OPEN POST; [ TAKA AMBULARA / ORIGINAL ]

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(( where do we go? ))

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I want to see it. This map.

[It's simultaneously not important now and also supremely critical information. How big is this world he's landed himself in? This territory? Might as well familiarize himself to some degree if he's stuck here.

But for now, he finally cracks open an eye when he scents the welcoming aroma of meats and cheeses set out for them. Though his appetite is weakened by the nausea, Taka Ambulara is never one to truly turn down free food.

Finally, he lowers the glass and takes a long sip before he replies.]

Apparently so! I need to get back to Saxea as soon as possible. Miss Lucinda and her ilk are the ones that believe you have the means to make that happen, I suppose. I don't know the next thing about interdimensional travel, though maybe I should start brushing up.

[recluserose]

[Emile happily volunteers to go grab a map and walks into the house leaving Amelia with her guest. The witch has taken a pear slice and nibbles on it, thinking.]

Well... It's not impossible, but the immediate methods I'm thinking of aren't ideal. You must understand that inter-dimensional travel isn't typical even in this world.

[hides other psls]

I'm not saying it's impossible. What I am saying is that there are consequences.

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[Another sip of water, easing that churning feeling in his gut. Eventually, Taka puts the glass down and goes for a cracker on the board.]

Consequences... Of course. There are always consequences when it comes to a large show of power. I don't expect otherwise.

[To him, that's instinctual knowledge. Logical. Even for Nova, it's true, and hers is (was?) a natural proficiency.]

Let us just say that I'm willing to risk plenty to return. You'll recall that there are others relying on me.

[recluserose]

Mm.

[She acknowledges the fact with a grunt.]

I might have one way where it doesn't have to be overly dramatic. Flawed, but it's a way.

[With her skills, she should be able to manage it even with some difficulty. There's also the option of asking for more help, but like hell she'll ask for it from the Witch King.]

Do you have any items on you? It doesn't have to be valuable, but perhaps the more the better.

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[Flawed. Nothing can be easy.

He huffs, crunching down on a cracker. Immediately-]

Why?

[Not that there's a lack of trust here—in fact, he'd call his trust baseline rather neutral, all things considered—but except the clothes on his back, the one thing he has with him is not something he'd offer up as spell-fodder.]

[recluserose]

Well.

[Amelia leans back in her seat, tapping her fingers in the crook of her elbows.]

Having a conduit that has a strong connection to your world guarantees a clearer passage back with the method I'm thinking of. If I have nothing that links this world to yours, that will make my job decidedly more difficult.

To be quite blunt, I don't know what your world is like, how it looks, any of its terrain, the people, the culture... The less I have to work with, the less there is to bring you back.

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[He goes for another cracker and some cheese this time, piling one atop the other.]

A conduit... Admittedly, I have something that might fit the bill, but it's crucial evidence. I'm hesitant to offer it up — unless you can guarantee that it won't be harmed [though if anything could harm it at all, he'd be impressed], discarded, or kept from me permanently. It goes back with me; that's not something I'll negotiate.

[...Shrugs a single shoulder.]

Though honestly, I don't know how representative of my world it really is. Would the clothes on my back make more sense? Something weaved, sewn, tailored, and sold in the capital city?

[recluserose]

I guarantee nothing.

[well, at least she's honest...

Amelia considers his other options with pursed lips.]

Maybe. How recent are your clothes? The first item sounds more promising, but I'll try to be flexible about having room for error.

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Then it's not an option.

[He isn't risking it.

His clothes, though, are more viable.]

Mmngh.

[He shuffles in his seat, inching forward, giving him enough clearance to unbutton and shrug off his vest, which holds in a cream-colored, airy dress shirt underneath. If one had to equate his current styling, or at least the cut of his clothing, it's as though he's come from the turn of the 20th century. European-flavored.]

Fairly recent. I'm not sure the new Saxean City style is to my taste, but it was tailored to me for free. And this- [Along the sides of the vest are what seem to be patches hewn away from another article of clothing. They're sewn back in, tastefully, and display carefully embroidered, emerald green birds in flight. He thumbs at it to show her.] -is from my old life. Across the sea.

[In a version of Lunti that probably doesn't exist anymore.]

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[Amelia examines the vest and the patches he points out carefully. She's quiet for a second before speaking up again.]

Mr. Hoang said that the state of your world is in question, based on the conversation you had with your hostess.

[The Collective members don't have all the details, but just enough from Lucinda.]

Is that why you called it "new?"

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[He nods. It's a complex tale, but what good is a detective who can't summarize the main points into something more easily digestible?]

In my world, there are... I don't know what they are, but they're old entities predating our current civilization. I have a working theory that they're all parts of a whole — an even greater being that had been split apart for an unknown reason.

[Waves a free hand.]

Anyway, some of those old bodily presences possess extreme power. Me and my group, we ended up confronting the one that embodied the Heart. We killed it. We took its actual Heart from its insides, and the deal was to split it between all of us.

[Each for reasons of their own. But he's not going to get into that.]

One man betrayed us — he took the Heart for his own and trapped us in the entity's body, and wished to remake the entire world into something new with that relic's power. We tried to stop him but... his abilities. They're really annoying. I managed to crack the damn thing, at least.

[More hand waggling, as though he's trying to fast forward through his own story.]

