Noctium: TDM Overflow

[bottomless_bowl]

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Hibiki

[bottomless_bowl]

[That gets a laugh, shaking his head in rueful agreement.]

That's Fate for ya.

[Honestly if not for the hand shake offer he'd have no idea what the younger man said was meant to be a name. He blinks, startled, but reaches out to- well... there's no one else around for this particular moment and Hibiki will not understand the significance at all. So he doesn't quite shake his hand, more grasps the other's forearm with a single firm squeeze, a little bit of a shake, something that could easily be used to pull someone in for a hug.

Stars how many times has he had that happen in the past couple of weeks. Come home a war hero and suddenly everyone that wanted you dead wants to be your best friend. Ugh]

You... can just call me Riegan, for now.

[Paranoid? Well... obviously.]

[shinetagonist]

[he seems a little surprised by the gesture, but quickly adapts and mimics it with a firm grip]

Mr. Riegan, got it. Sorry if I fumble it- I'm not amazing at Western names.

Yuri

[bottomless_bowl]

Night Garden. See you in 20

[There is far too much that he's pretty sure could be tracked to continue using the phones. Just from bits of information that he's picked up from others, explanations he's listened in on. And, what's more... after everything Hubert did to screw them over, messing with the scouts information, tracing Those Who Slither through their own use of magic.... yeah these technological devices seem to function an awful lot like magic. So. He's not taking any chances.

Yuri won't get another response after that but he will find Claude in an out of the way place just off the main entrance of the Gardens, the bright gold of his fancy new button down shirt tinted greenish by the glow of a nearby flower even though it's not quite late enough for the Garden to be in full luminescence yet. He might just be idly whistling something that sounds an awful lot like bird song until Yuri shows up.

Just in case he needs a little help finding him.]

[foulplayed]

( The Night Gardens are as beautiful as Yuri would expect them to be, and a far cry from anything he's ever experienced in the noble estates of Fódlan. The air is somehow soft and sweet, and the flowers are just beginning to shimmer with a glow that he assumes is linked to some kind of magic—

But then he spots (hears?) Claude, and all thoughts of their surroundings are narrowed back to the practical. )

Nice tune.

( He says lightly, having swapped his own battle gear for some fitted tailoring: high-waisted trousers which he's paired with a white button-down blouse. The grey military jacket he's wearing over his shoulders is mostly for show; Yuri was born and raised in a chilly village of Faerghus, after all, but the silver embroidery had caught his eye back at the boutique. )

So. Here we are, all ready to talk. Why don't you start us off?

Hubert

[bottomless_bowl]

[Claude frowns up at him, suspicious of that amusement but also agonizingly curious too. Dammit.]

Okay... well something here doesn't add up. You said you were taking out some bandits with the Eagles? So... No one else is dead either?

[Cause uh.... y'all are all dead, buddy.]

[darkbishop]

None of the Black Eagles are, at least.

[But from the sound of it...]

Do you remember killing all of us?

[He doesn't really expect an answer, but morbid curiosity compels him to ask.]

Dimitri - @blaiddydblood

[bottomless_bowl]

"No one deserves to be corralled like a beast." Even if Dimitri had barely even qualified as that by that point. He wasn't just a feral animal but by the time Edelgard retreated and the rest of the Lions had been slain well... he may as well have been rabid.

"But yeah I've gotten a lot of that. No one seems to remember things the same." Which is frustrating as hell and makes no sense. For as carefree as he usually acts this is clearly bothering him, huffing a sigh and shoving his hand back through his hair.

[blaiddydblood]

So he says and yet... What good was a beast that broke out of its cage unrestrained? It was better to be put down than left to cause chaos unchecked.

"The discrepancies are concerning." He wonders who might be able to make sense of such things. Of course, the immediate thought his Byleth - who he holds in not so secretly high esteem - but they aren't here to guide him this time.

"But I've begun to wonder if it truly matters here." He was able to talk to Hubert. Now Claude. He's getting chances he wouldn't have been afforded back home according to the end he'd met in their realities.

Bernadetta

[bottomless_bowl]

Oh I'm sure someone remembers me being dead... kinda messed up, really.

[This is getting more complicated by the moment.]

Okay... so... According to you, Teach took over for the Lions? The amount of stuff that would change if they weren't-

[A frustrated little sigh and then he laughs it off, shoving the puzzle aside for when he has more time to dedicate to it.]

I guess the important part, for now, is that everyone's here and alive and... we have an entirely new government to deal with?

