squelching | catch-all: nico.

Was it a city you recognized at all? [ he's more curious about this and also fastly avoiding trauma for a bit. ] What about Axel and Tama? They weren't co-workers?

I don't even know its name.

[so, no.]

Axel and Tama were high school students, I think. But we couldn't recognize them until we made it back to Oceanside.

So you were all in the same place, but you weren't actually aware of each other. Did you meet up at all? Or were you guys separated even in the same city like we were when we were at the casino?

We ran into each other a few times, but we just couldn't recognize each other.

Weird. Another rewrite...[ he's thinking this over. ] What were you and Sigrun doing then? What kind of work?

We worked for a man who had the power of precognition. He could see multiple versions of the future, good and bad, so... He hired us. To make sure that the things that needed to happen, for the best possible timeline, happened.

[ oh he hates that actually. ]

Like...meddling with fate to make sure it went the way he foresaw it? Who was determining the things that needed to happen? How'd you know the visions were right?

He paid well and all the things he said were accurate to what we had to deal with, so... We just believed him, I guess. It felt normal. And Sigrun and I couldn't see the future like Tama or Axel could.

Did you even remember being here in the first place? Or anything about the last couple of weeks? [ this is the second time there's been a rewrite, he thinks, and he hates that. ]

I remembered everything. But it was... a little like you. It didn't feel as important.

I don't like that it's happened twice. Or, I guess, three times if you count the other group who was with us at the casino. It makes it harder to remember what our focus is here if we're somewhere else trying to be other people. I wish I knew what it was trying to tell us is all.

... I think I have an idea.

Have you spoken to anyone else from my group? We found a note.

[ he shakes his head. ]

Not yet. I missed that you guys came back and it's been a long afternoon already. But that doesn't surprise me since we all found notes last time, too. We got a news article from ours this time. Wanna trade?

Yeah! I was going to ask you anyway, so let's trade.

[she will pull out her phone to show him a picture of a handwritten note, on a scrap of white paper. i assume you've already seen it since this is a w2 thread, but copy/pastes for convenience anyway--

If any one of these teams would be entirely wiped, those teams will become part of this world. Every member will believe they have always lived in this world, forgetting where they hail from. They'll become citizens who will be powerless and clueless during the next cycle.]

[ i think reigen straight up was like "here i got this note from saya" but shhh time isn't real. he doesn't even wait to read it before he's pulling out his phone to pass to her. it's a copy of a news article:

In the wake of the penultimate battle, many have found themselves with more questions than answers. First and foremost among them: what was the goal of the battle? Our heroes naturally set out to protect the citizens of Oceanside City, but for what reason would the moon wish to fight at all?

One theory suggests that a certain book may have something to do with it, though we have few leads on how at this time. What we do know is that the book was originally in the moon’s possession, until hero Silver Horse obtained it during the course of the battle. Several eyewitness accounts claim that the book was severely damaged in the ensuing struggle, inciting the moon to attack and ultimately kill Horse in its rage.

News footage seems to support this theory, but it raises yet more questions: Why would our heroes risk their lives for a book? What is its importance? What do its pages contain? Though it seems ordinary at best, it clearly holds some significance to both the moon and the heroes. Investigators have expressed interest in asking the remaining heroes about the matter, perhaps after giving them some time to grieve their lost compatriots.

when he's done reading hers though he's just. frowning. ]

...assimilation. Why are they already talking about another cycle? A cycle for what?

Hmm... A newspaper clipping in a city where we can't find any news from before our arrival. Interesting.

Hey, do you think the notes we've found so far came from that book?

Right? I thought so, too. I asked your leader earlier this week about the archives and they seemed pretty puzzled by the lack of history, too. We were comparing old copies of the paper from when we first got here.

[ but then she says that and he's pausing. ]

...I wasn't before, but now I might be. Like missing pages we have to put together to recreate a full story?

That could be it. If the book was severely damaged, it would make sense if the pages that survived ended up getting scattered. We also don't know what Silver Horse's power was or how the book was damaged.

But we know the moon got angry when it happened, right? Since it was in the middle of the fight, it sounds like it could have been an accident. But maybe the moon attacked them because it wasn't an accident, and Horse damaged the book on purpose — to rip out its pages.

[ i see i left this open on my desktop all weekend. ]

I guess that's something we could try to ask the leaders, though a lot of them I've spoken to have been a little raw from their passing still. It may need some time.

You think maybe Horse did it as a precaution knowing that if the moon got ahold of the book something worse would happen?

It's been weeks. It's not like any of us can afford to be raw, you know...

[this is so rude but saya is truly out here, like. we watch people die every week. your grief ain't more special than theirs, gosh.]

I'm just throwing the theory out there. But they must've taken the book from the moon for some reason, right?

[ he snorts. ]

No, um. I can agree with that. [ said the demigod of grief. ] But trying to push some of them just feels bad and also we don't get anywhere and it's a waste. So it's about being strategic in the approach.

There definitely has to be a reason. We should start asking more about that and seeing how it all connects. We're getting all of this information for some reason, aren't we?

[she sighs.]

Fine... I guess you're right. [the npcs clam up so fast and for what!! --saya, 20XX] We are. Or at least, I hope so. There has to be something we can do with this information, too...

[ shaking his head. ]

We just keep collecting and hope for the best. [ but since this is w2... ] You're staying with other people tonight, aren't you?

Yeah. I think I'm going to the movie theater with Tama and Axel... You have someone to stay with, too, right?

[ there's a small smile. ]

Wherever Will goes, I go. So we probably have a few others we're sticking with tonight back at our dorm. [ he does not acknowledge they are on different teams and therefore do not actually really share a dorm. ]

catch-all: nico.

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