Wait, wasn't he infiltrating?

[detectivewonder]

Okay, I think I've got the hang of this. Can you hear me?

Not that it's really hearing, it seems like it's an internal voice. Mental.

We're Travelers, we're opposing some sort of organization called the Manticore Knights, and we have access to the world they're in and a place called a liminal - is that right?

I don't see anyone else here, so I must be in liminal right now...

Is there an orientation process in place? What's an infiltrator, in this context?

Comments

[volving]

[ ...Okay, it might be a new Tim. Right? ...except that the only time Cass knows of where new people showed up partway through was... well, when she and Steph showed up. ]

[ uncertainly ] ...Tim?

[mysunnydisposition]

What? Are you....

...hang on I'm coming to liminal space.

[detectivewonder]

Tim. That's a name, yeah? Are you asking if I'm Tim?

[detectivewonder]

I'm not really sure I can go anywhere else, so.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Momentary pause. If it's a new Tim, wouldn't he react at least a little to hearing her voice?

Never mind. She opens a portal the second she can get off the street and ducks through into liminal space. Normally the fact that it's all made of pudding would get at least a raised eyebrow, but she's got bigger concerns right now. ]

You wanna yell or something so I can find you in here?

[ She's speaking out loud now, but she's keeping up the telepathic connection until she's sure he's close enough to actually hear her. ]

[volving]

Yes?

[ This is not good ]

I'm... coming to liminal... space. Don't... leave.

[ She is portaling to limspace as quickly as she can, what is wrong with Tim what is going on. ]

[detectivewonder]

[Tim is dressed in his Grid outfit, staring at nothing, eyes and finger tracking something invisible - he's reviewing the psychic network, and has the same absent yet focused look he does while reading.]

[detectivewonder]

Or Something!

[The shout leads back to a bemused Tim, wearing the black suit he got from the Grid, projecting a replay of sensory livestreams on a nearby custard pool and watching it with quizzical interest.]

[volving]

[ Okay, this is Tim. This is their Tim, if he's wearing that outfit. So... what's going on? ]

...Hi. Are... you okay?

[detectivewonder]

... I think so. What are our parameters for "okay?"

[He looks at her, unalarmed, interested - and completely without any sense of familiarity.]

[volving]

[ No no no no no, this is so wrong. This is so wrong and unsettling and what. happened. ]

You don't... know me. [ it's not a question. She's using the training she got from Cain to keep herself from being visibly distressed, but internally? FREAKING OUT. ] Are... you injured?

[detectivewonder]

I don't think so.

[The dubious response covers her statement abd her question.]

Sudden otherworldly arrivals seem like they're normal, here. Is mine... not?

[volving]

No.

[ Why doesn't she use the network enough to be able to do things like Tim always could? She could just show him, instead of trying to tell him. ]

You... were already here. Our... my friend. Tim Drake. [ she frowns slightly ] Do... you remember?

[leftbehindagain]

That's... the gist of it, at least at the moment.

What's the last thing you remember? [Because Naoki's pretty sure he's heard this voice before, but this is... unexpected. And somewhat worrying.]

[detectivewonder]

Damn.

I mean...

I don't know my name. I don't know anything. But I knew the pudding and the telepathy were weird, so I thought it was part of a package deal. People whose thoughts I heard mentioned other people not remembering themselves...

[detectivewonder]

Is that a trick question?

[leftbehindagain]

No. It might help us figure out what happened.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Eyeroll. ] You're hilarious.

[ She makes her way to him, and stops as soon as she getsclose enough to see what he's wearing. He didn't just get here. He didn't just get spat out of some pre-Moebius dungeon either, not wearing that, but...

Steph shakes her head and moves closer, trying to ignore the rising sense of something very wrong. ]

Okay, let's back up. What's with the Travelling 101 questions? And also... weren't you infiltrating?

[detectivewonder]

[He looks at her in incomprehension. She knows him, he can see that. And that is a problem, because...]

So... amnesia after infiltration. Not how this normally works?

[detectivewonder]

It's. Uh. A question with a null answer.

[leftbehindagain]

...well, that's not good.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She stares at him for a second, blank incomprehension as she tries to twist those words to mean literally anything but the obvious. ]

Wh... No! That's not normal at all! Oh my god why wouldn't you open with that?

[detectivewonder]

Because I woke up in pudding country with voices in my head? There was a really good chance either this was normal or I was crazy.

And I eavesdropped on a few conversations where people mentioned someone not remembering themselves.

[Yep. It's still Tim, all right.]

[detectivewonder]

I'm starting to get that.

[leftbehindagain]

Has anyone been able to fill in what you were doing in Newport up to now?