give your friends a surprise

[closewithnewintown]

Who: EVERYONE
What: FAMILY MEETING
When: 8/4, right after school closes.
Where: Student council room
Warnings: Eventually, probably.

["If my friends back home were acting like this, I would've already locked them in a room and forced them to figure out their feelings."

the job puts all of her considerable superspy skills to the test. she knows where every normal kid's locker is; it's easy enough to slip the note into each that morning. if it's someone who she knows would be unable to read the note, she tells them its contents, but keeps her own involvement out of it. lies of omission don't count.

the note reads:]

I have very important information about this place. Please come to the student council room after school ends today.

- Nao Sato

[and if the text looks just a bit girlier than you'd think she'd write, hey, you don't know her. she's got layers.

either way, it's a pretty interesting proposition: the student council room door is, for the first time in seemingly ever, wide open. anyone can walk inside - and, hopefully, most everyone should. because it's only when Stephanie thinks that she's got enough of them inside that she actually enters the room, shutting the door behind her.

click.

it locks. she grins, spins the key on her finger, and slips it into her pocket.

"How are you supposed to do that with grownups?"

the exact same way, she's decided.]

We haven't had any meetings since, um. Well. The last one. But, I'm pretty sure nobody has no more murders to report, so it shouldn't be too bad, and we can all just focus on the most important task: Getting along! All of us are on the same team, but most of us barely even know each other; some of us even hate some of the others! [SHE SAYS, LIKE SHE DOESN'T ACTIVELY DESPISE KOKICHI] So, I figured we could spend the evening fixing that problem. Play some games, talk about stuff we've discovered since the last time...

And, maybe, if everybody does a really good job, I'll unlock the door!

[smiles]

Comments

[subtract]

It's not like it'd stick... [but he's already been told off so... sips his juicebox.............]

[radnarok]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. [ Noisy!!! ]

Now even the ugly white haired guy is talking to meee.

[silentabyss]

[Looks at Nene

Looks at Add

Looks at Crona]

...Crona just said they weren't interested, but Nene's getting distressed. Injuries don't stick in the void anyway, and Add's here... but you know.

[Add, Crona, meet Noah in the courtyard when the door's unlocked for science.]

[subtract]

Boring... maybe another time...

[and then Add's just gonna stare at Noah for awhile as he sips his juice. hmm. hmmmmmmmmm.]

... You said you died before. How many?

[silentabyss]

[Let's just go a couple feet away... okay good. And then, because he blabbed and you know what Add's trustworthy enough, Noah saw his ?? life ?? and it's only fair if he returns the favour...]

Once here, to Hyde. Twice back on Elrios. So, three in total.

[subtract]

[yeah just tell Add all of your weaknesses, forget about that one time he told Dito he should fight you to the death...]

You're still here, though... kuku, how curious. Is there a trick I'm unaware of...?

[... might be eyeing the moonstone, if it's still visible on his person. like, he can't be sure that's the source but there's a certain suspicious energy to it.]

[silentabyss]

[me looking at liberator's art like is this rock still visible... idk he's probably got it clipped onto something.]

...it's time magic, yeah. Whenever I die, I get sent to a different timeline that's virtually the same as the last. It's a... parting gift from my brother, I guess.

[closewithnewintown]

[from literally right outside the door]

-- Wait, does that mean we're in a different timeline now?

[subtract]

[wiggles a hand] Don't worry about it.

[closewithnewintown]

THAT ACTUALLY REALLY SOUNDS LIKE A THING WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT?!

[subtract]

If he moved across timelines, then the rest of us wouldn't be affected. Transplanting everyone from one timeline to another would take an absurd amount of energy... hardly efficient.

His problem, not yours.

[silentabyss]

...the moonstone only takes me back about five seconds while I'm stuck here. Don't worry about it.

[closewithnewintown]

There are already too many alternate mes running around and I'm gonna be really mad if you're just... off making more!

[silentabyss]

It's not my magic, it's my brother's. I'm not doing anything other than dying a lot.

[closewithnewintown]

Well, then... Stop. Dying a lot.

[silentabyss]

I can't help it when people stab me in the face, Steph!

[subtract]

There's already an infinite number of parallel realities. You're not special.

Ugh. Just listen to me for once... I am a time travel expert. I know how this works.

[closewithnewintown]

Why are you calling yourself an expert like that means anything? Who hasn't time traveled?

[subtract]

As if you're anything close to an expert. There's a difference between "travelling through time" and "inventing the technology to travel, navigate and alter time". I've spent years researching this, not to mention the literally immeasurable length of time I've spent traversing between dimensions. I know what I'm talking about.

[subtract]

Anyway, [whenever they're done w\ steph] time magic... hmph, I know another who worked with that type of thing, but it was my understanding that mages considered it taboo to alter the timeline. Collapsing one reality into another to "undo" a mistake... it's not unlike the effects of my Seal of Time program. Forbidden power that transcends even the gods. Ah, but what happens to the reality that's disposed of, I wonder...?

If you've only died three times... kek, either you're skilled at avoiding mistakes, or you're not taking full advantage of it. Don't be so afraid to take risks.

[silentabyss]

I don't know if it is or isn't considered taboo. Henir's Order killed my brother for it, though. [He glares off to the side, which might look more intimidating if Noah's face weren't currently streaked with blood.] I can't be someone who's completely reckless without reason. "Coming back" only applies to me, not anyone around me at the time.

[And especially not Clamor.]

And... going through that many time loops, I wake up disoriented and my memories aren't all put together yet. It's uncomfortable.

...and also dying sucks. [It kinda hurts.]

[subtract]

You get used to it after the first dozen or so times. [just. gonna casually put that out there, like it's not an incredibly fucked up opinion to share]

If you're forcibly overtaking the body of a parallel version of yourself... hmm, yeah, if there are differences between realities then memories need to be overwritten. It makes sense that it would take some time to adjust. Seal of Time copies the physical state instead of the mind, so I was able to avoid that problem, though it also has its drawbacks. Phantom pains, physical sickness, etcetera...

You really are an interesting one.

[silentabyss]

["The first dozen or so times", like this is an Olypmic sport. Noah doesn't want to even have a fourth time dying, thanks. No fourth time loop for him, please.]

Is that how... it works? Forcibly overtaking a body of a parallel "me"? This time magic thing is more complicated than I thought it was... I guess that makes sense when I think about it.

[What the hell was Harque doing with magic like this, though...]

[subtract]

Something like that. I'd have to examine it to be sure... [... and he would really like to, but] unfortunately, magic is an unpredictable element at best. It's not something that can easily be deciphered and modified. Consistency is also unreliable...

That's how I would do it, though. [shrugs] It's not a bad idea. However, the further back you travel the more likely you are to encounter differences. If the discrepancy rate becomes too high, risk of data loss during transfer also becomes more likely... in other words, loss of memory and mental trauma. That's why I decided against it and went with the reverse option.

[add 1 minute ago: don't be afraid to take risks and die sometimes
add now: btw if you go too far back it might erase your memories, actually]

[silentabyss]

Uh. G...good to know. I'll try to die a lot less?

[but then September rolled around rip

Noah has mentally noted this though and he's going to be a lot more cautious in the future because what the fuck. What if he goes back too far and loses all his memories again oh god oh fuck etc.]