neverplaysfair | Game 060 [Voice]

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Game 060 [Voice]

[ The first sound when the journal turns on is a rather disgruntled huff as a flash of rainbow feathers catches the camera. ]

Well, I'm back. I don't think I even want to know how long it's been. There's dust everywhere.

[ The disdainful voice sounds a good deal like Joshua, and the feathers and face both look like Joshua... but there's something off about it. The voice is higher than usual and there's a bit more volume and length to the hair.

Regardless, the speaker continues on like usual. ]

Is asking for a bowl of ramen a pointless endeavor? My captors weren't exactly generous and the store seems to be completely out of any form of instant noodles. Honestly, treating a lady like that...

[ Wait, lady? Why, in fact! Joshua does appear to be a good deal more feminine than even he usually is... ]

All that aside, there seems to be a lovely new addition to my journal. Tell me, do I need an antenna to make it work? Perhaps there's a remote lying around to change the channel? I can't imagine it's supposed to be showing static.

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myunfairlady ))

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...do you? [An obvious question at this point, probably, which is why she'll just follow by answering his.] She's a character in a video game back in my world. It was pretty hyped up at the time, so I've got a lot of promotional art from it on there...

[She's suddenly remembering a conversation they had once about the mural outside of his house.]

But that's probably not where you know her from, right?

[ Joshua stares at it for a couple seconds longer, then presses his free hand to his temple. Video game. Coco is in a video game. Coco, with Reaper wings.

He knows dwelling on it for too long is going to lead in one or more of several unpleasant directions, so he tosses the phone back to Kari (hopefully she's a good catcher, or it's durable). His voice is suddenly lighter, though there's still a distracted edge to it. ]

Veto. The offer remains at you dusting my house in a maid uniform.

[WOW DON'T THROW THAT IT WAS EXPENSIVE she frantically catches the phone and scowls for a moment... but then her expression softens. It's pretty clear something about this character struck a cord with him. And she has a few guesses as to why.]

...really? Are you sure you wouldn't rather I explain why someone you know exists in a video game in my world in exchange?

[Not that Kari wouldn't otherwise just explain the concept if asked, but hey, if she can use it as leverage to get out of dressing up for this guy, all the better. Besides, she can't help but be curious. If that girl is from his world, could it be that game is an overlap between their worlds?]

She comes from the same game that mural outside your house does, by the way. And I've got more promotional art on here if you think I'm full of it.

[ Well phones don't get that expensive and she did say it was a cheaper model. Memory-wise, at least. ]

That depends on how satisfactory your explanation turns out to be. Do you even know what all you have to explain?

[Smart phones not being expensive? Alas, not even Kari's world is that nice.]

Of course I do! It's not like I've spent all this time being a world traveler without learning a thing or two about how different universes work.

[ Joshua has no metric for smartphones here. ]

Then you're welcome to try it. We'll see how far it brings me down.

[Well, if that's the way he wants to do it then fine. Though she wouldn't put it past him to still insist on his same offer even after everything.]

Okay. So basically, you know how everyone here is from completely different worlds, right? Really, it'd be more accurate to say different universes. And all those universes are connected in a really abstract way -- like, if each one was the size of a marble, stuck together in a big bag. And because some universes are closer to each other than others, it sometimes causes something called an overlap, where two completely different worlds will share something in common. Like, you can tell most of the worlds we're from have to be somewhat close to each other, since most of them have humans or human-like sentient beings.

[She wasn't exaggerating when she said she knew this topic well. Most of her time traveling to other worlds was spent reading and studying to find out more about the way her magic worked -- which inevitably led to a lot of knowledge regarding the many different universes themselves.]

[Of course, if he wanted an even more knowledgeable source, the spirit that's been directing Kari to all those worlds would probably know more. But Kari doesn't know that.]

My world is in the center of a really vast web of universes, so it has a lot more overlaps than most. And most of those overlaps take the form of fictional media. Of course, it's not always accurate, since overlaps can be pretty random. But I've definitely met a good amount of people here who I know I've read about in a visual novel or seen in a movie back home.

... Go on.

[ Joshua is not ragequitting again just yet. ]

Okay, so like. You remember Haruhi, right? Back in my world, she's kind of like the most iconic anime character in the most recent decade, and she wasn't very different from how I remember her. But take someone like Twintails, who's a side character in a dating sim back in my world, and you'd barely recognize her for how different she is here.

["Twintails" being Fenimore, but Kari's not going to risk that little factoid making its way back to someone who's still in the village. Especially someone who's dating her best friend.]

But as for your world, well. For starters, there's already the obvious overlap of us both being from a country called Japan on a planet called Earth. And the cities seem to line up, even if the world history doesn't. But our worlds are clearly different enough not to share the same people, since someone from your world is a fictional character in mine.

