aterat | 1 Audio Broadcast & 2 Open Logs

Entry tags:

1 Audio Broadcast & 2 Open Logs

Who; Llewellyn & Anyone!
What; 1 Audio broadcast & 2 Open Logs
Where; The logs are at the Historium & the market!
When; Over the first couple weeks in May!
Warnings; Nothing to start, will update if anything happens!

1 - Tellphone

[Clearing his throat a little, Llewellyn tried to think of where to start, he’s been snooping around for a few days and compiling some notes.]

Hello! I’m sure everyone is rather used to these sorts of broadcasts now, but uh— I’ve only just arrived in the last few days. My name is Llewellyn Watts-Maresh, to get introductions out of the way.

I’ve been catching up on the goings on already, seems like there’s a lot going on right now that I’d like to offer my assistance with. So! I’ll skip directly to the main point of my broadcast.

While this world is a significant improvement on my last... I’m finding myself in need of a starting point. I’m accustomed to having an office to work from, but I don’t believe I’ll have the funds to open something myself from the start. Is there possibly a private investigation firm already that would be looking for a detective? I… don’t need much space. I’ve gotten used to taking my work outdoors in the past, but a desk to keep my notes and work at on occasion would be appreciated.

[And he paused, humming a little as he mulled over a secondary thought he’d been playing with since he arrived.]

That aside, I’m also knowledgeable with floriography. Even if this worlds is different from my own, I’m a fast study. I’ve had practice in making arrangements for various meanings and occasions, and before I was pulled here I was dabbling in gardening…? So if anyone is looking for some part-time help there, I wouldn’t mind doing that on the side. I uh— I like to keep busy.

[And if he and his husband ever do figure out how to purchase a home, he knows they’ll need the money for it. Being cooped up in a small apartment is not ideal long term.]

Mm… That should do it, thank you.

2 - Historium

Llewellyn might have been a little slower to get here than he normally would have been, too distracted with this new world and getting his feet under him. But any sort of library was a good starting point to see what kind of references were available when you wanted to investigate and learn more about certain things about a place that might not be readily available through word of mouth. Or things that were just easier to find out on your own, as he was prone to doing.

It was… a lot more disorganized than the last giant library he’d frequented, but that actually wasn’t a big issue for the detective. His thought process already tended towards the chaotic and scattered, so he actually felt rather at home in the place. It wasn’t hard to start at one shelf, scan the titles, and grab something before he continued onward.

Anyone around the Historium would see Llewellyn either with a few books under his arm, or sitting on a table (using the chair as a footrest) and leafing through a selection curiously. Once in a while, he’d stop, jot a few thoughts down in messy scrawl in his notebook, and then continue reading…

He’s not so absorbed in his task that he doesn’t notice anyone else around him. Llewellyn could be quite paranoid and didn’t enjoy being surprised, so unless you’re particularly sneaky, he would be quite aware if someone were to approach…

3 - Market

There were several places that Llewellyn could be guaranteed to be found if you needed him. The first being where ever he worked (he truly was a workaholic at times), with his husband (obvious, perhaps), and the market… The last being because Llewellyn usually found himself in need of a snack every few hours, he tended to think better on a full stomach and his metabolism was rather high given how little he sat around.

It was also his other go to for making contacts and gathering information on a place. People talked, especially shop and food stall employees. They saw or heard about everything going on in the city, after all, and if you were a frequent enough customer, they tended to appreciate your business enough to be on friendly terms.

Given this was another new world… Llewellyn was starting from scratch. So over the course of his first few weeks in this place, through the day, he’d take a stroll through the market whenever he was feeling hungry. Every time he’d stop somewhere, he’d take a few minutes to chat and get to know the person working, he might not remember names right away, but if he stopped there frequently enough he’d start to commit things to memory (and he certainly wrote more important conversations down).

If approached, Llewellyn would actually be quite happy to talk, as long as no one minded his snacking… He’d even offer to share.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Llewellyn’s expression turned a little awkward at the mention of the candle, oops… Hopefully it hadn’t broken or anything in the fall. Once he was stable on his feet, he lowered his arms and the bag, glancing at her candles with some distraction. “Ah— yeah, um…”

Was he going to fall? Not immediately, no, but it would undoubtedly happen at some point if she watched him long enough. Llewellyn could trip over his own two feet as easily as he could on solid, flat ground. But for the moment, he nodded as he responded. “No, I’m not… Not now, anyway. Just got a little startled, really.” He responded, checking his bag of baked goods a moment later. “Should’ve been paying more attention to my surroundings, but I just found this lovely bakery and I suppose I was a little distracted by the find.” He added, gesturing behind him.

Then the detective paused, seeming to think for a moment. He was considering the directness of their collision course carefully, “I… don’t suppose you were heading that way yourself? If you weren’t I do recommend it where it seems to be in the same direction of your destination. The quality and selection are both quite good.”

Luckily for him it hadn't broken and so she could generously forgive his obvious transgression. "Do you always startle so easily?" Could she really talk considering she'd dropped her candle herself? Yes. Yes, she most certainly could. At least her tone was relatively pleasant all things considered. Her demeanor brightened ever so slightly when he mentioned the bakery.

"The cinna--" No. Don't admit that the pretzels were amazing. Don't admit you were going back for more and maybe some cake if they had any. She was a sorceress supreme, feared by the younger new mutants and by most of the denizens of Limbo itself. "I wasn't. Heading that way. I was going to the forest." It was the opposite direction but that was definitely where she was going.

"Though...I do have a friend who enjoys things like that. What would you say the best thing is?"

“Mm…” He doesn’t really want to say yes, but saying no would also be a lie. “Often enough, I suppose.” Llewellyn didn’t like surprises, they were usually unpleasant in his experience. Especially the variety that involved not knowing someone else was there.

And at her shift in demeanour, Llewellyn was quick to latch onto the subject of the bakery. Much more pleasant conversation, and he couldn’t help but wonder what particular cinnamon goodies she’d been about to mention. Especially when the bag he was carrying was quite full of cinnamon sugar pretzels. “Ah… Well, you should stop in, as I said… it’s very good.” He responded, tilting his head with a slightly confused look on his face. Was the forest that way? Hmm…

Lucky for Illyana, Llewellyn was prone to getting some of his directions mixed up. Left and right being the worst. So, he really couldn’t question her on that, because he easily guessed that he must have gotten directions turned around in his head.

He smiled a little at the question, “Oh, well uh— if I had to make a recommendation I would say the pretzels are quite good, especially their cinnamon sugar ones. I had one while I was trying to decide what to buy, had to buy a whole bag more to bring home to share.”

"Unfortunate for you. I would stay out of the sewers then," she said with a small smile. Or maybe he should go into them. His reaction to the alligators and undead might be amusing. Though she wouldn't be there to watch so it might not be so amusing. Things like that were only really fun if you could watch it from afar.

"I tend to be too busy to stop in for things," another lie. She wasn't exactly busy lately and she'd definitely stopped by. Luckily for her he didn't seem to really pick up on her little deceptions. Which meant she could just continue on with them.

"An entire bag? How many people are you sharing so many with?" Maybe he could be guilted into sharing one with her. "I cannot say I have ever had cinnamon sugar pretzels. I grew up where there was not much...access to such things." Her accent was pretty clearly Russian but she definitely didn't mean Russia. At least that one wasn't actually a lie. It left out the fact that she'd had things like that on Earth, but it was true there had been no fun things in Limbo. Unless you counted learning white and black magic fun (which she kind of did).

