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[Is it possibly for a mental voice to sound giddy? Because there's a distinct giddy tinge to By's thoughts, for all that his words come out with his normal, lazy, lightly Russian-accented drawl.]

Byerly Vorrutyer here. We're on Earth, pre-spaceflight, although someone who isn't me will need to get a better read on the actual date and location. Linguistically, it's a hodgepodge. I can hear archaic Russian, a whole host of Asiatic and Romance languages, and something else I can't quite place.

If you can "hear" this, check in. We need to know who we've got to work with.

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Ryoutarou Doujima here. Good thinking, Vorrutyer--how do you even pronounce that out loud?

[Immediately sidetracked to a minor issue, but then he snaps back on task.]

No, nevermind that. Okay! So we're working on a list of who of us knows who we really are, and I hope somebody is writing this down because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep track in my head. Adachi brought up somebody we know thinks they're somebody else, and that's a good thing to keep track of too. Everybody can hear me, right? Anybody got other confirmed--what's the word--infiltrators?

Uh. Any advice on how the hell we're supposed to fit in here would be good. I think I avoided some suspicion by pretending to be afraid of heights and a tourist but I stick out like a sore thumb.

I haven't seen Kanji, Yua or Hanamura yet. Souji-san, from the sound of things, is filling in as Naoto's fiance. And... now that I think of it, has anyone heard from Minako-san yet? She's usually been on this side of things, so far, but there's a first time for everything.

[And then there's the other people he's looking out for - Levi, Lupa, Lyall (how is it they all start with L?) - but Dojima-san probably hasn't met them yet. Better, in that case, to give him the short list of faces he might recognise. he can keep his own counsel from there.]

I don't know if anyone does usually keep a written list - last time I was myself for one of these things I was a little busy helping Naoto run a revolution to bother. Whoever checks in this way is who we've got.

As for blending in... the Grid was also different when it came to that. Daneel-san at least had a good rundown of the main powers in play here, so we have that to work with. Otherwise I'm just trying to keep an ear out and see what I can find out that way. [Not... that it's much other than a lack of proper alchemy so far.]

I haven't either, but I can keep a look-out for them, no problem. I don't know how much help I'll be in the long-run with that, because most travelers I've barely seen, much less actually know their names. Descriptions would probably help.

[And he goes mentally quite for a minute, sorting out his thoughts on that. Descriptions would help a lot. Too bad they can't send pictures over this thing.]

If this thing was like an email, I'd just go back and re-read it. I'm still getting used to it being thoughts, and not something more concrete. And I'm an old-fashioned detective. I like to have the case-files in hand even now.

Maybe I'll talk to him. [A pause.] Pairing up might not go wrong either, in case someone does take offense to any missteps we make.

Minako-san's another Persona user - if you've seen her summon, you probably know. [You know, the whole 'shoot yourself in the head for great justice' thing?] Brown hair, reddish-brown eyes.

There is a way to go back and access the older stuff. I'm not sure how to explain it, though, it just sort of... happened in my case.

It's not a terrible idea. Worst case, I'll probably see about helping Adachi-san wrangle Naoto. Otherwise... I'll come up with something.

[So very dryly.] We met. Nice girl.

[He holds back on the 'but' mostly. It's just... so very not safe gun handling, even if it isn't a real gun.]

If you figure out how to show me, I'd appreciate it.

[He wants whatever lets that happen, but now's really not the time.]

Anyway, regular check-ins are probably a good idea too. The last thing we need is somebody concussed and sitting in whatever passed for a jail here because they broke some petty law we have no idea exists. Or insulted the wrong person.

[The last bit is a little pointed. Guess who's also hearing details about Adachi's adventures with the princess as they speak?]

...She did summon, then. She's fully aware it's awkward and didn't come up with it herself, in fairness.

If I do, I'll let you know. It's useful.

Yeah, that probably is a good idea. We didn't have regular check-ins as such on the Grid, but I did put a lot of information out there when I had it.

I want to hunt down whoever did and give them a good talking to.

Good, thanks. Until then I'll see if I can track down something to write with. With all the technology they have here, they should have invented pens by now, right?

[He huffs.]

I'll see what I can do about arranging them. We keep in touch and share everything we know, and hopefully we'll figure out what the hell we're supposed to be up to.

[There's a slight pause.] Just... not if it's actually private. Those details can probably be safely left out.

Edited 2015-09-16 17:50 (UTC)

From some of what she's said about the situation, the most likely candidate for that is dead. Anything more is her story to tell. [And it's a deeply personal one, so Naoki's not going to break her trust, especially if she's not here to step in.]

I don't know about ballpoint pens, but there should at least be fountain pens around, I'd think. Better than nothing.

...Yeah, I'm just as happy not hearing the personal details, but whatever else we can get put together about the situation will help. We didn't get some of the key information about the Grid until really late in the game, but there were at least two infiltrator groups keeping their own counsel, in that case, so we didn't get the information until after people died and got revived as themselves and shared it. This is also going to be tricky, but not the same kind of clandestine, I don't think.

Understood. I should probably apologize at some point, shouldn't I?

[The question is obviously rhetorical though, and he barrels on to the next topic.]

