Squinting at thewake, but muse isn't so sure about it.

[comes_great_madness]

Miss Mun,

I appreciate that you think getting me away from home might be good. I think the idea of rest, relaxation and some clarity would be great. But - and this is very important - I don't want to leave. Things are bad back home. Horrible, even. I know I should be jumping at the chance to ditch it. I just can't. People need me there. I have a purpose. I'm getting closer and closer to figuring out what's going on, and once I do, I can stop it; I've got a plan.

...granted, that plan goes Step A, Step B, Wing It, Profit, but the point is I have a purpose back there. There is no reason for me to go Sea Shell City (and no, I'm not going to stop calling it that) when they already have, according to your cursory glance at the roster, a lot of heroes. Real heroes. People who have their lives and their powers under control.

I can help more people this way. And we both know that'll always be the deal breaker and maker for me.

Yours,

Tlanextli

P.S. We cannot do anything with nine icons. Seriously, look at them and think about it.

Comments

[ailuruslucidity]

My mundane says to assure you that nothing shall change in your home world should you travel to Nautilus. It shall be as you left it. I must confess, given how your describe that world, it does not sound like a terribly effective consolation. But there are many kind people there, and I would not hesitate to recommend it as a potential home!

And I believe most people who are taken to Nautilus will often find the purpose for their arrival in due time, even if it is not immediately clear. And given the concern you are showing for people in need in your own world, I suspect you will find you are more like the other heroes than you presently realize.

[comes_great_madness]

Even if time does stand still there - which I guess is possible but the amount of energy required to pull that off would be mind boggling, and wow, I don't even want to try to work out how that works - if Nautilus already has heroes, I'm redundant. Everyone there is safe, right?

[Tlanextli's expression falters. There's a pause before she replies.] My powers do things to me. Bad things. I'd be a handicap to people in Nautilus. In my world, nobody gets hurt if I screw up.

[ailuruslucidity]

[Pandora's ears perk up instantly at the first part of that objection. When she next speaks, she's talking faster than before, an edge of excitement in her voice.] I also wondered about the sheer amount of energy that would be required during my time there! However, if Nautilus existed in a separate, bubble universe with a completely different law of physics from our own, those laws might be favorable to allow travel between universes, and thus require far less energy than they would if the transit was initiated in our universe. I never attempted experiments while I was there to test these ideas, but--[She stops suddenly, clears her throat and calms down.] Y-yes. In any event, I fear mundanes seldom listen to us, even when we offer valid critiques of their plans.

I had similar fears, while I was in residence there. But your powers do not follow you. Nor, I would assume, would any type of consequences. Even if they do, I believe there are those who would accept you regardless, and see who you are inside first, before any limitations.

[comes_great_madness]

I don't think there's any way to test whether or not it has different laws of physics from ours - the technology either doesn't exist or doesn't exist in a universe we have encountered yet. And why would it? Anybody with the ability to gauge the energy and physics of universes would be part of a civilization far more advanced than ours and wouldn't have any desire to stop by ours.

It's not them accepting it I'm worried about. I'm worried about losing myself. Losing everything I remember from my world. If my powers followed me, that's a real possibility. [She takes a deep breath, and takes a swig of her cream soda.] Powers can come back. It's always a possibility.

[ailuruslucidity]

That is a central problem in any hypothesis of the multiverse, the inability to design an experiment to verify it. [She grins sheepishly.] I found it easier when I stopped trying to analyze the situation in Nautilus and merely accepted it.

What type of powers would carry so heavy a price...? [She didn't even realize she said that aloud, and can't help but shudder at the thought of that. ] And in your world, you are willing to risk such a burden to helps others? I... I envy your resolve.

[princelycharm]

Nonsense~!!!

There is no such thing as too many heroes in one place~! There will always be somebody who will need your help~!!!!

[comes_great_madness]

But there aren't any heroes back home. So it's better to stay there, right? To help people.

[princelycharm]

That is true... but there's only so much you can do to help them. Your people, in your home, they need to stand up together as a unit too. They should allow you to explore new realms!

[comes_great_madness]

They don't know what's going on. [Hell, she barely knew what was going on and she'd been actively working at it for... a while, she can't recall how long.] So I have to do it. Simple as that.

