For the better, I'd say. Though I'll leave the final verdict in the judgement of those who have to deal with me.
The recent multiversal cataclysm woke up some latent memories of a couple of years spent in another world. I owned a bar. I may even have learned some humility.
Interesting... You did not previously remember your time spent in this other world? A similar phenomenon has happened to a woman I knew in Ryslig, who appeared following the recent cataclysm. Though I know she is the same woman, she has no memory of me.
I didn't remember a thing before, no. But I can't promise that means the same can be said for her. Whatever circumstance kept my memories locked also nullified both a power and a piece of technology that came with me from that place, and without identifying what made that possible it's difficult to say it's a probability in others.
[ There is an extensive pause in between Stephen's question and Angela's reply. ]
No. I care too deeply about her. If there is a way to spare her the memories of what we suffered through together, I would gladly see it done. Even at the cost of her recognition. These are traumas that I can shoulder alone.
[ They had some truly dark days in New Amsterdam, days it would serve him well to forget. But he wouldn't. Not at the cost of all he gained. And if he'd had the option - to wait around in blissful ignorance or to wake up to the whole of himself and leave Tony, then Damian, less alone - he'd have remembered it all sooner. ]
I suppose it is. Certainly, she would not be pleased with me deciding anything of that import in her behalf.
[ Bethan would want to make that decision herself. Even if it pains Angela to know that she would decide to remember Ryslig, and all that they had suffered there. ]
Tell me of your other world. You say these awakened memories also unlocked abilities gained there?
[ A good thing to recognise, both in the abstract and in the very real possibility that one day they might get their hands on some answers. ]
It was a future Earth, the 2500s. War, climate change and extreme natural disasters had changed the shape of life on the planet, humanity was contained for the most part in megacities scattered around the globe and a few satellite colonies in space. Advanced technology, next-level capitalism, the world overseen by the United Nations.
And yeah. New abilities. Those of us from outside of that universe were unmistakeable to one another thanks to the shard of something within us that granted us a seed of new power, stripped us of any existing abilities, and made it so that we would experience one another's emotional landscapes if we ever shared any kind of skin contact. That something has stayed with me, though it doesn't seem to have sustained its power nullification trait. What I do still have is the power it granted me, which in my case has to do with neural interpretation and manipulation.
[ His new power isn't something it's wise for him to share widely - even back there, there were people he never told - but this is a different landscape. There are echoes of the same vulnerability here, but he doesn't feel it quite as keenly as he had on that Earth. Here, his power isn't all he has to rely on. Here, he still has his magic.
So he can afford to share his secrets with a trusted few. To hold himself accountable, and to remain worthy of trust. ]
[ Angela is not the most insightful person, especially with people she doesn't know all that well. So the deep amount of trust that Stephen is gracing her with goes largely unremarked upon. But, she will honor his gesture of honesty with one of her own. ]
The peninsula of Ryslig was in some ways similar. It was no Earth, but it had been ravaged by disaster, and as far as we could tell, the entire world beyond the peninsula was lost, in a war between the local gods. We, too, were stripped of any abilities upon arrival; those of us who were not human were essentially made human by force. And then, after time and exposure to the Fog God's power, we were made into something else. You have seen my monster form.
This world, it seems, grants us a compromise. It has restored to you your magic, and to me my Asgardian strength, while leaving us with the traces of our previous worlds.
I suppose no one can escape such experiences untouched.
[ Ah. Context. He'd known only the very basics, from the assumption that minotaur wasn't a typical Asgardian trait to that discussion held while making careful plans to protect Loki from his own choices: could he or Billy make fog?
Fog God. From Asgardian to human to something else. The work of a god in another world, carried over.
It's a strange way to find kinship, two people of different origins from different universes four times over. But there aren't many here who have cause to understand what it is to have been through the multiversal wringer more than once, and come out changed in ways impossible to ignore. ]
I suppose not. Now all we need do is make the best of it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
The recent multiversal cataclysm woke up some latent memories of a couple of years spent in another world. I owned a bar. I may even have learned some humility.
no subject
You did not previously remember your time spent in this other world?
A similar phenomenon has happened to a woman I knew in Ryslig, who appeared following the recent cataclysm. Though I know she is the same woman, she has no memory of me.
no subject
I didn't remember a thing before, no. But I can't promise that means the same can be said for her. Whatever circumstance kept my memories locked also nullified both a power and a piece of technology that came with me from that place, and without identifying what made that possible it's difficult to say it's a probability in others.
Do you want her to remember?
no subject
No. I care too deeply about her. If there is a way to spare her the memories of what we suffered through together, I would gladly see it done. Even at the cost of her recognition.
These are traumas that I can shoulder alone.
no subject
[ They had some truly dark days in New Amsterdam, days it would serve him well to forget. But he wouldn't. Not at the cost of all he gained. And if he'd had the option - to wait around in blissful ignorance or to wake up to the whole of himself and leave Tony, then Damian, less alone - he'd have remembered it all sooner. ]
I think it's just as well the choice isn't yours.
no subject
[ Bethan would want to make that decision herself. Even if it pains Angela to know that she would decide to remember Ryslig, and all that they had suffered there. ]
Tell me of your other world. You say these awakened memories also unlocked abilities gained there?
no subject
It was a future Earth, the 2500s. War, climate change and extreme natural disasters had changed the shape of life on the planet, humanity was contained for the most part in megacities scattered around the globe and a few satellite colonies in space. Advanced technology, next-level capitalism, the world overseen by the United Nations.
And yeah. New abilities. Those of us from outside of that universe were unmistakeable to one another thanks to the shard of something within us that granted us a seed of new power, stripped us of any existing abilities, and made it so that we would experience one another's emotional landscapes if we ever shared any kind of skin contact. That something has stayed with me, though it doesn't seem to have sustained its power nullification trait. What I do still have is the power it granted me, which in my case has to do with neural interpretation and manipulation.
[ His new power isn't something it's wise for him to share widely - even back there, there were people he never told - but this is a different landscape. There are echoes of the same vulnerability here, but he doesn't feel it quite as keenly as he had on that Earth. Here, his power isn't all he has to rely on. Here, he still has his magic.
So he can afford to share his secrets with a trusted few. To hold himself accountable, and to remain worthy of trust. ]
no subject
The peninsula of Ryslig was in some ways similar. It was no Earth, but it had been ravaged by disaster, and as far as we could tell, the entire world beyond the peninsula was lost, in a war between the local gods. We, too, were stripped of any abilities upon arrival; those of us who were not human were essentially made human by force. And then, after time and exposure to the Fog God's power, we were made into something else. You have seen my monster form.
This world, it seems, grants us a compromise. It has restored to you your magic, and to me my Asgardian strength, while leaving us with the traces of our previous worlds.
I suppose no one can escape such experiences untouched.
no subject
Fog God. From Asgardian to human to something else. The work of a god in another world, carried over.
It's a strange way to find kinship, two people of different origins from different universes four times over. But there aren't many here who have cause to understand what it is to have been through the multiversal wringer more than once, and come out changed in ways impossible to ignore. ]
I suppose not. Now all we need do is make the best of it.
no subject
no subject
[ :') ]
no subject
But, will the grey hair be from age, or stress?
no subject
[ Stress. His money's on stress. ]