I think that's the only reason why we're still alive. Everything else? Everyone else? Gone or swapped out for something new. I barely recognized the capital city when I set foot in it again for the first time. I don't even know the state of my homeland...

[recluserose]

[Old entities... Amelia doesn't blink, but she does furrow her brow at Taka's recollection. A chaotic world with such is one thing, but now that it's completely swapped out, she's having more doubts about how effectively she can create, or rather, find a compatible door in her arcane hallway.

She decides to keep that to herself. There's been enough discouragement on her end as it is. But there is one more detail she wants to see if he's certain or uncertain about.]

These entities... Do you think they still exist even in this newer version of your world?

[She takes another long sip of water before setting down her cup.]

I ask because it wouldn't be my first time stepping on the metaphorical toes of higher beings.

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Well. Their body parts still exist. That leads me to believe the ones that still have sentience continue to lurk around, but we've no way to verify that. Not yet.

[But his instinct tells him, yes. They must. The Dredger wouldn't give up his connection to that dread thing so easily, would he? That source of such awful power, that giant brain-eye.]

What kind of "higher beings" exist here, then? [Sounds worrisome.]

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[There's a notable beat before she replies.]

Our most notable creature... Technically has made its claim on this world.

[She doesn't want to stray too far from Taka's problem, but she'll try to explain through metaphor.]

Do you know what a sandbox is, Mr. Ambulara?

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["Claim." Ah, yes. Very worrisome. But-]

Ahhn... "sandbox?"

[recluserose]

A sandbox is usually a rectangular platform with low-raised walls filled with sand. It's designed for children to play in.

[Very idly she waves her finger so that several rectangular crackers move to create a small box. Another cracker crumbles above it in midair to create crumbs to symbolize the sand.]

As you can imagine, you can make any number of shapes and structures using sand. Imagination can run wild and you can do as you please within it.

[Little cracker crumb towers rise up in the makeshift model.]

It's crass and reductive to call each possible world as a sandbox, but you have creatures who view them as such.

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[Oh? What an interesting display of magic, and for it to be used so casually is odd to see. For years now, he's lived in a remade world where magic resides only in the background, a thrumming energy that can sometimes be tapped into with the greatest of effort and only by those deemed too eccentric for anyone's good. It's nice to see someone other than Nova manipulating it like it were as easy as breathing.

He watches the display. The metaphor makes sense.]

And you have one of those here, doing what? Building its own "shapes and structures" for... entertainment?

[recluserose]

Something to that effect.

[Witches were one of the shapes molded and added permanently to the box they're currently in. Espers were allowed within by virtue of being here first.]

To keep it brief, the ones who exist here maintain the integrity of the box. The child who lays claim over it, watches gleefully and taunts other children outside of it to come and look and then the people in the box deal with the consequences.

[Amelia sweeps the box away.]

In any case, we make do. A fickle creature is hands off more often than not.

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[A fickle creature having that sort of power sounds even worse. Taka wonders if the same applies to his world, in degrees of similarity either small or large, but without knowing proper motivations, he can only guess.

He hates having holes in his knowledge.]

"We make do", like it's just something you have to live with forever. What if the people in the box don't want to be treated like little playthings to be gawked at?

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[Amelia grunts.]

Swatting back isn't really in the cards.

[Lord knows she's learned the hard way.]

But that's simply the nature of this plane. And right now, we're looking to get you back to whatever sandbox you're from.

[The point of her explanation was just to illustrate the similarities and differences between their respective worlds and keep in the back of their minds, the greater forces that they have to keep at bay.]

I'll use your clothes then. Give me a week, at worst a month, to show results.

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[Frowns at the verbiage. "In the cards." But he shrugs and stuffs a slice of meat in his mouth next.]

How do you know? I've swat back before. Yes, look where it's landed me, but it proved something previously unproven: even powerful forces can be taken down with some ingenuity.

[With his free hand still holding onto his vest, he offers it over.]

Anyhow... It's not as important to keep that in one piece, but... [He pauses.] If you can spare the birds, I'd appreciate it.

[recluserose]

I know because I kept the child entertained for a few decades and failed enough times to know better.

[Might as well put that out there, layered and veil as it may be.

Amelia leaves it at that to carefully take the offered vest, nodding at his request.]

I will.

[She folds it with care that contrasts with her otherwise brazenness and tucks it into her book bag.]

In the meanwhile, I think Emile can keep you entertained with maps if you're so inclined to look at them.

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[So she has first-hand experience? Interesting. Maybe there's a connection, then, between powerful witches and otherworldly entities that like to toy with mortals.

But he sets that thought aside for now.

Taka rolls up his poofy sleeves. And then... he leans in and, now with both hands free, shuffles a bunch of food into his palms. Crackers, meats, cheeses, pieces of fruit. Wahoo!]

After food! My stomach's better now, and it's left me with a giant appetite in its wake.

[recluserose]

[Unexpectedly (or not) she swats his hands in a way that is not unlike a fussy motherly figure scolding a child.]

Slow down! The food isn't going anywhere unless I make it grow legs.

[Or any other number of ways. Magic!]

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[GASP how dare she!! Taka brings what food he's managed to salvage close to his chest, like slices of cheese are precious baby birds he must protect.]

Hey! I'm your guest! You're supposed to let me eat as much as I want, and fuss about serving me more if I finish it all then, too! You could learn a thing or two from Miss Lucinda.