“Mm… Noted.” He responded with an awkward glance to a sewer grate. Llewellyn wasn’t prone to taking shortcuts through sewers, so it wouldn’t be a problem unless an investigation took him that way… “I’m hesitant to ask but, what is in the sewers that I should be avoiding?”

Llewellyn certainly would be amusing to watch if he saw the undead or a giant alligator, but she would have to be satisfied with imagining that for now. He’d be avoiding those in a sensible fashion, given he wasn’t exactly built for monster fighting.

Too busy to stop for things…? How unfortunate, “Well, you should try once in a while. It’s good to take a break sometimes, or so I’ve been told.” He responded with a small rise of his brow, “Besides uh— a good snack always helps me think when I’ve got a lot going on.” Which was because he rarely sat still for long, so he was often hungry. Being hungry made it hard to think, and so on.

Illyana’s question was met with a small tilt of his head, glancing at the bag again with a smile. “Oh— well, it’s just me and my husband, but… They were a favourite of ours in the last world we were stuck in. So I was rather excited to find them here as well. Some of them… probably won’t make it home, but I’ve bought enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.” Though he did tend to get carried away with snacks. Guilting Llewellyn isn’t hard. His heart-strings were quite easily tugged on, especially when someone brought up not having much in their childhood. It was something he could relate to, after all. So her explanation is met with a little furrow of his brow and a hum.

Glancing from the bag to her for a moment, he unrolled the top of the bag and plucked a couple out. “Mm… Well, in that case, you should definitely try them then. If you have time, that is, I know I could use another myself.” Again, his appetite was vast.

"Oh, nothing too interesting. Giant crocodiles, wererats, there might even be some undead creeping around," she said with the smallest trace of a smirk. "They're slow and seem to be trying to guard...something." There was an obvious overdramatic quality to her voice. Not quite mocking, but more like someone telling a spooky story around a campfire.

"Unfortunately once I start my work it can be dangerous to stop," she said shrugging. One couldn't precisely stop midway during a magical ritual to get a snack. Unless they actually wanted to mess everything up and she'd learned better than that a long time ago. She'd made enough mistakes when she'd first been learning for several full lifetimes in Limbo. Which was saying a lot considering how much slower time moved in Limbo compared to outside the pocket dimension.

"Two people for so many freshly made pretzels," she shook her head. "I imagine some may end up getting quite cold by the time you make it back. Does that make a difference? Are they better warm or cold?" After all she'd never had one before, right? How would she know. It really was a shame. "Perhaps I should try one. I have been...trying to learn more of what it's like to be normal." The comment was made with something of an awkward tone and it was actually a true statement. It was just that the entire thing was a lot more difficult than she'd originally thought it'd be.

Wait. Something he'd said just registered to her and she suddenly looked a lot more curious. "The last world you were stuck in?"

“I… have to wonder what you find to be ‘too interesting.’” Popped out clumsily, if only because not one of those things sounded less than interesting to him. Considering how ill-fated some of his run-ins with ordinary people went, he’d definitely be careful to not wander too close to the sewer access points. Well, he’d try not to. If there was a good enough reason, or something important enough that he ignored the potential danger, there was always an unfortunate chance.

And he had to ask, “No one’s worked out what they’re protecting yet?” If that was indeed what they were doing, Llewellyn found himself wondering if it were important… Or something that might potentially be an unpleasant surprise later.

Not that he could do anything, he was not equipped to deal with any of those creatures.

“Dangerous work shouldn’t be interrupted, I suppose… But what is it you do that’s so dangerous?” He couldn’t help but ask. Curiosity and a penchant for asking too many questions dictated it. Even if he did try to keep it in check on occasion, it was hard when you were in a new place with new people. Too many unknowns, too much to catch up on, so his instincts seemed to be winning.

“Mm… We’re more than cut out for the challenge, I assure you.” He responded with a small grin. He knew well that they could get a bit carried away with them after the last year. “They are best fresh, but they’re still delicious cold. I’m hoping they might make a nice breakfast if any are left.” Neither of them could cook, and it was turning into a bit of a problem while they tried to get settled in and get started with work. Llewellyn had some luck with finding something, but he was still being mindful of what they spent aside from the odd (necessary) treat.

Holding the offered pretzel out again, he nodded. “I definitely think that you should, though I’m not sure that normal is more than a concept or standard set by people who simply don’t understand that being different isn’t necessarily wrong.” He responded a bit thoughtfully, before taking a bite out of a pretzel himself.

“Oh, well… I wasn’t in my own world before I arrived here, I was in another world? It was an uh— experiment, we were all kept in a place at the bottom of the ocean.”

"Elder gods," she shrugged nonchalantly. "beings such as that." Maybe more interesting had not been the most accurate way to phrase that. It was probably a better thing to say more threatening. Giant crocodiles or slow moving undead didn't really pose much of a threat to Illyana, not anymore at least.

"I don't know," she said a bit curtly. It was entirely possible she actually meant she didn't really care that much. So far they didn't really affect anyone outside of the sewers. "I think someone discovered there was a lich of some kind. It seems like she was sent away before she did anything useful though." She couldn't' really say that Yuna had been sent home because she just didn't know the truth in that. For all any of them knew she'd been sent somewhere else. Or something worse than that.

"Magic," she replied simply, as if that explained anything and everything she might be doing. "They don't seem like a breakfast food." But then again, anything could be an anytime food, couldn't it? It's not like there were rules or regulations, especially here of all places.

There was a bit of hesitation before she took the pretzel he was offering. Honestly, she was surprised it'd worked. She'd have to make a mental note of him being someone easy to mess with. Or at the very least potentially someone should could use if she ever needed help with something. He seemed strangely trusting and companionable to people he'd never met at all.

"Thank you," she replied and her voice sounded earnest. She did mean it, the thanks. It might have been her intention to get one out of him, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate it somewhat. It also made her like him just a tiny bit more and she wasn't sure why. Emotions were quite the complicated thing, weren't they? Maybe remaining without a soul would have been easier after all.

After a few awkward seconds she took a bite and her eyes brightened a bit in excitement at the treat. Despite being over twenty Illyana was still quite...young. She'd spent a lot of her formative years in a hell dimension with nobody even close to her age around and because of that she'd lost out on a lot of normal things. For the most part she was good at hiding it, and she could be a lot more mature than one might think, but sometimes all of that fell down. This was one of those sometimes. She immediately took another bite and then licked some of the cinnamon from her mouth.

"Mmm, I like them," she admitted, not even caring that she'd missed a bit of the cinnamon sugar. So much for her hard demon sorceress supreme of Limbo status. She tilted her head at his further explanation of his last world. "How dull. An experiment?" she shook her head. "Usually people are taken to other universes for more important reasons. Or more sinister."

Llewellyn almost nodded in response to her reply, then his expression shifted rather comically. “Oh… Yes, I guess that would make everything else seem rather boring.” He responded, brows knitting a little as he rubbed the side of his face a bit. “Sounds like you’re from a world quite a bit more exciting than mine.” Or possibly horrifying, that might describe it too by the sounds of it.

