thisavrou | [voice]

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[voice]

[Ryuuzaki's low voice is accented in a way that people from places other than the U.K. might think of as "generically English," and when the message begins, his tones are pleasant and measured without being effusive.]

Hello, everyone.

The Ingress has brought us to the Moira from any number of places. When I meet someone, I can't say whether our similarities will outweigh our differences, or vice-versa... when you're this far from home, even small commonalities can seem important. It's led me to be curious about the broad strokes of everyone's backgrounds.

[A pause, as he approaches his real question.]

What can you tell me about the government in the place you came from before this? Both the form of government and, if possible, specific names of leaders.

If it wasn't your original home, I'd be interested in hearing about that, too, even down to what year it was for you.

If you'd prefer to answer privately, that's all right with me. I can promise you my discretion.

Thank you.

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Sometimes things like that are fast.

[What she's said also means that whatever caused the zombies in her world happened both quickly and on a massive scale.

Things on the Tranquility... they were never quite as extreme as that, but there were any number of worrisome fluctuations that had led him to think more than once that they might be close to some kind of edge. And he'd always looked a little askance at people's pets, even Petrelli's dog Izzie, knowing that a day of hard choices was likely to come if they weren't all extremely lucky.

It hadn't happened yet, and now he's just relieved to be away from it. Three potentially unreliable captains are currently proving preferable to the leadership structure he'd left behind -- if two usurpers, and whatever Smiley was in relation to the ship's original captain, could be called that.]

That isn't all there is to want. What would you improve here?

[She's never been asked what she'd want to improve before. The question takes her off guard, and she finds she's really not sure how to answer.]

I'm not sure. I haven't been here long enough to know what needs to be improved.

[Being honest about that makes her feel stupid, but it's better for her to feel like an idiot than just ramble meaningless answers and blow smoke up this guy's ass.]

The job I've been assigned is Intelligence Operative. I'm guessing I can figure out things that need to be made better once I've been working long enough.

Intelligence operative. That must be a difficult job.

[It's also the one he's been assigned to, which he's reluctant to state outright, but a little less so than he is to tell people that he is, more than anything, a detective. It would erode any chance of effectiveness, he thinks, and endanger him in certain circumstances.]

However, I wasn't only talking about needs. What would you want?

It hasn't been difficult so far.

[Then again, she hasn't had the time to do much. She's been so busy adjusting to her new life here and going over to grab supplies off Del Pascia that she really hasn't had time to settle into a steady work routine. Once she does, it will likely be another story.

She'd rather think about that than what she wants, she realizes. The question makes her extremely uncomfortable, to the point she seems ready to crawl out of her skin. ]

I don't think about things I want, though. It's easier not to do it.

[There's less disappointment that way.]

I just want to be someplace safe.

Safety seems like the least we could hope for, but it seems hard to achieve sometimes.

[If that carries any implications about any of his most recent homes... well, he's not angling the conversation around them so much as right through them.

Is it hard to think about the future when the possibility of one has seemed unlikely for a while? He projects the likely outcome of events, but planning for a personal future has eluded him, has seemed moot in many senses. There's money set aside, or there was, but before his first abduction, there hadn't really been much consideration on his part about what he'd be doing in six months or a year, because it was certainly either "working" or "dead." Thinking about himself in the context of a personal life would probably have been a signal to retire.]

Still, this must be better than zombies. It's better than any number of things.

It is.

[She manages a slight smile, because this place is better than zombies. She's got a bed, and food, and running water. She's starting to gain weight and almost looks healthy, but she knows time is what will help with that. Just getting to eat and rest do wonders.]

I get to meet and talk with people like you. It's not bad at all.

[She just can't not think of it as being a captivity situation, no matter how hard she tries. Focusing on the good parts helps appease her anger at the fact she was pulled in against her will, but it doesn't blind her completely to the fact that she doesn't have any idea why she was really brought here. Being told something is great, but she can't stop being paranoid about the fact that isn't the truth.]

