And for a family, I guess that makes me some kind of space uncle?

[somekindofspaceuncle]

 

[Thread continuations. To avoid unnecessary captchas. And for new threads, too. Feel free to hit up with anything if we already threaded. Or even if we didn't, I'll reply if I've seen you around./ ]

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*Friendly inexperienced world traveler appears* XD

[beyondthenorms]

[She smiles softly to him.]

I'll keep this in mind. Thank you.

[Did she really need anything from him? She's not sure on turning to him for help on any of her most difficult problems and worries. Yes, he's a very nice person. She feels overall at ease with him, but...

Well, she'll just casually ask him a question, changing the topic.]

How long have you been traveling in space?

Oh, right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet! [She offers her hand to shake.] I'm Mari Broderick.

:D

[somekindofspaceuncle]

No problem.

I've been away from Earth for a few years now.

You're right. [Handshake. He's got a prosthetic arm.] I'm Shiro. Nice to meet you.

[beyondthenorms]

[She's surprised to see the prosthetic arm.]

What happened there, Shiro? Did you lose your arm?

[Her voice lowers at the third question.]

Did it really hurt?

[somekindofspaceuncle]

[Since Mari's used her full name in introduction, Shiro now wonders if he should've said his, too.Takashi Shirogane.
Maybe later.]

[Her question catches the Paladin (and astronaut / soldier) offguard. Lance did stare at his fake arm once (and so did Keith once, subtly, but Keith was
basically younger brother of Shiro's, so, as a matter of course...) but never asked outloud. Because----]

There was an evil alien witch.

I suspect it did hurt. Unless they did have...used good anasthetics?

[He gives an awkward smile.]

Who knows, maybe they had. Not that I'd rememb-

[Ah. He suddenly touches his head.]

Not that I'd remember exactly, if they had.

[beyondthenorms]

[She tensed a little at the detail of an alien witch.]

That must've been a really scary, and vicious alien...

[She remembered how startled he reacted when she asked him.]

I'm sorry, if I over-stepped. All I can really say is that I'm glad you weren't killed.

Oops, wrong account, I've replied with Shiro a second ago, when Mari's actually talking to "Shiro".

[somekindofspaceuncle]

It's okay-- thanks. I'm fine.

LOL. It's fine hun~

[beyondthenorms]

[She looks to him, concerned.]

If you're really okay, then alright.

[She pauses, and thinks if she could share what she could about something that really scared her. Probably not her near-death experience.]

:)

[somekindofspaceuncle]

You needn't worry so much for every stranger you meet, Mari.

I am fine, unless you count my forever headache. Literal. Which, ha, I've stopped counting.

Re: :)

[beyondthenorms]

[She looks to him, and takes her time in saying the following.]

It's not just concern I'd feel for you.

[There may be a knowing look in her eyes.]

I also understand what it's like to have gone through something so painful...and frightening.

It's hard for me to say much on it.

[She smiles a little in sympathy.]

Hopefully, you'll get your Aleve sometime soon.

<3

[somekindofspaceuncle]

It's alright. Besides,

[he smiles a little]

weren't we supposed to talk about your situation?

I can see these two eventually being BFFs.

[beyondthenorms]

[Her itty bitty smile fades as she sighs.]

It would take a while to break it all down, to help you at least try to understand.

Unless you're familiar on world displacement, and nasty ghost-like creeps who can make anybody show up, and then disappear...

[Mari frowns as her gaze averts from his as her words drift and go quiet. As of now, she isn't sure if he'd be of any help at all. Some of the details would be hard to speak on, without feeling emotional about it.

Part of her is already regretting this, but she knows he won't let up. I might have to start at the beginning...]

sure, why not :)

[somekindofspaceuncle]

Sounds like quite a story.

[He's ready to listen if she wants to tell.]

[beyondthenorms]

It was so weird, crazy, and scary altogether over a year ago. That week and a half of first learning about other worlds, and those who came from them--so much had happened... Both good, and bad.


[She takes her time in figuring out where to start. Already, she feels uncomfortable. Talking about the very beginning also might mean having to go over how about a handful used to know, she didn't know were real. Or, had been real all along. The fictional story mediums...

Mari isn't sure if she could bring herself to recall those details, or other specifics that would give her flashbacks.]


