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.

[always video]

[wormintheglass]

[Bianca laughs, throaty and rich.]

Of course she would, dearheart. And she's dimensionally transcendent. Parking's such a bore without it.

Where are you from?

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[hornrims]

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

[hornrims]

I'm from a place where people don't call strangers by stupid pet names.

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?

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[skelebro]

yep, pretty much.

[He could get into the specifics of it but...nah. Not unless he's asked, and maybe not even then.]

[prespangled]

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

who are you looking for?

[64th]

Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here.

[ ENJOY THE NETWORK, JERK. ]

[whichend]

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

[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

[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]

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.

[hornrims]

It's important.

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

[64th]

Do you want me to answer your questions?

[ listening is for losers tbh ]

[hornrims]

If you can manage to do it without being a shit.

[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]

[hornrims]

You keeping track or something?

[64th]

[ she throws her head back and laughs loudly when she sees his reply. she deserved that, and he deserves a real answer: ]

Before I was here I was in a hotel. Kind of like this place because none of us belonged there. They put me there twice. The first time I was with my brother. We were running and I tripped. When I woke up I was at the hotel, without him. The second time [ maybe she doesn't want to be fully honest. she's not ready to tell Richie about her own death, much less Gloss's. ] I was with him again. I was running towards him and then home was gone and there I was, back at the hotel.

But before here I was with a friend. One moment we were together. And then we weren't and I was in that stupid arena. And he wasn't here and neither is my brother.

[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

[hornrims]

So how does that work?

[Look who is now being asked about specifics!]

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[skelebro]

people drop in and you probably end up comparing notes at some point.
i'd really be the wrong guy to ask.

[Hope you like vague explanations, buddy.]

[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.]