The detective was a little disappointed to hear that they didn’t know much about what was down there beyond the creatures. It was a pity that this person who’d possibly been on to something was gone. He’d have to ask around, keep his eyes and ears open for something that might give them an idea on if there were anything worse to worry about down there… Though the idea of a lich sounded rather bad, she didn’t sound overly concerned on that front. So perhaps it was gone…? “Unfortunate that they were sent away… Is the Lich still an uh— problem?”

Magic was definitely not an explanation, but it also wasn’t… not an explanation. Llewellyn at least had gotten the sense from some people he’d known that magic could be finicky, and it was bad to not take proper precautions when handling some aspects of it. “Ah… It must be rather delicate magic, then?”

Finishing another bite of pretzel, Llewellyn smiled a little. “Anything can be breakfast in my experience, especially when you can’t cook.” He added absentmindedly, shrugging a little as he refocused his attention on Illyana. Curious about what she’d think of the sweet baked good. “You’re quite welcome, they’re better when shared, anyway.”

And given her expression, he had a feeling that she definitely liked it. Too bad he didn’t quite catch on to the fact that she’d had them before… But he’d rather gotten used to trusting people a little more in the last world again, more so than in more recent years when his trust had been often damaged by people he should have been able to trust… Perhaps one day it would backfire and he’d backslide, but for now he was happy to take Illyana at her word.

Besides that, anyone willing to share a snack with him tended to be considered good in his books.

The detective nodded, as though he hadn’t doubted she would like them (pretzels, what’s not to love?). “They’re definitely a staple of mine, the plain ones are pretty good too if you want something less sweet.” He responded brightly, gesturing a little as he spoke. Yes, food was definitely something he was happy to chat about.

More fun to talk about than the word he’d been in before this, “Mm… Well, it was an experiment created by a being that was trying to figure out how to revive its people? At least that’s what we’d worked out before I got pulled into this world, I’m… not sure if it would have ever succeeded, if I’m being honest.” He still couldn’t fathom how people who were so unlike the being in charge might help it figure out anything about reviving another race. It wasn’t like their biology would have been similar at all. Llewellyn was more of the mind that it had been desperate, and simply grasping at straws.

"Boring and less of a concern. Once you have your soul taken things cannot get much worse," she said with a strangely lackadaisical tone. "I'm a mutant, our lives are always more...exciting than others. Especially with my abilities." Mutants that could shift through time and realities always led the most...exciting lives. Horrifying. That word actually hit the nail on the head when it came to a lot of her adventures. Demonic realms, traveling through the past and future, all of it was pretty horrifying, but for better or worse she'd gotten used to it.

"I think it's still down there. It does not travel up though." At least not yet. It occurred to her that it might fully awaken someday and do so. Clearly it had been trapped down there for a reason by someone. Perhaps she should have paid a bit more attention to it all, but she was strangely tired of playing hero. "Jagger knows more." At least she was fairly certain he did. He had worked with the people who had been investigating it. "If it awakens I will know." She was pretty confident she'd sense something with that much magic at it's disposal. Especially considering how much of her free time she'd spent learning even more about magic than she knew before (and she knew quite a lot before).

"Very sensitive. Temperamental. Experimental." Sometimes she experimented with translocation spells, ways to return them all home. Other times she experimented with seals, things that might work to close the portal that was allowing bits of other worlds to pulse through. Currently she was trying to learn better wards. In her head she had a perfect idea of creating a pentagram around the entire city that could act as a warning or warding system if danger approached. That was a pretty big undertaking though with how unstable this place was.

"Anyone can learn to cook," she said with a shrug. Anyone could learn anything, couldn't they? Unless they were Kitty. She was...well, she tried. Illyana happily took another huge bite of her pretzel and when she spoke again it was through chews. "What is the point of less sweet?" No, that didn't sound fun at all. The sweet was the best part. She shrugged a shoulder and finished her bite before speaking again, see, she could be polite sometimes. Sort of.

"If it's experiment was as bad it sounds, most likely not. Did you consider it was lying about what it was trying to do? Maybe you were going to be sacrifices to restore it's kind. I've seen that before."

Llewellyn could be a bit blunt, and he was certainly used to people who’d dealt with some unreal sounding situations in their lives in the last world he’d been in too. He could not, however, say that he’d ever met someone who had ‘lost their soul.’ That was a new one, and that much was apparent enough by the concerned expression on his face. “You lost your uh— soul?” Yup. Horrifying. That’s the right word for it. Clearly mutants lives were anything but dull, which he again supposed made the whole ‘not that impressive’ aspect to the things that were a concern to him… not a concern in the least.

On the subject of the lich, he pulled a pen out of his pocket and jotted the name she suggested down on the side of it, along with the word Lich underlined with a question mark. At the very least, he wouldn’t lose the bag. He really did need to stop and get a notebook at some point on his way home today… “I’ll keep an eye out for this Jagger person to ask further, then. If he remembered whenever he ran into the man. With how scattered his memory could be, it was hard to say unless he tore off the piece of the bag to file away for later. When she mentioned that she would ‘know’ he glanced at her again, “Mm… Don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me know should you find it wakes up.” A warning would be good, to spread and also to make sure the people he wanted to stay safe would.

He’ll hook you up with more cinnamon pretzels, Illyana.

Finish off the pretzel he had taken himself rather quickly (vague amounts of anxiety brought on by a lot of strange information did that), he supposed that sounded about right. “Sounds a lot like some of Murdoch’s inventions he kept trying to dissuade me from messing about with.” He mumbled, brushing some crumbs off his hands. He had often wondered over how similar magic and science seemed sometimes, and yet were so very different depending on who was talking about it. Probably for the best that he didn’t have any himself, he’d probably make quite the mess.

Which was oddly for the same reason he couldn’t cook. He could never focus on it long enough to not burn something. “Not sure about that… I’ve tried, and evidence suggests that it will continue to be a talent that escapes me.” His expression shifted to something close to embarrassment. When Llewellyn excelled at something, it was at rather impressive levels (for an ordinary human), when he was bad at something… It was frightfully so. It wasn’t as though he didn’t try, of course. He would always ask questions and try to retain it, but he was still clumsy at best.

That was why he’d worked so well with Murdoch sometimes, they had strengths in opposing areas. It balanced the team more than a little.

“Sweet things are good, I won’t say that they aren’t… But I’m also rather fond of other flavours too. You can dip the plain ones if you feel like it. Oh— and in the last world I was in had some that were stuffed with cheese and herbs, they were very good.” He responded with a smile, absently wondering if he might find a place that sold those sorts as well...

Focus, Llewellyn. “Oh— I admit, we did wonder if it was lying on occasion. I don’t think that it was, but it hadn’t been ruled out either.” Ruling something out without hard evidence was a risky business. “I admit… I’d never considered that we might have been sacrifices. It did give some the option of sacrificing everyone else to go home though, now that I think a bout it…” Nope… Doesn’t like thinking about that, especially given he didn’t know now who had gone home and who hadn’t considering he was here. That thought is making him go in for another pretzel, unsurprisingly.

"I had it taken piece by piece," she corrected. "Then I made a sword out of what was left out of it. Then I lost the gem pieces. Then I found most of it." And now she had all of it. At least she thought she did. At the very least she had the majority of it back within her. It had not really changed as much as she thought it would though and that was quite the strange thing. Maybe having a soul was not really something that was quite as important or impactful as she'd thought before. He was right to think that mutants lead busy lives that were full of ridiculous things happening on a regular basis. It was almost comical how often world ending events happened around them.

