Colin's posts

"....." Emerald was silent again, before hugging Violet once more.

Just as he did so, one of the medics came into the room.

"Oh..." Emerald muttered.

"Um... DON'T... WORRY." he then said, slowly and loudly.

"WE... FRIENDLY. JUST... SAD." he said further.

"....uh-huh." the medic replied, a little unimpressed.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your bed." he then said to Violet. "We realise this is all very harrowing and stressful for you, but we need to make sure you recover properly, and deal with any complications that may arise at any moment."

".....no." Emerald replied.

"No, it... he..." he stammered, before biting his bottom lip.

"Please... don't." he said.

"I don't have my brother any longer, but I DO have my sister, still." he told her.

"All that matters right now is that I'm not alone." he then said, before pausing.

"...WE'RE not alone."

"......hm." Emerald mumbled.

"I.... I suppose so..." he said.

"But I guess you're right about our more immediate problems." he went on.

"We are strangers in this land, and that means we have no home here." he continued, before pausing. "...not sure we have a home back home, either..." he added quietly.

"...damn." he then muttered.

"Well... I mean... we're alive, at least." he then said.

"....2 out of 3 of us..."

".....hm." Emerald muttered.

"It's surprising that anyone in this backwater world would be able to even come close to your level of intelligence and comprehension." he said.

"And maybe." then went on.

"...as for how long we'll be here... we might be stuck." he told her.

"If these people don't have something so basic and simple as DNI support, then I'm afraid we're marooned in a strange and harsh wasteland." he said, dejectedly, and perhaps a bit overdramatically.

"....that... is confusing." Emerald replied.

"How... how can...?" he started to ask, before shaking his head.

"From what I can tell, the tech here is primitive. Which generally means that brains haven't evolved enough to create or think of such things." he continued.

"So how was it possible for someone as brilliant as YOU to have an in-depth conversation about astronomy, of all things, with a resident here?" he asked.

"Big and bulky aside, did you have to do baby talk or something? Or are you stretching the definition of 'in-depth'?" he then asked her further.

"Well.... crap." Emerald muttered.

"These people really ARE primitive." he said.

He then paused, and took a few breaths.

"I need to prepare myself to communicate with them." he muttered.

"And just hope they can understand basic words and concepts."

"So it's like going back in time." Emerald said.

"Yeah... yeah, it's gonna be jarring." he agreed.

"We're essentially going to be surrounded by primitive savages, aren't we?" he asked.

"Gonna need to dumb down the way we speak, more than likely." he went on.

"Do these people even have direct neural internet support?" he then asked.

"Eh?" Emerald muttered.

"Oh, you mean Specklefish?" he asked.

"They call that 'Salmon' here?" he asked further. "Weird..." he said.

"But all right, good to know." he added with a small nod.

"....so I guess is pretty much IS the same, but with slight differences." he then reasoned, thinking about it.

"That's a relief, but it's gonna make some things really confusing."

"....yeah... I guess I could eat." Emerald replied.

"....and I'm happy you're ok, too." he went on, before returning the hug.

"But... hold on..." he then said.

"What is 'food' in this world?" he asked her.

"Will it even be something we're compatible with?" he asked further.

".........." Emerald was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"I don't know." he said.

"I guess." he said further.

"I mean, I'm in a little pain, and I'm sore, and my head hurts." he told her.

"But I guess that's to be expected." he said further with a small and quiet laugh.

"Just need to sleep it off, probably."

"....." Emerald was silent again, before looking at his sister.

"Really?" he asked.

"....huh." he muttered.

"Well, at least this world is safe." he said further, thinking further on what she had told him.

"And no tech boom... which means a lot more mana here..." he went on. "Yeah, this tech DOES seem a bit... dated." he admitted, looking at what he was hooked up to, and what she HAD been hooked up to.

"...er... speaking of which, are you... going to be okay?" he asked.

"You kinda just pulled yourself away from the machines you were connected to..." he commented, trailing off at the end.

Aly watched him head to the door, and started to follow, but paused when she saw him stop at the door with his hand on the handle.

"...Eke?" she asked.

"Are you ok?" she asked further.

"Why'd you suddenly stop like that?" she then inquired.

She couldn't deny the concern that was rising from within her, but she didn't want to panic just yet. Maybe this was nothing. Maybe it was just Eke forgetting something, or trying to recall something.

Aly was silent again, before smiling softly.

"That's so sweet." she said, hugging him.

"I'm sure he'll love it." she told him.

"And I'll do whatever I can to help." she then said further.

"Just tell me what to do, and how I can help." she added, conviction in her tone now.

Emerald looked around the room... and actually noticed what she was talking about.

"...I..." he stammered. "Huh." he said.

"That... wow... that IS weird..." he muttered, seemingly entranced by it. "Like... really science fiction stuff..." he then said further, before suddenly pausing.

"Oh, glurp..." he said, using a swear-like term from their world.

"What kinds of things can LIVE in this weird light?" he asked. "Are they strange insect-like carnivores? Are we in danger!?" he exclaimed, starting to grow a little more panicked again.