It could be worse.

"People like me," though... what sort of person am I?

[There's some vague amusement in that; usually the only description he looks for is "effective," but in the past, he's received any number of adjectives, many of them unflattering.]

[She's not expecting him to turn it on her and actually ask her to give a description. So she's a little bewildered at first and falls silent, trying to figure out how she honestly thinks of him. This is only their first conversation, but they've talked at length and has formed some kind of an idea.]

You don't treat me like I'm stupid, or just something that's nice to look at.

[Not being objectified is something she's only just now getting used to, and it's something she appreciates him doing. He talks to her like she's his equal, and she likes that.]

You're...respectful. And ask things other people here wouldn't think to. Is...is that enough?

[Please don't ask her to elaborate further.]

Yes, I think so.

[She is reasonably nice to look at, in the video feeds he's eavesdropped on, but that's largely irrelevant for their current purposes.]

To be honest, I can't even decide whether or not this is a predicament. It's a vast improvement for me on where I was before, but it isn't home.

There really isn't any reason for me to assume that the kind of place I spent most of my life in was standard, or normal, but it seems to be one of a range of common possibilities. No zombies, no alien invasions, no real magic; most of the danger coming from politics... criminals... accidents... and normal human mistakes.

[While the shinigami and their notebooks, a late discovery on his part, might count as magic, he elects not to bring them up on the network for the time being.]

It was like that for me, until four years ago. There must be so many different versions of Earth out there, all running parallel. Different things happen in each of them, but there's similarities, too. I'm twenty-two years old. Life was no zombies, magic, or aliens up until I was eighteen.

[Which means she still has hope for it to go back to the way things were back home.]

What year was it for you, before you came here?

2004. I was in my mid-twenties. Then a few years on the ship I was on prior to this one... I really can't tell you exactly how long, or when or where it was, except that it was in very deep space for the majority of the time that I was on it.

I may be... twenty-seven, twenty-eight? I can't say.

[If he could, he wouldn't; he's saying this much because there's no more specificity to offer.]

It was 2015, when I ended up here.

[Somehow, trading the information makes her feel better. More secure, because she knows they're relatively close in age and that he's managed to make it through space for a while now. He's a survivor too, even if their circumstances and backgrounds weren't the same.]

Age doesn't really matter though, you know. It's what you've been through and what your mind feels like that counts.

[She isn't sure why she adds that on, except to insist that even if he can't keep track of the time and doesn't know how old he really is, that it's only how old he feels that counts.]

I guess that makes me closer to fifty than twenty-five, but who's keeping track?

I can't disagree with you on that.

[L has been forty since he was ten, but lately, prior to his adventure with the Ingress, he's felt much older, more like his life could end at any time even without any catastrophic mistake on his own part. More at the mercy of various forces, in a way he's greatly resented.]

Do you know much about the events of 2004 in your world? Was anything significant happening at the time?

[If there's that much time between them, there's a small possibility that it's the same world. But people would remember Kira, even after a zombie outbreak.]

What do you mean by significant?

[She could have mentioned war, but she had grown up with it happening so it wasn't something that she really thought was out of the ordinary to mention.]

There's wars going on, but they happen so often that it's not really significant. What happens in 2004 where you're from?

Nothing special... the last things I remember happening there. Things I might have heard of.

[This is a flat-out lie, but for the time being, he's primarily interested in keeping the truth off of the network, not in keeping it absolutely secret.]

Was there a Second Gulf War? There wasn't in my world.

Yeah. It started in 2003? 2004? I don't know, I was young. I grew up with it happening, so it's not really out of the ordinary for me.

[But at least it serves to further separate her version of Earth from his, and she figures it cements the idea that they're from completely different worlds. ]

Is that what you're judging who comes from what version of Earth by? A war?

Not precisely, but it's a large, easy marker. It's one of the few things I've been able to establish.