"He runs some sort of business. Detective work or something like that. He has an office in the market," she said casually. "The Gullwings. I think he was looking for help." He'd also probably have all the information she lacked. Or at the very least he'd be more willing to share than Illyana was. "If it wakes I'm certain we'll all know." Was this man serious? Did he really not think they'd notice if a Lich awoke? Did he really have that little experience with black magic? She gave him a very quick glance over before determining that yes, he definitely was serious and had no experience with things like that. "Sure, I can let you know if the undead rise."

"Technology and magic don't usually get along," she said with a smirk. That was something she'd learned with the Technarch had ended up in Limbo. Warlock had been a great friend, but his father and the rest of his technological race? That was a completely different story. Anything that allied itself with S'ym was something to frown about. "I hope you didn't mess with it. Nothing good ever comes from people messing with things. Ask the Aspects." Enjoy the shade thrown at the Aspects. It's eternal.

"That reminds me of someone," she said with a little smile. "Maybe you could make something for me someday. Just to see how bad it really was. She couldn't deny she was curious about how bad he was now. And maybe....maybe she wanted to see it to make fun of it. Just a bit.

"Stuffed with chees and herbs..." hmm...she actually didn't hate the stuffed ones. She wasn't going to directly admit that right now, it'd mean admitting to a lot of things. She took another bite of her pretzel, trying to savor the last few bites that she had left for as long as possible. "I suppose if I find some of those I'll let you know." It seemed only fair given the circumstances.

"Everything with power lies." She said that with confidence. It might seem like a pessimistic thing but Illyana had been to a lot of dimensions and a lot of different times. She'd seen gods, demons, aliens, and humans with more power than they really knew what to do with. The one common dominator between them all had been that they had lied. "And what came of the people who were given that offer?" What she really wanted to know was if anyone took it.

Llewellyn tilted his head, expression making it very apparent that he was trying to work all of that story out in his head. It was quite a story. The sort that made you realize that, once again, just when you thought you’d heard it all when it came to other worlds that were so unlike your own, you were proven wrong. “So— Uh… If I have this straight, you lost your soul but… have it back now?”

There was a definite interest as she explained her friend Jagger and what he did, Llewellyn was in the process of trying to figure out if there were already a private investigation office in this world already or not. “So he’s a private investigator… I’ll have to look in on his office then, that’s what I did in the last world I was in. Before that I was a detective for the Toronto constabulary.” He responded, “Gullwings… strange name for it.” He added with an absentminded tone. “But if he needs help, I might be able to offer some… I like to keep busy.” A couple jobs to fill his time would be good for him. He couldn’t see himself giving up on detective work entirely, after all. Though some might prefer that he kept to thinks that didn’t potentially get him in so much trouble, Llewellyn was a bit of a magnet for it sometimes though.

Her certainty was more than a little telling, clearly this was common knowledge to some people compared to what he’d have known himself. Another sign, he supposed, that he needed to get some research done and try to figure out how all of this world worked a little better. At least she did humour his request, even if such an event occurred and what was happening was obvious… It was just appreciated that he might be entirely blindsided by it. “Mm… Thank you, I only ask because my world, the one I started in, didn’t have anything like that. No magic, no monsters beyond people just being terrible to one another.” And a few of them he definitely would have described as such, those ones kept him awake some nights.

“I can’t imagine that it would, which… makes me wonder about some things like the uh— phones.” They clearly didn’t belong here anymore than he did, this place seemed to be from sometime before his own time, not far… but enough. So the phone’s and some of the things in their apartments just didn’t quite fit what he knew. He may have dodged her question about if he’d known better than to mess with things… He was known for messing with things, especially if he were trying to understand it, or if he were bored, or if he was in the rare mood to mess with the patience of one Detective Murdoch as though he were some annoying younger sibling. “If you don’t mind whatever kitchen we use smelling like burnt food, perhaps I could grant you that wish. Uh— I really don’t recommend it though.” He responded with a small shake of his head, jumping over to the subject of food so easily. “If you come across them, I’d appreciate it. I know I’ll miss the variety if they don’t exist here.” He could eat anything, but it was hard to not miss something he’d gotten used to having access to. Variety was a wonderful, less so when you were aware that options were out there and you couldn’t find them.

“Oh!” He shook his head quickly, “They all remained. No one took the deal to my knowledge, at least it was indicated to me that they didn’t. I was… indisposed when all of that was going on. I only know what I was told by those who were given the choice.” And it seemed like no one was willing to sacrifice the rest of them for freedom, which wasn’t entirely surprising given what he knew of those who were asked… “The fact that it thought any of the people it made the offer to would take the deal was strange, at least to me.”

Ah, that was definitely the reaction she liked to see from people. There was always something amusing about how confused and almost overwhelmed humans seemed to get by things like that. Mutants just seemed to get exasperated that something crazy happened again, but humans were an interesting case. Maybe it was more accurate to say humans were the most fun to mess with. "No, I had pieces of it taken.," she was firm about the word taken. Clearly he seemed to be confused on that angle. "They were turned into bloodstones and placed in an amulet. I lost the stones. Then I got them back." Evidently he needed things explained in more details than she had originally thought. She supposed she could actually explain the story to him if she really wanted him to understand. But being vague was a bit more amusing to her, at least for now.

"I guess that's what he is." It seemed a bit silly for him to be one here, but then again there were a lot of weird mysteries here. And there were a lot of native people that seemed to want help with things. "Maybe you can do it here too. He complains a lot about being busy and overwhelmed." And it was kind of annoying to hear him complain all the time. Even more so when he tried to ask her for help with things. "Someone else named it. Team names are always weird, we had a lot back home." That was how she looked at it too, as if it were just some sort of team. If there was any other way to look at it, she didn't know what that would be. Which might honestly be weird all in itself.

"I had assumed so," she said with an amused look on her face. No offense to him, but he seemed like a normal. "No need to worry. I'm not so heartless that I would completely ignore giving warnings to the less knowledgeable." See, she's generous. Exceptionally generous.

"They may have come with a pulse. There is a portal that brings in things from other worlds. The things are not quite right though..." she shrugged as she recalled the demon bear. "They are copies with similarities to where they came from but differences as well. It feels like that is what the phones are. We had something different before these phones." She kind of liked those things more in all honesty. But what were you going to do about it? It seemed like this place just kind of updated on it's own. Which, oddly, she was familiar with. Limbo changed based on it's owner and the emotion of the owner.

"I know a kitchen we could use if you ever want to grant me a wish. Maybe we could even make a deal." Don't make deals with demons. Even if they're good now. "There's a lot of variety in food so far from what little I have seen."

She arched an eyebrow skeptically at what he said. "How strange and unbelievable." People seemed far too selfish for absolutely nobody to take that deal. Maybe the pressure of others around them was too much for people to admit to it. "What were you indisposed with?"

