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[legacyofhousepavus]

 "Look at this book, it's probably a demon's trap. Let's write in it!" Yes, Dorian, this is one of your best ideas yet. Write in the demon journal for no other reason than to satisfy your own curiosity. You haven't learned anything.

I amend: Write to yourself in the demon journal. That's better.

Comments

[keelah_selai]

It seems to be a rather advanced communication method, disguised as a primitive record device. Everyone who has ended up here seems to have one, though not everyone is using their journal in the same fashion.

[The is a sketchy doodle of quarian graffiti-ing a wall, followed by a detailed drawing of the journal in miniature. It looks like it ought to have blueprint schematics drawn around it, but is oddly blank.]

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

'Advanced communication method disguised as primitive record device'?
You, miss, are certainly not from here. We usually call it 'magic'.

[keelah_selai]

[Tali's handwriting is shaky, and more spidery than previously.]

No. No, I am not. I'm not even sure where here is.

Other than that my home, Shepard's ship, is somehow dry-docked in a castle's backyard.

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

Welcome to Thedas, wonder of wonders, etcetera. Most precisely, Skyhold, the seat of the Inquisition right on the top of the Frostback Mountains. Only... we can't see the mountains now, since it seems the fortress is floating in the middle of nowhere. Which, I pretty much believe it's the Fade. Some sort of parallel dimension, home to spirits and demons, which we usually only visit during our sleep, as a dream realm. It's rare to enter the Fade in flesh, but is possible. I just don't know what caused it.

[keelah_selai]

I've never heard of Thedas, or the Frostback Mountains. I suppose Shepard might have missed a planet or two in his adventures around the galaxy we all know that's a lie, how many hours did he spend scanning planets?.

There aren't any demons or spirits either. Just husks and geth and Reapers, which are pretty demonic.

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

Reapers and husks? Never heard of.
We have darkspawn and archdemons as well. Thankfully, archdemons only show up once in two hundred years or so and the last one just came by 10 years ago, so we're safe, at least from them.

[keelah_selai]

Oh. Good?

Reapers are...keelah, Reapers are bad. Planet-shattering destruction. Whole species wiped out, sort of bad. The husks are what happens to humans when the Reapers get their organic/synthetic fingers tentacles? into them.

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

So those Reapers of yours turn humans into husks?
Bad news for you, darkspawn can corrupt too and turn their victims into more of them. Humans become hurlock, for example. But only the men, only if they don't die with the Taint. Women have a very worst fate as Broodmothers.

[keelah_selai]

Thedas has some really unfortunate things in common with the Milky Way's current problems. I wonder, why?

But you said these darkspawn aren't likely to appear any time soon, right?

[cmdr_shepard]

We didn't miss a thing. I am very thorough. There were checklists.

[legacyofhousepavus]

I have to wonder if that library has any real books in it, or if it's just another fade illusion. If so, give me three hours at the most (half of one is more likely) and I could likely tell you what kind of magic made these journals.

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

That could be useful.

[dorianfadewalk]

Don't bother. The library is appalling.

So is your presence, by the by. I dread to think what sorts of tears we're making in the fabric of reality by both being here. Please don't tell me you are my future. I prefer to be pleasantly surprised by fate.

[greenhawke_fadewalk]

Now this is confusing.

[legacyofhousepavus]

If I'm your future, then I would remember having this conversation with myself. It would be very hard to forget something like that. So I do think it's safe to say that no, I am not your future. If this is some thinly veiled attempt at calling me old, I am going to need to have some very strong words with myself later.

Different strings of time would be my first thought. Something I'd put some research into some time ago, after that fun little trip to the potential future and back.

[dorianfadewalk]

That fun little trip is exactly what I had in mind. Leliana still watches me with dead eyes.

Tell me: if I said chrono capacitor to you, would that mean anything?

[legacyofhousepavus]

No, but it could. I'd assume it's some sort of crystal or object that enhances the ability of time magic, or that directly influences time itself?

[keelah_selai]

[A tiny detailed drawing of a passive two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in an electric field appears in the journal underneath the conversation...with a built in alarm clock?]

[legacyofhousepavus]

More like...

[a series of complex ritual circles are drawn in below the strange diagram, along with notations on which objects of power to use and where to place them within the circle]

[keelah_selai]

[An attempt to recreate said ritual circles in wiring, capacitors, and soldering eventually leads to a doodle of an exploding...is that a hermit crab or a lizard?]

[dorianfadewalk]

And it seems I have a new friend! Do you drink?

[keelah_selai]

[A detailed sketch of a liquid filtration system with some incredibly fine particle filters appears, and seems to include a straw?]

I wish I could. But likely not without triple-filtering and at best a minor allergic reaction.

[dorianfadewalk]

I do love how clever I am. Am I still handsome as well?

It seems Bull and I are the odd men out when it comes to universes, so far. Well, if you ignore the aeronauts.

[legacyofhousepavus]

I was afraid of greying once, but it turns out that a little bit at the temples does wonders for the, "I know exactly what I'm doing and where to put my hands," look.

Have we gone from split time streams to entirely different universes, now?

[dorianfadewalk]

Hmm. Yes, but what about the crow's feet? All that reading, you see.

And yes, almost certainly. Where Bull and I come from is vastly different from anything else I have heard so far. I find I prefer that, actually. It lets us both remain unique.