ossifragant | 012 Things Acquired [text; action for Goldenrod]

So here's a question. This place still likes hypothetical, doesn't it?

Say a while ago something happened to you. One of those should be impossible situations that you were nevertheless curious about. But you don't remember it too well so you were hoping that maybe lightning strikes twice. Just maybe, you'll get your chance to have it happen again and this time remember the situation with a bit more clarity than the last.

You're just that lucky-- it happens again by some act of divine providence.

But when it happens again everything about it feels strange. It's like looking into one of those funhouse mirrors. Everything about it is off. It feels wrong. You remember all of it this time and wonder, despite it being what you wanted, if you dearly wish you didn't. It makes you question yourself. Why would you want to have it happen again? Maybe there was a reason why you don't remember it happening the first time.

What would you do? What the hell kind of situation would you find yourself wanting to happen again? I'd like to know, if you don't mind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That surprises him a little, though it's hard to convey in text.]]

Horses?

No, why?

Edited 2015-01-31 04:14 (UTC)

[Blake is obscurely relieved.]

No reason.

So what you're talking about, it happened during one of those times when shit's even weirder than usual?

[You know what, he's not even going to ask.]

That's right. When things get strange for this place and people can travel the routes in half an hour and all that.

[That's a good decision and you're a smart man to make it.]

So you saw something then, and ran into it again now that things aren't as screwy. And it didn't measure up.

Both incidents happened during the odd weekends, I just remember the second one better than the first. Call it luck, I guess. Or maybe it was the amount of time I spent with the person the second time that made it easier to remember.

So you ran into the same visitor twice? Sounds like some damn long odds, but weirder shit happens on those days.

They were different from how you remember?

Maybe so. Not the only person I've met twice on one of those odd weekends, but that probably doesn't matter so much.

The important part is that things were a little different, yeah.

[Blake's keen detective's mind is at work.]

Must be somebody important, or you wouldn't give a shit.

[Oh, it's someone very important. That much probably isn't a shock.]

Yeah, you could say that. It was someone pretty important.

Are you going to tell me, or are we going to play 20 questions?

Ah, sorry. I'm not being vague on purpose.

What if I told you there are two separate versions of my world, both represented here? I met someone from that other world.

Me, to be exact.

A while ago, I would have said you were full of shit.

But I've heard about a kind of thing where the place you come from has a double where things went differently. Even met somebody from one.

I never thought about meeting yourself from there.

[It's a real disturbing idea.

He can't help asking.]

How'd that go?

It's not something I'd expect people to believe, even if they've been here for a while.

Honestly, meeting him wasn't so bad. It was pretty damn strange, but nothing entirely unpleasant. It was just off in a way I wasn't entirely expecting.

Lots of shit happens on those days. I wouldn't count out seeing your own damn evil twin.

That would be creepy, all right. What the hell do you say to yourself?

[What would he say, if he ran into the other guy? "You fucked up"?]

To be honest, we talked about what we had in common.

He didn't experience the same events I did, so knowing just what changed is something I was rather curious about. How much changed and all that.

[This is a chance to learn things that Blake would never have thought he'd get. No time to think bout whether he really wants to know.]

What changed?

What made the difference?

A lot of things changed. How we were born, which sounds kind of funny. We were "raised" differently, I guess you could say. We didn't exactly live around the same people, so our experiences ended up rather different.

Though we both turned out similar enough in the end.

So it wasn't anything you did? Not a choice you made?

One of you must have gotten the better deal.

It wasn't anything either of us did, no. Some choices were different, but that can be explained because of the differences in how we were raised, like I said. I met someone he didn't.

I don't know if it's possible to say who got the better end of the deal, though.

So it's all just dumb luck.

Yeah, I guess that's how to put it.

012 Things Acquired [text; action for Goldenrod]

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