[Voice]

[espigeonage]

[It's 11 PM on a Sunday night and Julien is bored.]

Galu, network. Random request: tell me a story.

Any story! Tell me about something that happened to you, or the other you. Or a fairytale, a joke that requires setup, something you read about in the paper, something you want to happen or really, really don't. Let me guess which one it is. I can tell you one, or a poem, or play you something from a dystopian future.

Yeah, I got the password to the other me's smartphone. It's got a lot of weird nonhuman future-music on it, and a couple of movies that haven't come out here yet. Seems like the library's got corrupted somehow, but there's still stuff there.

Comments

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

You want stories, Blue? Did you ever ask the right girl.

[espigeonage]

C'mon, Red. Surprise me! I've seen a lot of your published stuff by now.

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

What kind of a story do you want from me this time?

[espigeonage]

Hmm! Aaah, I'm spoiled for choice. You could try and teach me a lesson, or give me a peek at something new, or you could tell me something you're positive would never get published~

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

Teach you a lesson? Blue, you of all people should know I don't give a damn about lessons unless they're the sort that keep you alive.

[audio]

[peacefulwinter]

Sure... it's kind of a lot of those at once, but you might find it amusing. It's a story I first heard f-from past-me, as a pulse. It's a simplified version of Oscar Wilde's tale of the Happy Prince. A statue made of gold leaf, in the center of a town, wants to help the people around him. A sparrow leaving for the winter takes the ruby from the statue's sword to a family, then his sapphire eyes, and eventually the gold leaf that c-covers him. He gives everything of himself, for no reward, and at his own expense.

The Oscar Wilde version is worse... the sparrow stayed far too late into the winter helping the Prince, and falls dead at his feet after finishing the last chore. The Prince's lead heart breaks, and an angel carries both of them up to heaven...

[She's silent for a long moment; there's at least one, faintly shuddering, deep breath before she continues, faintly deadpan.]

W-with me so far? Past-me somehow manages to make this story worse.

[espigeonage]

Nathlo, Winter. I've heard this story, though it's been a long time. Actually I think the first time it was being compared to the Rainbow Fish book!

[He gentles his voice.]

What happens in her version?

[peacefulwinter]

Oh, good, I don't have to talk about that version any more. Which is for the better... I don't know why a fourteen-year-old is reading Oscar Wilde, anyway.

She's telling it to someone else, a good friend of hers. And when she steps back from it... she compares her friend to the Happy Prince. Giving everything of herself, to the point of being self-destructive. And her friend just kind of... laughs, and tells her that that would make her the swallow.

And then her friend turns into a magical girl in front of her when it's supposed to be a big secret, and almost gets herself killed, and past-me shouts at the top of her lungs, "Let me be your swallow!" And she has to know what fate she's s-signing herself up for, and she does it anyway, and she doesn't even care.

That's where my powers come from. A girl that... is so devoted to someone that she is willing to put herself in harm's way for that person. To die for that person, if it came to that. And it scares me, a little.

[espigeonage]

I see.

[He hums tunelessly to himself, considering.]

It's certainly understandable! These other people are bleeding into us. We're becoming more like them in a lot of ways. The other me, the Apostle, is more violent and selfless than me, though I don't know if it goes as far as that. [It does. He doesn't know.] It's definitely scary.

But, it's happening piece by piece, and it's not making us forget who we are. We have to believe that we can hang on to something. Self-preservation, at the least.

audio;

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ Even as her response starts, she seems to muse for a moment, but then figures... this had been weighing in her mind for a little while, now. Might as well get it out if someone's willing to listen to her prattle on. ]

Ah... hm. Well, in that case...

Long, long ago there was a King of The Desert. A malicious being who hated hearts, he sought to turn the world into that which he ruled - nothing but a sea of sand. Lifeless and loveless. To counter this, young women through the centuries were chosen by something called the "Heart Tree" to become warriors to fight this evil. Whenever the King's Desert Apostles existed, so too did Precure to counter them.