“Taken, uh— of course. My mistake.” It was still an absence of something he hadn’t really considered being absent before. Both seemed infinitely ‘not good,’ but… Taken was probably worse, as Llewellyn decided by the sound of it. The emphasis on that distinction made it seem like it was, at least. If he were aware that his confusion was amusing, he might have questioned her on it, but he found himself rather in the dark on that detail. “I’m glad that you recovered it, I don’t know if I could properly imagine it but… that sounds difficult.” He might want the whole story one day, once he perhaps felt a little less awkward for his slip up.

He hummed a little over the idea of offering this Jagger fellow assistance, if he were as swamped with cases as Illyana was suggesting, it might a good opportunity…And, after all, Llewellyn mostly took on the job because he wanted to help people, “Well if you think he’s that overwhelmed with work and he might not mind another detective around, I’ll definitely have to stop in. Even if I’m going to need to get a little caught up on the more magical aspects of this world.” Or make enough contacts to refer to when he needed an expert opinion, which he had been rather good at in his own world. Especially if a case was odd enough to be beyond whatever Murdoch’s science or invention could help solve.

Between his lack of understanding how one’s soul could be lost— or taken as it were, and his very limited knowledge of magic and the otherworldly, he could hardly take offence to her assumption or her realization that he needed things to be put in rather detailed explanations. It was a lot to wrap his head around, even now… He tried to get caught up, but every time Llewellyn thought he’d gotten something worked out, there was some new thing to throw a wrench in the works. He was, compared to most people in these situations in his experience, quite ‘normal.’

An odd thing, considering how abnormal people tended to consider him in his own world.

“I believe I’ve heard this ‘pulse’ mentioned, yes… And someone mentioned a demon bear that wasn’t of this world, but they didn’t know much about it to explain that to me.” That had happened a couple times now, actually, and it was somewhat frustrating for the detective. Because if it wasn’t of this world, it was doubtful that he could find anything to read and learn about it himself. Which… was usually how he learned things, aside from the particularly knowledgeable people who had patience for him when he started to ask a lot of questions or ended up fidgety from trying to focus on more dry explanations.

“Mm… I don’t know that I could think of a deal, and I’m not sure that you’d want to make a deal for an inedible mess.” He added with a small, slightly amused shake of his head. He also didn’t realize she was a demon, after all, she’d said mutant… The poor man didn’t realize the risk. “Although toasters have come a long way, I can promise a decent piece of toast.” He said that now and probably invited an on fire toaster in the future.

Because that’s just how the universe worked sometimes.

“I know in most situations it would be, but I knew most of the people who went. They weren’t the sort who would just sacrifice others for their own happiness— not lightly, anyway.” That was actually telling, in a way, about how far Llewellyn had come to believe in those people in particular. His trust had been betrayed in the past on more than one occasion, so it took a while for him to believe in others that strongly. Not that many realized it, as he tended to keep those things to himself.

The question gets a small, uncomfortable shrug. “The local population had been influenced during that time… They became rather violent in attempts to take things that they felt they should have more— food, clothes, shelter.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “I was injured by a group, I guess it was bad enough that the woman in charge of medical emergencies decided it was better if I slept until I recovered. I didn’t wake up until after everything was over a month or so later.” It was a source of frustration for him, if only because he felt like he’d failed people by not being around to help when things were at their worst.

“"It was indeed," his mistake of course. Taken was certainly worse and it had been a lot more painful than she would admit to most people. Even the few people she'd really gotten close to weren't aware of just how bad it had been when each piece had been ripped out. "Oh, it was quite the task. So many people wanted it. People just don't understand the value souls have. You can do all sorts of things with them." Like summon portals to release eldritch beings. Or create weapons capable of cutting through any magical spell or entity. It was probably for the best that most humans didn't realize these things. After all the demon that had stolen her as a child had been a human that had realized these things and then become a demon after dabbling too much in them.

"Oh, he's certainly overwhelmed. I'm sure he'd be happy to have another detective around. Even if it were just to discuss things." That was definitely her motivation, and not that Jagger might stop asking her for help if someone else was around. She really had no idea how Jagger put up with the small cases he got from people around here wanting him to do things. Why couldn't these people just handle their own concerns? Because, people rarely could handle their own things. They seemed to always need others to do things for them.

"I could if you were really that bored. It was an entity from my own world." Her nose scrunched up in annoyance with that. The demon bear that came here might not have been her demon bear exactly, but it'd been close enough to it that she felt a bit guilty for not doing more. Of course part of that had just been she'd been busy with something else, but you couldn't always rationalize those things.

"Usually when a pulse happens there are signs, earthquakes and the like, and then something changes. Or comes." At least that'd been how it had been each time something like that had happened since the Aspects had announced their adventure with the portal. Really, Illyana still couldn't believe they'd somehow broken it. At least they had the decency to inform them about it, but that didn't change how stupid it seemed.

"True enough, I suppose it would be a deal that I would lose out in." She said with a chuckle as she finished the last bit of pretzel off. Back to being sad at her lack of pretzels now. "I know some people who burn toast, so perhaps you're better off than them." Enjoy the rare compliment from Illyana. Yes, that was in fact a compliment, or at least as close to one as she got with most.

"How pleasant sounding." She still didn't believe that could possibly be the case, but she wasn't going to argue about it. Instead she'd just give a remark with a pointedly patronizing tone. "How fortunate for you to miss it all." The thing with having limited social experience was that it meant Illyana didn't always notice when people were clearly uncomfortable with a subject. From Illyana's point of view it seemed genuinely fortunate he gotten to miss out on something that sounded so unpleasant.

A soul was a rather important thing, at least to the individual it belonged to he would have thought. Beyond that… It was a little worrying to wonder about why someone would take it and what uses it could have when it came to magic. It sounded like one of those things that should be against a rule, rather like some of the magic Rhy had told him about from his world. Not that it stopped people from doing it, if they were really so valuable or useful when separated from a person. “I’d never really thought about what could be done with a soul before…” He shook his head a little, just another thing he supposed he needed to be aware of as he tried to catch up on what was possible out there. Though he had a feeling that perhaps some souls were more important than others, if one was going to go to the trouble of stealing one.

“In that case, I’ll have to find my way there soon.” He nodded, a small smile on his face. It was almost exciting, he’d found some work already that he was looking forward to. If he could find some proper detective work to add to the mix, he’d probably be all set… Something to keep his mind busy, and to help him and Rhy find some steady income in a world where jobs seemed a little more important than the last world they were in. “I always found it help to even just have someone to throw theories back and forth with in the last world, I had a sort of partner for a little while so…” He shrugged, Llewellyn liked the idea of having some one to discuss things himself if he was going to start taking cases again.

Llewellyn’s bars rose a little at the offer, and at her expression as she scrunched her nose a little. “I’m not sure that bored is the word I would use… I don’t know if I could find myself bored in a place like this.” Even if being bored sounded nice once in a while, bored meant peaceful at times… And he could use a little of that. “But I would like to know more about it. If things from other worlds might show up in a variety of forms, it’s uh— better to get a feel for what sort of things might happen.” The man hated surprises, bad things always took him by surprise and now that he was here with people he really cared about? Well, he wouldn’t settle until he at least felt a little more secure that they wouldn’t be entirely blindsided.

