08- Rain On Me

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Has very wet hair slicked back to her head and an expression torn between joy and confusion]

It’s changed from when I was last there, the shops, the fashions, the music…

The phones.

It’s amazing [And now she’s grinning, and bouncing... just a little]

Comments

[contract_star]

[Curiously,] What changed?

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

The world! [Waves arms widely] Humanity!

So advanced... I never dreamed of it.

[contract_star]

[Has to grin at how exuberant she is.] You must have been away for awhile.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Keeps bouncing] Thirty years.

[contract_star]

Th-thirty? But you're...I mean, you look so young!

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Yes! [Twirls] And it's... [Stops and turns white] Ah.

[contract_star]

[Inclines his head and doesn't answer, waiting to see if she's going to lie or not.]

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Ah... This might be complicated.

[contract_star]

I'm used to complicated.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Fine, first off I was born in 1918.

[contract_star]

Alright. And what year is it now, in your world?

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

2008... I'd be ninety now had I stayed, or thirty something probably... [Frowns]

[contract_star]

Stayed? So are you a time traveler, or is it something else?

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Tugs on hair] Something else.

[contract_star]

Alright, then.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Tugs on hair again and bites lip]

[contract_star]

[Content to wait, since he's not one to press.]

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Deep breath in and more tugging on her hair] There are two universes in my reality.

[contract_star]

[Nods.] And time acts differently depending on where you are.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[contract_star]

Makes sense, I suppose. There's something similar in my own world.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Really? I thought my universe was the only...

[contract_star]

Well...the Gates aren't exactly like a second universe, but they're separate from the rest of our world.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Blink] Wow… How does that work?

[contract_star]

They're...they just follow different rules than the rest of my world does. Hell's Gate is the only one left now, and they've walled it off to keep people from wandering in accidentally. It's a very dangerous place.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Magically walled off?

[contract_star]

Oh, no. We don't have magic in my world. They just built a really tall wall around it, basically.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

...Right.

Impressive.

[contract_star]

[Smirks.] Well, they had ten years to work on it, after all.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

So... It really is just a giant wall?

[contract_star]

There's also guards. But anyway, people generally don't want to go inside. The Gate tends to kill people who go inside, or drive them insane.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

But some people still manage to slip in?

[contract_star]

If you're good at that kind of thing and really, really desperate, yeah. It's nearly impossible, though...well...unless external forces want you in there for some reason. These days the people who go in are on research teams and such, trying to learn more about the Gate. No one has ever made it to the center, though.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Are there theories about what is at the center?

[contract_star]

Dozens. But no one can even come close to confirming any of them. It's all speculation.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes.

It sounds quite interesting.

[contract_star]

[Smirks.] That's one way of putting it, I guess.

[swanseer.livejournal.com]

[Grin] I think I can guess at the other ways.