Time goes on without you...

[colorfulbrilliance]

Characters: Meiling and you!
Setting: Dorm room 1-17 or throughout the halls.
Format: Will match!
Summary: Meiling is back in the tower..and has no idea what to think about it...


[Dorm 1-17]
Some would think after spending so much time on their ruined world that seeing the ceiling of the tower would be somewhat of a relief to one. With Meiling's memory being so fuzzy, She wasn't even sure she was really coming back or had been there the entire time. But either way was not a happy prospect for the gate guard. Her heart was heavy with what she could remember, from both her wanderings and the last things she could remember...none of which helped her state of mind.

With that in mind, she quickly darted to her trunk to grab up her clothing so she could get changed...but the lack of her hat has her paused in confusion..as is the fact some of her items were just out right GONE. What in the world happened?

[Hallways and Anywhere really.]

Well, once she finally gets dressed back in her outfit, the gatekeeper takes to the hallways, searching for faces she knew or even someone to tell her what has happened. She knows what she should probably do but..Part of her is afraid to even go and find out everything...

Comments

[septette]

'Glamour system' failure? I don't think I like the sound of that.

[ hesitating. Oh, well, at least she can hide the topic for a while. She's almost grateful for something else foreboding to latch onto. ]

[witchoftheweek]

It's nothing to like the sound of. The short version is that the ones who brought us here have brought our souls, not our real bodies. These bodies we have are 'glamour' - it's not unlike magic, but there's more Outside World technology involved.

If the system goes down, all that's visible is the outline of a body and the spark of the soul.

[She sighs softly, folding her arms over her chest.]

...but I agree. I was on my way to check the library and the terminals when I heard your voices.

[colorfulbrilliance]

[A simple nod. She would not forget that whole thing.]

Nothing works either...Not something I want to repeat unless need be.

[She's silent for a moment and shrugs a little bit.]

I can go check if you want.

[Another glance between the two, perhaps now would be a good time to let them talk...Or is it?]

[septette]

[ She's silent for a moment after Patchouli's explanation, and then: ]

Oh, of course. Of course there's some kind of catch! We can't just be transported to some kind of horror dimension and subjected to more torture, we have to be bodiless projections, too!

[ Remilia tears her hat off of her head and angrily wrings it between her hands, almost to the point of ripping the fabric. Never has she this quickly gone through a case of mood whiplash. Okay, so she was just a clone. She was learning to live with that. But her body wasn't even real any more? Really? All that made her was a copy of someone's soul.

And for that matter, why the hell did they feel the need to copy all of her injuries onto this body, anyway? If it was just some kind of magic, why wasn't she healed? Was that intentional mockery? ]

Goddammit, why can't I ever catch a fucking break? Why can't we ever catch a fucking break?

[ turning to Meiling ] Go if you want. I don't really care.

[witchoftheweek]

[...what is there to say, after something like that? The recoil from that sudden outburst is palpable, though it really only shows in Patchouli's eyes. They widen for a brief moment and then go back to normal.

She doesn't say anything for a long moment. It's clear that something else has happened, but she doesn't know all of the details. After that moment, reaches out and gently puts a hand on Remilia's shoulder.]

...that, I can't say. I don't -

[She sighs.]

- I don't know. I do know that the most important thing is what's inside, their strange experiments or not.

It feels like there's something I'm missing, though.

[Her eyes flicker upwards to Meiling's, in a quiet request to stay for just a moment longer.]

Remi, I don't remember seeing you the first time I was here. Meiling, do you remember anything before the time I was here that might -

[that might explain why the people that brought you here brought Remi here hurt, she wants to ask.]

- that might explain...?

[colorfulbrilliance]

[Meiling's reaction is a bit more obvious, a wince and her turning away. That hurt but a part of her understood to a point. Everything that had happened, both things she knew about and didn't.

But she looks back in time to catch that silent request and nod slightly. Unfortunately, what she was to say next probably wasn't what was wanted to be heard nor would help in any way.]

I do but it's not my place nor do I have a right to say. A lot of things happened and...

[She falls silent then, feeling she was technically saying too much.]

[septette]

[ She flinches at the touch, but doesn't recoil. ]

I haven't seen you in over a year, Patchouli. Two, if you want to count all the time I've spent trekking in a ruined visage of Gensokyo. Last time I went to sleep in this damnable place, it was only me, Meiling, and the little bug. [ pause ] You probably came here after I "left."

Otherwise, it's a long story. And I'm getting kind of tired of telling it.

[witchoftheweek]

[That flinch isn't like Remilia at all.]

...I see. It's another one of those 'alternate worlds' things, then. It's the only explanation for why it's been only a year since I saw you last, and then...

[...and then you didn't look like this.]

Whatever happened, it's in the past now. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not worried about you, Remi, but I won't push the question.

[colorfulbrilliance]

[Even if she wasn't going anywhere or say antyhing, she at least turned away and tried not to listen in. She stands a bit,to slip her hand into the trunk and bring out a knife and look over in her hands. It's something to keep her there, keep her where she was supposed to be for the moment.

besides..now was not the time for silly things. It was time to stay with her family and be there for them.]

