sirenspull | #01 { video }

[ Of course it doesn't feel like a dream: deep dreams rarely make you feel like anything is out of place. Perhaps she was submerged, pushed into an even heavier sleep or paralysis from the ones who were hunting her. It's not entirely impossible, but she certainly felt that slap when she woke up.

So did the Greeter on the Diamond, apparently. There was no easy way to apologise for that. Atsuko sits before one of the plainly-decorated walls of her room in the Tower Apartments, the video feed shaking very slightly: she's not used to taking videos with her cellphone, after all. Her hair is tied up, despite the rough landing. Another world. Business as usual. ]

I don't understand what they want me to do with all of this, but it's appreciated. Really. [ Her tone is so even that the sarcasm barely affects her words at all. The feed pans down briefly to the toiletries given free at the apartment lobby, atop a stack of promotional flyers, information packs, vouchers... All the cheap deals handed to every newcomer, and then some, taken from the reception. Organised into piles as it is, it still stands a few inches tall. ] The vouchers, especially. It's impressive the amount of effort people will put in to recruit... I'm surprised the terms and conditions for using these aren't simply contracts.

[ Picking up one of the SERO leaflets, she puts the cellphone aside, showing her profile a little more clearly. There don't seem to be any belongings in the room at all aside from her lab coat hung on a chair. ]

Now, this Eberhardt Institute. Is it a research institute, or a clinic? [ Glancing at the camera, she's beginning to sound unsure of herself-- speaking aloud like this as though someone might hear and know the answer... ] There are some things in this world I would like to ask about. Ask somebody in the psychology department, if there is one, as a doctor myself. And, I suppose if this number is public now...

[ Atsuko frowns at her cellphone, her newly-configured NV, the first real disdain she's shown all through her message. Without another word, she reaches forward to snap it shut, ending the feed. She's going to have to teach herself how to secure her messages, ASAP. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From quite some time ahead of where we are now, strange as that is to conceive, I understand.

[Dr. Yumeno smiles sympathetically, as if he's walked newcomers through the future history of this world a hundred times or more- the denial and shock or jaded disappointment never ceases to invoke some shade of compassion.

]

Ecologically, the earth has been spoiled by the release of methane hydrate gasses, and the remnants of humanity are confined to self-sustaining dome cities. Our fishbowl 'paradise' (as it was touted) was called Romdeau.

A few of my other fellow citizens are also here- Re-l Mayer, [He holds his tongue, knowing better by now than to introduce her as the regent's granddaughter] who worked for the investigation bureau, and now serves the SPPD here, and Raul Creed, who was our last security chief. He manages at a high end club, in Siren's Port.

[ It's still Earth-- that's some common ground, although the revelation that it was ruined like that brings a touch of resent to her expression. It isn't entirely shocking to think about, however, and she probably wouldn't have lived through that. She wonders if beginning with a blank slate is best when approaching homeworlds after all. ]

That eventuality doesn't surprise me much. Nor does seeing the Earth like this, apart from the... supernatural taking form. [ Not like she has experience with that, so to speak. ] So it is possible to find others from your own world and time here?

That has been my experience, at least. Funnily enough, those who do appear from the same time and place are more often than not closely connected in some way, leading many to believe that the Core is somehow sentient and deliberate in it's selection.

[ Atsuko looks thoughtful for a long moment. She's not used to dealing with external sentience except in the dream realm, and then, she doesn't necessarily need to think about the consequences. ]

Is that something you believe as well, Doctor? Just out of interest.

I don't think there's been enough research done with the core to make many sweeping assumptions.

I've noticed patterns, but that could mean anything.

I see.

The fact it concerns everybody in the city-- anything that pressing, on that scale, back home... [ Her words are muddled with her thoughts, and she seems to realise this with some embarassment. ] Sorry, I ought to stop making comparisons.

Well, the phenomena of the darkness decay effect, the Pull, the arrival of newcomers, all of these are presumed to be effects of "The Core", but since no one's really permitted too close to its proximity, there's not so much evidence, so...

It ends up being a scapegoat for everything, from the weather to a rash of bad memory, to the aquisition of 'superpowers'.

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