redshiftrp | @Sparrow

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@Sparrow | Video

[The video opens with a view of a bright blue sky with some white puffy clouds floating by before Genji picks up the comm from where it had been laying on the ground. He's kneeling in a meditative pose and behind him is what appears to be a Japanese temple with many trees in full bloom. A riot of pink sakura blossoms swirl in the wind in a scene that is absolutely tranquil.]

I do not think this is real, but there is a part of me that wishes it were. This is Hanamura, it was once my home.

[He reaches out to catch one of the flowers before it floats to the ground, rubbing the petals between metal plated fingers.]

Is this happening to others as well?

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I guess that depends how you define real.

[ Reynir is cradling his cup between both hands as well, blowing on it gently to cool it down before taking tiny sips. He enjoys the communal experience of sharing tea more than the beverage itself, but the warmth is lovely. As he is lowering the cup from a sip, one of those fragile, pale-pink petals falls into it. Reynir laughs softly, watching as it floats on top of the surface. ]

Just because something's temporary doesn't mean it's not real.

[ He raises his eyes all around them, taking in the unusual architecture. He has never seen roofs like that before. Except... perhaps once. In that artwork, in that empty store in the Silent World.

This place may not be Genji's real home, but Reynir is still getting a glimpse of it, and its beauty. He is grateful for that. It's more than he ever dreamed of having - even an hour or two passed in someplace so unlike where he is from. ]

I'm a mage, which means I don't really dream like other people. When I'm asleep, I go to a place that looks like my home. Same hills, same rocks, same sky, same sheep even. It's not really Iceland, but that doesn't mean it's nothing, or meaningless.

[ When Genji asks if he repaid his brother, Reynir lays a hand against his chest, mock-offended. ]

Of course I did, who do you think I am?!

[ But he remembers only then that Genji seemed... uncomfortable talking about his own brother, and so he steers the conversation away from sibling anecdotes for the time being. ]

Do you think... is it possible with this kind of tree to grow it from a cutting? While this place is here, would could at least try to take some. I know a few places with good soil that aren't being used. They... wouldn't grow this big for many many years, but it would be like having a piece of home, if it worked...

Actually I am glad you're here, because that means this isn't a hallucination where perhaps I'm the only one who can see it.

[He arches an eyebrow at that description of a dreamworld where he has an identical sort of homeland. He's never heard of anything like that, but it sounds wonderful. He's not sure that he'd want to dream of Hanamura every night. Especially the state it's in now: empty of people, but full of memories. Still .. they're not all bad memories. But the happiness has become something bittersweet.

He's glad for this glimpse of it, but he's not sure he could return permanently. Or even every night.]

Every night you return to your home? Are you alone there or do other mages also experience the same thing?

[But maybe they see their own homes in a different way. He's never met a mage, everything is technology in his world. With the exception of his and his brothers' dragons. He does give a small smirk at that assurance he was a good little brother who punished his elder appropriately. Youngest siblings have an important job to do.]

I'm not sure, I don't know much about gardening. We could try, do I simply cut off a branch and and put it in the dirt and it will sprout a new tree?

[It's gotta be more complicated than that right? But suddenly his eyes go wide.]

I wonder if my fish are still here! I did not go to see if the pond has manifested along with this place.

Even if you were the only one who could see it, that wouldn't necessarily make it unreal.

[ Reynir is settled in, watching the soft wind in the cherry trees, cradling that warm cup of tea. It's beautiful, and calm, and he is feeling relaxed and friendly and chatty. ]

One time, we'd camped in this spot and I could see all these ghosts that were... wrong. They weren't like regular spirits, I could just tell. But none of my friends would listen and find somewhere else to set up camp, because I was the only one who could see them. But they definitely believed me a couple hours later when we nearly got our asses killed by, guess what? Some super pissed-off ghosts!

[ There's a cavalier way that Reynir mentions the whole almost getting murdered by vengeful ghosts incident that implies it's not the wildest or scariest thing he's ever been through. He tells it like an amusing anecdote, nothing earth-shattering.

His chattiness continues when Genji asks about his dreams. ]

Not my home exactly, or any real place that exists. It's just... like home.

