First Reality

[anxiousgrace]

[A soft sob... Coming from behind the clinic in town. There, a young, dark haired woman is curled in a ball, releasing more pent-up emotion than she has in quite a while. She's freaking out, and no surprise, all things considered. After all, she just woke up in a strange place, in clothing she's never seen, with wings.

It doesn't help that to her, this is just a sign that her schizophrenia is getting worse. It also doesn't help that the dress is vaguely reminiscent of the clothes patients wear at mental hospitals; she half believes she's in one.

Even though it's spring, it's a little nippy, and she's shivering in her thin cotton dress. She hasn't noticed the journal sitting by her feet, but she has at least stopped crying, though her breathing is still rapid.]

I don't know if I want this to be real or not...

Comments

[action]

[herd_effect]

[Right, that metaphor is sixty years out of date for her.] Never mind. You'll see.

What's a skype?

[action]

[anxiousgrace]

[So many words, so little communication.]

Skype is a service that allows you to communicate with people all over the world through videos, speech, or written messages. It's a pretty new thing, and not everyone uses it.

[action]

[herd_effect]

Ah. Well in that case, yes, it is a lot like Skype.

Is Skype something that's on computers?

[action Forever?]

[anxiousgrace]

[She just nods, all the while wondering about this guy; 'Is he Amish or something? Is there another religion that doesn't believe in modern technology?']

[action, yes]

[herd_effect]

I figured as much. It's astonishing to me, what computers can do in your time. Those in mine are incredibly primitive in comparison.

Re: [action, yes]

[anxiousgrace]

[So not Amish...]

What time would that be?

[action]

[herd_effect]

August 1952. [A smile, as he waits for the inevitable shock.]

Re: [action]

[anxiousgrace]

[59 years and 8 months of difference.]

You have got to be kidding me. [That would make him older than her grandparents. Which is bizarre, because he so clearly isn't.]

[action]

[herd_effect]

It's true. [Yep, he'd be around ninety years old in her time.] Provided you don't have magic or strange creatures in your world, I may very well be from its past.

[action]

[anxiousgrace]

[Wow. So old.]

Not that I've noticed. But the weird stuff always seems to happen in America, so...

[action]

[herd_effect]

Where are you from? I'm from America. Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be exact.

Re: [action]

[anxiousgrace]

A small city in Ontario, Canada. It's called Fort Erie.

[action]

[herd_effect]

Oh, I've been to Ontario before. Neat. [Geographically speaking, she may be the closest person to him that he's met here.]

Have you ever been to Michigan?

Re: [action]

[anxiousgrace]

No, but I have been to America. We're actually closer to New York; I go to Buffalo pretty often.

[action]

[herd_effect]

I see. Well, congratulations, you're the first Canadian I've met here. There's a few others from the States--I've talked to some from New York, California and Washington, D.C.--and one of my colleagues is a Frenchwoman. I believe there's a handful of people from Britain, as well.

Most of the population seems to be from different worlds entirely, though by and large they're kind individuals.