phantasmalrift | DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE REEF

Expedition day dawns, as usual, with an android mass text -

Okay, so, this time we're aiming to go out and stabilize the Fissure in the reef you can see up a little to the north of here. The waters are usually pretty calm this time of year, so if you can swim instead of needing to take a boat, that'd be a great help. We only have a few of them.

Also, I know that last time was a mess, so I'm just gonna say this: If you need to get out for any reason, just send us a message and a picture of your location. We'll get a drone out to you as soon as we can and bring you home. No questions asked.

( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ Stay safe out there! When you're ready to go, meet us down at the beach. The rocky, sparkly one, not the sandy one.

Unlike previous expeditions, this time there's no rooftop sendoff - instead, as Charm noted, the tables are set up on Glitterstone beach, along with a series of boats pulled up on the sand. Two rowboats that could maybe sit six people but probably better suited for four, a trio of inflatable rafts (with motors attached to the back, all mismatched) of about the same size, a two-person dinghy and a long canoe that could hold two or three.

Besides the little fleet, there's also the usual bagged lunches (in gallon ziplocs this time, and other such watertight containers), and every boat is equipped with a large number of those chepa dollar-store water bottles, all with their airtight store seals. There's also a selection of life vests and other floatation thingies in a box next to the table. Strange hovers over the setup, checking watertightness of a handful of first aid kits with a spritzer and a bucket to submerge things in. They give a little wave to anyone passing by headed to the boats.

For those who opt instead to swim, everything seems perfectly normal until you reach the border of the Fissure... When, very suddenly, it isn't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Mostly, I'm fortunate to have met someone who could teach me how to use my power properly. I didn't really understand what it meant until I met Akira.

I can see why you care about him. Someone like that... It's good. And he seems to care a lot.

He's...done a lot for me, that I can honestly never thank him enough for. He's one of the reasons I'm able to believe that good people do exist.

A good person. Ours was, too.

I can't imagine any version of Akira that isn't. The one native to my own timeline is, as well.

[He can't help but worry about him, though. Does he think he's been abandoned again, after being promised it wouldn't happen...?]

You're from different ones?

The Akira here is from a world that was in the future, compared to mine. We didn't realize it at first, since our memories had been tampered with, but his timeline wasn't affected by the Reaper's Game until several months later than mine was.

Oh. Like -- like other people I know. There were four from one world. From different times. One in the past... Going to try to save the future.

The most they took from any one world in ours was two, but...yes, that sounds about right. We realized we had to have been from different timelines when Akira started remembering things that...the person I became in that mall wouldn't do.

The same for us. Two per world. But also per group. We're four groups that became one. ...Five, technically. But the last was made of survivors of the others. That's why there were more than two per world in the end.

For your timelines... Sorry. Probably a lot of trouble.

Ah...I didn't meet many from previous groups. Most of them had moved on to become Composers themselves by the time I died.

The timelines issue isn't too much trouble, though. We know someone who can travel between alternate worlds at will.

That's good. Giving that up would be too cruel after everything.

[...There's a moment where he glances away awkwardly. It's not like he's...suggested it would be better for Akira if they broke up, or anything.]

Right...I don't think any of us would be happy if we didn't have the chance to see each other again.

...[She frowns, but doesn't press on his reaction.]

What do you think we'll find?

Hmm...based on previous experience, a mixture of ordinary, if displaced, wildlife, magical or Fissure mutated creatures, and creatures made entirely of unstable magic. There might also be some potentially dangerous magical hazards, so it's best to be cautious of anything you can't identify.

Mm. [mai? careful? sounds fake] Maybe friends, too.

[It's not like he isn't being a hypocrite, himself...]

It's possible. The previous two Fissures, new arrivals appeared when we entered. Not to mention friendly wildlife.