open to all | questions and apologies

[tresemme]

[ if you’re lucky, you’ve never heard this voice before. if you have, you’ll probably notice that he seems considerably less grouchy than he did making his greeting rounds in springstar and highstorm. tony has had time to settle in, and more importantly, he’s made some big decisions about what side he wants to support here.

…for now, at least, which is the quiet motivation behind his demanding communion. he seems utterly at home invading people’s minds, and there’s the sense of him stretching out like he’s been here the whole time and was just waiting for you to get home. ]

People here are from all different worlds, right?

[ rhetorical question, and he continues. ]

I want to hear from whoever’s been to Terra. The third planet in the Sol System. I know some of you call it Earth—the fact that you have a name for it means that you know about it. [ a pause. ] I’ll torture the knowledge out of you if I have to, but it’s easier for everyone if you just cough it up.

[ that seems to be the end of that, unless you’re a zenite, to which he then narrows his focus. ]

…sorry if you heard me say I want all the humans to die. I know we have to work together.

Comments

[tresemme]

[ he says it so matter-of-factly that it sort of gets on tony’s nerves… but everything was already on tony’s nerves, so this is nothing new. ]

Fine, whatever. But there’s none on “Earth,” so I don’t care what any other worlds can do.

[clockpunk]

Hah.

[ you can just feel the sheer exasperation here. ]

Sure. Well, "Terra" is nice. Was nice, I guess.

[tresemme]

“Was”… oh. Right.

[ despite being attuned to zenith, he’s still getting his bearings on the concept of this whole thing. he’s sure if he looks hard enough, it’s out there. ]

But how nice is it, really? Do you miss it?

[clockpunk]

I miss it. [ firm, fast response. ] I miss my friends, my job, my aunt. It wasn't perfect, but it was home.

[tresemme]

[ tony considers telling him bluntly that he wasn’t asking about the people, but something (empathy) keeps him from the unnecessary scolding. ]

…I miss my friends too.

[ see? olive branch. ]

Everyone here is too sensitive.

[clockpunk]

[ well, chrono certainly wasn't expecting that, considering the torture talk. ]

Yeah, losing everything will do that to you. It's better to be honest with yourself.

[ hypocrite! oh well. ]

[tresemme]

Ugh… even when I look, I can’t really figure out what anyone is thinking. We’re fighting a war, right? So what’s the big deal if I threaten to kill or torture someone?

[ he’s just talking; mercifully, he doesn’t expect chrono to have a real answer to that. ]

[clockpunk]

[ yeah, he's not touching the finer details of that one. ]

Comin' on kinda intense when you were askin' for pretty basic information probably didn't help.

[tresemme]

[ tony feels like he’s well established that it wasn’t basic information to him, so he just rolls his eyes and the sass is easily communicated through the mental link. ]

Whatever. It was normal enough to me, but sure, it’s bad to say that stuff to Terrans, humans, who cares. I get it now.

[clockpunk]

Gotta get used to people bein' weird both ways, I guess.

[ communication is a two-way street, tony. chrono perceives that sass loud and clear, and mentally sends a mirrored eyeroll. ]

So, you're not human.

[tresemme]

[ chrono meeting tony’s indignation with dismissive exasperation is slightly annoying, but it’s also working wonders for making tony more… manageable to converse with. although he’s still grumbling about this and that, look at him, he’s being civil. ]

No. I thought there would be more people who aren’t human here, but I guess there are a lot of you out there.

[clockpunk]

Even the other world I knew before had humans along with a bunch of other sentient species, so I guess we're just kinda everywhere?

[ he's met a few dragons and a minor deity and also an otherworld god before, but humans persist regardless. ]

What're you, then?

[tresemme]

[ like pests…

somehow, though, tony manages to hold his tongue on that. he doesn’t feel strongly enough about humans in that direction to say it, even if it occurs to him. he instead just sighs like chrono is stupid. ]

A Mu. Even if we do exist in your world, you probably haven’t heard of us.

[clockpunk]

You're right, haven't heard of 'em.

[ just ignoring the condescension for now. wasn't the first time someone had sighed at him like that. because. he is a little stupid.

speaking of; ]

Hey, do you know what a dragon is?

[tresemme]

[ tony frowns, searching his short memory. he doesn’t want to just up and admit “no,” of course, because that’s embarrassing… so lying it is. ]

Maybe from a book or something. Why?

[clockpunk]

Huh. Another guy I met who wasn't from Earth didn't know what they were, so I'm just kinda curious? I thought they'd be universal as well, at least as like, a concept.

[tresemme]

[ so he could have been truthful…

regardless, his grandpa has never mentioned dragons, and they certainly didn’t have them on nazca. as such, they’re probably not a thing. ]

Well… what are they? To you, I mean.

[ because he totally knows what a dragon is. ]

[clockpunk]

We don't actually have any on Earth, but they're known in stories. Uh, mythology.

[ that sounds more academic, right. ]

But there's a bunch of different kinds on Cray, and my friend is a dragon. Thought maybe it was common on other worlds, but I guess not.

[ a hesitant moment of consideration. ]

...so what IS a Mu?

[tresemme]

[ cray????

he wants to ask, actually, but he’s afraid of coming off as too interested in someone else when they got off to a bad start. chrono is at least smoothing things over by asking questions first. ]

The best way I can explain it to you [ mildly derogatory ] is that we’re psychic, but that doesn’t cover everything.

[clockpunk]

[ chrono kind of picks up on the curiosity, but doesn't answer any unasked questions. instead he kind of nods. ]

Psychic huh. Mind powers kind or predict the future kind? Or both?

[tresemme]

[ he’s unfazed. that’s a first for tony, but he’s able to hide the surprise even through communion. ]

Mind powers, I guess. But I’ve always been able to anticipate stuff when it comes to my grandpa.

[ … ]

What’s Cray? Is that another planet?

[clockpunk]

That's cool. Your grandpa, huh.

[ it's more of an acknowledgement than a question. families, amirite. ]

Yeah, Cray's another planet. A lot of people assume it's only fictional, but it actually existed.

[tresemme]

[ okay, see, he can deal with this. although this is technically the first “other planet” he’s been to, and it’s not even a proper planet so much as a shattered rock floating in space, he’s got a lot of knowledge to work with. ]

Why would they think it’s fictional?

[clockpunk]

It's kind of... hard to explain?

[ oh, there's that thing, right... throughout this somewhat shaky explanation, tony may get extremely vividly clear, although brief, flashes of landscapes - a futuristic city of blue and white skyscrapers / a tall, gothic castle in a forest / a spiraling, blossoming world tree. and then a stadium, with two human players in the centre as a holographic battle between a dragon and a mech takes place around them. ]

Cray and Earth are connected, right? Actions on one planet can affect the other. For us on Earth, it's done through a card game called Vanguard. Uh, I play it. [ yeah no shit ] So lots of important figures from Cray are depicted in these cards, and, uh... basically, to most people on Earth, that's it. It's just a card game, and those people are just characters.