67 - video;

[islandshore]

[It's late at night when Riku turns on the feed. Judging by the starlight surrounding him he's outdoors. Lights from the surrounding cityscape shimmer from afar. The camera hovers behind him as he rests along the edge of a roof.

It hovers closer, and he finally turns around, gaze distant despite the camera's close proximity.]

You ever stop to wonder about our place in this world?

[Why, yes, it's one of those messages.]

I mean, think about it. We're dragged from our homes, dropped here and expected to play by their rules. And sure, some of us are successful. We've had businesses sprout up from nothing, helped fight off giant monsters, been invited to proms...

Still, we're outsiders, and sooner or later, we might disappear, and all the work we do here gets left behind.

[He looks up, sighing softly.]

It just got me thinking... What do the locals think about us? Do we count as citizens, even though we aren't part of the world? And how much do they really know about us in the first place?

[Heh.]

But maybe I'm over thinking it. I mean, this is a world that somehow manages to sustain itself even without an obvious education, limited career paths, and a surprising amount of pacifism in the face of crime. Community service as catchall punishment's kinda light, after all...

[Leaning back, Riku shrugs.]

I don't know. What are your guys' thoughts? I've got time to kill.

Comments

[VIDEO]

[invigorating]

Hmm... Those are all pretty good questions. I don't really have any answers for you, but I don't think we need to worry about it either. If we were brought here for a reason, I'm pretty sure we'll figure that out eventually! And the people who were born in this world have been pretty nice! I don't think they dislike us or anything.

[She tips her head a bit as she thinks and the Dratini she's wearing as a scarf looks up sleepily.]

The people I've met here are some of the nicest anywhere! Even if you say stuff that they think's pretty weird like "I'm a dragon" or "I was fighting in a volcano before I got here" they just sort of shrug it off. I like them!

[Video]

[grapeeater]

... I think... it doesn't really matter much what the locals think of us. What matters is that this place is really kind of an open canvas. I mean... even if when we return home, what we did here disappears... I'd like to think that at least some things get taken with us.

I know I've changed from the person I was when I got here, and the fact that I had the space to do it here... means a lot. No end of the world, no people I knew from home, just... enough time to figure things out at the pace I needed. So I'd like to think that at least that kind of growth gets taken with us in some way. Maybe our place is just... to use this time to our advantage.

[video]

[diosmio]

I can honestly say I haven't given much thought to what they think of us. After all, unless you come from some sort of severely underpopulated world, can't most people say the same of their homes? Who knows what complete strangers think of them or if they even care?

[He shrugs, not out of habit, but merely to demonstrate how little interest he has in this topic.]

I don't mean to offend, but it honestly seems rather pointless. When you visit a shop, do you stop to wonder what the shopkeep thinks of you, or how he gets through his day? For most people, things like that simply aren't worth the time it takes to dwell on them.

[video]

[paladinlost]

Why would we be considered citizens? In fact, why would they bother learning more about us? You said it yourself: sooner or later, we'll all leave this world, and everything we've built will fade away. I can hardly blame them for not wanting to get attached.

[He cannot imagine personally not getting attached, but he can certainly understand why others wouldn't.]

It's been five years and a half, yet this world's society still makes no sense to me. Children and teenagers obviously do not have quite the same rights as adults, yet there appears to be no support system for those who have no families here.

video;

[paopuprincess]

[Oh Riku, you're getting awfully existential. Do you need your buddy to bring you back down to earth?]

Are you really listing "Prom" as a major milestone?

[Video]

[friendyousohard]

Still thinking about that, huh? Maybe I should apologize for bringing it up if it's stuck in your mind for this long.

[She jests, of course. She knows full well Riku would probably be pondering it regardless.]

video;

[pipers_son]

My thoughts are that I ain't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Enlightening words from Joker, everyone. Still, he leans back, on a curb somewhere in Goldenrod, and seems perfectly at ease.]

I mean, how much do all the fine details matter for us right now? Locals don't hassle us much, which is kinder than a lotta other places. Bein' a citizen don't seem ta matter much, so long as ya got the money ta buy yer home or set up a business. Fair enough ta that, I say.

And if we disappear all of a sudden, leavin' things, well, how different is that from life normally? S'what I say.

video;

[bylight]

You're starting to sound like a philosopher.

[Which may come with an existential crisis there, Riku.]

video;

[usedglaciate]

...that really is light, as a catchall punishment.

[Enough so that it makes Weiss raise an eyebrow.]

I think we're as much a part of the world here as we are anywhere. Yes, we might go home and completely forget, but the things we do still make some kind of impact while we're here.

[video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake's on the couch, lit by a lamp. There's an Emolga softly snoring on his lap.]

Hey. You're too young to be having a midlife crisis, Rick.

[Seems like he's in that kind of mood too, though.]

You know, I never thought about it that way around. I was always trying to figure out if they're real to begin with. They handle us pretty well.

[heartdive]

What do you think about us?

[video]

[hashtagafreakingghost]

[Ashley's in a hotel room, upright in her bed. A Munna drifts in and out of view behind her.]

We're kind of isolated from them, aren't we? Only...connected via this system, easily at least. The locals are all around us, and yet...it doesn't feel like it. Even when I see them every day. Could they get fed up with us? Maybe...

[She bites her lip and lets that thought trail off.]

It's a little reassuring to hear someone else asking things I've been wondering...but REALLY unsettling to know someone who's been here much longer still doesn't have an answer to any of that.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

Honestly, as simple as things are here, the people in this place adapt to things hella quickly.

And when you think about it, it kinda makes sense.

Like, sure, my out-of-town-ness comes up in conversation sometimes when I'm out and about, and people are interested, but like. In the background there'll be a rogue Tentacruel chasing people off the beach on the news. Or someone's Kadabra accidentally teleporting halfway through a brick wall and needing a whole team of Machokes to delicately chip it back out.

The people here are used to weird shit and I think by this point, people like us popping up is just... par for the course. A weird thing amongst five billion other weird things that everyone is just used to now.