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[thechoiceisyours]

[So, it's been about a day. It felt like a lot longer, especially during the night, and by now he's not just scared but incredibly bored. Sleeping isn't really a thing that's an option for lots of reasons, so he's had a lot of time to both think and reread a lot of conversations on the network; there's something that stood out to him in that time, and it lead to this post.]

Okay, so a lot of people are here without any of their friends from home, and this whole thing going on is a pretty bad time to be on your own.

[He can't imagine what it would be like being in this situation while thinking there's no one looking for and caring about you specifically. It isn't just the actual rescue that's the issue, though--especially since who gets found when is pretty unpredictable--it's that there might be people that don't have anyone to reach out to. There might be people who are totally alone in this.

So I was thinking that anyone who doesn't have anyone to talk to can just join in conversation here? People who do already have friends to talk to can too. Meeting new people is at least distracting even if everyone's probably not feeling all that friendly.

I guess just talk about whatever. What's it like back in whatever world you're from, any cool skills (if they involve getting out of being buried that's a plus,) anyone in college before they ended up here? Whatever topic is going to be better than nothing.

I mean I dunno about you guys but I definitely don't have anything better to be doing.

Comments

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[hybridification]

Hey Chris, I'm Rhys.

...haha wow that sounds like we're in an AA meeting or something.

Uh, anyway. I'm not buried. I used to work in a space station for a weapons manufacturer and then I stole ten million dollars and a car to screw over my boss who was actually my rival who murdered my former boss who was totally going to give me a promotion. I found myself stranded on murderplanet trying to find an ancient vault filled with treasure before my rival or the gangsters I also screwed over, or the former company who had the map to the vault, caught up with me and tried to murder me.

Also I have a robot arm and eye and like 90% of the people I meet here think it's super weird and abnormal because you're all from the stone ages or something.

AMA

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[thechoiceisyours]

Dude I don't even know where to start with that story.

[He doesn't disbelieve it because you know, there's pretty much nothing too weird to be true at this point, but geez.]

Did you get to keep the money?

And yeah, we've got mechanical fake arms back in my world but no eyes yet.]

[Also he gets the impression this guy is probably talking about better prosthetic arms than they actually have, considering the whole space station weapons thing.]

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[hybridification]

The money blew up. I stole it so I could do a deal for the key to the vault, but they key turned out to be fake so we tried to keep the money but then someone else stole it from us and opened the briefcase without the key code which triggered the explosion.

It was the worst day of my life pretty much.

[Which is putting it lightly.]

Huh. For me, it's pretty weird that like, none of you guys have them. You usually can't sneeze without running into another dude with a cybernetic fetish or something.

Uh. Not that I have that. It's just really convenient to be part robot.

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[thechoiceisyours]

That super sucks.

[Also wtf. But yeah, he can see how that would be a bad day, and this whole story is weird and sounds like he's missing some connections here but it's still fascinating.]

How'd you know about this vault anyway?

What, cybernetic fetish like being into robots or want to actually be one?

And yeah, replacing limbs isn't something super common where I'm from. I mean if you lose one or are born without it or whatever a lot of the time you get a replacement, but for most people it isn't a thing that ever comes up.

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[hybridification]

Vaults in general or this particular vault?

A. They're sort of legendary, left by the native creatures a billion million kajillion years ago or whatever. Everyone knows about them, only the suicidal and deadly hunt for them. They've got hella riches inside so everyone wants them and everyone would kill their own grandma for one.

B. I found out about this particular one not really because it's a Vault but rather because vault keys are like, diamonds but better. Everyone wants them even if they don't know what they'll unlock. I hacked my rival/boss' computer and found that he was gonna do a deal for ten mil to get a vault key down on Pandora- that's the planet our station orbits around.

Vault key was fake, money blew up. But then in the explosion I found a real vault key, just kind of chilling out underground. So that was, you know, a convenient stroke of deus ex machina.

[Among other things, but hey.]

And yeah, hoo boy. This one dude just kept replacing stuff. Like actual, this was his weird deal man, he just needed to be more robot than person. You know those people who get plastic surgery to look like famous people? Like that but more insane. idgi.

Weird. My arm is fully computerized- I actually integrated it with the phone we were given so I just use that to talk to everyone. It's way better than having a regular fleshy arm.