“I’ve heard about the earthquakes, it seems rather odd that they’d bring things with them, like the world is experiencing some sort of strange growing pain.” He responded with a little thoughtful hum, “Someone also mentioned how the locals don’t seem to really realize that new things are arriving? Like they were always there?” Because that was weird, and an important detail to the detective. It made him a little worried… The locals should in theory be as aware to how strange all this was. So he had to ask, to see if he’d received the correct information before he started to dig a little…

Llewellyn, not entirely ready to be done with the conversation, looked from his bag of pretzels to Illyana before he held another one out to her. There were still enough left after all, and no one needed to know how many he’d bought to begin with to bring home… right? “Uh— thanks, I find that toasters make it a lot easier than it used to be though… With toasting forks I always forgot I had something on them.” He added with an awkward expression, “I suppose if a toaster isn’t set properly it might still be easy to burn it though.”

“Mm… They were good people, and it was a stressful situation.” He responded with a little frown, still not liking the whole ‘thinking about not being there for them’ aspect of it all. “I’m not sure that I would consider it fortunate, I would have rather been there to help or to at least—” He let out a small huff, he really wasn’t sure how much help he would have been. Things had only gotten more dangerous after he was knocked out, but at least he could have tried. Or gone to the sphere and talked to it himself… It had been so rare for it to communicate at all.

"Most people do not think of it because most people do not know of it. Which is for the best. Would you want it to be common knowledge that souls could be ripped out and weaponized?" It was bad enough that she knew how to do it. Even worse than people like Witchfire and Belasco knew how. Imagine if it was just common knowledge. No, that wouldn't be good at all. Not just because it'd make things harder for her.

"It's hard to miss in the marketplace." Not that she actually ever went there by walking. Usually when she wanted to find him she just used her stepping discs to teleport in. It was more amusing to see Jagger surprised by a sudden appearance. She really loathed the day that he got used to it. "I have heard others with similar sentiments. I have a team back home, though I still mostly prefer to work alone." And despite having an actual team that she'd worked with for years she still preferred to keep things to herself. There were a lot of times she could have told people of her plans and discussed it with them. Perhaps it might have even helped. Then again in all the timelines she'd gone to, them knowing things had never worked out for the better.

"No? It can be rather boring sometimes." Though a few of the more pleasant and calm times had their negative parts to them, like the truth dessert at the ball. "That's very logical of you." She tilted her head and seemed vaguely uninterested in explaining. "In my own world the Demon Bear was one of the first big entities my team and I banished together. It was a demon that ruled the Badlands." Did she realize that she should explain what that place was? Yes. Was she going to without prompting? No. "Dani was haunted by it in her dreams before she eventually attempted to take it on herself. That went poorly to say the least." Her tone was soft there and her mouth curled into a little frown. Dani had nearly died for that and Illyana would never not hold that against the demon. Nobody hurt the New Mutants. "It fed off negative emotions and could corrupt and manipulate human souls. The only thing that was able to stop it was my soulsword. Here it seemed similar, smaller, but it still fed on negative emotions. It felt...off. Similar but not the same one. It was able to be stopped by other means so perhaps it was some imperfect copy." That was all she could really guess about it. Somehow the portal had brought in knowledge of her world allowing this place to create a copy that wasn't quite as strong or right.

"Yes, the locals seem to change when the world changes. Perhaps they were created by this world as well," she said with a shrug. "From what the Aspects have announced they attempted to use a machine here, a portal, to return us to our homeworlds after they lost contact with their creator. They failed to take into consideration that they did not know how the portal worked and ended up injuring themselves and breaking the portal. Now it....pulses?" Her tone and expression showed her dislike for the Aspects and their meddling.

Wait, was he really offering her another pretzel? Her expression actually brightened and she...smiled at him as she took it. Oh no, that certainly got him some points that made her almost...consider liking him. Or at least having a better opinion of him. "You are generous." And because of that she would let anymore teasing about him burning things in toasters go. For now.

"I see, so you are the would be heroic type. Unfortunate." Those ones always either got themselves hurt or eventually ended up broken inside. That would be a sad fate to see befall this man. Perhaps she could consider looking out for him.

Llewellyn had to admit… “That’s a very good point. People are too prone to taking advantage of things that would shift their positions of power in the world.” It was bad enough the amount of things he’d seen without the kind of complication that presented… Though he was still reasonably sure that it wasn’t a thing that had been possible in his world, at least not that anyone had seen… Thankfully…

“With a name like the Gullwings, I don’t imagine it is.” Provided it had an obvious sign, he supposed. Even if it didn’t though, the locals could probably nudge him in the right direction if he did somehow miss it. He offered a small smile, “It depends on the team, my original place of work was… Less than pleasant, I worked alone more often than not. At least until they decided that I didn’t… fit… But I moved on quickly enough— and as I said, the last world provided some interesting connections and people to talk to.” So he hoped to find the same here, at least he was going to try to. “So I can see the benefits of working on your own or working in a team.” He ended with a small gesture. Not that working alone was particularly smart in some situations, he was lucky to be alive and not very murdered.

Llewellyn would have been quite glad to have missed that ball, he would have undoubtedly been a victim of food given his appetite. Of all the things he tended to be suspicious of, food was rarely something he thought to be cautious around. But he offed a little shrug and a grin at the comment. “I’m a detective, we’re supposed to be.” He responded a little more lightly, though his expression returned to its rather serious state as she explained the bear in more detail. Yes, it wasn’t complete given he didn’t know what the place was, but the bear itself was the point and he appreciated her going into more detail. There were a few points in particular that were rather interesting, though most of it sounded horrific.

“A copy of what existed in your world… And it was one of your first notable entities that your uh— team dealt with. I wonder if it’s significance had something to do with it being brought through the portal.” A random thought that popped out more than anything, if only because it was hard to not think about its connection to her… Like nightmares in the last world were often related to fears of specific arrivals… maybe some of the things that made appearances here were more likely to be connected to some of the arrivals. Made him wonder what else could slip through to this place. “Definitely something you wouldn’t have wanted to deal with a second time. Even if it wasn’t a perfect copy.” He added with a small frown, especially given the implications as she mentioned her friend. “Thank you for giving me more details.” He added with a small frown. It gave him something to think about, another strange details about this world… A strange, horrifying detail.

Annnd when you added in her next explanation, that was another whole level of concern. “So they’re influenced by the world itself, or—” The Aspects, perhaps… Or this mysterious, absent creator. Not something he wanted to consider, but hard to rule out given what he’d seen in the last world. “That’s worrying… In the last world I was in, most of the time the locals were welcoming and friendly, unless something manipulated them to change. The entity there did it for the experiment…” Which was part of why they’d turned so severely, and also how they’d come to realize that they weren’t real. An awkward little huff and he turned his attention to the matter of the aspects. “So they’re in charge but… They’re not the highest power, and they don’t know how their portal works.” And they broke it. They broke it and now it malfunctioned. “Less than ideal…”

Of course, Llewellyn liked to eat with others. It was how he bonded and got to know people. If you ate together you talked and eventually you were friends… Or something like that. “I’ve always been of the mind that snacks are best shared, and as you pointed out… I have a lot, they probably won’t be too missed.” He added with an easier smile for a moment, until he let his shoulders sink a bit at her next comment. “I don’t know about heroic, but I’m not in the habit of standing aside when things happen.” Her thoughts weren’t wrong though, his penchant for self sacrifice and caring too much might get him one day.

