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[designerchild]

[ FILTERED FROM SHION UZUKI AND KOS-MOS ]

[ Sunlight glints off silverware on the café table where he has set his bracelet. Leaning back in a chair, Jr. stares off at some distant point beyond the camera, gathering his thoughts. Eventually, he turns to address the transmission, expression—for those who know him—uncharacteristically solemn. ]

Got a question. If there are people here, people you knew from your own worlds back home… [ A tense pause before he plunges on to the crux of the matter. ] Well, say that they’re not, ya know, up to speed with you, like you’re from a point in their future.

[ He absently picks up a spoon and spins it, just to keep his hands busy. ]

What have you done about it? I mean, have you told them? Or…

[ The spoon clinks loudly as it spins into a glass. A nearby waitress gives him a look. ]

…or have you just kept it to yourself?

If you wanna filter your response to me, but aren’t sure how, I’ll show you. [ /brief tutorial on filtering transmissions. ]

So let’s hear what you’ve got.

Comments

[video]

[whatagoodgirl]

[She has her (by now) expected jolt of surprise and rush of emotion at seeing Jr. on her feed, and she almost turns it right off. But then she sees his expression, and she knows she has to listen.

When he's finished, she speaks with a deadly grim solemnity.]

If one of the pilots came who knew anything about the fights that I didn't - anything, the very worst thing, something that would change how I viewed myself and my entire life and every world in existence - I would want to know. I'd want to know everything.

[Even her suspicions that she might have slaughtered an entire world. She'd want to know even that. She's not lying in the slightest.]

[video] FILTERED FOREVER

[designerchild]

[ Jr. rests both elbows on the table and then digs his fingers into his hair, palms pressing heavily into his closed eyes. ]

Yeah. You'd have a right to know.

[ But his tone is forlorn. He's still not sure. ]

I thought...I thought I was finally done running from my past. That I wasn't the coward I used to be. But look at me now. I can't even tell her. How could I even tell her? Dammit.

[whatagoodgirl]

You're not a coward - ! [Her voice is choked at hearing him run himself down like that.] You just care. You're trying to protect someone. But... it's not protection, not really. As much as it would hurt, it wouldn't be you hurting them. Honestly, it wouldn't.

voice; filtered

[takebow]

...Would it do any good to tell them?

[video; filtered]

[songspitzel]

Should that happen, I would keep the information to myself until it becomes advantageous for me to divulge it.

[designerchild]

[ He huffs; it sounds like a combination of a sigh and a breathless laugh. Dropping his right hand to the table, he stares at his palm, at the serial number tattooed there in bright red. After a while, he replies, almost to himself. ]

If I tell her, she won’t accept it. Oh, she’ll believe me, that isn’t the problem. She just isn’t going to want to let it happen. Knowing her, that scientific brain of hers is going to go into overdrive, and she’ll start obsessing over a way to save her, to save all of them. That’s how she is—stubborn as a mule. And without having been there, without having known firsthand what I know…I’m not sure if she’ll get that there aren’t any other options.

[ His right hand curls into a fist. ]

How can I trap her like that? She’s finally with KOS-MOS again, and I have to tell her, “Whoops, sorry Shion, better count your blessings now because KOS-MOS isn’t gonna be with us for much longer.” Let’s not forget her brother, and chaos, and her ex-fiancé! Hell, if it was me, I wouldn’t stop until I figured out a way to save them. But if she tried to change—

[ He freezes, expression suddenly disturbed. ]

voice; filtered

[designerchild]

More harm than good, in the case I'm thinking of. It's not good news.

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[takebow]

Then I guess you shouldn't tell them. It's not like it can happen here, anyway...

[whatagoodgirl]

Oh, Jr... all this time, you let me talk about my own stupid problems, and you never said...

[She wrings her hands. So much loss, name after name, and they're reappearing in front of him - he's the last one, the last in the chronology. It's all on his shoulders.]

Oh my God, I'm so sorry. [Tears well up in her eyes. Why isn't there an easy fix? Why can't she make something, or give something, or work herself to the bone? Why can't she help this time?]

[video; filtered]

[designerchild]

Whaddya mean? [ Jr. suspects he understands, but wants to make sure. ] Advantageous in what way?