Of course, seeing as I never recognized you in particular, chances are you as an individual don't exist in my world, fictional or otherwise. [Or as far as she knows, at least.]

In that case, how do parallel worlds factor into all this?

[ Because calling bullshit until she explains that well enough, yup. ]

Well, technically the term "parallel worlds" is something of a misnomer, because it's entirely possible for two or more worlds to have plenty of overlaps without actually being considered parallel. Like, there's a bunch of worlds out there with near-identical history to mine up until the modern age, but they're still completely separate worlds.

[Identical to a scary degree, if some of the history books she's found here are anything to go by.]

But I did meet a researcher once who used the term "key strand" to describe worlds that have parallel universes. Apparently, those worlds are actually just splinters of the initial "key strand" world -- so they may have actually been just one world at some point in the way distant past. Buuut that stuff involves really messy things like time travel, which is a whole different field that I'm not even going to pretend to understand.

...

[ Joshua takes a long slurp of noodles, then. ]

Maid outfit. Your choice as long as it fits the definition.

[ That is totally a compromise. ]

[..........................................]

Fine. I'll be back.

[AND THEN SHE JUST TURNS AND LEAVES because Kari would really rather leave the question of whether or not Joshua has a maid costume just lying around unanswered.]

[And it actually isn't very long until she does come back, though she's gone back to being Kari. And she's pretty much wearing the most demure maid costume she could find. Though really, it's the reference that actually drew her to it. Maybe if she just thinks of it as cosplay, it won't be so bad...]

[Or at least, that's what she'll be telling herself until she actually comes back, because as soon as she gets back to Joshua's house, she realizes just how humiliating this is. And all this, just for the chance to maybe have a conversation with the spirit.]

Hey. I'm back. Can we get this over with already?

The sooner you're done dusting, the sooner you can change out of it, hee hee.

[ Don't mind Josh reclining with another cup of instant he's heated up to have while watching. His stomach won't be happy with him for it but his stomach can shove it. He wants more comfort food. ]

Yeah, yeah. You don't need to tell me twice.

[And she'll just... stare at him for a second before sighing and getting to work. Though not before shooting another glance back at him.]

...so. Any chance of you being able to do your little mind thing while I'm doing this? You know, just to make things go by a little faster for both of us?

Once I'm done with my noodles.

[ And knowing Josh, there's no telling how many cups he can go for...

but he stops after this one, setting down the empty container on the counter and stretching. ]

Now this is not going to distract you, will it?

[There's an audible sigh when he goes back to his noodles, but when he speaks up again, she doesn't even pause from what she's doing to answer.]

My room back home was basically a giant dust magnet if I didn't do this kind of stuff every day. And it's not like it takes much thinking.

So you're quite well-suited to the task, then. Hee hee. Fair enough.

[ With a small wave of his hand, the front door is locked to keep any unexpected visitors from suddenly barging in.

Speaking of distractions, one (1) flash of light and vaguely unpleasant crack of static later, there's an adult female Joshua chilling on a stool.

Try not to stare too much, Kari, because into your mind we go. ]

[Yeah, okay, she remembers that happening last time, so she doesn't look over right away. But when she has a chance, she shoots a glance back at him and--]

[Damn.]

[With one hand still dusting and her gaze turned away, she quickly reaches into her pocket and takes out her phone before blatantly snapping a picture over her shoulder.]

[And the phone is quickly returned to her pocket without a word.]

So. Is the spirit there? I mean, like, is it awake? Because I'm got a question for it. You know, just to start things off...

[Before she even finishes her thought, somewhere in the back of Kari's mind, a voice answers: Yes.]

Show that to anyone and claim it was anything but a Shift and you won't own a phone for much longer.

[ /sweetness

He mostly means the adult thing, since, uh, what else would she be taking a picture of? ]

It hasn't suddenly left you alone, if that's what you're asking.

Yeah, yeah... [She just waves her hand at him. But she doesn't intend to show it to anyone... except maybe him, when that shift wears off.]

Well, okay. In that case, I wanted to start just by asking if it can read my thoughts at all. Or, like, hear everything that's going on right now.

[It seems like an obvious question. But all the same, if that spirit could hear everything Kari was thinking, and it really was acting in her best intentions as it said, there's no way it would have done what it did on that draft... right?]

... If it couldn't hear you, how would it be answering your questions in the first place?

[ Like come on Kari this is basic stuff. ]

Unless you distrust me enough that you think I'm slipping thoughts into your head to get to it.

[ Which he can totally do, by the way. Just as a side note. ]

Game 060 [Voice]

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