"Exactly. Humans are always searching for ways to level the playing field. At least that's what they tell themselves." The reality of it, at least in Illyana's eyes, was that they were just power hungry. It wasn't about leveling some playing field where mutants and other more powerful species had more of an advantage. No, it was just about the fact that humans weren't the ones with that advantage. They feared what they didn't understand and at the same time they wanted that power. That had been her experience time and time again with their human adversaries.

"Unfortunate," she said with a little shrug. "I don't fit in, but for some reason they were insistent on me staying." Up until her recent escapades. Those had landed her in a jail of sorts, but there was no need to mention that. It wasn't hard to guess why they'd been insistent on her staying before that either. They'd thought she was dead and then suddenly she'd come back, of course her brother and friends wanted her to stay. They hadn't understood the situation though, not at all. "It's good you were able to figure that out and move on quickly. And that you found your last place so accommodating to work."

A detective. She'd have to keep that in the back of her mind. She took a nibble of the new pretzel and shook her head. "I doubt that had anything to do with it. It's hardly in the forefront of any of our minds." Not anymore at least. The New Mutants had fought much worse foes since then. "Oh, I would hardly mind dealing with again. It was easy enough to deal with once Dani decided to stop playing the hero. From what I have heard versions of it have popped up again back home." Though the details weren't something she was particularly clear on and she wasn't really that interested. "If you have any other questions, I might answer them." She was feeling a bit more generous now.

"These locals seem mostly friendly enough. Some more than others. There are a people in the forest that live far away that are not particularly social. It seems they have a low opinion of us." Though she had no idea why that was. She'd never spoken to them or even attempted to seek them out herself, it just wasn't something that interested her. "Isn't it? Less than ideal..." she shook her head. "They claim their Creator also made them, but then just left. Or disappeared. Perhaps it just abandoned this place." She'd heard of gods doing that before.

She would definitely remember his generosity with food and his sentiment. Which might mean she'd ask for him to share if she saw him with food again. Or it might not. "Heroic people always deny they are heroic. It's part of being heroic."

People were always power hungry, it seemed, in any world. They were terrible to each other often enough in his world without any of the complications he’d heard in other worlds.

“I suppose they might have because they like having you around,” he responded with a small rise of his brows, “Though it can be rather confusing to not be sure… Doesn’t always make sense.” And that made it hard to figure out who you could trust in a group, made it hard to want to take the risk of getting closer. Which he’d certainly found had made things difficult and awkward until he relaxed a bit. “It was, in some ways I’ve been lucky at least.” Some ways, not all ways, but the way things had progressed in his life recently made him a little more willing to consider himself lucky.

“No?” He responded with a curious tilt of his head, that was too bad… There had to be some sort of connection though, why a copy of something that happened in someone else’s world had been brought here. “I suppose I’ll have to keep thinking on it then… I only wondered because in the last world, things that some of us found particularly upsetting tended to happen every few months. It was noted that they were all a ‘nightmare’ pulled from our minds. I can’t help but try to uh— connect things to make sense.” He desperately wanted things to make sense, sooner rather than later. Not that he expected to get his wish. Being in a different world while still having some of the people he cared about seemed like the best he should hope for. “Mm… That’s kind of you,” He responded to her offer, offering a curious smile. “I don’t suppose you could tell me if there are any other particularly odd or dangerous things I should know about here?” Things she found boring or not. The sewers had been a warning he hadn’t expected to begin with, though he had a feeling that was because everyone was a little distracted by the situation at the docks.

“Friendly now but… I’ll have to see what more I can find.” Would have to ask a friend who might be able to work out more than he could. “There are people who live in the forest? So there is more to the world than just the city— I wonder if their low opinion has to do with us not really being meant to be here… Not that it’s our fault, he didn’t ask for this.” He hummed a little, it didn’t really matter that they hadn’t. Often enough people had low opinions of others for very silly, small reasons. He’d been on the receiving end of such dislike in the past.

The creator was a particular subject he hadn’t been aware of before, and it was something worth writing down. So that got added to the side of the bag as well with a hasty scribble. “So we have an absent god, two ‘Aspects’ abandoned to run all this themselves and a malfunctioning portal…” That they broke. “Seems strange to create everything only to abandon it, but I suppose there could be any number of reasons for it.” Boredom, disappointment, realizing the responsibility and fleeing from it, or maybe like most stories about gods, the creator here was just a fickle sort.

“Never thought of it that way,” He hummed a little, rolling the top of the bag closed and tucking it under his arm as she explained to him what it was to be ‘heroic.’ Llewellyn still wasn’t sure if he fit the mould, he failed to save people more than he succeeded in life, and most of his cases were about giving closure to those who were left behind… But it was a nice thought.

And of course, all she had to do was ask in the future, Llewellyn would always share. Most of the time he would offer without any prompting from the other person.

"Or because they felt guilt and a desire to cling to the past." That was the one she was more apt to believe in. After all, her first death had been when she had been reverted back to a child. It'd been complicated and from her understanding it had left her brother particularly broken up with feelings of failure. The idea that they clung to the past and to guilt made more sense than them just wanting her around. It wasn't as if she as the same Illyana as they remembered. "I have discovered recently that emotions rarely make sense. It is most...unusual." For a while she'd really felt very little at all, probably a side effect of her missing soul pieces. Now that it was returned though things were...different. Difficult. Confusing.

"No. Unless..." she narrowed her eyes in thought for a few seconds. "Unless it picked it out because it was simple. Many of our foes have been large and complicated. Perhaps this was chosen because it was something easy to copy. As a first test of some kind?" Or maybe it was only capable of reacting smaller things. Or maybe it really was completely random and it was only the first that would come from her world.

A short burst of laughter escaped her lips. "The Demon Bear would never be my nightmare. It was an annoyance. A parasite." Though perhaps that in itself was a clue? The Demon Bear had been a parasite by nature which might have made it an easy thing for this place to copy. "It had it's own dimension. Perhaps it created it." And perhaps this place wanted some sort of blueprint.

"I mentioned the sewer." What else was there? She clicked her tongue thoughtfully. "Ah. the Sha. They were summoned by the bear and are also parasites. They are drawn to negative emotions and can posses a person. There are whispers they are still around. A healer in town helps the locals for a price when they are afflicted. Though, should it ever happen to you I can free you of it. Perhaps even for no price." He had given her pretzels. "There have also been crab creatures abducted locals. A ghost ship came into harbor but I do not know much about it. I would stay clear though." Perhaps she should have been paying more attention to all of that. It had not affected her or anyone she knew though and so she'd mostly ignored it.

She shrugged. "Perhaps. Though I am uncertain as to if they are native to this place or if they were brought here long ago in a similar fashion." They were something she actually had been curious about but had made no effort to contact. In her own mind she was not well suited for the task of ambassador to another people. She barely did well interacting with her own people. Besides, if they really didn't want to be bothered, who was she to challenge that? She'd been in a similar position.

"It would not be the first time I have seen that happen. If this 'Creator' is as arrogant as most, then maybe they abandoned their creation when it did not behave the way it wanted." Or when it found something better or stronger. Gods worried her more than she would admit to anyone. They were...difficult to deal with and not just because of their power. No, the real difficulty came from their arrogance and failure to understand their creations.

"My brother is much the same. He often laments the people he fails to save rather than celebrating those he has." It seemed to be a fault of all the heroic types.

