rosetotheoccasion | Second Petal [video]

Second Petal [video]

[Well this is... new. For those who know Ruby, they're probably used to see her as a bouncing ball of energy and excitement. Which isn't a bad thing - Ruby's a pretty upbeat kid who just wants to keep making sure her friends always feel that way too!

But now... now she looks a bit withdrawn. Not outright upset, but she most certainly has the look of someone that's really being bugged by something.]

... Hey, guys.

[Geez, even the way she talks is a bit deflated.]

I kinda have a question. People have been talking about their friends disappearing, and it kinda got me wondering...

When someone returns home, what if they... knew things. About stuff that happened that they didn't experience yet, 'cause someone knows what happened to them in the future, and told them about it.

[... Ah. The picture is becoming clearer now...]

Do you think... could what happened to them later on change, then?

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[... Oh. One of... these. He hates to be the bearer of bad news, but...]

If they could remember it, yeah. But... when you go home, you don't remember anything about this place.

[... okay, so he'd been trying to avoid talking to Ruby for reasons starting with "Y," but.]

IF YOU COULD MANAGE TO STOP IT FROM HAPPENING, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TELL YOU IT HAPPENED
OR YOU WOULD CREATE A DOOMED TIMELINE, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE THOSE WHERE YOU COME FROM.

[ Let me know when you find the answer to this one, Ruby, I'm dying to know too.

Maybe not literally, but, the sentiment's there, alright. ]

So, the general kind of agreement is that when you leave this place, things kind of just...go back to normal. Normal as in, everything that happened here more or less didn't, and things go back to the way they were before. So it's like...I dunno, I guess the best way to describe it is that this place is like a dream, and when you go back you sort of wake up and you don't remember what happened at all while you were sleeping. At least, that's what people who leave here and then come back say.

...Which kind of sucks for the people who were in bad situations back home that end up leaving. ...Really sucks, actually. ...Personally, though, I think that's gotta be a load of nonsense. Weird timeline junk happens all the time with this place, so, the idea of you going back and it being like someone wiped the whole thing away...I don't think I buy it.

[ Either she's salty, or in denial, or both. ]

Or at least, it's gonna take a serious amount of convincing before I do.

[So, that's definitely about something they've successfully been avoiding for a while. Penny's thumb hovers over the 'reply' button for a second before she pockets her Gear, getting up and padding down the Inn hallway to Ruby's room.]

[She rocks on her heels for a second outside the door, the hesitancy feeling new and unpleasant, before raising a hand and knocking softly.]

Ruby?

Anything could happen. I want to believe that things can still turn out for the better, for all of us. [ It's easy spare some optimism when Yang hasn't seen the kind of stuff the others have.

Not yet anyway.

Yang's outside somewhere, and sounds of her crew playing about can be heard in the background. ]

[Let's give poor Ruby a lighter idea...]

Everyone says- well, you know what they say by now, but... I don't believe it. How can we know for sure that you forget everything if...there's no way to talk to someone who hasn't returned? Maybe you only forget if you're going to come back. Or maybe there's a way to unlock it. Just giving up is pointless.

That seems kinda weird, doesn't it? That you only forget if you're coming back? I mean, if whatever-it-is that brings us here brings you back, wouldn't they want you to... I dunno. Have a leg up? Not have to go through all that confusion again?

I wanna believe too. But... I dunno.

[A sigh.]

Seeing how upset some people get over others disappearing here... it just kinda made me think, y'know?

[Good thing the door's still closed. That way, Penny won't see the way Ruby fumbles with and very nearly drops her 'gear at the sound of her friend's voice. She does, however, plop it on her bed as she scrambles up and over, and pulls the door open so fast she nearly smacks herself in the face with it.]

Penny! Hey. Are you okay?

Wait, so people just... forget about this place? About all the stuff they did and all the people they met?

... How is that possible?

... Doomed timeline?

[Well that sounds... ominous.]

But there has to be some way!
like
if you told them, and they went back, maybe things after that will just. change.
and the only reason I know it hasn't changed is because it hasn't happened yet!

But what if it's something about your own world? That should count for something, right?