[persecutetioncomplex]

[Jeritza does for sure, but Bernadetta is half-certain him healing her up when she first got here was just a traumatic fever dream, so.]

I-I'm pretty sure, yeah. I was brought along with them on missions more than once, s-so...

[Pretty much certain.]

I, um. I guess that could be right. They're, um, not too bad for people dealing with a bunch of new... immigrants?

[Is that the right word...?]

Dimitri- @aboarhent

[bottomless_bowl]

[Claude is definitely not foolish enough to think, even with the thrilling little rush of speed he's learning, that the blade he keeps hidden beneath his belt would even begin to give him a chance against someone like Dimitri. Not without weapons or Kader to give him the height advantage.]

Ah. I knew I'd find someone who thinks I'm dead eventually. I'd ask the same of you but... well I've already run into a few other people that should be dead.

[aboarhent]

You had disappeared almost without a trace. It would be hard to assume anything else.

( dimitri grunts, lowering his head. what claude is saying sounds crazy, and honestly? it sounds like something that dimitri would be saying. seeing people that should be dead?

...

actually, the more thinks about it? that might not be a good thing depending. )

May I approach?

( he's already taking a step forward. then another, if he's allowed to go further. )

Joric

[bottomless_bowl]

Not mine, no. [A soft laugh at that. At least until he remembers... well... Rhea. Maybe not so ridiculous after all.]

My wyvern.

[drawsblood]

And what is that? A wyvern.

[ It's not something he's ever heard of before. ]

Fai

[bottomless_bowl]

[That logic leap makes Claude grin, laughing a little and making a point of shrugging. ]

Who knows! It's a big city.

[Bigger than anything he's ever seen.]

Lots to see~

[Probably lots they don't want the new gembonded seeing.]

[partymagician]

[ He laughs. It's definitely a non-answer, but he doesn't really seem to mind and he's not going to pry either. ]

There is! I'm hoping that means there will be lots of good restaurants.

[ And maybe more information about this world. ]

Are you going to start exploring now that we're done here?

Gaku

[bottomless_bowl]

[Look... where he's from the printing press and gunpowder are cutting edge technology. Where he's been the last few years? Don't even have that.
He's so lost and he hates it. Better to own up to it now and get the knowledge he needs to get a leg up here.

But as a demonstration of how much he doesn't Get It Claude plucks out maybe... four? vouchers. Really basic clothes and groceries, maybe one for soap/shampoo. And he hands the entire rest of the stack to Gaku.]

.... No idea what any of that is.

[Toilet paper? What's a toilet? Indoor plumbing? Electricity? Antibiotics? Genius! But the tiny bit of exposure he got on the space station is not enough for him to be able to read these little coupon thingies and make connections.

Sorry for this ye olde boy, Gaku]

[gakupon]

[ gaku takes one look at the vouchers given to him and then he glances at claude, eyebrow arching. he's aware that other people may not necessarily be from the same world he's from but this is probably the first time he's encountered someone who has no idea what some of these are.

well, there's no judgment here. ]

Alright. Then which one do you want to know about first?

[ because there's A Lot here and not even gaku knows where to start. ]

Pick one and I'll tell you about it.

Archer of Black

[bottomless_bowl]

You know? You see enough weird things and you just don't have it in you to be shocked anymore.

[But at least he's open to questions? Just don't mind Claude circling around him now, curious and... somehow maybe appraising?]

If it's not common then... are most people in your world just normal bipedal humans?

[antaressnipe]

More or less.

[At his height, it's not difficult to keep an eye on Claude circling him, though the centaur is polite enough to remain stationary -- save for his tail which gives an amused flick to the side]

My species has already died out -- hence why my appearance would likely startle the population into a frenzy.

Boyleth

[bottomless_bowl]

[He just gives the waitress a look equal parts daring her to say anything and amused by her concern. Teach can put away more food than anyone else he's ever known. Maybe something about the whole... having a "goddess" living inside him?

For his part he only orders some monstrous "black and bleu" grilled chicken sandwich.... and an absurd amount of the fried onions. Look, they're amazing okay, don't judge him.

Also this is probably going to be the only substantial meal he eats today. But, that's neither here nor there.]

Me? Eh, holding up alright. Better than most, probably.

[A lazy shrug, sipping at his water. Sorry Teach if you want details you know you've gotta ask specific questions.]