[ No explanation for that detail of course! ]

All mages go to the dreamspace, rather than actually having dreams. As far as I can tell, everyone has their own sort of... area. Their place that makes them feel safe, that reminds them of home. But they're all interconnected. So I could enter the dream in the place that looks like Iceland, but then walk across the water to Onni, where it looks like the woods in Finland, because that's his home. And other things show up, too. Omens. Memories. It's all... a little more fluid, than the way things work in the waking world.

[ Reynir knows plenty about growing trees from cuttings, but not anything about cherry trees. Still... ]

Can't hurt to try, right? I can show you how to plant it...

[ But he hushes up when Genji's eyes widen, and he catches some of that reflected excitement. ]

Do you want to go check?

I see. And there are many mages in your world?

[He's trying to understand and he can believe a lot of things without judgement, but this is a lot all at once.]

Does that mean you never truly sleep? You simply go somewhere else? That sounds exhausting - even if the place you go to is relaxing and safe. But perhaps I'm not really understanding, we have nothing like that.

There are those adept at hard light manifestations, and technological advancements, but no mages. That I know of, I would guess if there were any they would stay hidden because no one would believe them.

[He frowns, wondering if there was more to even his world than he'd ever considered. But he brightens up thinking about his home again.]

After tea we can go look. When I was a child I would go to the festivals and play all the games, sometimes the prizes were small colorful fish to keep in bowls for display. But that seemed so small - I dug a pond for them and they got quite large.

My father was not pleased that I dug a hole on the grounds without his permission, but he let me keep it.

[Likely because he was so shocked that Genji started a project and finished it on his own without being hounded into it. He wasn't the most ambitious or diligent child in the family.]

Uhhh, I guess that depends how many you'd call many? It's rare, but not unheard of. There's lots more of them in Finland. And, like, almost all Icelandic mages are women. I took a class and there were like twenty-five other students and I was the only guy there, so.

[ He gives a shrug, not sure how else to answer, or what Genji's standards are on what would count as a lot of mages.

But when Genji asks if he never truly sleeps, it startles a horrified giggle from Reynir. ]

Oh, gods, no! That would be horrible! Trust me, sometimes I just sleep. And I can always just go to sleep in the dreamspace if I wake up there and want to. I think Lalli spends most of his time in the dreamspace just sleeping.

[ When Genji starts talking about equivalents to magic in his own world, Reynir tilts his head to the side, a rather puppyish gesture, and asks, confused: ]

Hard light?

[ He has no idea what that even means.

Reynir is, however, completely charmed by the idea of Genji as a kid, going to some local festival and winning some tiny fish, and digging them a pond so they would have more room to swim around. That takes dedication. ]

That's adorable. I hope they're still there, so I can see them, and you can say hello.

Oh I understand now. I've just never heard of anything like that. Hard light is ...

[Hmm. How to explain it when he doesn't really understand it himself.]

Holograms that become real would be the easiest way to describe it. It's making light tangible through technology.

[...somehow.]

The fish will be so big by now.

[Sipping his tea he smiles softly. He'd actually been a little worried after his 'death' that they would have filled in the pond. But last time he'd been here it was still there, and someone was still obviously feeding the fish. There was a certain satisfaction in knowing his childhood folly was hopefully bringing tranquility to others.]

Holograms! I know what those are!

[ Qubit had shown him a hologram of a volcano, once. Reynir had definitely tried to touch it, so he knows they're not usually tangible. And it's actually a pretty easy leap, from there to 'but somehow make it solid'. One of the things about being a mage is that Reynir doesn't always question how things are possible. He can do all kinds of things, just by painting symbols, because that's the way the gods want it to be. So he accepts that in Genji's worlds, the gods make it so that light projections can become tangible, and that's pleasing to them, there.

And he already knows that technology is wildly advanced in Genji's world. He had said already about the robots they have there - what was the name he'd used for them again? And even if he had not learned that before, he would know it now, looking at Genji. Reynir is sure that whatever had happened to him, if it had happened in Reynir's world, even in the middle of Reykjavík right outside the finest hospital in the country, in the remainders of the known world, Genji would have died.

So he's glad, that Genji is from a different world. ]

If you wanted, if they're there, we could try taking one or two of them, as well. Uh, somehow.