Some memories might be hard for me to go into, but I'll still go over what I can.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

[The young man ,over twenty years younger than he knows today, but with many more traumas than a boy his age should've had, not that he knows it all looks at the young woman with an honest concern.]

Hey, you needn't force yourself, Mari. It's okay-

[He reaches out with his hand to comfort her, then hesitates. It's clear that he wants to, but is unsure.]

It's okay to take your time, or forget things you don't want to remember. Ok?

[beyondthenorms]

[She nods, and feels a small grateful smile coming. Shiro's concern and understanding is much appreciated. There is not a sign of offense coming from her, as she relaxes around him in hearing his words of comfort.

The beginning, she reminds herself.]


This all started on the evening after the day I created this new online journal account. [She lowered her eyes as she recalled what occurred that night. That strange night.]

The first two other-worlders I met, Squall Leonhart and Zell Dincht, had their own accounts... I noticed that they communicated to one other who had gone off on his own. Seifer Almasy. They were assigned to stay together, and Seifer went off and did his own thing.

Which wasn't smart. And he found out when he got himself in some trouble, whenever he tried to pay for things with their world's money. [She sighs.]

They mentioned to each other about discovering things in my Earth world.

[Mari then pauses for a bit, knowing she can't bring herself to mention that they also happened to discover about the Final Fantasy 8 game on their own through the Internet. To her, that part no longer mattered much anymore. She'd rather skip over the details around this, to avoid any flashbacks about what happened soon after having talked with Squall and Zell about the game.]

I at first thought it was, um, some writing game that a few people were playing. [She smiled a bit, and snickered.] When I commented something to Squall about that, his reply to me was of genuine confusion. His confused reply weirded me out.

[Her smile dims some.] When Zell had wrote about one or two locations that were near my old neighborhood, I got a bit paranoid. They started commenting on my account, asking me some questions about my world, and if it was true that I knew where Zell and Squall were. I wondered if they were stalkers, but Squall had calmly assured and reassured my best friend and me they were not. They just wanted to know some information from me, in person.

My friend Crystal had made her own account to see what they wrote for herself, after I let her know about what was happening.

[I hope she's recovering and healing without me being able to go see her...]

[somekindofspaceuncle]

[Stalkers??]

[but he continues listening and then almost-sighs in relief. Nothing of the kind, whew, ok.]

[don't scare me like that, he thinks, happy that she can't hear his thoughts, and he says]

That's- good. It's important to keep in touch and let know -- if there's any trouble.

[beyondthenorms]

Yeah, and it was good that I wasn't alone on agreeing with Squall to meet him and Zell, at the place I used to work. My own flower shop place of business. [Mari smiles a bit sadly when mentioning that, and the further about how Crystal used to be.] This a while ago, when Crystal was her former, more normal self.

I'll eventually summarize what happened to her. For now, I'm just going over how all this started. [She says this mostly for herself, in confidence. Talking about her usually causes her to feel sorry and sympathetic for her. She'd feel sad, and somewhat guilty about her current mental and emotional condition.]

The next day was when I first met both Squall and Zell in person. I remember that they had briefly explained to me that they first discovered my world, through a mysterious portal that appeared outside within theirs...

[Again, by habit, she omits all the details the three of them had discussed and looked over, concerning the FF8 game. She could never really look back at those specifics of that day without feeling discomfort. This, in addition to stopping herself from dwelling over first finding out about Kuja Tribal and his dragon making their appearance at her Earth.]

What I remember about their background is quite a bit. The place they call home is basically a school and military type of training camp in one. Squall and Zell had been trained to gain careers as, um, freelance type of mercenaries. Along with some of their other friends.

When that portal showed up in their world, they took it upon themselves to investigate into what was going on.

As for Seifer, I... don't exactly remember how he eventually joined up with them. He, um, always had treated Squall like a rival of his, and he picked on Zell. He gave him a hard time. [Mari shakes her head slightly as she fondly recalls of having met that rebellious free-spirit at least once.]

They weren't always on good terms. But he and I got along fine. I met his younger sister, sometime after she went through the portal that temporarily connected to our worlds--looking for him. [A grin comes to her lips.] Sophia and her brother Seifer are close, and sort of alike in personality...

