Twentieth Theory [Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

To all of you from post-1776 America, happy Fourth of July. [Thoughtful pause.] Well, I suppose it's the fourth of July for everyone else too... I hope you're all having a nice day.

Um. [A throat-clearing, a clanking of metal.] If anyone is interested in current events from - October 9, 2006... I found a newspaper.

[Long pause.] I'm not the only one - seeing things, am I? I thought I was just hallucinating, but the newspaper seems pretty real...

Filtered to the Genius Pirate || Not Really Sure This Is Going To Work

Captain - Might I have a word with you?

Filtered to Winry || Unhackable

Winry, do you have a minute?

Comments

[Voice]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

What, you want me to help? Is that it? If it is, just say so. Jeez!

[ voice ]

[chie-not-chuck.livejournal.com]

So pretty much the same old boring stuff. 2006 was boring.

[ voice ]

[i_speak_softly]

It seemed eventful enough to me.

[ voice ]

[chie-not-chuck.livejournal.com]

Huh, but you're old... [ Well, he doesn't sound that old, actually. ] ... I guess. Why, what happened?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

Too late, Raph; it's done. If you took more of an interest in your own way out of here, you would know that.

[ voice ]

[i_speak_softly]

I'm only sixteen. And trust me, you don't want to know.

[ voice ]

[chie-not-chuck.livejournal.com]

... Oh. How'd you know, huh? Maybe I wanna know.

[ voice ]

[i_speak_softly]

I amend that. You shouldn't want to know.

[Voice]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Hey, I got plenty of interest. You were just sayin' I was buggin' you about it! Make up your mind.

[ voice ]

[chie-not-chuck.livejournal.com]

What kind of teenager uses the word amend? Well, if that's how you're going to be, I'm not going to tell you about the future.

[ Hmm what can she make up? Cannibal chickens? Mutant turtles? ]

[ voice ]

[i_speak_softly]

What's wrong with 'amend'? And I know better than to ask about the future.

[One of these things might be true!]

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

I'm talking about constructive interest. But I guess that's never been your style.

[ voice ]

[chie-not-chuck.livejournal.com]

[ Ninja turtles. That's cool. ]

It's so.. stuffy. I amend this, I amend that, sounds like something my principal would say. W-Who doesn't want to know about the future?

[Voice]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, 'cause I do nothing. Screw you, Don. I'll see you at home. [And he closes the journal, too drowsy to put up with any more shit. He'll take a nap in the shade, and he'll like it, because time is fleeting and once they go back, the sun will be a rarity again.

He'll come back home later tonight, a few hours after the sun sets, hunt down Don and try to talk to him again.]

[Voice]

[wise_maiden]

You did have an interesting way of looking at it, though. Windows to our worlds... hm.

[justicereigns]

Indeed.

So far it's just a newspaper for you?

[all7seas]

I recall telling you that the Malnosso were fiends. Do you still worship the ground on which they walk, then?

[boomchucka.livejournal.com]

Hey! Educate me! What's the fourth of July mean to you?

[Voice]

[antisilent.livejournal.com]

That's unusual, given our living situation. [That said, he's been hanging out at Fort Ferines so much lately he might as well live there... or well, hanging around it. The point is in the general area. Hm.]

But it has been a while, hasn't it?

[sofar-sogr8.livejournal.com]

Really?
That's something to know!

What if you were from... Zanzibar?

[Action] yay timeskip

[i_speak_softly]

[Don isn't there. But he comes home eventually, and when he does he moves silently through the living room to stand in his lab, looking at his work.]

[i_speak_softly]

Zanzibar? Um... I really don't know much about it.

[i_speak_softly]

No, I definitely do not. I still can't recall them doing anything particularly awful to me, but I don't appreciate being kidnapped and held hostage for someone else's experiments.

[all7seas]

Good lad! Now, what if you were kidnapped and held hostage for ransom, then?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

Yes... opening a rift to another place is very difficult. My world can't really do it yet. But to poke through the fabric, to be able to see the other side, or have things travel back and forth in an uncontrolled way - that's an important first step.

[Wait, thinking...] Professor, do you think we could use these shifts? If the door is already halfway open, maybe the residents here could pool their talents to focus the openings enough for some people to get home.