exsilium | 01 [video]

[This is his first time addressing people in this fashion. While he’s used to presenting in front of groups at small info swaps in Sybak, this is a whole new experience. While there’s a smile on his face, he’s a little nervous. ]

This isn’t what I had in mind when I first set out to do field research. It’s quite interesting, in any case.

[A pause. He’s had time to settle in, albeit a short amount of time, and has a general idea of what’s been going on. Hearing about the recent bombs was especially unsettling, which is why he’s outside the living quarters just looking at his surroundings. He’s eager to help out in this new place, even if he's not sure where to start. The people here had been through a lot already. It was apparent even from a casual glance at the last posts.]

For the time being, I’d like to offer my services to help reconstruction efforts in any way I can. I’ve only just arrived, but I hope I can be of some use.

[His expertise is research over anything else so while he looks useless, he can at least put a band-aid on someone. Or give them a hug. Or hold a nail while someone whacks it with a hammer. Before he ends the chat, he appears to remember something and quickly asks: ]

Are the words Tethe’Alla or Sylvarant familiar to anyone here? If it’s not any trouble, I’d like to talk to you.

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[That's weird. Who is Emil? Surely no one he has to worry about and only has the smallest possible resemblance to. Right? Right.]

I'm an only child. You must be confusing me with someone else.

[He pauses to wonder if he's going to get another "it's complicated" answer like he got from the redheads of Abyss, but then he's shaking his head.]

Oh... m-maybe. That's probably it! I'm sorry, you really looked like him so I was wondering why... You're new, huh?

[With every comment about this Emil person, he feels more of an urge to check it out himself. Hopefully he'll show up soon so he can get a look at him, but if he doesn't this time, Aster is sure they'll meet soon.]

It's alright. You don't have to apologize. I'm afraid I can't answer why for you. I haven't met him yet.

[Note the yet. That's a little better than a 'it's complicated' answer yeah? Just a 'he doesn't know but he's gonna sure find out' one. ]

That's right. I arrived here a short time ago. Have you been here long?

[So they're not even acquainted. This must be the infamous Identical Stranger thing. Wow. Even their hair is similar.]

Not that long, but I guess I wouldn't say it's been short, either. I've been here for a couple months, now.

[pause. then, !!!!] I-I'm sorry, my name is Kisaragi. Shintaro Kisaragi.

[It's a very common disease, especially in Tales Of Land. Clones and replicas everywhere.]

It's nice to meet you Kisaragi. My name is Aster.

A few months can seem like a long time when you're far from home. Where were you from?

It's nice to meet you too, Aster. Sorry I thought you were someone else.

[pause]

Um, I'm from Japan. ... Earth? Earth is the planet, and Japan's the country.

You don't have to apologize. We look very similar so we're bound to be mistaken. Do you know him well?

[He's been playing HEY EMIL: ARE YOU BROTHERS the game this whole time now. It's starting to give him a bad feeling all over about it.

...Also he may or may not be writing this down. His focus is his own world, but why not take the opportunity to learn about many others as well?]

Was Japan the only country?

I've met him a few times. I guess we're on good terms or something. [He's reluctant to use the term "friend" only because it's really only been three meetings. They didn't dislike each other. Acquaintances, maybe?]

... And no, there are more. I think a little less than two hundred.

[He was going to ask a bit more about Emil, but WOW. That's a much larger number than he expected to hear.]

That many? Amazing! It must be a huge place to accommodate that much.

It's... big. It's hard to explain how big, but it is.

Exsilium -- this world, too, is probably similar to the earth I'm from. The Initiative told us this used to be a part of Britain, and that's one of the countries that existed in my world too.

[That could be really useful. Aster isn't sure how yet, but it's something to keep in mind that he came from a similar world.]

Did you ever visit the Britain in your world or know if it was similar to the one here?

I haven't. I've seen pictures and videos of it, but the one here's completely ruined so I can't even tell you if it used to be similar.

[That's true. Aster had been curious more than anything, but hadn't expected much. How many lives have been ruined in this conflict?]

Given the scale of destruction, I imagine it would be difficult for someone who even lived there to recognize it. It's very sad.

I'm from the twenty-first century, so that's a long time ago if the timeline of this world coincides with mine even a little. Back then, Britain wasn't even that big of a country and there were plenty of countries with lots of more people.

... And yet, outside of Exsilium most of it's under the United Earth's control. That's how it is, I think?

Correct.

That's what the information on the tablet shows. I wonder if any of the transports have been able to get into the city itself to survey it?

[That seems pretty dangerous so he wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the case.]

Hopefully there is a way to offer a positive impact here and help secure a peaceful future for this world.

I wish you luck. The Inititative isn't hostile towards us, at least, so they won't deliberately give you a hard time. The people living in the city aren't as happy about us, though.

[Aster has caught glimpses of that through the network when he skimmed through past posts, but hadn't seen it with his own eyes yet.]

Is there a reason for the hostility?

The natives here tolerated us. They're not informed about what's going on in the city, but they know we're not from around here mostly because we look different, our clothes mostly, and they know we're causing them trouble. The bombings, the spaceship, and all that sort of stuff that affect them, too.

[He shakes his head.]

The United Earth spread a virus through the city last month. We fixed it, but the sickness killed a bunch of people before we could... starting with the kids. We can't even blame them for getting sick of us.

[That is an especially good reason to not like the transports, even though it wasn't entirely their fault. Aster can already see parallels between this place and the issues facing his world recently.]

There must be a way to stop anything like that from happening again. These people are innocent.

... Defeating the United Earth, I guess. So we have to work with them.

It's relatively quiet, most of the time, apparently, but the attacks were concentrated this time.

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