Audio

[outer_npcs]

[It's a little after midnight on Tuesday night when a voice - familiar to some, though not heard since the timelines had splintered - whispers across the network, sounding immeasurably sad.]

Eyes shut, eyes open.

He sees you.

Comments

[Video | Encrypted still, since Tony never turned that off]

[kazeninaru]

You!

[The expression on her face is surprised and immeasurably relieved. Even though the Oracle can't see it. Her voice is both, as well.]

You are alive! I looked for you! Where are you? How long have you been back?

[The warning is not precisely disregarded, since the "he" she's talking about could be... a particular "he"... but it's coming second to her own questions at the moment.]

((ETA: in case the Oracle can tell, Haruka is hurt, she got hurt in the ambush that I'm tagging into next...))

[Audio]

[outer_npcs]

Long enough. The world bleeds.

[There is a brief pause.]

Your concern should be for yourself. You are not yet safe.

[Video]

[kazeninaru]

[The relief gives way again to seriousness, as it probably should, and a little wince as Haruka shifts a little in her seat on the convoy. They're halfway home, but still have a little ways until she can get decent treatment. (Mun thinks).]

Hai... I know. I found Roland, and there is something wrong. Is he the "he" you mean?

[outer_npcs]

[There's a pause, as though the question puzzles her.]

Names? Names are irrelevant. They change with the season.

[kazeninaru]

[Right. Dealing with the one who is impossible to understand. She'd forgotten about that, a little. Haruka tries again.]

... that man from the future, who was on the ship with us when we all were trying to kill each other. When you, ah. Died. Is he a danger?

[outer_npcs]

Future?

[The old woman sounds puzzled. To one such as her, there's little difference between the future, the present, and the past.]

He loathes Salvation. Too much lost. We should all lose with him.

[Whether she means Roland or some other, nebulous "he" is open to interpretation.]

[kazeninaru]

[Haruka can only assume at this point that she means the same he she does. If that turns out to be wrong, well... oh well.]

That might explain why he is connected with the end of things, somehow. And why he looked so angry for that brief moment, at me.

[outer_npcs]

We are all bound to the end. Ended. Echoes of the lost.

[kazeninaru]

[This is tricky. Haruka may be well aware that everyone is bound to the end, but she wants to know about that persn, in particular.]

Ah. I meant. The end of time. When the guardian of time had... died. Do you remember what you said to me then?

[outer_npcs]

A metaphor. The end has come and gone.

[kazeninaru]

Hai, yes, I know it's a metaphor, but...

[Haruka has never been all that patient, and she kind of hurts right now. So she huffs and gives up. For now.]

Never mind. You are all right. And I'm not in that city anymore, right now. We are on our way home.