hadriel | 012✖; (audio)

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012✖; (audio)

"Um. Hey."

[Judging right away from the tone and lack of Russian inflection this time, the one known as Safronov has checked out, and Rey is Rey again.]

"So it looks like at some point when being... unwell, the upper floor at the Speakeasy lost its Casino manager, Firo. He helped to organize the whole thing with me when Delight's bar went out of commission, so... Would rather not have to keep handling the place solo. If anyone would like to help there in any way, it'd be appreciated."

[She'll leave the convenient signup at the Speakeasy/Casino available for those who wish to help.]

"And, um. Sorry for those who had to deal with one of my... other selves." [Yeah, she remembers. Some of it, anyway. She has complicated feelings towards Safronov.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

「He knows.」

Do I get benefits and dental care?

「Let the trolling begin.」

If by "benefits" you mean free alcohol and games all day, I guess I could throw in the added bonus of a swift kick in the shins for every smartass comment.

[The good news is, she can handle trolling.]

Heh... Glad to have you back.

「Bet she cannot handle this, tho.」

[GODDAMMIT BOY why you do this.]

Yes, well. [Snort.] If you want to get technical, I never left to begin with.

[So there.]

「Because they are friends.」

I know how that is. 「He's never told her that story, has he? Not that it was remotely alike, but, even so. There were some similarities in that regard.」

Anyway, what exactly do you need from me?

Do you now? [No, he hasn't told her. And normally Rey wouldn't press. But having met those in similar shoes like Nick, it piques her curiosity.]

Well, think Firo mostly helped run some of the games and just regulate the rules. We have a chips system if anyone wants to bring drinks home with them, otherwise our shit stays here. Think he sometimes had poker nights, but that isn't a big deal unless people want to.

More or less. 「But he just avoids the subject at the moment, not gonna talk about that here.

That leaves him thinking, casino games are okay, but they are not for everyone. There is so many people complaining about what is fun and what is not in here, himself included.」

Okay, I can do that. Sorry that he's gone, by the way.

[Fair enough. Rey can if nothing else take a hint.]

It's okay. It, um. Sounded like he had something good to go back to, which is more than what some can say around here.

[Firo talked about his family-- or, rather, his Family. Sure, it was a crime ring, and Rey knew this, but as someone who's done her fair share of killing, who is she to judge anyone? The guy Rey knew was a good enough person for her to call a friend. And, in another life, they were even closer than that.

[Which just reminds her.] You know, apparently there were a few people who knew us in this other world where I'd lived on a spaceship for a few years. We were family there. A guy I didn't know even started calling me "Ms. Prochainezo" at first. [Confusing as hell back then, but funny enough now for her to laugh about it in hindsight.] Crazy, huh?

[Yup. A real knee-slapper.]

That's good to know for a change.

「With so many dead people here, he was starting to wonder.」

A spaceship... Really? So you knew him in another universe?

「That's actually really cool.」

... Were you married?

[She makes a choking sound at the question, like a laugh but also not really.]

No! I don't... think...

[Shit. We're they?

[Wait, no. No, they weren't. Oh thank god.]

Right. It was "Ms. Prochainezo", not "Mrs.", so, probably not. There was a kid who followed me home calling me "mother" and using the same name, saying the three of us were family. Or something.

It... It was weird. The whole thing.

「Relax, Rey, he's pulling your leg.」

That's... nice. You found yourself a family and then against all odds you found them again.

One would say it was destiny.

「Doesn't he know about that too... look at that, he knows many things.」

[Pff.] That sounds like something the kid would say.

[It's still strange to think about. They didn't exactly become the family here that Muscovy probably wanted the three of them to be, but Firo at least took up the slack when it was stressing Rey the hell out. The whole idea of a kid calling her "mom" after certain events was unnerving, to say the least.]

Not sure how much it mattered, though. I'm not the same person they knew. Didn't spend years on a haunted ship -- we don't even have spacefaring tech in my world.

「The kid? Oh, right, surely the one who called him mom. Atem just smiles at that, not that it might be heard though the phone.」

Maybe not, but part of you still was... you.

「Huh, that makes sense in his mind.」

No matter what we go through, our core often remains the same.

Edited 2018-04-10 15:24 (UTC)

That isn't always the case when you've been so many actual different people.

[Since, yeah, Safronov wasn't the only one who Rey had once been.]

But those memories and experiences are mine now. Have no idea who that "other Rey" was or what she went through to get to that point.

Not that the kid cared, did he?

Well, no, but it does matter when you're being held to a certain expectation of someone you don't know while others do.

[Like being their mom.]

「Well, doesn't that sound familiar?」

When that happens you just have to be yourself. That's the best you can do.

「It doesn't really sounds like he's giving her a half-assed advice.」

[No, it really doesn't. But it does make Rey think a moment.]

Hard to know who to be sometimes when you've been so many people.

「Okay, surely that would complicate things. But people don't exactly need to know all of this, do they? Atem often doesn't like using the private channel, but, this is not about him (when has it?).」

How many?

Eight, including Safronov. Nine if you count the original prototype.

[That one Rey is never sure about, but FREYJA is the one who set Rey on who she is now, for better or for worse.]

Edited 2018-04-12 03:59 (UTC)

The one in the picture?

「It is not exactly a question, probably more than gauging the reaction to it. He never meant to know this much about Rey without her knowing, but then again, when she did what she did to herself and brought Safronov back, surely she knew what she was getting into.」

Picture...

[It takes her a moment to remember what he's talking about, and then it hits her.

[Safronov.]

Ah, yes. That one. FREYJA, or... Fiona. [The latter being the name Undine wanted. Something that didn't identify her as a subject, but as a person.]

「Wait... wait! That name... The way it sounds.」

Freyja...

「He has to repeat it, feel it rolling off his tongue. Freyja... Freyja... Rey?

Oh, is that it? Or is he hearing too much into it?」

Wouldn't you count her?

[If by "hearing too much into it" means "eyes/ears(?) on the prize", then you got it, little dude.]

Guess it'd make sense to. She... was the one that Undine wanted to help.

[So FREYJA/Fiona had that much going on. Not that that worked out, in the end.

[But at least Rey can vaguely recall Undine having come up whenever during that conversation. At this rate, she'd almost be surprised who close to her hasn't heard of that woman now.]

「There is that name again, but now he knows what it means. Fortunately, just knowing who she is, is enough for Atem, he will not bother her about it, it would be just stirring sentiments that surely had been kept in check for a while now.」

Do you remember them all? Your... other selves' lives?

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