[profoundly backdated]

[10_20_15_5_50]

[private to Rathan]

Hello.

[That Sam isn't opening with her usual 'hey' isn't insignificant; given that she's not yet met this Guardian---she knows he's a recommended resource for magical information, and a dragon, and that's all---to be respectful is only appropriate.]

I'm sorry to bother you, but if you've the time to, I'd like to meet up to talk. I've got a couple of questions, and Irja suggested I take them to you.

[private to Wing]

Hey, man. Suppose you'd be free sometime this evening? Got a conversation I want to have with you, and I'd rather have it in person, but don't worry, it's not bad news or anything.

Comments

[knight_light]

[He’s quite a long moment.]

There is...the very real possibility that those who leave aren’t the ones who return...just another version of the same person.

I know it sounds strange, but before coming to this Haven, I had actually been in the city before. In the past.

[He looks up.] The Lambda is gone now, but you can still see where it was, the debris that orbits the planet now. [He points out the belt of glowing stuff that looks like a nebulous slash across the sky.] Before the Miasma, it was the Lambda that dropped us here.

[He shakes his head.] Anyway, back in Haven’s past, we were under threat from Unicron, the Destroyer. The Lambda was his creation, and he was trying to use it to push his way into this reality. A month or so before he managed, two mechs returned from the Badlands, the area outside of the safety of the city, an area covered by the Miasma now. Those two....it was Drift, and...me.

Only Drift and I were already living at the Hub, we...literally met ourselves. I never did get to figure out where our timelines diverged, but what we did compare...matched. We were the same people as far as I could tell, right up until we came to Haven. Only our experiences here had been different.

...I don’t know if that’s comforting or not...

[10_20_15_5_50]

[Sam's quiet as Wing speaks, though she turns to face left and lean back to better look up at him, watching attentively aside from the glance she gives the Lambda's remnants. She considers Wing's words... and cracks a slanting smile.]

You being here before doesn't sound strange; how strange is that? Nothing so far's topped the first I'd heard of Unicron. ...though you and Drift meeting you and Drift is up there for weirdness. Hearing about it, I can only imagine how it must've been for you two. Man...

I think, that I'll consider it comforting. Ties into something I've had on my mind, and all your experiences the same up until arriving? That, in a way, bodes well. Cause, okay. I've been thinking about the people I have here, the difference they've made, how lucky I've been for friends like you.

[She pauses, hands rising to meet at shoulder height.]

You have been so kind.

If I or, however it is, some other Sam Patchowski has to go through arriving again, I want me to know that you are trusted. That's a big part of this talk, main meat of it.

[knight_light]

[He smiles.] Oh?

And how would I convince that other Sam that I’m a friend?

[If this was Breakdown he’s probably make a joking comment about his irresistible charm, but this is Wing, so there’s no such comment. Pity.]

[10_20_15_5_50]

My middle name's Jadzia. It's also my best-kept secret, so telling her I told you as insurance should suffice.

[knight_light]

[Wing looks at her, just...studying her.]

Jadzia. [Tone is soft as he repeats the name, committing it to memory.] I'm honored that you would trust me with your name...your middle name? [Why do you have more than one name?]

Why is it a secret, if I may ask?

[10_20_15_5_50]

[She just looks back at him, a small smile playing about the corners of her mouth.]

No-one better trusted. [A few---a very few---people on-par, but none better. At the question in Wing's tone, she nods.] Last name---family name---is Patchowski. Middle names see next to no use, so they can be concealed with some success.

You can always ask. I keep it a secret as a kind of precaution. A person with their whole name out in the open is vulnerable, in a way, since knowing a person's name makes it easier to attach certain magics to them---a name can become something to aim at. I haven't made any enemies who'd know that, and it's not like I've made many in my life, but I'm still a small fish. Spell-wise.

[knight_light]

I see. And finding yourself suddenly far from home, surrounded by oddities and odd people, finding one who knew your full name would be a comfort.

[He smiles at her again.] I do hope I never have to make use of this knowledge. But if I do, I am glad to know you trusted me with it.

[10_20_15_5_50]

Especially after hearing why that was. It'd convince me, and so should also other Sams.

I hope you never have to, too. [She looks thoughtful, gaze wandering across Haven as it's seen at 'held' height.] Worst case comes about, though? That other Sam'll be gladdest, fast. It's friends like you I have here that make being here as okay as it can be.

[knight_light]

I imagine it must be really hard to be pulled so suddenly from your home. [It was hard for him too, and yet he’s let it go....he is, after all, dead back home. No point lamenting people he’d not see again anyway.]

[10_20_15_5_50]

...In ways.

[She quiets, considering, even as she repositions herself to more comfortably lean against Wing, shoulder pressed to his armour.]

I was getting ready to move cross-country, so there's that. Manitoba was meant to be a short stay, something like two years tops, just to see what things were like on the easterly end. I liked it, but I never got too attached since I knew from the start I wouldn't stay. The suddenness isn't an issue; I'm adaptable. The, the severance, though... yeah, that's the bad bit.

[Sam abruptly draws a deep breath and swallows hard, but otherwise manages to keep her composure. She has a handle on it now, and in that moment was just making sure.]

If I could just let someone know I'm okay, it would be a lot better. Got to see everybody not long before I arrived, which was good. Really good. We got all the goodbyes and 'I love you's and the 'be safe's in, so I got no regrets for the last things I said, but goddamn my parents have got to be sick over what might've become of me. That's what's kept me up nights, more than anything else.

[knight_light]

I often wish the same. If only there was a way to let those back home know that we are well. [How shocked would they be to even know he’s still alive.]

At the least we can live our lives here knowing that those we saw last were safe when we last saw them.

[10_20_15_5_50]

Even if it doesn't get me anywhere, I'm gonna keep trying. Periodically. Seems like the least I can do, and what the hell; even if the odds are against it, there's the off chance the stars'll be right and I'll luck out. The odds of all of this, after all...

[Shaking her head, Sam looses a weak little laugh.]

Yeah. And yeah, there's that.

How's it been for you, adjusting?