Luceti Appointments

[i_speak_softly]

Need a thread with Don, but don't have a post for it and don't feel like starting one? Stick it here. Please note date, time of day, location, and any relevant circumstances.

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[i_speak_softly]

[Uh... okay.]

Well, come in. Where did you go this morning?

[semper_cogitans]

[... What?]

... Don... I just... [Robert's gaze flickers up at the Turtle's, almost uncertainly.] ... I... just... r-r-returned to Luceti, not even s-several hours prior.

[i_speak_softly]

[Now that's concerning. Don pulls Robert in out of the cold by his sleeve, and closes the door behind him.]

Are you sure? All your things are here.

[He had checked, out of some combination of instinct and paranoia, when he got up to find Robert absent. Everything in the house was undisturbed - nothing missing, no sign of a struggle. Not a kidnapping then, nor had Robert been sent home. Except he says he was...]

[semper_cogitans]

[Almost helplessly:] I... returned in N-New Feather garb, and... [He'd had... a shutdown, of sorts, for quite some time. Enough that not even the scars riddling his arms mattered very much.

What Don says is confusing, though.] ... Wh-what is here...? There is... no s-sign of my having left...? [How?]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don just gestures to the interior of the house, inviting Robert to look for himself. He knows the scientist won't feel comfortable until he confirms that every item is in its proper place.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert steps inside, frowning as he looks around the house. Everything... well, not everything, but much of the house is similar... but there are some unsettling differences, like something is just subtly... wrong.

But Don doesn't notice.

The human looks at Don after some moments, frowning slightly.] Is a Shift p-perhaps occurring? [Or is there something even more fundamental?]

[i_speak_softly]

I don't think so, but sometimes it's hard to tell. [He reflects on his day so far.] Everyone seems to think something a little strange is going on today, but no one can quite say what it is.

[semper_cogitans]

[That doesn't exactly tell Robert very much.]

My... my memory of L-L-Luceti is very different from... much of what I am s-seeing now. [He falters, trying to encapsulate this concept.] Nobody mentioned the M-Malnosso at all... [Much less anything else.] Have they even... spoken of anything...?

[i_speak_softly]

The what? [This word sounds vaguely familiar, but Don can't connect it to anything.]

[semper_cogitans]

[... He... doesn't know...?]

You... h-have forgotten...?

[This is disturbing, and it shows on Robert's face.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don leans against a wall, crossing his arms. Yet another situation where it's impossible to tell who remembers the right reality.]

Remind me.

[semper_cogitans]

[How does he sum this up briefly?]

The M-Malnosso are... [... were?] ... an organization of s-scientists, dedicated to keeping us captive in... L-Luceti, as well as the other enclosures in this world... th-they were studying us, often against our wills, in order to a-ascertain how to... return home...

[Robert falters, because he can tell that despite what he's saying, despite the reality that he knows he lived though - that he knows he killed for - Don somehow doesn't.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Yep. Don is shaking his head slowly. There's no way he would forget something like that, but it doesn't ring a bell at all.]

[semper_cogitans]

[How is it even possible that Don doesn't remember this?]

... What e-else has been forgotten? [The man didn't check his journal very thoroughly before, but he can do so now. The MARS organization's symbol isn't there at the back - he could have sworn there was one before he left... and wait, what else is missing?

After a few moments, the man looks up at Don, in a distressed way. At this point, he doesn't even know for certain whether his normally-impeccable memory has... for once... failed him. But he still wants to think his memories are correct. They haven't misled him before.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Okay. Let's de-escalate. Getting stressed won't help this situation.]

I don't know. What does your journal say?

[He didn't notice anything unusual about his own.]

[semper_cogitans]

... It is more what my j-journal does not say. [Robert gestures in a sort of plaintive way, trying to calm himself in the face of growing anxieties.] Instead of the M-Malnosso, another organization is mentioned... and there is no talk of Cultists, or e-experimentation...

And you... you thought I was here in Luceti... [Did he think Robert was here the whole time? Has someone been actually here in Robert's place...?]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don puts a steadying hand on Robert's shoulder, looks at him a moment, then asks:]

What did we have for dinner last night, anata?

[semper_cogitans]

...

[In a voice that is surprisingly small and tremulous:] I... d-do not know.

[i_speak_softly]

[Now that is a sign that something is seriously wrong.]

Okay. [Don rubs the ridge between his eyes.] What do you need right now?

[semper_cogitans]

[Good question.] I... there has to be an e-explanation, for this. Some... rational explanation for... the u-unusual memory lapses here...

[Cue one fretting scientist. Is there something he's forgetting? Is it everyone else? Both? It's hard to tell, with the absence of information.]

... What do you remember, Don...? You... seemed to th-think I was here...

[i_speak_softly]

[He'll start with the mundane.]

Last night we ate dinner and went to bed. I had a strange dream, and in the morning you were gone, but all your things were here so I went for a run as usual.

[semper_cogitans]

[That sounds... well, normal. And it's completely unlike what Robert remembers.]

... A... strange dream...?

... What exactly d-do you mean? [Knowing Luceti, perhaps it's not just a dream.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don moves towards the kitchen, expecting Robert will follow. The man didn't ask for anything other than information, but a meal and a hot drink rarely go amiss.]

I dreamed that I was back home. My family was there.

[A meditative pause as he begins to assemble something to eat.]

So were you.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert follows, half-consciously - the steps retrace themselves in his mind, and anyway he's curious as to what Don is saying - as Don drifts kitchenward. But this new info makes him pause, thoughtfully.]

... I was?

[This isn't something that's supposed to be possible. But maybe... something bizarre happened, heretofore unprecedented, in Luceti? It's not the most logical thought, and indeed Robert would want more proof than a dream... but he has learned that unusual circumstances are actually likely in Luceti.]

[i_speak_softly]

Mm. But you could only speak Terran.

[He sets a cup of tea on the table, precisely, then turns back to the stove.]

It was one of those dreams that seemed to go on for a long time.