In the future, the markers might be more refined... or, for example, there are cases where that kind of marker is irrelevant, because the world has what you and I would think of as superheroes, and that's a significant difference for me. It's all relative, of course -- it might not be significant for someone else.

I've met a couple of people from a superhero dimension. I'm a little jealous it wasn't me that ended up there.

[But she guesses here, you can be anything. As long as you do your work and earn your keep on board the ship.]

I guess it's safe to say that everyone here is from a different place and time, and that you're going to get a chance to learn a lot about them if you keep being nosy.

[A tease. She doesn't really think he's being nosy.]

People tend to be extremely indiscreet on these public networks. You'd learn a lot about them even if you weren't nosy.

[He is quite possibly the nosiest person ever to live -- if something can capture his interest. If not, he's indifferent. But his inquisitive nature has usually paid off, and when it doesn't, when someone seems evasive, especially needlessly evasive... that in itself is usually a clue.]

What sort of superpower would you want to have?

I think you're too curious for your own good.

[She laughs as she says it, amused that he's asking her another question. She doesn't mind in the slightest, because it gives her someone to talk to and makes her feel that what she has to say is important.]

I think I'd want the power to make plants grow, though. You wouldn't go hungry if you were able to have a fast growing garden, no matter where you went. What about you?

That's a good idea. You'd want to have someone around with some sort of complimentary ability, even if it was the strength to harvest all of that food. Or you'd want the ability to slow the growth of the plants if you needed to.

[A pause, while he considers it.]

I can't say. It seems like there would be a downside to almost any power. If you were a telepath, you'd lose your sanity if there were no limits on your ability. Superior strength or resistance could come with their own problems, too, and you might have enemies that would be equally strong.

[Another brief, contemplative pause, and he adds,]

It might be nice to never need sleep. My parameters would be that you'd be able to sleep and dream if you wanted to, but you wouldn't suffer any ill effects if you chose not to. All the restorative processes would happen in your body with no loss of consciousness.

[The only thing that makes him reject the idea of telepathy is that it would make detective work incredibly boring by leaving him nothing to solve.]

I'm going out on a limb here and am gonna guess that you're an insomniac.

[She laughs, because who else would want a power like that? She remembers having been in that place before, on stretches of days when no one could sleep because it wasn't safe. She had joked about their transcending the need for sleep - that they could keep going day after day without any physical or mental consequences.

It would feel like the ultimate form of power.]

Wouldn't it suck to never need to sleep, though? You'd eventually lose track of wanting to. And if you were with someone, it would be really shitty if you couldn't lay and sleep with them because your mind felt like it needed to stay awake all the time.

[That's exactly like him, a mind that feels like it needs to stay awake all the time, but he's never slept next to someone he had any real emotional interest in being with.]

I'm not... well, not really. But that would have to be part of it: the ability to sleep if you chose to. If someone enjoyed it, or if it was an experience they wanted to share.

[There's something clinical and distant about his description of wanting it, or having someone who it felt good to curl up with, instead of sleep being a bodily need to get out of the way. Those things are purely hypothetical for him.]

[His tone takes her by surprise, because she hasn't ever met a guy who wouldn't have a crude response to what she said. Except 10k, but he's essentially a saint. So she's surprised by Ryuuzaki yet again, in a way that has a smile evident in her voice.]

It's not something you want to share with someone?

[It feels too personal to ask that of someone she doesn't really know well, so she clears her throat and quickly adds on something an apology.]

Sorry. You don't have to answer that.

[He doesn't mind the question, and the answer is something that people will probably notice about him sooner rather than later.]

When I was younger, my instinct used to be to protect my privacy where I could -- probably, it was a little bit paranoid. But there was always a lot of work to do. More time spent with computers than girls, that sort of thing.

[It really doesn't matter if the idea that "Ryuuzaki is a nerd" is reinforced, or even the idea of him being any number of other things, as long as there's a distance between that and "L the detective."]

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