✪ 001: Video

[megazero_to_superhero]

[At first, there's only audio. A guy with a pretty thick Rhode Island accent can be heard muttering between keystrokes and clicks.]

—'Kay, where's da video option on dis thing ...

[And suddenly there's video. Oh, look, it's David, broadcasting from one of the library termninals! And boy, from the way he's slouching, does he look really worn out.]

—yeah, dere, dat works.

[In an attempt to try and not look so weak (and also so that people might understand him better through his fatigue), David straightens up with some effort and takes the unlit cigar out of his mouth and holds it between the fingers of his left hand before continuing.]

'Kay, so. All dat talk about da "Second Magic" and operating on parallel worlds got me curious.

See, we got all kindsa people in dis Tower, from all kindsa different dimensions. An' we're all here 'cause dat dimension-killing whatsit got loose in our home towns. But how many people here have actually been to other dimensions before gettin' brought here?

I ask, 'cause I'm one of 'em. It was a big deal where I'm from—even coined a name for our dimension, Primal Earth. Kinda have to come up with a name for da home team when you got entire alternate realities tryin' to make war on you, yanno? [Here, David briefly holds up two fingers with his other hand to illustrate what he's about to say—and he's actually careful to not do it in the way that's obscene to British people.] Went through two of dose. And we had to deal with dis punk who eats entire dimensions, Rularuu da Ravager. For a time I was thinkin' dat dimension-killing thing was actually him runnin' wild.

[David heaves a sigh as he puts the cigar back in his mouth.]

So yeah. I was actually doin' a lot of scoutin' missions for Portal Corp, helpin' explore unknown dimensions and watch for potential threats when da Tower nabbed me. How 'bout you guys? Any of youse done da dimension-hoppin' thing before?

Comments

[Video]

[midgarhorizon]

Nah, man, we barely even got a rocket off the planet.

[Video]

[megazero_to_superhero]

Heh, dat ain't too bad. We ain't done much space exploration in Primal Earth, either. But hey, my country did land some guys on da moon, so dere's dat.

[Video]

[midgarhorizon]

Landing on the moon, huh? Think we're way behind on that.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Eh, like I said, don't feel too bad. We didn't do a whole lot after we got to dat point.

[David takes the cigar out of his mouth momentarily to yawn, though he starts talking again halfway through.]

—eeeeaunno, some day we oughta start goin' back out dere. We get a lot of alien visitors—an' I mean real aliens from outer space, not from another dimension.

[Unbeknownst to David, that was actually in the works in the form of "Gagarin Orbital Platform" and "Armstrong Lunar Facility." Damn you, NCSoft, for killing CoH before we got our Moon Zone!]

[midgarhorizon]

Funny you say that. I'm startin' to wonder if Earth exists in my universe, too.

[It probably does. Not that Spirits Within wasn't a blatant lore rip off. But even if they got their universes back up and running, Reno doubts he'll ever find out.]

I heard legends it used to be possible traveling through stars, but y'know those old tales. When they figure out the reality it's really kinda lame.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Legends, huh ... Well, y'never know, sometimes dey ain't too far from da truth. Guess it depends a lot on da legend.

[Which of course leads David to be curious ...]

What kindsa legends have ya heard?

[midgarhorizon]

Not too many, now that I think 'bout it. Most the ones I know, I had to with the job. Investigative crap.

[megazero_to_superhero]

[His line of work—well, the only thing he knows about would be those crazies Reno mentioned just before David volunteered for power donation ...]

Ya mean like dat "end of da world" cult ya fought against? What, dey wanted to punt everybody off-world or somethin'?

[midgarhorizon]

Nah, different mission. More historical oriented. I don't remember much of it.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Arright. Heh, well, had to ask.

[After a beat, David gets curious about what Reno mentioned earlier.]

So how's dat space program workin' out back home?

[midgarhorizon]

They abandoned it. Too much time, money, and the payouts weren't that great. Official response. Truth is the rocket got sabotaged.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Sabotaged? Why for? Some kinda space race rivalry with another nation?

[midgarhorizon]

Heh... Shinra had no rivals. Wasn't my mission, but I heard someone spotted those guys I told you about earlier.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Da apocalyptic nutcases?

[David mulls that over. If they were behind it ... then they weren't interested in getting people off planet, but making sure no one escaped when Judgement Day came.]

[midgarhorizon]

Yeah. So you think maybe someone could do this hopping thing here?

[megazero_to_superhero]

Why not? Dey got da technology to pull our souls here, an' someone told me da monsters are screwups.

[David readjusts the cigar in his mouth again.]

But, we've seen how dey got deir real bodies back when da glamour failed, so I bet da technology's dere, dey just don't got it workin' right.

[midgarhorizon]

They probably got it working just fine, they just don't want to.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Wouldn't doubt it, da louses.

[David pauses, thinking back on what people have said of the admins.]

Maybe we can ask one of da "good guys" about it, though. Dere's still some around, yeah?

[midgarhorizon]

[Sorry- Reno is laughing now.]

You're kidding, right?

[megazero_to_superhero]

[It takes David a moment to register how his own question sounded.]

—Oh—

[Now he looks a little embarrassed.]

—heheh! Ah, sorry—I meant among da admins. Yanno? 'Cause—well, dat's what I heard before. Some of dem ain't like da others.

[midgarhorizon]

Don't count on it. I don't think any of 'em know what good or bad is.

[megazero_to_superhero]

What, not even da one dat died? What was his name—Dax?

[Ignoring that Jason just joined him on the Ruana Express.]

[midgarhorizon]

He might have had an idea, figure that's what Ruana ate him for. Hard to tell.

[megazero_to_superhero]

What, she wanted his sense of morality, so she ate 'em?

[midgarhorizon]

Actually, think that's the part she didn't eat.