01 [TEXT]

[hornrims]

[The habit of staying in hiding runs deep, and Richie is uncomfortable with broadcasting his face or voice over the network. In general he doesn't like the idea of the network but now he's getting desperate. It's been nearly a month that he's been here and still no sign of his brother. He had been standing right next to Seth before this. It didn't make sense.]

Right before you came here, were you with anyone? Did any of them come with you?

Has anyone been here a while before someone you knew turned up? How long did that take?

Comments

[video]

[wormintheglass]

I was with my pets and a timeship; the pets arrived with me. I'm fairly sure Hadriel's gods excluded my ship deliberately.

[Bianca will never not be pissy about that, and it shows.]

Many of my friends have had compatriots arrive. It is a thing that happens. Who are you hoping for?

[permatext]

[hornrims]

Well yeah, how are you supposed to drag around ship? Would it even have power here?

[She gave him the answers he needed, time to avoid her question in return.]

| text.

[dedikated]

1. No.
2. No.
3. Yes.
4. Six months, give or take.

text

[hornrims]

Did you know they were coming? Or that there was even a chance?

text

[skelebro]

people seem to come tricklin' in at the beginning of each month.
some of 'em come from different points in time, it seems like.

text

[hornrims]

[He hasn't been here long enough to notice the monthly routine, but that's a good thing to know. Also a good time to step back if he doesn't want to be bombarded with people.]

So hypothetically, someone could wander in that you haven't met yet?

[prespangled]

yeah, someone i know showed up at the same time i did. but it's complicated.

who are you looking for?

[hornrims]

I can handle complicated.

I was with a group of six other than myself when I got here. It seems weird that with a group that large I was the only one who was pulled in.

[64th]

Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here.

[ ENJOY THE NETWORK, JERK. ]

[hornrims]

It's important.

[And he said the network was okay for important information WERE YOU NOT LISTENING?]

[whichend]

My sister came several months after I arrived. She vanished two months later. Do not count on anything. Not here.

[hornrims]

Christ.

[That's not what he wanted to hear, but at the same time, it sounds about right.

Did she know you had been gone?

[Text]

[hearthebell]

Everything you're asking about has no established pattern and is more or less arbitrary. I would have noticed, if that was not the case.

[Text]

[hornrims]

You keeping track or something?

text

[somuchlove]

I was with someone but they did not come with me when I arrived.

[They actually managed to get a body too, which was something.]

Someone I knew was here before I came. Not long after that a few more have come.

Does that answer your questions?

[hornrims]

It does.

Friends of yours?

[While the response answers his question, he's trying to compile as much information as he can. What was the correlation between people who arrived and those who came later with some kind of connection to them?]

[text]

[thechoiceisyours]

I was with six other people back home before I arrived and three of them showed up here at the same time as I did, but we were separated at first and had to find each other.

A bunch of other people from home have arrived or left since then too; I've been here almost eleven months, and some of my friends just got here with the latest group of newbies so I guess that makes it ten months after I arrived.

[People from their world seem to come to Hadriel at an alarming rate, actually, and have consistently come and gone the entire time he's been here.]

[text]

[hornrims]

Did the people who arrived when you did come from the same point in time? One second you were there and the next you were here?

[Though it seems like there's no direct pattern, this person's answers help Richie get a better understanding of how things work. It's not out of the realm of possibility to have a group arrive together, or see someone he knows later.]

permatext;

[verinumeri]

My colleague and I arrived together, though it would likely be a mistake to use 'together'. We also were 'fortunate' in that we had both previously been in a similar place, that is, imprisoned in a world that was not our own.

As other have said, the Door 'opens' every month, absurdly following what seems to be an Earth calendar in doing so. If the pattern holds, it should open tomorrow, indicating it's about October. Though it's largely random, it favors humans, and sometimes, the familiar. Perhaps because bringing in someone's companion will cause more chaos.

[hornrims]

You've got answers. Good.

[What's not good is Richie's ability to say thank you.]

It didn't even occur to me that there would be other places like this, where you're trapped. Was the other place controlled by... things that call themselves gods?

[He hates to use the word "god," but for now Richie doesn't know how else to describe them.]

Text

[save_theworld]

Some friends arrived before I did but they remember things differently. I don't know if they remember things that happened before or things that happened after. And I had another friend who came through the door last month, but he remembers different things, too.

text

[hornrims]

What do you mean by remembering things differently? You're all from the same place, right?

[video]

[saltrock_imp]

[An androgynous looking man? woman? appeared on the screen.]

Sorry, I was locked in a guest room at the time and no one came with me. But I do know someone here from back home. He's been here a while though.

[a pause]

I'm sorry your missing someone. That's hard.

[permatext]

[hornrims]

[Even with someone else answering in video, Richie still doesn't feel comfortable outside of text.]

Wait, locked in a guest room? That's not how I came. Is that a place you can get back to.

[He doesn't want to address missing anybody, at least not for now, and doesn't acknowledge the latter comment.]

Text

[knifecollecting]

I was kind of with someone. When I got here he had been here for a while already.

I don't think time works the same way here.

[hornrims]

What do you mean, "kind of"? Even though he was here for a while did he remember everything from before?

[edibles]

I was with my sister. She was already here when I got here.

[hornrims]

Is she still here?

text

[seventyeight]

Yes. I was with two people. One came with me.

Who are you missing?

[hornrims]

Someone important.

Who did and didn't come with you?

Video

[ushahin]

Fetch came with me.

[The camera pulls back to reveal an extremely large raven sitting on Ushahin's right shoulder. He gives a throaty Grraaawww! by way of an introduction.]

I doubt that anyone else from my home shall show up here. They are all dead.

[Despite all his melodramatic tendencies, Ushahin isn't exaggerating. About 99% of everyone he knows were slain in the last battle he participated in before he came here.]

[hornrims]

[Richie doesn't doubt that Ushahin's friends are dead, but mostly due to the other man's age.]

Is the bird as old as you?

text;

[hasitsthorns]

Some of my friends are here, but I think they arrived... before me.

I was late to the party, I guess.

[hornrims]

Some party. Might have been better to lose that invite in the mail.

[audio]

[onlyanautomaton]

I was with a young woman named Kate Walker. Our communications ceased on the day of my arrival approximately 55 days ago.

[He refrains from stating the total number of hours.]

[text]

[hornrims]

Friend of yours?