[ the frequenter ]

[sacredashes]

[When Asch appears on the Plane, he's surprised. He loses his balance and staggers, then manages to catch himself. It takes him a moment but then he looks around and realizes he's still in the Machine.

His face pales.]

No. Not this place again. Damn it, I thought I was free!

[But no one ever escapes the Machine. He reaches up to his forearm, where he's still carrying a scarlet favor from a princess he couldn't remember.

Oh, but he remembers now. And he's pissed. He stalks over to the welcome kiosk. He doesn't need a welcome. Instead, he kicks it hard enough that it almost tips over.]

Comments

[grip_on_reality]

[Menzies watches Asch's entrance with interest, frowning slightly at his outburst. but then he starts taking his emotions out on the kiosk, and she decides it's probably time to at least address him--before he does himself a damage]

Not where you expected to be, I take it?

[she approaches casually, arms crossed over her chest. but she wonders what he means by thinking he was free--whether this is like Agent K or York's disappearance and reappearance or something else entirely]

[sacredashes]

[He kicks it one last time before answering. It makes him feel better. Sort of. Even if he really doesn't have the energy for it.]

No. [Short and to the point -- some things never change.] I was here before, for a long time. And then one day I forgot it all.

[He plants a fist into the side of the machine.]

I am not some scientist's toy!

[grip_on_reality]

[she winces as he continues his assault on the kiosk, but he hasn't reached a level where she feels a need to restrain him for his own safety, so she just asks dryly:] Is that helping at all?

And I think you're taking that problem to the wrong source.

[she leaves it at that for now, letting him get his anger out before she tries to find out more]

[sacredashes]

No. Maybe. I don't know, just-- s-shut up!

[Haha, he's getting embarrassed now, rosy cheeks and all.]

When has going directly to them ever accomplished anything? Meredith only talks in circles.

[grip_on_reality]

[she snorts, ignoring Asch's irritation] Mm, and breaking something that one of us brought to the Plane is definitely more effective.

[but, unable to help her curiosity, she asks:] So you've met Meredith?

[sacredashes]

I don't think this thing can break, [he grumps, but there are more important things.]

Yes. Twice, I think. Maybe three times. She only told me the bare minimum of what I wanted to know.

[grip_on_reality]

You know, I can't say I've ever tried to find out!

Yeah? [she leans forward a bit, most definitely interested now, especially since he was already willing to answer one question] I dunno the last time anyone's 'eard from 'er. What was she like?

[sacredashes]

[Asch stands his ground, though his eyes are elsewhere.]

Meredith was... frustrating. I'm pretty sure she was amused by our suffering. She gave me one piece of useful advice, and that was it.

[grip_on_reality]

[she makes a face, though she finds that statement far less shocking than she might have when she'd first arrived] You know, somehow that's not surprising.

So what was this great advice, then?

[sacredashes]

Don't appeal to the Machine, she said. It's not a god, and you have as much a chance of getting what you want as being completely erased from existence.

[He shrugs.]

But it does have something built in against paradoxes. So there's that, I suppose.

[grip_on_reality]

[Menzies considers that advice. truth be told, it doesn't strike her as that sage, if only because she's never considered attempting to appeal to the Machine itself--only the people who run it. but if anything, it's interesting to learn that the Machine might have independent abilities of its own]

All right, I can see where that might come in useful. Too bad some of the people who run things 'round 'ere don't seem much better.

[but that next comment catches her attention. in fact, she actually looks surprised. intently, she asks:] Wait, you mean paradoxes can't 'appen here? You're sure about that?

[sacredashes]

[He shrugs. He doesn't disagree, but it was good info, for his purposes.]

That's what she said. Specifically, it was in a conversation about possibly erasing myself from existence by messing with my own past. It probably has limitations.

[grip_on_reality]

[with the example he just gave, Menzies can't imagine what sort of limitations he could even mean. she frowns, thinking through the unexpected information] Wait, let me get this straight. You actually changed your own past because of this place? And...the universe didn't end, or anything else earth-shattering?

[it's a very comforting thought for her, really--though it does make her wonder why she'd gone to so much trouble with so many Doctors to try to hide the fact that she already knew them. but at least this means that if she continues to meet Doctors here, she's unlikely to cause any universe-ending paradoxes because of it]