[Dictated]

[lightbranded]

 [Will had had a great deal to think about recently.  It was not just the arrival of the belt of signs and his responsibility for its protection.  Not just his usual worries about what his purpose was here in Paradisa and the homesickness that had come with the holidays.

It was the fact that he had met two persons named Merlin here who were both very similar and not similar at all to Merriman.  It was the fact that he had met the people that might have been Bran's family in another world and time.

And Will was lost.  He did not know what to do about all this new knowledge.  

At long last he picks up his journal and dictates a single quiet question into it.]

If you ever met someone who was like a close friend you knew from home, but who was not them, is it too strange to wish to know them better?  Or is it better to hold yourself back and not try to learn of the differences in their worlds?

Comments

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

If they remind you of someone you know back home, then I say it wouldn't be strange at all. It's like a reminder of what you left behind, even if they aren't the real deal.

[lightbranded]

Not just remind. It is more like- [Will hesitates as he tries to find the right words.] Like they are the same person, but from another world. But a world where everything happened very differently.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

So like an alternate world?

[lightbranded]

Something like that, I think. It isn't like anything I have ever encountered before.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

Sounds mighty strange. I'd still say there was nothing wrong in getting to know 'em.

[lightbranded]

It feels very strange. And I am never quite sure what to say.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

Take it slow. Get to know them first, that version of them.

[lightbranded]

[Will sighs unhappily. He had felt guilty, hiding so many things from them.]

I wish I could feel what the right path was.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

Sometimes, you've just got to go with whatever your gut is telling you.

[lightbranded]

I always used to just know. But that is what I lost.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

I'm right sorry to hear that.

[lightbranded]

I am learning to work without that, but it is very difficult. I'm never sure now if what I am doing is right.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

It's always hard, knowing if what you're doing is right or not. Usually you just have to go with your gut.

[lightbranded]

...That sounds uncomfortable.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

Uncomfortable? How'd you figure that one?

[lightbranded]

Thinking with your gut, I mean.

[thatrabbitsdynamite]

Maybe, but it can help.

[hard_talker]

I don't think it's strange at all. That's how I've gotten to know some of my closest friends here.

[lightbranded]

I'm just not sure if it is right to speak of some of what I know.

[hard_talker]

Hmm. Well ... would it hurt 'em if you didn't?

[lightbranded]

I do not think so? Though they might be upset if they ever discovered more of my world.

[hard_talker]

But they're from a different one, right? .... Do they really have that much in common?

[lightbranded]

Enough, I think, that it is very confusing.

[hard_talker]

Hmmm. I guess the question is, then: would they find out anythin' about your world from anyone else here but you?

[lightbranded]

No, I am the only one here from my world.

[hard_talker]

Then I'd say ... sure, go ahead, get to know 'em, and if stuff like that comes up? It's up to you whether you tell 'em or not. And you can lay it on 'em in little pieces, all slow and shit. So it's easier to understand.

[lioneyed]

I think I'd want to learn more - how much like the person I know they are, why things are different in their world...

But then, it seems like everyone's world is rather different from mine.

[lightbranded]

I've been learning a little about that. I'm just not sure how much it is right to speak about my world.

[lioneyed]

However much you feel comfortable, I suppose. I don't have many secrets of my own - but unless they're going to harm those here, people should be allowed to keep their own, if they'd like.

[lightbranded]

No, not harm. I don't think.

[He sighs, sounding rather lost.]

I can't feel what the right path is anymore.

[lioneyed]

I speak from experience when I say that even when does have an inkling of the future, the 'right' path can still be rather difficult to decide on.

[lightbranded]

I always used to just know things like that.

[lioneyed]

Really? Were you a diviner of some sort?

[lightbranded]

No, it was something that I simply knew. When to wait and when to act and what to say.

[lioneyed]

I'm not sure I'd consider that a gift, or a curse...

[lightbranded]

The first thing my master ever told me was that what we can do is both at the same time.

[lioneyed]

Your master sounds wise. That's something I was never taught - though perhaps it should have.

[lightbranded]

He was. Very wise, I mean. [He pauses, and continues on quietly.] I wish I could speak with him again.

[lioneyed]

Well - this place is, for all of it's faults, one of nearly-infinite possibility as well, I think. So perhaps you will.