[princelycharm]

Then again, you haven't solved it until now, have you?

Maybe these people in, Nautilus, as my princess calls it, can help you in finding a solution. After all, you said it yourself, there are lots of heroes there.

[deusrexmachina]

If you end up in "Sea Shell City", there's not really anything to stop you from going back home at any time.

Though whether that plan or yours works or not is kinda out of your hands. It either will or won't, depending on how your world was coded.

[comes_great_madness]

There is. She's called a Mundane and she'll figure it out. Unfortunately, I've seen her work it out before.

'How my world was coded?' What does that mean?

[deusrexmachina]

Well, aside from the crazy people who like to make our lives hard, I mean. Other than mun issues, the gates out of the city are almost never locked.

The way things are set up in Nautilus, every world was created to run a certain way. Like they were programmed. Your life is gonna go along the path it was meant to follow, whether your want it to or not. Thing is, no one really realizes that's how it is until they're Awake and free to look at their lives back home from a new perspective.

[comes_great_madness]

Is there a way to tell how my world was coded? To tell if it's all been worth it or everything just falls apart anyway? Because that's the only reason I'd go there willingly. I'm tired of not having answers to anything.

[deusrexmachina]

Yeah, there is... Technically, an Ascended can enter a world and get to any part of it along the timeline.

[A brief pause. He looks away.]

Not something we normally do, though. Unless we're looking for or fixing errors, digging around like that seems like an invasion of privacy.

[doubletailpilot]

Hey, it'll be okay. I guess I'm just repeating everyone else here, but when you get to Nautilus time comes to a stop in your world as if you never left it.

And we could always use more heroes around Nautilus! Maybe there aren't as many bad guys hanging around, but the ones we DO have are... pretty nasty.

[comes_great_madness]

[Oh, damn it. He played the right card, the 'we REALLY need help' card. And Tlanextli's curiosity gets the better of her.]

What kind of bad guys do you have?

[She's going to regret asking that, probably. It can only lead to her getting involved.]

[doubletailpilot]

Well, there's this one creepy snake guy, Hazama. He's already killed a couple of people, and after possessing another Wakened he caused a really dangerous blizzard. And my mun says he's just flat-out bad news, and he really... likes it when people are miserable.

Then there's this huge robot we have named Blackout. He wasn't even in the city for an HOUR before HE murdered somebody.

[Which has gotta be a new record, seriously. Then Tails' ears flatten a little.]

And seeing as how my mun just apped a bad guy in, herself, she's... not really helping things.

[comes_great_madness]

Well, great, just freaking great, here. There's a guy running around like an omnicidal sadist maniac, a homicidal robot and new bad things coming in, and the city I was informed had a metric ton of heroes hasn't done anything about it. I thought everybody got reality warping superpowers at this place, and nobody put the kibosh on this sort of thing from the get go, really? Really?

[doubletailpilot]

It's... not quite that simple.

With Hazama, he's... pretty good at covering his tracks. Or at least twisting the truth enough that goin' after him kinda complicates things. And, uh... certain Wakened feel like Cybertronian matters should be resolved by Cybertronians. I guess.

[To be honest, Tails still isn't sure why the other Ascended haven't just thrown Hazama and Blackout in jail, already.]

But when they DO step outta line, we're usually more than ready for 'em.

[expertamateur]

Ho~~~~~h!

Praiseworthy dedication.

[comes_great_madness]

Thanks. I try.

[expertamateur]

Witnessing horror and seeing it as something to overcome is the start of stepping forward. Remember! All walls become merely hurdles when you learn to jump high enough.

[comes_great_madness]

It's something I have to overcome because so long as I do or I at least keep functioning then I can help people and that's really all that matters. [She talks this fast. Apparently breathing inbetween sentences is not a requirement for her at this point.] One day everything will be better if I keep working at it which is why I wish my mun wouldn't look into games so much you know?

[expertamateur]

I know.

[Conversely, the giant fuzzy bird man in the robot suit talks quite slowly.]

The only way to improve anything is to work hard, one step at a time. However... these current circumstances open you up to gathering new experiences. Experience is the basis of growth... Young one, please keep your mind open. The world, no, the universe, no, the multiverse is astoundingly enormous. If you want to be strong, you must take the flow of all things into account.