[designerchild]

[ Seeing her so upset, Jr. mechanically forces himself to smile, but it’s weak at best. He barely hears her words, so focused on the mechanics of temporal paradox as he is. In his head, his mind is racing in a hundred different directions, all from the Shion’s current point in their shared history. What would happen if Shion did this, what would happen if Shion did that. Did it all have an inevitable end in Zarathustra? But if she changed even one thing…what would happen to the events in-between?

What would happen to Gaignun? Albedo? ]

H-hey…your problems aren’t stupid. I’m glad I was able to talk to you about them. This…this didn’t become a big deal until the other day. KOS-MOS has been here for a while. Shion just arrived.

[whatagoodgirl]

Jr., don't be strong for me. [Almost fierce. She sees the weakness in that smile.] You be as upset as you have to be, alright? I'll listen to all of it, and... I don't know if I can help, but I'm here as long as you need me.

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[designerchild]

I know what you mean. Lemme ask you something...would you be ticked off if you found out someone had been withholding that kind of information from you? How'd you react?

[designerchild]

[ She gets a pained look for that. ]

Man, what did I do to deserve a friend like you, huh?

[ Unfortunately, he's already withdrawing, ashamed of his selfishness. ]

It's complicated and now...I'm afraid of what could happen if I do tell her.

Re: [video; filtered]

[songspitzel]

If ever I get a mission that requires me to do so, I will.

[ She mulls over it for a while, almost reluctant to follow up with-- ]

Or if it saves someone's life.

[whatagoodgirl]

You know what you did. [Just the faintest hint of a smile.] You listened, you heard the truth, and you didn't judge.

[But back to him. This sounds more complicated than just an emotional issue, but she understands so little of his world...]

It could hurt more people than her, couldn't it?

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[takebow]

Well, I... It just depends on what it is, obviously. [Pause.]

[video; filtered]

[designerchild]

[ That's what he keeps circling back to. Will telling Shion the truth save the lives of everyone? He doubts it. chaos and KOS-MOS, no way. Jin...Jin, maybe. But he needs a distraction from these thoughts, so he latches onto a specific word she uses. ]

Mission? You a soldier?

[designerchild]

[ His lips quirk into a mirrored smile, his expression brightening just a little. ]

That depends. I mean, I was looking at this as a case of trying to protect her from all the crap that happens in her future, but now...now I'm worried about the consequences of telling her.

Nakama, what do you know about time paradoxes?

[whatagoodgirl]

Is that like... if someone goes back in time and changes something, then everything else has to change? [She thinks she remembers a movie like that once.]

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[designerchild]

Let's say a whole bunch of your friends were going to die in the future and it was inevitable, no way to change it.

[designerchild]

Yeah. If someone went back and changed something that would have prevented the time travel in the first place.

[ Saying it aloud, though... He pauses, considering it. ]

Time travel isn't the case here. It's my knowledge passed to her, with Asgard being the factor that makes the exchange of that knowledge possible. If she went back and changed things, with my knowledge in mind, would that prevent us from being abducted here? Because I'm in the future, would her actions affect me, or would I become part of some alternative world?

[ He faceplants into the table with a groan. It's too early for this kind of thinking. ]

[whatagoodgirl]

[She should really be from Higurashi to be contemplating this. Because as it is, she's horribly confused.]

So... separate timelines could open up... [Like Minako? The female version of a person from a similar timeline? She does have some knowledge of this!] I think it's possible, kind of. I think I've heard of it. The same world in two different places, with just one major difference.

[Then she sighs, realizing what a weight that adds to his shoulders.] So you could tear your whole world apart. Jr., I'm sorry...

[songspitzel]

[ Court spy, but she she posed as a soldier for one mission. That counts, right? ]

Not while we're here. But yes, I was a soldier.

[designerchild]

[ He peeks up at the camera, interested. ]

You've heard of it? Here? What was the difference?

[ After considering her other words, he sits back up and shakes his head. ]

Even if it was possible, even if she changed things, the outcome would have to be the same. Or we'd lose everything. It's just...the meat on the bone, ya know? The things that happen in between her present and my end. If she changed one thing, the in between stuff could change too.

[ And that's what he's desperately afraid of now. ]