't realize one of the most important things about traveling. [She drops the bags into the mugs and pours the hot water over them.]

Going alone can be very hard.

[tearmeanewone]

Not my idea of entertainment, I'm afraid.

Oh no, I'm not talking about the place. [There's a sly smile in her voice.] I imagine you would lock your door with a key if we weren't in a place where these machines do it for us. That's an object you assign meaning to-- it ensures security. I'd imagine that since you have a machine do it here, you're at least fond enough of your space that you don't like the thought of someone violating it.

[notyetsore]

...You did. [As much as she could. Only so much could be done to make Ginko comfortable anywhere, especially back then. But he'd been a little less scared after that first conversation.

He gives a quiet hum of agreement. He doesn't recognize a lot of her description of the specific place, but. That last part is familiar, for sure.] I used to move around a lot, back... where I used to be.

[It's hard to think of it as 'home' anymore.]

It was a lot better on the ship.

[tearmeanewone]

...But I wasn't better afterwards, is what you're not saying.

[Elizabeth sits back in her chair. How had she failed? With all of the firepower she had behind her, how could she not save one boy? Why hadn't she-- is probably the better question.]

What happened? Were we too late?

[brokeassgoing]

If this is the result, I don't think you had a fighting chance to be better. Doesn't exactly work that way anyway.

[it is what it is. he hates to say it, but she has to hear it]

He was fine, we got there on time. But...something opened, because of the Ingress I guess.

[shadowblends]

As in flying? [He's witnessed Erik doing that, although he isn't quite sure how it's done with the lack of wings. Kurt'd gotten the chance to experience Jean's fiery power and levitation on Thisavrou; abilities of the phoenix actually, if he remembers correctly.] All of that sounds ... well, incredible. I've never met any humans that have willingly wanted to mutate themselves.

[Elizabeth responds to his inquiry anyway and the blue boy inclines his head, imagining what it could possibly be like to reverse those sorts of effects.] So, you avoided addiction to this ingestible concoction? I'd say it's for the best, too. Straying away from substance abuse is always a positive thing, right?

[Or so he'd assume.] Agreed. Forcing oneself to mutate seems like it would be a rather painful process.

[tearmeanewone]

Well. Making things or people fly. Wouldn't recommend trying it on yourself. [She says with a wry smirk.] I don't know that you'd want to meet these humans, honestly. They're not looking for an understanding of what it means to be human, or the natural course of evolution-- they just want a weapon that no one can confiscate.

I didn't use enough to become addicted, though I can't say that even the first time was a good idea. Truth be told, I didn't know if I could withstand the effects, but I needed the tool. It was a life-or-death kind of situation. But if I had the choice and it wasn't necessary, I would have certainly strayed away from substance abuse as you say.

Not only because it is painful-- and the things you see after drinking it are usually gruesome-- but because short of whatever happened to me here, it usually isn't reverseable.