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[a_shadow]

Inbox Message "Leave a message and I'll get back to you." Mun Contact Plurk: texelations Discord: texelations#2055

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$bluerules | RECIPIENT : [private]

[originalcopy]

Hey. You around?
Can we talk?

[a_shadow]

Yeah, I'm around. What's up?

[originalcopy]

Just getting used to sleeping again. I could seriously use a coffee. Or a beer. Or both.

Coffee-beer is either the most disgusting thing I've ever thought of or the most brilliant.

[a_shadow]

[ She snickers. ]

Get a chocolate stout and use the coffee as a chaser.

[originalcopy]

That's... kind of brilliant. Still not sure it won't be disgusting, but it's worth trying.

Any idea where we can find a good chocolate stout?

[a_shadow]

Depends on whether you're in the mood for the full nightclub experience.

But we can just go to a neighborhood bar, it's probably just as good.

[originalcopy]

Yeah, not really in the mood for a nightclub.
Plus, it's kinda hard to hold a conversation when you have to shout over music.

[a_shadow]

There's a place right down the street from where I'm staying.

[ She sends a location ping. ]

Meet you there in half an hour?

[originalcopy]

That works. I'll even grab us coffee on the way.

[Because if he's trying it, she's trying it too.]

[a_shadow]

[ She doesn't respond. He should know her well enough to know that she's not afraid to try it.

When he arrives, she's grabbed a table off to the side, a couple glasses a chilled chocolate stout already standing by. ]

Hey, Church.

[originalcopy]

[The day she's afraid to try something is the day he looses a bet. Not that there's anyone here to pay up to.]

Hey.

[He sets the coffees down and pulls up a seat.]

So uh. Thanks for coming out.

[a_shadow]

No problem.

[ She pushes a glass of beer toward him, then pulls a cup of coffee towards herself. ]

[originalcopy]

[He takes his beer with a nod]

So how's humanity treating you?

[The question is part genuine interest and part stalling tactic.]

[a_shadow]

[ She smirks a little. ]

What, the people here? They're okay.

[ That's not what he's asking and she knows it. ]

[originalcopy]

[If he had glasses, this is where he'd be looking over them at her.]

More the eating, sleeping and having to take a shit kind.

[It was easy enough for him to get used to it again. He wasn't sure if she'd ever spent any significant time... embodied? If they did to her what they had to him.]

[a_shadow]

[ She shrugs, taking a sip of her beer. ]

Church, you never even asked me what happened to me after the emp. You're just assuming I died and that was it until I woke up here?

[originalcopy]

[He gives her a confused look.]

Well, yeah. Why? Did you sneak off and have a bunch of crazy adventures when I wasn't looking?

[You know, now that he says it... it doesn't sound all that unbelievable.]

[a_shadow]

[ She lets out a light scoff. ]

Yeah. Sure.

[ She shakes her head a little with a roll of he eyes. ]

It's just that this isn't the first world I was brought to before ending up here, that's all.

[originalcopy]

Really?

[He believes her, but honestly he's not sure how to feel about it.]

Was it like this place?

[Clearly this is the more important thing to talk about.]

[a_shadow]

Not really. It was on a spaceship, called the Moira.

We stopped on a lot of different planets and ended up quite the little community.

[ There's something else she should probably share—mentioning her boyfriend there—but she holds off on it, at least for now. She quirks an eyebrow, considering it for just half a second, then meets Church's eye again. ]

Anyway, I'm not there anymore.

[originalcopy]

[There's a lot there to unpack. She called it a community, so obviously she was there for quite a while. Gotten to know people... He picks up his beer with a thoughtful scoffing sound.]

Tex's big vacation...

[She's here now and that's what counts, right... He takes an experimental sip and nods approvingly.]

That's pretty good. Good choice.

[a_shadow]

[ She snickers. ]

Sure.

[ She nods when he compliments her choice of beer, and she gestures toward the coffee. ]

Now try that.

[ After a pause, she decides to press on with the conversation. ]

So the last thing you remember is the emp, huh?

[originalcopy]

[He gives the coffee a skeptical glance before picking it up. Guess he can't really back out now, can he... He tries not to pull a face as he judges the mix.]

Well... it's not the worst thing I've ever had. That honor still goes to the shitty Chili Mac MRE.

[Seriously, that was fucking disgusting. Whoever okayed it should be kicked in the balls. He shrugs.]

Yeah. I thought it might not have worked for a moment there.

[a_shadow]

[ She goes ahead and tries a sip of the coffee after a sip of the beer herself. The main issue with it is the temperature change, though the flavors themselves are pretty good together. ]

Mm. Too hot.

[ She tilts her head in response to what he said. ]

I've learned a lot about these alternate universes in the time since then. Whatever forces there are out there that can pull us in can time it so it looks like we're dead at home. And...

[ She extends an arm and glances at it. ]

...clone us bodies. Though I guess this world we're in now is a simulation of some kind.

[originalcopy]

[Yeah... it's never really occurred to him that she might not know that he'd been unknowingly tooling around in someone else's body before she arrived. And it's something that part of knows he shouldn't think too closely about.

Honestly, he just assumed they did the same thing to her.]

You know, for all they fuck up here- at least they got the bodies part right.

[He smiles and takes another drink.]