two posts for the price of one

[reallymean]

[Close on the heels of the witch's hat unfolding...]

There's something that troubles me about our last deployment.

[There would be more than one thing, if she'd been on the Jaunt proper, but the Walkabout had been relatively peaceful, much to her surprise upon returning to herself.]

While most of our number were elsewhere [no proper noun here; they haven't been back long enough for the usual gossip to have a chance to make the rounds], the rest of us were returned to the universe of Questing Country. Not to the dream realm itself - at least not in our full numbers, though I wouldn't be surprised if a few people took the time to visit. Still, unless I've missed something in the library, that would be our fifth return to that particular universe in some capacity.

[Sixth, if you're counting the strange half-Jaunts following Fortune's resurrection, which she isn't just yet.]

Leaving aside the concern that the Arcana's reason for revisiting that place might be similar to our last visit... It might be time for us to start looking more closely at the other places we Travel to, to see if we can find further connections. Our pool of destinations could be smaller than we've been assuming.

[And about an hour later comes a separate, shorter broadcast, this one sounding baffled rather than concerned.]

Where did these creatures come from? They're adorable, but they're everywhere.

[Including on the walls. Why are there small fluffy things on the walls?]

Comments

[tookashirototheknee]

They're rabbits. They reproduce like crazy because they have a very short gestation time, I believe.

There's an old saying on Earth that would probably translate to 'quiznaking like rabbits'.

[reallymean]

Well, that certainly explains the number, but how did they get here in the first place. They seem rather less clever than most of the creatures that follow us back.

[Translation: yes, she did try to strike up a conversation with a bunny.]

[tookashirototheknee]

I'm not sure on that. I know that regular animals have followed people home in the past. There was a huge white cat that was around for a while, and I think Claudia's friend has a cat as well.

You're right, though, that most of the animals that follow us home are slightly more sentient.

[reallymean]

I don't think I've seen them, but Liminal Space is often...chaotic.

It seems almost cruel to pull creatures into this that don't have the capacity to understand what's happening, or why their home never remains the same shape for more than a few quintants at a time.

[Although the rabbits certainly don't seem overly fazed by their surroundings.]

[tookashirototheknee]

I think some of the rabbits are liking it, if the one that just portaled onto the top of my head is any indication.

I'm trying to keep Pidge from snapping too hard at them.

... Pidge my dragon, not my sister. My dragon tends to get snappy at things that get too close to me.

[finalizes]

They normally live in the wilderness room, which doesn't change more than any natural environment would change with the seasons.

[And he is very, very much not pleased by all of them having gotten out. One or two, he can handle without an issue. But all of them? That's just excessive.]

[forcechanic]

Was it the smugglers again? The ones who escaped from that awful planet?

[reallymean]

The hecatite I was Infiltrating as was more familiar with the smugglers who had made their home on the forest moon than with the more recent refugees, but I believe so, yes. Gehenna?

[forcechanic]

That's the one.

I think that's the only era where we've visited the waking version of that universe.

[reallymean]

As a whole group, perhaps. Though there were some striking similarities between Questing Country and the dreamscape of Harrogate.

[forcechanic]

I wasn't really coherent enough to notice patterns in Harrogate, I have to admit.

Rabbits

[carbonatedscientist]

I'm currently trying to ask them, though I'm not having much luck.

They're more than just hollow Liminal constructs, that's all I've been able to deduce.

[reallymean]

Your deductions are correct, they're quite biological.

[She has a large feline spirit animal. One of the bunnies got into her room when she reopened it upon arrival. The demonstration of that biology was, shall we say, graphic, if mercifully shortlived.]

They don't really seem to be able to communicate at all, though.

[carbonatedscientist]

I've acquired a rabbit form of my own; I thought I might be able to get somewhere with them that way.

Turns out it's not working as well as I'd hope, though they do appreciate my efforts to lure them over with salad.

[reallymean]

The lure of food is fairly universal.

Are you able to communicate with the rest of us in your alternate form? I'd hate to see someone lock one of our own in somewhere while attempting to deal with the population explosion.

[carbonatedscientist]

Absolutely. I'm actually in said form right now. I'm rather adorable, if I do say so myself.

[waitatick]

Perhaps they simply enjoy mating.

(Yeah he's not even mentioning the Walkabout. Way too embarrassing.)

[reallymean]

They had to get here to mate in the first place. Hopefully no one was foolish enough to smuggle a breeding pair of an alien species into Liminal Space...

[Private, protected]
Are you all right?

[waitatick]

Hmmm. Are you certain? Not that I doubt your judgment or experience, but perhaps they are simply natural creatures? I believe they may be common to Earth, for whatever that may be worth.

Private, as protected as he knows to make it

I am quite well. How are you faring? I wish to apologize for anything that may have discomforted you on our journey.

[He wasn't really okay but hey he's good at faking it).

[reallymean]

That's just it...natural creatures don't get in. Even Infiltrators can't get in here, outside of extraordinary circumstances.

[Private, protected]
Nothing did. That wasn't my first time walking in someone else's skin for a phoeb, and it was...less personal than some.

[She wasn't possessing her father this time, and that's certainly a win.]

[waitatick]

Then I must admit that I am at a loss, Princess. They do not appear to be in any way threatening, however.

[Private, protected]

So I have deduced. I am less comforted by the entire encounter. I find that I missed you, ludicrous as it may sound. I am quite disoriented from the aftereffects of the infiltration in itself...

[leftbehindagain]

I had a list of different jaunt worlds going, once, trying to narrow it down. I should see if I can find it, or failing that start a new one.

I know it came up while we were in Bando that that's the same world as the mermaids. And there's been so many variations on Earth that I'd be surprised if there were no overlap, though a few of them are definitely distinct.

[reallymean]

Were they distinct in a way that would carry across different eras?

[leftbehindagain]

Harrogate's dark enough that I can't see that darkness not cropping up elsewhere. Nova Venezia's political makeup is distinct from pretty much every other Earth we've been sent to. Doki is the converse of Harrogate - I can't see S. Tech not being around in some fashion, and that stuff sticks out.

[reallymean]

People are remarkably good at ignoring horrors that aren't forced in front of their noses. Harrogate...in some ways, it seemed a little bit like a world where Questing Country had grown rotten with Nightmares.