Early in the Week 1.5 Mingle

[chalicejoker]

Look, being back in the Bando...it's not good for Matthew or for me. Not after the last Jaunt. Matthew thinks he can open a portal to the Walkabout, and if any of the missing people aren't hiding around somewhere else here, they'll be there.

So we're leaving. I won't wreck anything, he won't get recognized...it's for the best. Don't worry about us.

[There's a very short pause, and then...]

Shit. Shit! That didn't...

Comments

[thornsofmalkav]

What did you fucking do???

[summerorange]

What happened, Hajime-san? Did you get spotted by the other crew?

[chalicejoker]

I didn't...

He's gone. I'm still here, everything's the same...

...but Matthew vanished.

[chalicejoker]

No, no, we were in Liminal when we tried...

...but Matthew's gone. He just...I don't know where he went. We tried to go together, but I couldn't go through for some reason.

[thornsofmalkav]

Motherfucker.

Okay. Okay, shit.

He's not answering his brain.

[summerorange]

You mean, something blocked you from going with him? What could have done that?!

[chalicejoker]

Yeah, I...I don't know where he went.

[chalicejoker]

I don't think I was blocked, I just...just couldn't.

[summerorange]

So you couldn't go to this 'Walkabout'...

were you two trying to travel between worlds, then?

[chalicejoker]

...yeah.

The Bando...wasn't good for either of us. We didn't think we belonged back in this world. Not after what we did the last time.

[summerorange]

Why didn't you two talk to me about that first? I could've at least tried to help you get to another world!

[A frustrated sigh]

...if only Tsukasa-kun was here, or my home...

[thornsofmalkav]

Somewhere else, obviously. Maybe the walkabout. Maybe somewhere else like that goddamn tree hotel.

Shit, is there anybody besides Naoki who can talk to other liminal places?

[seestheworld]

If he did the same thing I did in Newport, he might be hooked up to another Liminal Space. And if that's true, then he won't be able to access the network until he's hooked back up with ours.

[chalicejoker]

...it was kind of a spur of the moment thing!

[Seriously, they talked about it for what, five minutes?]

[chalicejoker]

I don't...I don't know.

He's just gone.

[summerorange]

Hajime-san...!

[The frustration is strong in this one.]

At least think before trying that kind of thing next time! Either of you could've ended up trapped beneath the floor.

[And as an afterthought]

...oh, dear. I hope that isn't what happened with Matthew-san.

[chalicejoker]

...but we don't know that for sure...

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. But could someone like Naoki if he weren't Infiltrating manage to get through? I know he did from the conversation space.

[chalicejoker]

[He's just trying really hard not to think of how Tower had called him impulsive. Had wanted him for that...]

...there are probably worse things than the floor.

We just...if you knew what the Bando was like for us both the last time...

[summerorange]

--another Liminal Space...? You mean, there's one parallel to the one we're connected to?

[chalicejoker]

It's...worth a shot, I guess, if someone could.

[summerorange]

...still...I hope we can find him soon...

At any rate, what happened to you both the last time you were in this world? At least, the events that would lead you two to not stay here for very long...

[thornsofmalkav]

The Arcana have to put their conversation spaces somewhere, don't they?

[seestheworld]

I'm not sure how typical it was given the situation, but Newport had a parallel Liminal Space that was used for, uh, storage. Specifically, storage of the people Emperor Emperor and Empress were impersonating for the Jaunt.

[summerorange]

I suppose so, but I never thought that they would need to do that before...