video;

[notmynature]

Hello? Coooome on, work. You've done enough not wor...Oh. [Ellie, finally on camera, grins.] I've been tryin' to get this thing working since everything started.

So, uh, about the whole dying thing. [She laughs a bit nervously, possible with a tinge of guilt, and holds her arms out.] I didn't. It's kind of a lot to explain and I'm not really supposed to but I'm okay and I'm traveling with some people. They're cool, so...

Yeah, sorry about that, about worrying everybody but I'm glad I got to meet the people that came. It was pretty awesome, knowing there's places out there like that, where people take care of each other.

Does that happen a lot? Not the caring for people but meeting...friends, I guess? from other worlds? It'd kind of suck never really getting to see them.

Comments

[archerartemis]

Good to see you're okay. We got worried.

video;

[notmynature]

[She scratches the back of her head.] Yeah, the phone just stopped workin' right after.

So, hey, I'm glad you came. I wanted to let you know I took care of your body, when I was in it. It was weird to wake up as somebody else but I kinda kept to myself.

[pintsizedpyro]

Heh, somehow I just knew you'd be fine! Glad to see you're okay, I'd hate to get stuck with just these boring losers!

[He's a lot happier to see she's okay than he sounds, honestly. But, you know. Tsun.]

I've met some people from other worlds, sure. Wouldn't exactly call 'em friends, though.

Re: video;

[archerartemis]

At least everything's kind of okay.

Thanks for that, by the way. I did the best I could to keep you out of trouble too.

video;

[notmynature]

[To Ellie, that's a total statement of happiness.]

Man am I glad to see you. It's been a while, you know?

[She sighs before pulling a leg closer to herself, propping the phone up on her knee.]

Not even in your new world, after you left all the digimon behind?

always video;

[notmynature]

Your end was a little easier, probably. I mean, I didn't know where anything was but that's probably better than the soldiers and cordyceps.

So, uh, I noticed your mom' gone, too? She dead? [Not the most delicate of questions but it's a common thing in her world so she may not have the best filter.]

Re: always video;

[archerartemis]

No, she was in jail at the time. But she's gotten out since, so that's nice.

[notmynature]

Oh, cool. [She nods, smiling.] The getting out, not the being in jail. That part pretty much sucks. What was she in for?

[archerartemis]

Theft, armed robbery, stuff like that. She got hurt during the chase and did a plea deal, so she only had to do six years.

video;

[pintsizedpyro]

It sure has been. I was starting to think you'd kicked the bucket after all!

[He shrugs and leans back a little against the tree he's sitting in.]

Eh, not really! I don't really do friends, see, it's not my thing! I'm more of a lone wolf type, I guess.

[notmynature]

Six years? Wow, that's a really long time.

Hey? So... [The next question she realizes is kind of personal.] Why'd she do it? I mean, you guys need it that badly?

video;

[notmynature]

Nope. Turns out I'm harder to kill than that.

Huh? We're friends, right? [She scratches under her nose.] I kind thought we were.

video;

[pintsizedpyro]

Yeah, I figured you were too tough to take down that easily.

Uh. [...okay, give him a moment here, Ellie. He has no idea how to friends, so he didn't even realize that... yeah, they're totally friends, aren't they.] Well... yeah, sure! I mean... I'm allowed to have an exception!

video;

[notmynature]

Glad one of us thought so. [It was a mumble. In reality, she thought she was a goner.]

Yeah, an exception. Now it sucks even more that I'm stuck here.

video;

[pintsizedpyro]

...'m sure your world'll open up eventually! And if not, I'll just find a way to force it open!

[lifeisbrief]

I'm sorry something bad happened to you.

But I think a lot of people make great friends on here! Even if you can't visit them, some of the time.

always video;

[notmynature]

Yeah? [She grins.] Like how?

[notmynature]

Hey, it's okay. It all turned out okay. Kind of. [Not everybody was as lucky as her so there was that.]

I don't know, it just seems like it'd feel... far away. Kind of lonely sometimes.

[lifeisbrief]

I'm glad.

I guess it does...but at the same time, you can't be separated from your friends here by something like distance.

[notmynature]

There's no phones here. [That may seem a bit of odd way to start an explanation but it ties in.] So, if you wanted to see somebody, you went and saw 'em. If they were too far away, then they were gone. It's still weird to see people I can't touch.

[lifeisbrief]

"Phones"?


Oh! Do you mean telephones?

[notmynature]

Or cellphones. Nobody goes outside the city...well, they're not supposed to, so everybody you know's inside.

[embersandashes]

It's incredibly common, yes. Very few people seem to have come away from this place without at least one friend.

[notmynature]

What if you never got to really see 'em? [She shrugs, smiling a crooked smile.] I mean, yeah, I'm glad I met them so I guess I just want to know how you deal with not really ever being around them?

[embersandashes]

... Well, that isn't as much of a problem for most people as it is for you. But on one of the worlds I live on, friendships that exist entirely over computers are becoming increasingly common.