“Perhaps… I can’t deny there are those of us who do that.” Guilt had driven him to do a lot of things, but so had the love of what little family he’d had left before all this world hopping began. Not that it had ended well, but the point stood. Emotions not making sense got a small sound of agreement. No, he’d never lost his soul, but that didn’t always mean he understood emotions all the time. Or, more on the point, when other people’s emotions concerning certain things didn’t line up to his mind. “I do believe it depends on the person, and it’s hard to know at times why certain things make one feel the ways they do without uh— digging a little. Which isn’t always a good idea, unfortunately.” Admittedly, for a while he hadn’t understood why he felt certain emotions around certain people either, or perhaps it was more of a stubborn blindness out of a need to protect himself.

Now Llewellyn liked the way she was thinking, or perhaps not like so much as appreciated the fact that she’d come up with an alternative that might make more sense to his thought. “Because it was simple, a test run…” A test run of what? Something worse it wanted to accomplish? Oof… “That actually would make sense, if it’s trying to work out what it can do and if there are limits… Or to see how we react and handle something.”

That sounded more like an experiment, and he didn’t like that. But her laughter startled him out of his little paranoid spiral before it really began. “I would say that’s rather worrying to think about, but at least it’s a point in the category that this world wont be operating on a cycle of throwing our worst nightmares at us. The less like that place, the better I think I’ll feel.”

“The Sha…” He parroted a moment later, brows knitting a little. “So they’re a byproduct of the bear that remained after it was taken care of…” Was that the intent behind the bear’s arrival all along? To spread something smaller and more permanent? Another thought to file away for later. He’d have to remember to mention these things to Rhy as well, that was something they both could stand to avoid… The two of them had been through enough to have some negative emotions to feed upon if they were having a bad day. Her offer gets a grin though, “Thank you— If you aren’t inclined to do it for free…” He glanced at the bag, “I can always pay in more of these.” Yes, by this point he’d realized just how much she enjoyed them.

“And I’d heard about the harbour at least, it’s… a little worrying, I intend to see if I can learn more about it.” People were dying, and being reanimated. Not something the detective could overlook, even if it was outside his realm of expertise entirely. If there was a chance that he could help or offer up ideas for someone who could handle it, he had to try.

“Mm… If they were brought to this place like we were, rather than native to this world… I suppose it might be that they don’t wish to see something they were through repeat, or that they were neglected in favour of us being brought here.” Which was sad if that was the case… Regardless, there might be something important there to learn, and so it was added to his mental list of things to go over and research at a later date.

Perhaps the Aspects would be willing to speak more on the subject of this Creator, or perhaps it would be a sensitive topic to approach if they felt abandoned themselves… Llewellyn of all people knew how that left you feeling, he alternated between hurt, anger, and a deep sense of loss… “Wouldn’t surprise me… Some find it easier to abandon responsibility just because it is a little difficult or disappointing in some way.” Sighing a little, he shook his head. “Makes you wonder how it wanted everything to behave or act versus what it got.”

“It’s sometimes hard to remember the small victories, depending on how great the loss… Feeling like you failed those who needed you most can weigh too heavily sometimes.” Clearing his throat a little, an awkward expression crossing his face he, he gestured a little around the market. “I don’t suppose you know a good place for coffee in this world, we’d grown rather accustomed to it in the last— coffee makers are a marvel. I don’t know if it’s as easily gotten here, considering it seems behind even my world.”

Yes. That was a horrible, obvious attempt at changing the subject.

"I'm well aware. Guilt seems to be a powerful emotion." A powerful and irritating one. "Digging a little for what?" Perhaps he had a point, but she really didn't want to dig deeply. Not for feelings at least. If there was one thing Illyana hated more than anything it was looking dumb and that was precisely what feelings did for her. Besides, what good would come of digging deep to get in touch with your feelings? That sounded like something stupid her brother would say.

"It's possible. Perhaps the next few pulses will tell us more," she said with a shrug. "Or not." Perhaps it was testing limits or perhaps there was nothing as thought out as that. It was hard to tell with this place. "My nightmares are certainly something one should worry about. Be grateful you most likely will not experience them." It seemed like an appropriate time to add some dramatics to the conversation.

"They appeared with the bear and lingered after. I took care of someone who was possessed while others took care of the bear." If it hadn't been for that she would have joined in the fight for against the bear. Potentially. Or perhaps she would have just ignored it. The fact that she hadn't just ignored Jagger when he'd been possessed had been a strange thing all on it's own. She chuckled at his offer. "I might be able to accept that form of payment. We will have to see"

She shook her head. "I would suggest avoiding the harbor. It would not be safe for someone like you." Then again if he really wanted to it might be interesting to see what he might do. "Maybe you could try contacting those creatures instead." That seemed safer than a human going to an area where undead might be. At the very least it seemed like trying to find the reptile people would result in less potential death than the docks would. Why precisely did she care about what happened to this man though?

"Maybe we'll find out someday." Though she doubted that this Creator would ever actually return. "Perhaps, though it is selfish to lament your failures while ignoring what the person you failed thinks." She'd never felt like her brother had failed her, but he seemed to disagree. She sighed and then shook her head. "I make my own." It was easier and in her opinion it was better. "Jagger might know of a place."

“It can be, though not everyone is bothered by it.” He responded with a little shrug, some people were weighed down heavily by it and others didn’t seem to care much about what they’d done at all. People were confusing that way, in his opinion. He tilted his head at her question, “Digging to figure out what the feeling is, I mean, or to work out what’s wrong to make one feel a particular way.” Whether it was yourself or someone else. The bad side was finding something you didn’t want to find or it didn’t help. The good side… Was realizing what you’d been missing and being happier for accepting it, even if it wasn’t always easy.

That certainly was dramatic… Whether it was a good time for dramatics or not, Llewellyn’s expression shifted to something more than a little awkward. Given what she’d said so far about her life? He was more than willing to believe that. “Uh— We can only hope that none of the things like the last world I was in happens here, then.” And he sure is glad that it didn’t seem to be the case here.

“Are there any particular signs to watch for, if an individual is possessed by them? Things that might be less obvious, I suppose.” He prepared to take a few more notes if he could, because it seemed like a good idea to be prepared for the possibility that someone close to him might become affected. And if they didn’t realize what was wrong… That could be more than a little problem. He did offer a smaller smile at her potential acceptance of his offer, “If pretzels won’t suffice, I’m sure I could find something else that’s good to eat.” He added, and yes he’s quite confident on that much at least.

“No… It might be foolish to go strolling down to the harbour, but I still want to see if I can learn a little more about it to offer some assistance to those who can.” He responded with a little wave of a hand, but that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t find himself there at some point… Llewellyn sometimes forgot about his own fears and the potential danger in favour of doing what he thought was the right thing. But she had made a point, and he might get further with the creatures living outside the city. They were going to be on his list of priorities, regardless of the order. “Though you’re right, there might well be some answers to be found in contacting these others that were here before us… If they’re willing to talk, that is.”

Llewellyn glanced away at that, a pained expression in his eyes. Maybe it was selfish, but he couldn’t exactly ask most of the people he’d failed what they thought. They were gone, and it was because he’d hadn’t worked fast enough, or at least that was how he saw it…

Stubborn and desperate, he chose to focus on his weak subject change. “Then I’ll have to ask this Jagger when I next see him, or perhaps find what I need to make my own as well.”

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