[ Reynir gives a comical glance at the thermos, meant as a joke, as if he's sizing up how many fish could fit in it. But he could try leaving, coming back with a watertight container - something big enough to transport them. And then they could go from there. Dig a new pond if they have to. He is willing to work hard, if it means helping Genji to keep a few reminders of home even if this place is only temporarily present. ]

[He laughs at the absurdity of transporting fish in a thermos, but he is a little intrigued. It would be easy enough to dig another pond, but he'd have to figure out what to feed them. Back home he'd simply bought them pellets and he's not really sure what's actually in there other than they smelled terrible.

The fish had loved them though.]

Last time I was here they were much bigger than that.

[He sets his tea down so he can hold his hands about six inches apart.]

But they were the size of the last joint of my thumb when I won them. I had no idea fish lived so long. Someone told me they can last for over forty years!

Forty years?!

[ Reynir's surprise is only too obvious in his voice. He might not know a lot about fish but that seems very long, to him. His standard of comparison, as is so often true, is sheep, and they usually didn't make it much past a decade. So the idea that some fish that started out smaller than a thumb could live four times that much? Peculiar!

Now he really wants to see if he can find a way to smuggle them out, and he is trying to think up possible solutions for transportation - as well as good places for a pond - as he pulls out the various snacks he had shoved into his bag so they could celebrate this little spontaneous festival together.

When they are done, Reynir goes with Genji to check for the fish, and they are, indeed, there - five of them, half a foot long and speckled in black and white and bright orange. Their coloring reminds Reynir of Kisa, but he's never seen that sort of fish before. He tells Genji to wait, and sprints off on his long legs, looking for something, anything, that he might use to safely transfer the fish to a more permanent home in the Anchor.

In the end he returns carrying a huge plastic cooler, the sort with a lid and two handles. It's easy enough to carry, while it's empty, but he knows he will need Genji's help with it when it is full of water and precious fishy cargo.

So he sets it aside and turns his mind to the cuttings of the cherry tree. This, at least, is something Reynir has done before. Still, though, this place is Genji's, and he turns to Genji to ask, before he makes the first cut: ]

Are you sure this is okay?

[ It wouldn't harm the trees, but even so... ]

[When Reynir returns he'll find Genji kneeling by the pond hand in the water letting the fish nibble on his fingers. He's taken the armor off his left arm, exposing his one remaining human appendage, a few deep looking slashed scars along his forearm mixed with some strange circular ones where tubes used to be.

There's a distinct hesitation when he asks about the tree. It seems almost... offensive to damage the trees in any way, and he'd grown up his whole life knowing that dozens of people tended to the trees. There's no other way to bring one back to the reality that is Anchor though...]

Even if this is my home brought here, no one lives in this place anymore. I don't think anyone would notice.

[Thirty-five years old and still afraid the clan elders would scold him for doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.]

It will be fine, and then we will have a tree where we are. Perhaps there is something to make it grow faster.

[With all the future technology around it wouldn't surprise him if they had something like that. While the place is in disrepair, a lot of it seems more advanced than even the horizon lunar colony from his time.

While Reynir takes the cutting, Genji starts filling the cooler halfway with water. Enough to cover the fish once he catches them, but not so much that they won't be able to carry it. He may be mostly metal but that did not come with super strength.

He really should have asked Mercy for some upgrades.]

[ By this point, Reynir has gotten used to Genji's face, the green hair and the scars alike. It's not a surprise, exactly, when he comes back and Genji has taken off a little more of the armor, and Reynir sees more scars, deep and old. Of course, Reynir wonders what happened to him. How could he not?

But he isn't going to ask. If Genji ever seems to want to tell him, he'll listen, but until then, his parents taught him better than that.

Once he has Genji's permission, Reynir approaches the cherry tree. He has a tool with him, one used for pruning, but that will work nicely for this. Reynir's movements are confident. There are plenty of things he's not so great at, but he has experience with this. The wood is harder than he expected, but he manages, carefully, and then says: ]

I can help it grow faster with magic. I know runes that can help it take root, and thrive. I learned... a lot of plant shit at school.

[ Despite the somewhat mocking name Reynir gives it, he sounds grateful to know it, now.

...What he hadn't learned about at mage school, however, is how to carry a still extremely-heavy cooler full of fish - going slowly, trying to slosh the insides as little as possible - without looking completely suspicious. He can Genji make their progress slowly, having to coordinate. It's a bit like the world's most high-stakes three-legged race, or some other festival nonsense. Which... is fitting, considering how their afternoon started.