Re: Boyleth

[perfectteatime]

[ If there's anyone who can understand, it's Byleth. He's not going to judge in the least. He just worries at the edge of a napkin with his fingers as he considers the rather bland answer. ]

What have you been doing since you got here?

[ Specific it shall be. ]

Ashe

[bottomless_bowl]

[Thank Gods he's too caught up in the Edelgard bomb to get too flustered about Detta's earring.]

Trust me, Her Imperial Majesty is a new addition. And not a good one.

[Any intention of starting anything? Really Ashe? And when everyone was in Academy did you think she had any intention of starting things then? It's too much of a risk. Enough of one that for one moment he wonders if there's potentially a way that he could convince this Nyx woman that her people, her city, would be safer if Edelgard's powers were sealed somehow.]

What? [A hand lifts to touch the silken tassel briefly, the tightly wound anxiety in his expression softening for the briefest of moments.] Uh... yeah, she did.

Did you see what Gem Edelgard is bonded to?

[Please not Ruby, anything but ruby, don't let her be ruby]

[shootyourshot]

[BOY HE'S GOT BAD NEWS FOR YOU]

You don't have to tell me that.

[The earring is given another look. Questions are there, but they should probably focus on something more pressing, like the not-so-late Emperor. Ashe folds his arms and sighs, having mixed feelings.]

Ruby, I think.

Hilda

[bottomless_bowl]

[He watches her for that moment, impossibly tense... tension that rushes out of him with a relieved laugh and he shakes his head a little.]

Yeah uh... Ask Dimitri or Dorothea some time if you want to know about what would have happened without Teach. [A hand through dark curls and he starts a meandering path down the city streets, too much information to process to stand still, too worried about who might overhear what to stay in one place.]

Everything's a big jumble of timelines and events, everyone remembers things differently. Probably there's differences, little subtle things even between our memories. It's- Hilda, it's an absolute disaster. [Said with a bit of his usual playful dramatics, hand pressed to his chest for a moment in a distressed sort of pearl-clutching mockery that Lorenz would be horribly offended by.]

What's the last thing you remember?

Re: Hilda

[deervalentine]

[She follows after him without questioning it, processing his words carefully. It's... a lot to process. But it explains some of the interactions she had before she ran into Claude--why Ashe and Dimitri remembered such different events. She wonders how that's even possible.]

Jeez... that's kind of heavy to think about. [She knows he's saying it in his usual way but she actually thinks "it's an absolute disaster" describes it pretty well. (And Hilda has yet to even know the whole of it.)] To think there are even alternate versions of events in the first place is pretty crazy. [Ugh, does that mean there's a version where Edelgard won? How awful.]

Huh, me? Well, we had just finished the last battle with the Empire. Edelgard made her final stand but we were able to defeat her. So I guess... the war is finally over. Not that I got to enjoy it before all this happened.

[She pauses and then asks,] Is that different from your memories?

Linhardt

[bottomless_bowl]

[Of course people would lie online. It's even easier than lying to someone face to face! Pity, takes all the skill out of it. Though it employs a completely different set of skills to make those lies look professional or credible.

Still he nods along with Linhardt's assessment of the brightness, wincing a little in sympathy. Yeah that sucks.]

You can lower the brightness and I found a little um.... "app"? That changes the colors. It makes it a lot easier to look at but, obviously, then any images you look at are.... wrong.

[So it's great for text but miserable for anything else. The question for what a phone actually is?

He just snags Lin's phone and pulls up the wiki lbr.]

There ya go. Probably not as technical as you want but it's a starting point.

I'm sorry he is the way he is

[idratherbeasleep]

[Linhardt scowls when Claude takes his phone. Why do people keep trying to steal it? Are people allergic to saying 'hello, Linhardt, may I please have your personal portable miracle device?'(No, he does not realize the irony in wishing that other people were respecting his boundaries.

But the scowl gives way to fascination when Claude pulls the encyclopedia up. It's true that it isn't as detailed as he'd like, but simply being shown that such a thing exists is enough for Linhardt to snatch the phone back and move his fingers in a flurry, pressing things, opening tabs, and saving them to something called a 'reading list'.

History of science, yes. Wi-fi, yes. Telephones, yes. The electromagnetic spectrum, yes. It takes a solid two minutes before he realizes Claude is still there.]

You can leave now.

[It's not curt or angry; Linhardt is just helpfully letting Claude know that Claude has fulfilled his social obligation and can therefore be on his way.]

Unless you wanted to talk to me about something.

[A slight concession to Claude for showing him the digital encyclopedia.]