walkersystem | 5 ✶ video

[Hello network! Have a bright looking Molly, sitting cross-legged on what looks like the floor of her hotel room, with the side of the bed as a backdrop. Curled up in her lap is an adorable very recently hatched Amaura, who is nonetheless quite alert and looking up at Molly as she sets the video up.]

-- okay, there.

[She sits back and waves, and then pets the ice dinosaur, looking down at him.]

Look! It's so cool that there are dinosaurs here. Even if they're not really dinosaurs.

He took a long time to hatch so I wonder if he'll grow really slowly too. And then get really big.

[Ice dino makes a soft noncommitical (probably) sound. Molly is lost in amazement that she now owns an ice dino for like a second before she looks up at the video again with another kind of smile; a more searching, curious one.]

Okay, I wanted to ask something. I know a lot of people have a lot of pokémon, but you can only have six with you, right? So you put the rest in the computer.

Does anybody know what it's like for them there? People told me that time stops back home when we're here so maybe it's kind of like that for them?

I have six now and it's so weird to think about putting them somewhere that isn't really here.

And how do you pick which ones to put in there anyway?

[Another little pause,]

Oh and I know it's really rainy right now but if anybody wants to do anything or say hi to Jay you can call me.

[Bye network!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's already changeable.

It's not like the real world.

[He frowns, furrowing his brow.]

No. No, it's not. Not like the real world. Not like at home. It's... the buildings aren't changeable like in Cloudbank. The sky doesn't get painted. Everything moves too slowly.

_{[.. wait, huh?]}

What kind of place are you from?

... Cloudbank.

[Like he... just said.]

I heard what you called it. I mean it sounds strange.

... Ah. Well, as far as what I've heard, other places don't... sound like it at all. It's a large city, very large... but that's all there is. That and the Country, but the Country's a one-way trip.

_{[Have a small frown.]}

How can it be a one-way trip?

It's... well, it's where people go once they've been... removed from their bodies. Some call it an afterlife, but it's a physical place.

[~~Damn you, vague canon.~~]

You mean when they die.

That's right.

[More or less.]

Does that happen a lot?

That people die? ... Well, accidents happen. And sometimes the older residents decide it's time to make the trip.

But if it's a real place ...

_{[She pauses to think over what it is she wants to ask, frowning slightly.]}

You mean it's not like heaven, right? Like you can really, actually go there?

Yes. But you can't go back.

_{[She's quiet again for a moment, but then she just kind of ... sighs. And nods. Acknowledging.]}

Okay. Then I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.

Not really, no.

[... Oh. He should probably say something else.]

... It's not a bad place. I've seen... well, bits of it. Everyone will be there if I end up going back to where I'm from, including me.

[Which is... annoying. But at least Grant will be there.]

People have told me time freezes and stuff, when we're here.

_{[Her tone makes it clear that she's still not sure what she feels about that.]}

That doesn't... change much in my case...

Why not?

Because everything's... already over...

.. what do you mean?

The city's already been Processed. No one's left. The Process has taken over everything.

_{[Um, this is sounding seriously ominous ...]}

What's the Process?

The... Process is a... group of... well, you could call them robots. They were... they used to build and survey the city as directed. But we lost control over them... and they did what they wanted. They started to... deconstruct the city.

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