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(no subject)

Who: Nightingale and you
Broadcast: Video, fleetwide
Action: On the Bishop
When: Now

[The video feed starts, showing Nightingale sitting at a table, shuffling a few papers around awkwardly until she's sure the video is on.]

Something I've noticed for a while now is that there's a lot of new people showing up near-constantly, and they all seem to have the same questions. And since they're stuck on the Marsiva for a week, they don't really have people to give them that information, past asking the network, which doesn't always work so well. Especially while people are on a planet, or busy trying to repair their ships, or things like that. And even if everyone is around to give answers, answering the same thing over and over again gets really tiring after a while.

So, I've been working on a sort of an introduction guide, for the new people. [She indicates the papers on the table.] The problem is, I haven't been here that long myself, comparatively to some. I don't know a lot, and there's a lot that people need to know. Apparently that fleet of ships that messed us up a little while ago actually attacked us once before? And I think that's something pretty important to know, in case they come back again, so we can be more prepared for fighting them off. Or anything else important that's happened.

I'm looking for people who have been here for a while and are willing to help with that project, providing information to help write this guide. So... Please let me know if you can help.

[There's a small pause, then she adds:]

Also, has anyone seen Riley Matthews lately? She also goes by Lark. I haven't been able to get a hold of her in a while, and I'm starting to get worried.

[And with that, she turns off the feed.]

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"Your Riley"? In the first place... Who are you, exactly?

[Let's not mention the horrible dying part yet.]

I'm her uncle. Kinda. I haven't actually met her yet, since she's from my future.

[Deep breaths, Shawn.]

But okay, basically - her dad and I, we grew up together. We were like a package deal, you ask for one of us, you get both. So Cory's kids are kind of like mine too.

Oh, like her girlfriend is to her. Okay.

[She has to take a moment to think back to the memories of Riley's she'd seen...]

So that makes you... Uh, 'Uncle Shawn', wasn't it?

She has a girlfriend?

[He sure hopes that Cory knows, because that guy can be mega overprotective - but his name is the far more pressing matter, so he nods.]

Right. Or well, I'll be her Uncle Shawn, once she's born and all that.

Well... She denies it, but they wear matching rings? On the ring finger? So... I'm pretty sure they're into each other.

... Shit, you're her family.

[Headtilt.] Hey, Cory and I were planning on doing that. Topanga kinda nixed the idea, though.

[He pauses, staring down at his hand because yeah, yeah that does make him family. Weird when she says it out loud like that, but he's her uncle, blood or no.]

I guess I am. Is that a bad thing?

So... What, you were into her dad, too?

It's... kind of, yeah. I can tell you the story, but you... really, really won't like it.

No? Why does everyone say that?

[Because they might as well have been an item. The sinking feeling gets worse, and Shawn manages the closest thing he's got to a brave face.]

Probably not, but she's family. I've got a right to know, especially if she was in danger.

Because... I mean, you know what matching rings on that finger means, right? Or is that different in your world?

... You have a right to know, but you also have the right to not know, if you don't want to. And when I say 'you won't like it'... I mean it. It's the sort of thing that's going to keep you up at night, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Do you still really want to know?

They can be friendship rings too.

[He's gonna drop this, though, because he flinches at the idea of "staying up at night." As much as Shawn doesn't want to hear this, he also knows he has to, so he looks her in the eye - as much as he can with a video feed - and nods.] I already figured I couldn't - we're all kinda stuck here. But I still want to know. That's the least I can do for her memory.

... "Her memory", huh. Not a bad choice of words.

This is something I don't like talking about on the comms. Can you meet me down on the moon somewhere? Right outside the town, or something.

Sure. I'll see you right outside town in about twenty minutes?

[He's true to his word, arriving promptly and with some credits so he can grab a (non-alcoholic) drink after this. From the way this girl's acting, he suspects he's gonna need one later. Folding his arms, he manages a slight smile at her.]

So... I'm gonna guess that this is about the interdimensional garbage dump, and the kind of stuff Riley had to do there?

[Nightingale's down there pretty quickly as well, but she's not smiling. She looks... rather grim, honestly. Like she's about to tell him that everyone he loves is dead.

Oh, wait.]

"Interdimensional garbage dump"... Not inaccurate. So, did she tell you a little bit about it already, then? How much do you know?

Not much. [He grimaces.] I've heard more about other places, like this Adstring... or Cair Paradisa? The gist seems to be the same: scary guys with the power to rewrite universes just snatch up people and let them chill for a few years.

Since you seem to know her pretty well, I guess you guys met there? And then somehow came here together?

Not together. She came here a while before me.

... We were at a place called 'Kyriakos'. It's...

[She has to take a deep breath.]

It's where the fragments of souls end up, when your soul gets shattered by the annihilation of your world.

[Headtilt. It'll take him a while to process this, but he can get the general idea.]

So you're saying my world went "kaboom" and somehow, Riley managed to hang on a bit longer than the rest of us?

[Makes as much sense as the rest of this, right now.] How're you guys able to walk around, if you're technically fragments?

... Essentially, but not quite. All that happened was Riley ended up shattering instead of being completely unmade. So, like everyone else, she ended up there, without any memories.

It's a little complicated. And I have no idea how it could possibly work here, instead of the castle.

[He raises an eyebrow, but he can't quite argue anything now. Not when she looks so serious about it.]

I think we've got time for "complicated." As for how it works here, it's Atroma. We've got people from all over the place, so why not soul fragments?

... Okay, I'll try.

Just to make sure, your world doesn't have magic, right? That wasn't Lark being weird?

If it does, none of us know about it.

[He remembers a witches' sacrifice in his apartment, but even he's not sure if it was real or a trick of his imagination.] Cory and I were more concerned with things like school and girlfriends... and I don't know about Riley, but if she's anything like Cory, things like monsters and magic weren't on her mind.

So, keeping it simple.

[She has to think for a minute. How the hell do you keep this simple?]

The fragments of our souls were bound to shards of mirrors. Placing the shards in the frame gave us our memories back, but removing all of the shards meant we stopped existing until someone put the shards back in. The mirrors supported us, basically, is the best I know about it.

[Yeah, he's gonna need the strongest non-alcoholic drink he can find, because that doesn't make much sense.]

So... did the mirrors come with you? Or are you saying those mirrors were like some weird representation of your soul?

No, the mirrors are back at the castle.

They... basically were. I don't know how they did it, but yeah. We played games to regain mirror shards back- shards of our soul. Winning new ones gave us memories and abilities back.

["That sounds more like a reality show than this place."

But that is not a smart thing to say at the moment, and Shawn knows it, so he gives a nod.] Did you guys get to finish fixing your mirrors? Or did they drag you part-way through?

[Good job, Shawn, that kind of comment is the kind that gets people set on fire.]

... Partway through. I'm still missing about half of my memory, I think. Lark didn't have even close to that much.