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[pighead]

hey bro don't get too stir crazy. we're gonna come find you

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[thechoiceisyours]

I know. I'm not gonna to say no rush or anything, but still just make sure you and Ash don't overdo it, okay?

[This is all probably kind of hard on them too, after all. He's okay for now so he'd also say go find Sam first, but it's not like there's any way to do that.]

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[pighead]

we're not the ones stuck six feet under. just sit tight, cochise. we'll figure this out.

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[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. You talked to Sam yet?

[morphinum]

you're taking this pretty well, Boy Scout.

[thechoiceisyours]

Hey Johanna.

Still haven't hit worst thing that's ever happened to me, so yeah. All good so far.

[Though it's getting there. And he notices that nickname, but he'll comment on it later when he can think of something clever enough.]

Are you above ground?

[morphinum]

you got it. relishing in the fulfilling work of digging holes in the ground. good for pent up anger

you should see this hole I'm digging, Boy Scout. it's the fucking prettiest hole in the entire cave

[thechoiceisyours]

Hey, whatever works.

[He's pretty sure digging holes would just be super frustrating and annoying and time-consuming, not that he wouldn't be doing it in this situation.]

You could totally send me a picture.

[Show him your hole-digging skills, Johanna. This is a pretty good distraction, really.]

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[hotspurred]

A distraction? Very well.

[While he would never ask for one, Henry's not the kind to waste openings -- in this case, a chance to break the maddening void of waiting for help that may not come.]

'Twas not entirely unlike our situation here, in a few ways. One morrow I fought for my King against the French; by the next we were all allies, as men facing innumerable hordes of monsters. Before that day I considered monsters naught but fairy tales.

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[thechoiceisyours]

[He's guessing this guy is from an earlier point in time than he is by both the way of writing and the subject matter, at least until that last part. That just throws everything into 'who the hell knows' territory.]

Yeah? I've been wondering how many people have monsters where they come from. Me and my friends just found they existed the day before we got here.

What year is for you?

[hotspurred]

A short time to adjust. One could say that in that respect, I was fortunate enough to spend months becoming accustomed to slaying monstrous beasts.

'Tis nearing the end of the fourteenth century, by my reckoning.

[thechoiceisyours]

I dunno, having to fight monsters for awhile sounds like it would kind of suck worse.

[One night plus all the stuff in this place is bad enough, let alone months.]

Oh, geez, that's awhile ago for me. It's 2015.

[64th]

Hi. I'm Cashmere. Johanna and I are from the same world, but not the same part of it.

I didn't go to college but I did learn wine-making.

[thechoiceisyours]

Hey. I'm Chris.

That's cool; did you know each other at all before you got here?

Wine-making is totally better than college. That's awesome.

[64th]

Yeah, we've met. We're not really each other's kind of person. If you know what I mean.

It's the family business. No one goes to college at home. What did you do back at home?

[thechoiceisyours]

Ah, got it.

Is it not a thing at all in your world, or just not something a lot of people do?

I was in school, so mostly just going to classes and all that.

[He's really normal with a very mundane life compared to a lot of people, at least if you don't count the events on the mountain.]

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[amos_moses]

Good idea. I like how many people are being positive about this...we'll all need it.

Hi, you can call me Mo.

Sorry, but until I know if you're human or not, that's about as much of my name as I'll give you. :3

I haven't lived this long to be carelessly enspelled by a fae, or vampire, or demon, or minor god....

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[thechoiceisyours]

Hey, I'm Chris.

Is that a thing that happens a lot in your world? The spell thing.

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[amos_moses]

Well, not a lot a lot? Like, the news never reports on it or anything.

But it depends on where you live, really.

I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, though, where everyone teaches their kids not to give their full names first, even if they don't really believe in the supernatural.

I guess that's not so for where you come from?

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[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah, no. I mean I've heard of the whole superstition about names but it was always a fantasy novel sort of thing.

[Though he wouldn't be surprised if it was a custom in New Orleans; he actually wouldn't be too surprised if there's a real risk of someone casting a spell on you in his world in general, now. Not after finding out there are real monsters there.]

It's cool to hear from someone who's from a place I actually recognize, though. I live in LA.