[septette]

Like I said...it's a long story. I was somewhere else before I was here. [ sighing ] Are we going to do something? Or just stand around here shuffling our fe--

[ abruptly her words cut off as she sees the silvery glint reflected off the bed's metal edging ]

...where did you get that?

[witchoftheweek]

...

[She is going to book-chop the hell out of someone. Or just turn danmaku fatal, one of the two.]

...I see.

[She'll raise an eyebrow at that knife, then go back to her usual inscrutable expression. She has a guess, but it's not her place to say.]

It's not uncommon for people to have weapons here, as a means of protecting themselves. I'm going to guess it was a gift from someone.

[colorfulbrilliance]

[It's probably exactly what was being thought of, as she was mentally trying to re-figure out how to carry the two she carried with her since she got them. The question made Meiling look back, as she had forgotten.

But She'll flip the knife around, the blade in her palm and offering the handle to Remilia]

This? It was received after one of Jason's games with us all. I doubt I need to say who they belong to.

[septette]

[ Remi takes the handle carefully, turning the blade over in her hands. ]

She...what happened to her?

[ She feels as though she's been punched squarely in the gut. ]

[witchoftheweek]

[Patchouli eyes that knife a bit more carefully, and as she does, she can feel the pit of her stomach drop. It's unmistakably one of Sakuya's.]

...I should have been there, whatever it is that happened.

[The tone of those words is sympathetic, almost apologetic.]

[colorfulbrilliance]

[Another shake of her head, They were the same ones she had gotten before. Meiling knew them well after carrying them for so long.]

She left the tower not the long after you did at that point. I didn't see her back home at all so she's probably back home as well. Other then that..I do not know.

[She didn't see anyone really but that's not the point. She's just seriously glad that the bloody knife she received wasn't in her trunk. THAT would have not ended well period.]

Maybe she's found Flandre and they are together at the very least.

[She glances to Patchouli, trying to at least give a silent promise to try and explain some things later. Although a part of her is slightly sad that she had to even think of such a thing...]

[septette]

[ She frowns, tucking the knife into one of the folds of her dress. ]

I don't even want to think about the two of them wandering in a broken world.

[ A shaky sigh. Remilia looks as if she's going to start crying, but ultimately she keeps herself composed. ]

You just woke up here, didn't you, Meiling? [ blinking ] If that means what I think it does, all three of us were brought back at the same time...although I didn't see either of you in that pathetic excuse for a Gensokyo.

This all feels rather ominous.

[witchoftheweek]

[Patchouli simply nods at Remilia's first statement.]

I didn't see anyone in that 'dead' Gensokyo. I believe there's a reason for that, though.

We were all brought back at the same time, but brought here from three separate points where the timeline 'split'. It split for you, Remi, when you were taken to that other place, and for Meiling and I when we were brought here the first time.

[colorfulbrilliance]

It's the different cake thing again I'm guessing. I know Wriggle had sad something about the endless night happening before she arrived and I know that had been at least a few years previous..

Although I might have something that can help you Mistress, While I think about it.

[She stands again, not even mentioning anything about the knife. There were still 4 more that she would retrieve later. Going back into her trunk, she does pull out her journal, running her fingers over it for a moment. Meiling stands tall though, not sitting back down for the moment.]

It's a timeline of what had happened..until I stopped updating it.

1/2

[septette]

...what does cake have to do with any of this?

2/2 wow it's been too long since I've played hisoutensoku, it wasn't actually a robot was it

[septette]

You know what, nevermind.

[ shaking her head ] I'm not sure what you remember, but the last thing I recall happening back home is that...er, the giant balloon the kappa made. Or was it a robot? I think someone thought it was daidarabotchi...

[ a pause ] You kept a journal? Let me see it, then.

yeah, it was Alice's doll and the thing the kappa made

[witchoftheweek]

[...cake analogy. Patchouli hates the cake analogy because it oversimplifies things a little too much, but she'll grant that it at least gets the point across.]

...I'll let Meiling handle the cake things.

As for what I remember, it was after that; it was when the Taoists started an incident in response to the Buddhists. That was one mess we all decided to stay out of.

I actually had to go back and check that myself

[colorfulbrilliance]

It's a long story for that one..But I don't I think I'm from around the same point as you Mistress..I don't remember anything after all of that..besides here.

[Meiling flips to the page where she started the timeline, as it was her journal from back home as well...of course most of the things that were from back home were in Chinese. Once she got to the page, she held it out once more.]

Here, this should be where ti starts..I may be missing a few things as well.

[septette]

Yes, I don't remember any Taoists. Just those Buddhists in the ship.

[ she scrunches up her face in trying to figure out what to make of Taoists and cake and journals WRITTEN IN CHINESE oh well those parts weren't really relevant...she skims over it until she gets to Meiling's notes about the finger thing ]

"Oops."

[witchoftheweek]

"Oops?"

[Patchy raises an eyebrow. She doesn't recall an 'oops', but she's still clearing out a bit of brain fog from having been alone so long.]

...dare I ask?

[colorfulbrilliance]

Eh?

[Yeah...She can't even remember what she wrote or what it was meant for.]

What was that about?