I just hope Seif's learned to be more responsible with his actions and decisions by now. Wherever he and the others are. [She takes a moment to just breathe. She doesn't want to think back on that horrible day the sudden and mass disappearances occurred. A flashback of that might just bring her to tears.] Maybe they're all back in their world now. I'm not sure. [Never am. But I think something terrible still happened. I still should try to find out what.]

[somekindofspaceuncle]

...you've all been through a lot, haven't you?

I hope they are, too.

[beyondthenorms]

A whole lot, in such a brief time.

More individuals from their worlds eventually appeared, against their consent. Both good, and bad. Including some monsters... It wasn't just through portals either.

At first, we didn't know how or why this was happening. Until... sometime after my friends from home started having some really strange and scary things happening to them. Crystal, Lia, Timo, Paul, and Tasha.

[She lowers her eyes as she grimly adds;] I never saw the damn creeps. The ones who called themselves Mind Wraiths. We speculated a little, but never really found out why... [Discomfort appears on her expression.] Almost everything I can say about them is based from what was explained to me.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

You've never encountered them? That's a relief at least, it all sounds terrifying.

[beyondthenorms]

I said I did not see them. One of them showed me this really disturbing, messed up dream. Unlike any other dream I experienced.

Not that I was the only one who got such a nightmare. Lia had them as well, and she, unfortunately met one of them... She and the others said that each one differs in appearance. And personality.

Most of Wraiths had been nasty and scary, except one. [Right, can't forget about that.] The one who met my friend Tasha. She even told me he looked like a big cat, and introduced himself as Bast. [She nods, and is glad and relieved her memory remains clear about him.] Tasha said he was friendly.

[somekindofspaceuncle]

An exception? Are you certain it's not just a trick?

[his tone of voice might say that he's not quite sure whate he'd want to think about this, or what he'd consider the right opinion, in such case... it's almost like a little distrustful, a little pensive, a little... angry?]

[beyondthenorms]

[She's a bit surprised at Shiro's tone, but at the same time--she'd understand about his pensiveness, and skepticism.

Her response is honest as she remembers clearly on what she was told about Bast.]

I'm actually not a hundred percent sure about that.

I believe my good friend, and I knew she wouldn't be lying, or making any of that up. She was so certain that Bast was harmless. I didn't hear any doubting from her at all when she talked about him... [There's a pause as her eyes lower.] However, he did leave as abruptly as the other Wraiths did. Not a single one of them revealed much of anything to us.

[Distress starts to show in her eyes. She doesn't even think of hiding it, as she says the following.] All the other-worlders had suddenly disappeared that same day, without warning. All at once. And... I saw it happen to some of those friends I had briefly come to know.

There was no time for saying goodbyes at all. We never had the chance to... It just happened.

[Mari manages to tell Shiro this without thinking back to that horrible day those disappearances occurred. She doesn't want to at all dwell on the memory, on how much she freaked out. That would lead to a repeat of one of the worst flashbacks she's ever had.]

[somekindofspaceuncle]

[He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. Visibly distressed.]

I don't know, I can't judge the situation, I just don't know enough, I-

[He seems anxious. As if thinking back to something else, wondering about similarities or differences.]

I--

][yes, if one looks, Hiroki definitely seems ready to work himself into some kind of anxiety.]

[beyondthenorms]

Shiro?

[Concern for him is instant. She's quick to notice him stressing out. It's out of instinct and the right thing to do to touch Shiro's shoulder with a calming hand. True, she doesn't know nearly enough about Bast, but she knows Tasha well enough to not want to put anybody in danger.

Mari doesn't know what thoughts are going in Shiro's mind exactly, but she believes she can attempt to guide him to reason, and understanding on who Tasha is... Her tone is leveled and calm.]

None of us know enough to really put a stop to the creeps yet. So, for now, I believe in my friend, when it comes to the one that's different. It's all I can go on.

Tasha Johnson is someone who built herself a stable career, and a very good reputation as a nurse for the past four years. She's very good with people. Very caring, optimistic, and puts her all into her full time job.

When off work, she takes care of eight cats at home, including a few strays...

With all this in mind, and having known her for almost that long, I can't imagine her as someone who'd willingly put anyone in danger.

[Please calm down. Mari has her own anxiety issues, and it wouldn't at all be good if he'd start to freak out, or go into a panic attack. That might cause her to freak out.]