That's natural, though, isn't it? Some people have been here for years, so even if they didn't know someone before coming here, they'd develop lasting friendships that don't just go away when the other person goes home. [ Which is still weird to comprehend but, for the purposes of comforting Ruby, she won't dwell on that point. She manages to try and make this sound like a vacation and not kidnapping. ]

I don't think so. I... didn't remember anything about this place when I went home.

TIME TRAVEL DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT. IF YOU CHANGE HOW EVENTS UNFOLD FOR YOU, THEY DON'T AUTOMATICALLY UNFOLD THAT WAY FOR EVERYONE ELSE.
A DOOMED TIMELINE IS CREATED WHENEVER SOMEONE MAKES A DECISION THEY "SHOULDN'T HAVE" ACCORDING TO SOME INSCRUTABLE BULLSHIT PLAN SET FORTH BY PARADOX SPACE. TRYING TO CHANGE THE WAY THINGS ARE "MEANT" TO OCCUR IS A SUREFIRE WAY TO SPAWN ONE.

[... fucking hell. He makes a mental note to deposit some money in the swear jar YOUR SISTER SUCKS, RUBY okay back to exposition.]

AGAIN, I'M NOT SURE IF YOUR UNIVERSE OR WHATEVER THE F [GODDAMMIT] FUDGE YOU WANT TO CALL IT FOLLOWS THE SAME RULES, BUT IF IT DOES, YOUR INFLUENCING EVENTS WHEN YOU RETURN WOULD EITHER DOOM YOUR TIMELINE OR MEAN THAT EVERYONE YOU'D MET WHILE HERE WHO EXPERIENCED THINGS DIFFERENTLY WERE ACTUALLY FROM A DOOMED TIMELINE.

...People have been disappearing, haven't they?

[Rakka is as wide-eyed as ever, and the way she speaks is curious but... a little withdrawn.]

Well... if you could change something like that, I think you would have to be really careful for starters.

I don't know. That's why I think it's impossible. It just doesn't sound right, does it? Why would we come here if we just forget all about it when we go?

It doesn't make a bit of sense. None at all. I just can't stand it...

I mean...I've been told once you return you remember everything. So we have, go home, forget, come back, remember. But once someone goes home for good we...we don't have any knowledge of what happens to those memories. No examples, because it's impossible to have them. So...I don't know. I just wanted to look on the bright side.

[For once.]

I am!

[Penny brightens a bit at the greeting, if only for a second.]

Are you, though? ...I saw your video.

...[Well, she's probably already been told repeatedly that nothing can be done about it, that you don't remember, so Maka will take a different approach.]

Um...I went home before and came back. I didn't remember anything, so it's like everyone else has probably said, but...I had this feeling in my soul that something was missing. It didn't change anything about the events that continued in my life up until I came back, just...I don't know, it's not like there's no actual hope of remembering somehow?

[People may be saying the same thing a lot, but Ruby is going to keep prodding until she can get a different answer somehow.]

But what if you find out something that happens in your own world? Not things about the friends you made here or anything...

Like. If someone you know from where you came from says that something bad happens in the future... that has to stick with you somehow. Right?

Oh yeah, I know now! People were saying things can get really messed up.

But what I wanna change... it'll help everyone. Definitely.

[... Ah. Well. Any hint of a smile that may have been on her face when she saw her friend has quickly been wiped away.]

... Oh.

[Drat.]

Um... I'm okay, really! Just thinking. A lot. A whole big lot.

Right, right.

[She can definitely sympathize. Ruby isn't sure what she'd do if Yang, Weiss, or Blake just disappeared one day and never came back...]

That's not really what's making me think. Not that the people I met here aren't important to me, and I'd be really upset if I forgot about them! It's just... other things that might be going on back home.

[Don't worry, Karkat. Ruby won't rat you out with the cursing! She can tell he's just trying to help, so this time it's much easier to ignore how he talks. Types. Whatever.]

But what if I didn't wanna change super important stuff
what if I just wanted to stop someone from dying?
Someone who didn't deserve to die
That wouldn't doom anyone. It's just helping them!

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