Changes

[fredless]

[Someone's standing on her bed again, navigating a mattress and piled blankets to chose a book from the shelf that lines the length of her ceiling.

...then suddenly the book is chosen for her. And it isn't string theory.

Fred scrambles back down to sit on the edge of the bed, fingers tracing over the pages of a journal. Page after page after page. Every last one of them blank. Something presses against her, from the inside out. She moves to the window, briefly glancing outside of it. Everything seems just the same, but she can't seem to fully push back memories of Libet and the auditorium at the heart of it]

Is everybody alright?

[The words seems impossibly dark and large against the blank expanse of the page]

Is everybody...there?

Comments

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

'I've slowly found my own here. There's about three, if I recall correctly.'

[As for names.]

'It's up to you. Many people just call me Colonel.'

[fredless]

'Colonel' it is, then. Unless you want ti to be something else?

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade chuckled noiselessly on his end.]

'Zarchon, ruler of puppies and silly-looking birds.'

[fredless]

[Hey now]

Well. That's a mouthful if I ever heard one. Do you even have a puppy or a silly looking bird to speak of?

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade thinks.]

'But I do like being called Zarchon. Almost like being home again.'

[No, he does not have puppies and silly-looking birds. At least not yet...]

[fredless]

[Give it time. This place inevitably leads to the collection of interesting pets]

Zarchon it is then, I think. No need for home to be so far away.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[He could have a cute army of both by the end of a year for all everyone knows.]

'How kind. You have my thanks, Fred. I feel positively at home.'

[fredless]

You don't have to thank me. But that's good to know. Especially here.

[She pauses]

You're newer here. You'll let me know if you need anything?

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

'Ah, you have my thanks.'

[fredless]

Really, nothing to go thanking me for. Promise. This place takes getting used to.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

'I'll certainly agree to that.'