lingeringhope | ic inbox

... Doesn't matter. ( she gets the feeling he wouldn't understand even if she clarified. and it's not the topic of conversation anyway. )

You really intendin' on sending us back before everyone's revived?

It's what you all want, isn't it? However, my experiments are not going as well as I'd hoped.

( there's enough people who've said otherwise that she doesn't add to their voices, and honestly, she still wants to go home more than she wants to stay. ~~and yes, neither did hers.~~

but, there's one thing that confuses her about all of this. ) What'll you do for power if you manage it?

Not all of you want to go.

( hey, he's learning. )

True. ... Will that be enough?

( it's entirely curiosity, really. ~~okay. maybe the tiniest bit of concern, when this has seemed like such an Issue for so long.~~ )

At the moment, the point seems to be moot. But if you must have an answer, I do not know. All but two of us have been returned now, and I have nearly enough power for another. If you were to leave, it would take me longer, but it might be possible.

( already? it can't have been that long since Confusion came back. there may be the slight sound of pen scratching against paper in the background. notes are important, okay?

tranquility and transport. love and hot springs. the choice they'll eventually have only makes the smallest amount of difference in the end, because they're all inevitable. her pen drums against the paper for a moment before she eventually speaks. )

Think we've both proved that random experimentation isn't working. ( if anything, both times just made things worse. ) Would you even be able to control where we'd go if it worked?

( if the door opened, sent them all away, would they just be torn into more random universes, if any? )

No. Not unless I'm able to do more experimentation, which doesn't seem likely. It costs power and time to do this, as well.

( same as her world, then. )

Tends t' be th' case. ( with powers. at least, all the ones she's ever encountered or knows deeply enough. ) Guessing if you learned anything you're not about to tell us?

I see no reason to share my information, no.

( she sucks in a breath, one loud enough to be heard, and pauses for a long while. does she bother asking why, trying to convince him otherwise?

this is why the gods piss people off, Hope. )

Why don't you know about this thing, anyway?

( just saying that a Door to other dimensions seems like the kind of thing that would be a Big Deal back in her world. )

It was not something that was particularly relevant to any of us, not until Fear opened it. Sorrow knows the most, but the rest of us didn't have any reason to learn about it.

( okay. really, she could understand that much.

could. not does. ) Kind of short-sighted of you.

( Katherine, pls. )

Do you know everything about the old, unused artifacts in your world?

( well most of the ones in her world aren't nearly as powerful or interesting.

~~which means no, if there's anything cool, she's clueless.~~ )

There other things like th' Door here?

( subject change what subject change? )

There is nothing else quite like the Door, but there are other things, yes. Nothing useful.

( this is where she gets confused. mostly because it makes no sense that the one useful thing is designed to bring chaos and evil here. )

Like what?

If you're hoping to find something that will kill us, you won't have any luck.

( okay, she probably deserved that one. )

Bit daft to ask you how to kill you.

( she's long come round to the idea that their best option is, well, to deal with the gods. maybe not to trust them, but to accept that they're probably the best chance of getting out of here.

no sense killing the people who can help you get home, is there. )

Others have tried, sometimes more subtly and sometimes not. There are many things we don't understand about humans, but we are not that stupid.

( honestly, she would be worried if you were, Hope. even you. )

Just wonderin', actually.

( seriously. okay, wondering because maybe, just maybe, knowing something about other pieces of this place might provide some answers, somewhere. maybe something that seems useless to the gods could be useful to them. used by them.

with all the different worlds pulled here... well, as Faith might think, why not? there's a chance?

a chance doesn't mean much. but it's something. )

Most of them are not here, and many of them we don't know much about. But since you are curious - the light that illuminates this city is another artifact. Not like the Door, you see, but still useful.

( huh. that's interesting. she'd kind of thought that to be something the gods made themselves, actually. but, more to the point: )

Where are they?

( if they're not here, does that mean the Door isn't, either? )

In various places. Are you hoping to look for them?

( it's a place to start, if nothing else. Alicia would be better at this, at ferreting out the information and waiting, waiting, ever waiting until the pieces fall into place. )

Might be able to learn summat.

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