three

[defyingreality]

[ In writing rather his usual voice memo tactics. However he will still answer in voice since it's easier to pull off. ]

For all coffee drinkers, I've managed to find a few suitable brews to grace our shared kitchen as well as the needed tools to brew it. There should also be a larger variety of snacks to go with - if there's a craving for something specific leave a note.

Wreck, there should be some energy drinks as well. Nothing quite like home's but still good enough.

I also managed a few simple tools for repairs and a simple first aid kit. Both can be found in the laundry room.

Wreck, Nice, time for a talk.

-X

Comments

[awreck]

I guess it's just easier if I say it bluntly. I... want to know what happened to Nice.

He told me he doesn't really know, and I believe him. He remembers being on the roof at Treeman, and then he ended up here. No one... told me. Not Miss J, not Shang De. He'd been dead for weeks, and then suddenly he was on True Love Recipe, but it wasn't really him.

So... is it true? Did Nice really die? Did Treeman really use the Trust system to their advantage to have someone else replace him? Someone who... might have looked like Nice in passing... enough to fool the public... so much so that the public's belief that he was Nice made him look like Nice?

[defyingreality]

The less people knew, the better.

[ The Trust system was a fickle thing. Look at lower end Heroes, at how they struggle even for a single new believer to push them higher. And Nice... well, Nice had a strong foundation but he also had a lot of problems leading up to his fall.

X sighed and stopped being bratty. Instead he snapped his figners and was just that everyday office worker - though instead of a suit he was wearing a tshirt with 'TEAM COUNT' printed above an image of The Count and some rough pants. ]

He did and he didn't. The incident with Smile and then with the failed mission that Ahu stopped had Shang De tell him he was worthless. You know Nice better than me, so you should know how badly that affected him. He ended up on the roof. He ended up stepping off the roof and suddenly unable to fly. The worker that was there tried to grab him, but...

[ A shrug and he pushed up his glasses, all the information shuffling through his head. What he can say, what he Seen and what was Beyond. ]

That worker was similar enough to Nice that Miss J manipulated Trust to change him into Nice up to a point. He managed to shrug it off later and became the Hero Commoner.

You're not going to like this but... somehow Nice is still alive. But with a clear Fear infestation.

[awreck]

[ "Suddenly unable to fly." Wreck doesn't really believe that. He doesn't think Nice meant to try to fly away. Wreck's mouth is a thin, hard line as he stares down at the can at his hand. Anywhere other than at X. ]

So then... he lived? After he fell? If it's Fear, it can--it can... be dispelled eventually... right?

[ Whether Nice lived or not... either way... it springs forth more questions. If he died, what would happen once the Fear dissipated? If he lived and survived that fall... what... happened to him after he fell? ]

Do you... know the name of that guy? The office worker who ended up with Nice's face... temporarily, it sounds like. I'm... I don't know what to feel about him specifically, since it sounds like he was dragged into everything. But I do know... he was the only one who told me the truth about what happened to Nice. So... I feel like I should at least know his name if you can share it with me.

[defyingreality]

[ He just looks at Wreck, eyes far far older than they have any right to be. He was someone that just knew things that he shouldn't, and it makes him tired. Because even though he knows things, he cannot change them all. It would probably make things worse. ]

I'm not sure. I saw him, with these lines of Fear across his face and costume, and then I was here. I didn't have a chance to... well, to see what was going on.

[ He has to actively fight against knowledge in order to stay sane, not that it really works all the time. ]

Loli's father was trying to figure that out. You know what the agencies were like when they heard that. Hence the Ruins Incident.

He's Lin Ling. He use to work on all those cheesy Nice and Moon commercials but they fired him, which was why he was there.

[awreck]

[ Wreck is silent for a long moment as he makes an attempt to process everything that X has told him so far.

Really, the most important thing is that Nice survived. Somehow. And if he lived, even if it was through the power of Fear, then something can be done to save him. Lucky Cyan was able to quell something like that... right? Whatever was going on in that district? She fixed it. ]

Okay.

[ Wreck takes a deep breath to ground himself, then exhales it slowly. Nice is alive. He survived. That boy who stole--who had Nice's visage forced upon him--is Lin Ling. He does have one more question, but he doesn't care enough to ask about how the difference in timelines is possible. How for Nice, he'd come to the Library the day he was on the roof, but for him it was weeks after... and for X, even further in the future. Even if X knew, and he might know, the answer would probably just hurt Wreck's head. ]

I... thanks. That's... all I wanted to know. At least... Nice isn't infected by Fear here.

[ For now. He hopes it stay that way. ]

What... was it that you wanted to talk about? Because I'm not like you. I doubt I'm going to have any helpful information for you, about our world or otherwise. But I'll tell you whatever I know if you have questions, and listen if you have something else to say.

[defyingreality]

[ Lucky Cyan had a lot of Trust and Luck of an entire plane of people. She had something that no one can counter - even the gift of a single coin started his Hero journey which was something X really didn't want to think on. He doesn't know what the future is going to bring, but he did know that he wanted to fight against the Fate that determined what they were.

Fate. The Commission. And the still Living Zero. ]

Shang De uses Fear to create Phobiaclones. He used Fear to enforce Nice's Values. I'm pretty sure that it's there, just dormant.

[ He took out his coin and started flipping it over his knuckles, thinking about what he was allowed to feel given the state of the Library. Of what he was told concerning the Librarian. Looking up at the sky, he could feel the pressure of the pocket reality around him. ]

You and Nice are created through Trust - I know, it works differently for you, but Trust is still the main force behind all of it. I have a feeling that it will mutate here. My abilities aren't exactly the same - I think the Librarian and I share a few traits and this is their realm.

Have you seen if Nice's Trust has changed?

[awreck]

Right. Nice... told me a little about that.

[ Or rather, Nice had admitted that he'd been involved with the Ruins incident, and the Smile incident. But, even if that was something X knew himself, Wreck wasn't going to re-share it. Nice did tell him that in confidence, after all. ]

I don't think his Trust has changed so much as this place can't determine what his Trust is. Or mine. It's sort of scrambled. My understanding is that things are probably "frozen" back home, so our Trust is probably whatever it was back home. Otherwise, it'd be weird for us to still have our abilities, right...?

And--what do you mean "mutate?" Mutate how?

[defyingreality]

[ He would never ask someone to betray the trust another gave them, even if it might come back later to hurt them. That isn't what he was and what he would want to become - which is why he steered clear of all those Hero agencies. ]

Mm, I think that they are frozen to what we held back home, which is why I think we are like a lot of these unfinished books - stuck in time.

But, did you ever think that we may build Trust with the people here?

[awreck]

[ From the way Wreck frowns, it's clear he hadn't thought about that. ]

I guess not. But how would that work? Even if they believed in us, would it even count since they're not from our world? And how are we supposed to make them believe in us enough to get Trust?