His first Apostle - Salamander - from the start of his existence, simply wanted to know why he existed, and what made his King's heart tick. The King hated him for his curiosity, and his curiosity about what may lay in one's heart - Salamander was cast out, then subsequently defeated and imprisoned by the very first Precure, Cure Ange.

Centuries later, Salamander was freed, utilizing a boy he was transforming into a beast to carry out everything. Not just to transform the world into a desert, but to destroy everything.

The... other Cure Moonlight. The first one, she opposed Salamander, she fought for that boy.

[ A small breath, feeling like she'd just let out a lot of pressure in her mind. ]

Sadly, this is a story I don't know the ending to, but... I've gotten a lot of it, recently.

[ ... ] Sorry, if this is talking your ear off a bit.

[espigeonage]

Hey, more apostles. And I don't mind! Lord knows I love to talk myself.

We get pieces of puzzles, and they don't always fit together well. How many pulses was this? How long have you been numbered?

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[ Another breath. Okay, he doesn't think her crazy, at least by appearances. That's good. ]

Ah, I suppose we've never really talked, have we? I'm Lily. I've been Numbered since... I guess it's been around nine months, although I didn't come straight onto the Network at first.

It was two or three pulses, I kind of got... a lot of information by way of this Salamander reciting that story to Moonlight. Bits and pieces here and there I've picked up on over the months, but... That appears to be the basic situation they were dealing with, whenever that other life was.

[espigeonage]

Galu, Lily. I'm Julien! The winged guy. [he's harpylike now and has taken up modeling.]

Huh. So, the other you is this Moonlight, then. What's Salamander like, aside from curious?

[Audio]

[charcoalfeather]

...Uh, okay.

So, there's this guy, and he's an assassin I guess. He gets caught, and the news talks about his case. They say that he's been convicted of the crime of beating a cow to death in a field with some porcelain figures.

[beat]

They say it was the first recorded case of "knick-knack-patty-whack".

[....Anything?]

[espigeonage]

Oooooooh. Didn't know you had it in you, Rakka! [He takes on a fake-earnest tone.] Gee, is that something the other you did?

[charcoalfeather]

[She chuckles, her voice sheepish.]

N-no, not at all. That's just a joke I saw on the internet a few times.

[espigeonage]

Really? Rats! I was sure I had it!

So, shall I tell you something?

[bronographic]

I used to live in a post apocalyptic world and had an AI that was a copy of my brain. Not much of story, but I don't remember too much yet of past me.

[Pause.]

Can't say I have anything too interesting to share for this life, either.

[espigeonage]

Huh. Maybe as is it's not much of a tale, but it sounds like the start of a pretty big one. The other me is from something postapocalyptic too, more or less. I used to think aliens invaded and took over things.

Have any hobbies?

[bronographic]

Apparently aliens took over where I'm from, too.

I draw sometimes, watch some foreign animations, and work on cars. You?

[espigeonage]

Yeah? Always weird.

There's interesting things, there. What do you draw? Related to the animation or the cars? Me, I'm pretty much into people. Some inclination for poetry.

[Video]

[allformii_ko]

[Storytelling? That doesn't seem too hard. She wants to try, too!]

There were two cats, some tanukis, some foxes, and a deer. Nobody knew how to open doors, so one of the cats had to show everyone how to open it, one by one.

[...

If he's expecting a punchline, there isn't one.]

[espigeonage]

[To match, Julien too goes to video. The angle doesn't really show his wings, but some feathers can be seen at the edges of his sleeveless shirt.

He waits a minute, but apparently that's it.]

...Huh. I see. Smart cat then?

[allformii_ko]

I think so. Cats don't know how to use doors normally. I wonder where she learned it?

[Hmmm...]

Why do you have feathers?

[espigeonage]

Well, I have a friend whose dog used to be able to open them, if they had handles. He got too old though.

[Julien shifts in place a little.]

I got a pulse that made me grow them.