return woes

[runs]

So, how do you deal with having had a stupid overlay?

[The agent was just disturbing. Mostly because she was so much older than Kitty, so it wasn't even so much an alternative reality as a possible future.]

Comments

[canbebrave]

We must try and separate ourselves from them— to honor who we are, not whatever we were made to believe we were.

[runs]

I was myself the whole time, though. I mean, aside from being stuck in her body.

...She was just stupid. And older than me.

[canbebrave]

They usually are foolish. [Her one had been, though in a different sort of way— and Sansa feels a deep hatred for it.]

[runs]

I haven't had this many yet. And they mostly were okay, just the first one was pretty naive.

But then none of them were adults so far.

[And what if all adult versions of her turn out to be that kind of bigwig agent?]

[canbebrave]

You've been lucky, then.

Not all adults are so bad.

[runs]

Yeah, but I'll probably be one that is that bad given the chance.

[And that would be the crux of the problem.]

[flatteries]

[ Well, this is super awkward. He only knows it was her overlay too because he tried to look through what he missed while he was knocked out... ]

Making sure they don't appear again would be nice. [ ONE TIME WAS ENOUGH. ]

[runs]

That's not really something you can do, stupid.

[She'd stick her tongue out at him, but that... doesn't really make sense over the network. Not without unnecessary effort.]

[flatteries]

Well, you can try!

[ Inigo is totally not above petty little kid arguments. Not like he's actually all that old yet himself, after all. ]

[runs]

Yeah, like you can try to be three metres tall and pink.

[How mature can they get, that is the question, clearly.]

[flatteries]

I could dye my hair pink! And drink a lot of milk! [ It's a little too late for that when there's not much left of your growth spurt years, Inigo. And that's also some very wild expectations of what a few glasses of milk might do. ]

Anyone can make an effort, even if it's something small.

[runs]

If you grew like that from drinking milk I would be way taller than I am.

And there are things that you can and things that you can't make an effort on, and it's important to know the difference. [She might not always judge the difference right, but at least she knows that it exists?]

[flatteries]

Maybe you just don't drink enough of it! [ Definitely kid-level arguments here... ] Besides, I've done the impossible before. It just takes willpower!

[ And a magic dragon sometimes.

But still. :( ]

[runs]

If I'd drink more I would throw up. [Funny how that is barely ever a concern outside of this argument...]

And what have you done that was so impossible?

[flatteries]

[ Well, this is a dilemma. Inigo was pretty committed to not really sharing many details about his own world and what he did in it, but losing an argument with a little kid is also super embarrassing. Maybe if he just.. doesn't involve his personal circumstances.. ]

I travelled through time.

[runs]

And that's supposed to be impossible?

[Time travel - certain types and degrees of it, at least - are a very normal thing for a Changeling. Not a nice thing, but nowhere close to impossible.]

[flatteries]

Where I come from it is.

[ He knows it's not that impressive compared to all the world-hopping they do here, okay.. But it's new for him! ]

We have magic, but it's more the "flinging at enemies during battle" kind of magic than anything that'd help you travel through time.

[runs]

So how did you travel though time if it's normally impossible?

[Implied: I'm sure you aren't good enough to have done it by yourself, and I'm faintly doubting that you really would have more than accidentally participated in something as big as 'technically impossible'.]

[flatteries]

Why are you being so doubtful? [ Because he sure is catching onto that implication!! If not just because Inigo is actually insecure as all hell, and those sort of implications haunt him daily. ]

The only reason Naga was able to help us travel through time was since me and my friends had the willpower for it. Not just anyone could've done that!

[runs]

Uh-huh.

So what did all you willpower-y people have to go through time for?

[flatteries]

[ .. He should've seen that question coming, huh. ]

Does it matter?

[utsusemimaru]

... I have not had experience with an "overlay" myself, but there was a time when I was not in control of my body, and forced to do things abhorrent to me.

I think the most important thing is to try not to blame yourself for anything that may have happened.

[runs]

And what's the second most important thing?

[cloudpotter]

Note their mistakes and learn from them. Don't waste time lingering on the things they should regret.

[runs]

How would I "learn" from their mistakes?

[This is actually fairly close to what she's worried about. But 'just don't start working for governments and experimenting on people' seems a bit... basic.]

[cloudpotter]

If they followed a path you find distasteful, you now have the knowledge to identify what led them there and avoid it yourself.

[He hesitates a moment, before continuing.]

In... Edward's case, his dedication to his country is a trait we share. If I were concerned about becoming any more similar to him, by having been privy to his thoughts I would now have the means to identify any further similarities and act against them.

[Or something like that.]

Or it may be as mundane as simply learning from an overlay, what things will or will not work. I can't say I ever considered ghost hunting as a career, but due to Harrogate I've now learned more than I wanted to from Skye's mishaps.

The lessons you learn are up to you, in the end. Reflect upon your overlay's actions, determine their rights and wrongs... and take whatever beneficial lessons there are for yourself.

[runs]

..."Don't start working for a government and experimenting on people" is kind of... basic.

[She's not sure if that is something that she really needed a lesson on.]

But I don't really know why she started. She didn't reflect on that at any point.

[acapriciousthing]

I went with apologizing a lot, but people were pretty understanding about the whole thing.

[runs]

Well, she wasn't me, so there's no point in me apologizing for her.

[She should probably apologize for not having stopped her earlier, considering she was in the backseat popcorning at the situation the whole time, but... Nah. Why would she do that.]

That wouldn't help anyone.

[acapriciousthing]

Would it help you to think about where the big differences are?

[runs]

...Of course there are big differences now. She was way older than me.

[acapriciousthing]

But not who you'd want to be when you grow up.

[runs]

I don't know how she got there, though.

[And perhaps that is the core issue. How do you avoid taking the same steps if you don't know the path they took?]

[otomechapilot]

Badly?

It sucks, but you gotta remember they aren't you. Sometimes they aren't even who you could be.

[runs]

And some other times they are?