three

[scoring]

[ written, sometime in the late evening. any of her friends from home might recognise her handwriting from all those times borrowing her notes - she's looking at you, yosuke-kun - but otherwise it'll just look like some very nice, elegant script.

in the real world, yukiko is on a bench along the path of the castle, journal in her lap while she watches the sun set. there's a lot to consider- the place has a bodacious library and a couple of people who she cares about deeply. but on the other hand: a prison is a prison.

just like the cage her shadow was in. just like the cage her bird escaped from.

one tiny sigh can be heard before she puts pen to paper. there's one question on her mind, and one question only, now that many lucid weeks here have confirmed it as very much not a dream. ]

Is it really safe to make a home for yourself here?

Comments

[save_the_souls]

[a pause as he considers, before carefully answering...]

Perhaps not...but then again, if you think about it...lots of places aren't safe to make homes, right?

[scoring]

That's true, but no place is quite as transient as this. You never know when you'll be transported away and forget everything.

[save_the_souls]

Well...to be honest, it's not too different to how it was for me in my world. I mean, I would always be traveling place to place...

This is the longest I've actually stayed somewhere. Then again, maybe that's why my view on it is different.

[scoring]

That is a very different situation. And it doesn't bother you that this could all be taken away at any time?

[spinstrikes]

[he'll write back! Mostly out of amusement, enjoy that chicken scratch Yukiko]

No. Didn't anyone else fill you in on all the weird things the castle does? No way it's going to stay like this for much longer.

[scoring]

A few, but that's what I was thinking about. You can't even depend on the place keeping itself geographically stable.

[spinstrikes]

It gets worse, with the mind control and the monster thing. [A pause that causes ink to stain the page for a minute] Getting out should be what we do first, after we make sure we have everyone's losses accounted for.

[Aka he means their powers, it's no good if they find a way to leave and can't even take on all the opposition...Or something. Base ideas are his thing]

[mouthiness]

No, but you'll end up doing it anyway.

[scoring]

That's what I'm worried about.

[mouthiness]

You don't get a choice. You'll end up doing it anyway if you stay here long enough.

[cheerupemoborg]

Of course not.

However, there's not much choice in the matter.

[scoring]

There really isn't. At least until we find some way to get out of here.

[cheerupemoborg]

The chances of that seem low, unfortunately. Waiting it out could be the only choice.

[pacificate]

Safety, at the very least, seems assured.

[scoring]

I think I'd prefer freedom over safety.

[pacificate]

The privileged tend to say that.

[her_mouse_jesty]

I think it depends by what you think a 'home' is.

[scoring]

Somewhere that your family is, I guess? The place that you grew up in.

[her_mouse_jesty]

Then I don't think this would be home for many people at all! After all, home is where the heart is.

[caligulas_aquarium]

yknoww if i wwasnt convvinced youre neww before
i wwould be noww

[Not that he can talk; he's only been here since December, which is pitiful compared to a lot of the older residents.]

the answwer is no

[scoring]

[ look at all this rudeness. yukiko winces a little, hurt, but presses on. ]

I thought so. It just never hurts to get a consensus.

[caligulas_aquarium]

[But now that she's put up with his initial overbearing jackassery, maybe he's okay with giving her some leeway.

The road to pleasant conversations with Eridan is a long and arduous one.]

i guess
so anywway
are you settlin in okay at least

[payback]

It's not safe to make a home for yourself anywhere. Everywhere is transient, it's just more obvious here.

[scoring]

That's what I mean! At least in other places, you could be content that nothing would change for years...here, it can all be taken away in a day, and it's always just as likely.

[payback]

It's not guaranteed that nothing will change for years anywhere. You can lose everything in an hour depending on what happens. If any world seems safe it's just an illusion of safety.