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Hi, everyone. It's me, Yukiko.

I wanted to check on everyone who was on the machine the other day. Are you all right? I hope the nightmares haven't been too bad.

If there's anything I can d--

[One second, Yukiko is there, talking into the terminal screen. The next second, she's gone. The terminal keeps recording, though all it catches is ambient background noise and video from the terminal bank in the dorms.

She'll eventually be back to answer any 'where the heck did you go?' inquiries, but it won't be before the terminal cuts off.]

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...I've noticed that tends to happen. If this is the first time for you, when you get back, try not to panic.

[Someone is more out of fucks to give than usual.]

[She looks kind of stressed when she finally reappears, about twenty minutes later, but she isn't entirely panicked.]

...y-yeah. Right.

[There's a bunch of nervous laughter.]

I take it that suddenly popping into Nowhere Town is now the new normal?

That seems to have become common among our happy little band of void travelers, yes. Try to collect yourself and don't assume the worst just yet.

[She takes a couple of deep breaths, and that gets her to calm down some more.]

Oh, joy. I'm not going to say 'it could be worse', because that's guaranteed to make it worse, but I hope our little trips to the void get less frequent over time. I don't think any of us would want to spend more time there than we have to.

Even coupled with the current sense of exhaustion I've noticed as well, I hesitate to assume this is a symptom of something worse. For now, I would think it more likely to be side effects. We'll have to see whether they improve or worsen before being sure of that, however.

[Pausing in the analytic approach, Waver focused more on Yukiko herself for a moment.]

...Are you alright? I realize these excursions can register as something of a shock, particularly the first time.

I was going to get to the exhaustion thing before I suddenly got zapped out of here. I'd kind of figured on that part being normal, at least, for a while. I guess the little side trips could be a side effect too.

[She nods for a second.]

I'm a little bit shaken up, but other than that, I'm fine. At least it's relatively safe in there.

True, it's certainly preferable to nightmares or anything of the sort. I'd still advise caution; whenever you end up over there, stay calm and try not to wander. We don't know if anything is actually there or where moving about could lead us.

I'm still having nightmares, though that's not a new thing. They aren't as bad as the ones right before we wound up over there, though.

...did you see that mirror, when you blinked back over there the first time? I didn't see it this time, and I was wondering if that was just me.

At this point, I'd be worried for the sanity of whoever didn't have nightmares around here.

[It occurred to Waver that he hadn't seen that mirror again as far as he'd been aware. Until Yukiko mentioned as much, it didn't even register as something that was missing.]

...Now that I think of it, no. I haven't been there long, but I don't believe I saw it at all.

I would be, too. Anyone that's sleeping soundly these days either hasn't been here very long or is really messed up.

Huh. I wonder if it's gone for good now that we're back. If looking at it hadn't been so godawful the first time, I'd almost want to go looking, but I really don't care to repeat that experience.

You couldn't pay me to go anywhere near that fucking thing again, to phrase it bluntly.

Although that is an interesting theory. There's practically nothing we know about that place or the method we used to leave it...whether it was directly connected to or influenced by that machine, or an unforeseen consequence of it.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Right. We really don't know anything. It wasn't the dead world of anyone in particular --

-- wait. This is going to sound crazy, but you don't think we got zapped into one of the admins' dead worlds, do you? It's a possibility.

...hm. That does seem like a reasonable idea. I think I'd believe Ruana responsible for creating a place with literally nothing remaining, theoretically.

I wouldn't put it past her, either. There's no real way to test it aside from intentionally trying to get zapped over there and trying to find some clues, though. Seeing as we can't control the zaps, that's going to prove difficult.

Unfortunately so, yes.

[Waver sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was getting a headache.]

This whole thing complicates an already overly complicated situation.

You can say that again. It's yet another mystery to solve.

...I never thought I'd say I was sick of mysteries, but having one less in our lives would make them much easier.

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