Except that, despite Genji's reassurances that no one lived in his home anymore, Reynir feels a liiiiittle bit like maybe they're stealing these fish. Which means that, when they cross someone's path, his first instinct is to make an incredibly guilty expression and freeze in place.

Nothing to see here. Just... moving some fish. That belong to them, for sure. ]

[While Genji doesn't feel so much like they're stealing, these are his fish afterall, he does feel slightly ridiculous as he and Reynir cart a cooler full of very unhappy fish across the compound. Armor and visor back in place, he's very aware that this looks incredibly suspicious: a completely armored ninja and Reynir with his long braid, slowly and awkwardly each carrying one side of a heavy cooler.

He freezes when Reynir does, because he has no idea what to say here. His standard mode of operation is to go silent and not explain himself but that's making the situation even more awkward.]

We are simply...

[Moving fish? Reynir is carrying a whole tree branch as well, pink blossoms occasionally falling off and leaving a trail where they've been.]

Going to the agriculture level.

[Nailed it. No one will suspect a thing.]

[ Reynir is torn between feeling intensely awkward and being tempted to explain the whole thing and how heavy that cooler is, not to mention balancing the cutting from the cherry tree. In the end, the trembling of his arms wins out, and he starts moving again, more rapidly still than before, glancing between Genji and the person who spotted them and just keeping silent.

Except that moving quickly while carrying a cooler that is heavy and needs not to be jostled too much is a really ungainly and inelegant operation. That weird feeling of guilt and trespass don't go away, and as soon as they're far enough away not to be overheard, Reynir says, in a small but serious voice. ]

...we look like giant weirdos up to no good, don't we?

[ AS IF THERE WERE ANY QUESTION OF THAT.

At least they don't encounter anyone else, before they have reached the agriculture level. A little investigating leads them to the hatchery, which Reynir finds in good order. A lot of it is being used, but there is one pool that is empty of other fish, but seems to be set up to receive them soon. He looks to Genji, shrugs, a kind of question in it. It certainly will keep them safe, until he can make another pond for them. The only question is, does he feel good about the idea of putting them there? They are his fish, after all. ]

[Just two guys with a cooler full of fish. Happens all the time.]

We very much do.

[At least he's used to being stared at, but generally he can dart away or keep completely silent and he's never been carrying something so heavy he couldn't take it with him. He's just going to resign himself to being the weird fish ninja from now on. It's fine.

Nodding at Reynir he hoists the cooler up as far as it can go so the fish don't have to drop very far into their temporary home. They're not exactly thrilled about this either, but hey, it's not a cooler. As for the branch...

He leads them to a quiet and out of the way area of the agriculture level where they can dig a little hole and plant it. Once it's in the ground he'll retrieve the tea and cups that Reynir had, pouring a little leftover tea into a cup and bowing his head before pouring it near the base of the stick as an offering to the baby tree.]

Thank you for helping me to do this.

[ Reynir doesn't ask whether the little offering of tea is traditional or something Genji had made up, himself; either way it's a touching gesture, and makes him smile softly as he watches Genji do it. He waits until Genji is done before he pulls something from his pocket. It is a small square of cloth - just a scrap, taken from some tattered ruined sheets Reynir had found during his explorations of the Anchor. He has taken to carrying cloth, with him, because it makes it easier to do things precisely like this.

He has a small stub of charcoal in another pocket, and carefully draws out a rune, all arcs and soft spirals and fractals inside a circle. Once he is done, Reynir ties that scrap of cloth so that it hangs loose from a little fork in the branch. ]

To help it settle into its new home.

[ Reynir remembers how skeptical Genji was of his magic, when they had first met. He doesn't know if that attitude has changed at all, but even if it hasn't, he's okay with that. It had taken a while for his friends on the expedition to believe that he really was a mage and really could protect them with runes. They'd come around in time, and so will Genji. And in the meantime, the little cutting will benefit, whether or not Genji believes.

When Genji thanks him, Reynir looks over at him. The mask may be back on, but he remembers what Genji's face had looked like underneath it. Scarred, yes, but still handsome in its way, and animated, likable. Reynir smiles shrugging his narrow shoulders. ]

It was seriously my pleasure.

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@Sparrow | Video

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