🏨 emet

[highestheim]

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week 0: sunday

[highestheim]

[ given emet's size, it's probably not very often that someone can accidentally run into him. yet that's exactly what hope is doing, maybe an hour after execution. he stumbles a little, and cranes his neck up to meet emet's eyes; he's currently holding something to the side of his head, wrapped in a towel. ]

Ah—sorry. I, uh... didn't see you there.

[ktiseos]

-well. That is a new one, I will give you that.

[his brow furrows a bit, though, as he glances down to hope.]

It still troubles you?

[highestheim]

I believe it's a residual effect. [ beat ] I've never experienced this much pain before.

[ there was. a lot going on ]

[ktiseos]

Even now that he has...?

[that's-- troubling.]

With any luck, it shall fade in time.

[highestheim]

[ he nods ]

Obviously, it's not as strong as it was before he passed. But it's sort of a feeling that...sticks with you. [ beat ] It's a little hard to explain—something I can't quite find the right words for.

[ktiseos]

An unexplained phenomenon. Unsurprising, for a place like this.

[highestheim]

You're a researcher too, right? You probably know better than most how frustrating it is to not be able to describe something in a way that others can understand.

[ktiseos]

So I do. 'Tis a galling thing-- though it does occasionally give rise to new vocabulary, when necessary.

[highestheim]

I'm not sure what to call the feeling of experiencing death secondhand.

[ktiseos]

Nor am I.

Ideally, it shall never be a term needed a second time.

[highestheim]

[ hope lets the silence linger for a moment longer before he gives a weak smile to emet. ]

Sorry. I didn't mean to unload on you like that. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling drained after having to watch that.

week 3: tuesday

[highestheim]

[ despite how willing he usually is to chat with anyone he bumps into while roaming the hotel and its outside setting of the week, hope is giving most people a wide berth this week, knowing what the current effect is... not so much to deter others from viewing his memories, but rather to respectfully sidestep other people's trauma.

nevertheless, when he sees emet walking by on the wiwaldi campus, he raises a hand in greeting. he's not rude. :( ]

I take it you haven't been to school in a long time?

[ ...he's trying to joke... ]

[ktiseos]

Not in some time, no-- and certainly no facility such as this. I've never seen the like.

[his tone is

faintly judgmental, honestly. what school needs a lazy river, this is for ACADEMIA not LAZINESS. go relax at home.]

[highestheim]

[ honestly? mood. he agrees. ]

Most other institutes of learning that you're familiar with probably didn't have murder written into their curriculums.

[ktiseos]

They certainly did not. I take it that was a function of this one, given everything else?

[highestheim]

[ flatly: ] Of course. I admit, I don't remember all the details, but ours was a more strategic game in nature. Only those who died had access to areas such as the administrative building, where they were able to manipulate all of our report cards to allow us to "graduate" from the academy.

[ ... ]

When I say it all out loud like that, it does sound kind of ridiculous.

[ktiseos]

It certainly does. I cannot imagine-

[whatever else he has to say about the school, it's interrupted!

thank god you know the lore so i can just give you this cutscene which by default includes the lore.

the memory ends after emet-selch storms out of the meeting, hythlodaeus on his heels, and in the wake of it--

he's quiet, a hand over his face.]

[highestheim]

. . .

[ you know. hope would normally be a little more sympathetic to emet's bewilderment, but given that time travel is his Special Interest, well. sorry my dude, he is going full academic mode once the vision finishes. ]

So that visitor of yours claimed to be from the future of your world, sent back in time to try and find a way to avert its destruction... interesting.

[ktiseos]

To avert its destruction in their future. But for the future they claim to hail from to exist--

The world will be destroyed in my time, first.

[highestheim]

[ oh. now that one concerns him more. ]

...Your past wouldn't adapt to the future they hope to achieve?

[ktiseos]

No. It is already a part of their present-- the world as they know it exists following the end of mine, as they have explained it.

[highestheim]

...I see.

[ he looks concerned, deep in thought... but while he does seem genuinely sympathetic to emet's plight, there's still a part of him that's taking an objective lens to the matter. ]

So, to make sure I'm following—there is no way to circumvent the actions that will lead to the end of your world, because it must happen. Their existence, allegedly, confirms the certainty of it.

[ktiseos]

[it's fine; he appreciates the objectivity.]

Allegedly, yes. They do not seem as if they could possibly exist at the same time; should we prevent the destruction of our world, theirs can never come into being as a result.

[highestheim]

. . .

Would you like to find somewhere to sit? I feel like a conversation with this much weight should hardly be one to stand for, and... no offense meant, but I think I would like to save us both the trouble of sore necks in the morning.

[ktiseos]

-ah. Understandable enough, I should think.

[come on then, let's go sit, he doesn't want to have to have someone crack his neck tomorrow either.]