animus_network | 002

[It takes him all day to muster himself out of his bed to make this post in the dormitory levels. Had he not been slammed with a message about his new "job", he would have kindly stayed in his room for a day or two just to... he wasn't even sure what the right word was. He didn't need to relax. He needed to detox. His journey home had been short, but he hoped and prayed it was just a dream. Only a dream, please just let it be that. But he'd seen the barren landscape, inhaled the putrid, acidic smell of miasma leaking out of every crack and crevice, seas of purple mud and poison all that remained of his world.

Of course he wanted it to be a dream.

...]

Two questions. Feel free to answer or not.

First: How many of you have been back home? As in: how many have returned to what used to be their home, only to come back? What did you see, and did it... feel real?

[...]

Second: What are we left with if the worlds we all know are really gone? Is it just us, this Tower, countless years and a few grim expectations?

I really am starting to wonder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I suppose. [They'll just have to do as they always have done and adapt.] That isn't a topic meant to be discussed here though.

[In general because the Network just isn't safe at all and in particular because he has no idea who Guy is exactly and how much he knows about... certain on-goings. And until he does, he's not going to say a word either.]

The scent. I know that world's heart.

Alright. Understood.

[He honestly should have thought of it sooner. The admins had a view of all that went on around here, didn't they? It didn't mean that speaking up should be eliminated all together, but this kid was right. It probably wasn't the time or the place.

The other comment gets him to raise a brow.]

...I wouldn't think that, uh... scent and heart are things that are connected. What do you mean?

[No arguing or questioning about it. Good.

Riku isn't much of a fan of the network; he keeps track of it and he converses over it every now and then like now, but he considers it overused at times, carelessly so. There is a reason why he refuses to answer any of those surveys whenever they pop up - it's not like the administrators don't have enough material to use against them already. No need to feed them more.

...Speaking of carelessness. Sloppy of him. He's never been exactly secretive about what he can do, but he never went to advertise it either... and thinking about it, that's probably good that way. At least it's private.]

It's an ability I have. A sixth sense of sorts.

To... smell hearts. [It sounds a bit disturbing if he thinks about it literally, but he's pretty sure that's not what is meant. Especially since Riku spoke of his world's heart... maybe it was more of a spiritual matter.]

Right, then. Does that apply just to your world, or to people as well.

[Well, thanks good it's not literal. That would be gross. Not to mention useless as hell, probably.]

It applies to everything.

[Everything that has a Heart anyways.]

[Hey, man, to each their own. If you really wanted to literally smell hearts...]

So anything that has a heart, you can tell apart.

And when you went to your world... I guess you couldn't distinguish it like you should have been able to?

Yes.

[Well, that's what it comes down to anyways.]

The scent of it was different. I know what a dead world feels like.

[Or a dieing one anyways, but it's close enough to make the leap.]

Could you describe it?

...

If that isn't asking too much, of course.

[He's simply curious.]

Not on here.

[Because well... it's kind of really hard to put into words, never mind text.]

I see.

[Not gonna push it. He knows it's hard enough to describe his own experience. So instead, he drops another question:]

Do you think there's any reason to send us back there? Any reason we ourselves didn't die?

No clue. But even if I had a theory, I wouldn't discuss it on here.

[Because he's that paranoid.]

You're worried about what might come because of it?

Yes. A lot of people are too careless with the amount of information they leave on here.

No kidding.

It's like people forget the fact that there's more malcontents than just the Administrators keeping track of things.

Sometimes they forget even about latter.

Last I checked, there was very little we could do about the latter anyways.

Not that that's an excuse to be foolish with your words.

We can censor ourselves. They know enough already without us having to add to it.

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