All the more reason to work together. The quicker we get-- Wait. Died?

[Actually this might have been covered before, but now he's actually thinking about it and not too overwhelmed to really realize the implications.]

Spare her the gun safety lecture and I think you'll be all right.

[...welp. Here he figured Naoto or someone would've covered that. oops?] It happens on these things sometimes - not to me personally yet, but it can happen. Naoto takes the fact that people recover from it as a sign the Trumps have some investment in us in particular, and not just in having random warm bodies to do whatever it is they need us for.

Guilty. Not of doing it yet, but I kept thinking about it. Yeah, I’ll let it be.

[Even if it makes him uncomfortable. There must be a reason she has to do it that way, and he’s almost sure that asking wouldn’t be appropriate just yet. He sighs, though it probably doesn’t carry through into the psychic link.]

Okay, that makes a disturbing sense. I just really don’t like that they’re that powerful. It doesn’t spell good things for our chances of getting home without them deciding to allow it, and I need to get home soon as possible.

[A pause, because suddenly he needs a subject change!]

Er, about what you mentioned earlier, accessing these thought exchanges after the fact. I know you said you didn’t think you could explain it well, but if you know somebody you can point me at about it who can, that’d be great. Feeling like I’m already getting behind on things here.

She probably knows you were thinking it, but I think she'll appreciate not hearing it either way.

[Naoki's content to let the topic change be. There's not much he can say to make Dojima-san feel better about being trapped away from his daughter, even if it's likely Nanako-chan will never know he was gone. And he can't speculate any further on why Travelers come back when they die on jaunts, nor does he particularly want to.]

I can try to explain it. It's... at first it seems like this stuff just goes by in the moment, but if I concentrate a little, it's all still there. Makes catching up after a jaunt a lot easier.

Like a computer archive? Or actually, like texting or instant messaging where everything happens right away, but there's a record you can go back and access. So it's just knowing it's there and knowing how to access it. Do you think about anything particular? Is it like opening up a file or...?

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Much the same as I've been pronouncing it inside your head, Doujima.

[Oh, but he likes you. You're thinking.]

I think I've seen this fellow with a moustache who's flirting with me around Liminal Space.

As far as blending in, you might want to talk to Daneel about it, given his odd case of dual citizenship, as it were. Until you can locate him, try to be polite and keep your head down.

[He's so tempted to add 'Of course it's good thinking. I am a professional' but no, he remembers what happened the last time he told someone he was part of ImpSec just because he thought they'd never see Barrayar.]

Easier s-- er, easier thought than said, apparently. It's not coming out right.

[That last part was grumbled, but he's not going to dwell.]

Got a name and a description for me? Even if we haven't met them personally before, we'll know who to watch then. [Pause.] I wish I had a computer. Or at least a pen and pad of paper for this.

Got pointed in his direction already, but you're right. In person might be easier. Damn, do I look all spaced out when I'm talking to people like this?

[It's a concern, okay! People are already suspicious of him]

If we run into each other in person, I'll coach you.

The man with the moustache claims his name is Neville Tollman, but that's likely an alias, although whether or not it's your standard Infiltration alias where you truly believe that's your name or one his Infiltrator-self adopted for dealing with me is quite up in the air. He's well-built, brown hair, prominent moustache, very British.

And yes, it's a bit inconvenient to be running through these things when one doesn't have anything to write things down with. I've a fairly well-trained memory, but I don't expect most people to have the same and I'm certainly no Illyrican memory chip.

I doubt I can answer if you look spaced out, since I don't think you're within my sights, but I'm sure we can teach you to cover up your distraction more easily.

Well built, brown hair, British-- Got it. Eye color, if you caught it? Rough height?

My memory isn't bad, but I'm old fashioned. I'd rather have the case files in my hands when I'm working, you know?

Meeting up doesn't seem like a bad idea. At least I'll know one what one more of us looks like, in case things happen. Maybe I can find a way to get a notepad. They have to sell those kinds of things somewhere.

Dark eyes. He's got a very nice arse, for what it's worth, but I suspect that's too subjective an identifier.

I'm in the middle of negotiating a liaison with Tollman, but afterwards we might meet at this cafe I've spotted. It's called Les Trois Magots.

Dark eyes and-- Right.

[There is a silence on his end long enough that it's obviously at least semi-intentional. There are things he really doesn't need to know.]

So! Directions to this cafe? I'm still near the lifts I showed up on, as a point of reference. And when will be a good time for you?

[Byerly sounds distinctly amused as he provides Doujima with the directions.]

Two or three hours from now ought to be sufficient.

[This guy is going to drive him up a wall and Ryoutarou knows it.]

I'll give you three and a half.

Woof!

Do you need a crash course in the eighteen nineties, darling? I can help. This is not exactly my era, but it is close enough that I can try to help.

If you'll forgive my interruption, I think most of us will want that help.

It's probably more that I need a crash course in world culture, but time specific would be better. I'm just a country detective who's never traveled far from my hometown and world history was a long time ago for me.

[There's a bit of humor leaking into his mental tone.]

And they didn't really cover topics like 'fitting in while time traveling without making the locals think you're nuts' in class.

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