savetheearth | {001} Video

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{001} Video

Wow, a secret network! This whole story keeps getting more and more mysterious!

[She had never imagined finding something like this so soon after arriving in the States. Though nearly breathless with excitement, Misa attempts to keep herself in check and remain at least a little bit professional. Beaming at the discovery is impossible to cover up, but she manages to avoid blurting out the first question that comes to mind in favor of a thought-out response.]

Hello, my name is Misa Amane! I’m new here and I’d love to have a conversation with anyone who has been here a while, or has information about what’s been going on. The news has been pretty crazy, but if you want to share your stories then I’m here to listen!

[There, that sounded pretty good, right? She hopes that no one too weird answers, but at least with this number she doesn’t have to meet them face to face right away. Besides, an insider scoop is definitely worth the risks. This is going to get her name on the map for sure.]

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[He pauses, then switches to a video feed. He's a pale and undernourished-looking sort with dark hair and eyes, and as he pulls his hand away from the mirror he's using to communicate with her, it's possible to see the number tattooed across his palm, and the deep, ugly scar running down his forearm.

Just for a second, though.]

Fair enough. My face isn't exactly a secret, here.

[Misa's eyes go wide and she gasps aloud, obviously startled.]

Ah, your face!

[The feed shakes a little and zooms in on her eyes as Misa brings her phone right up to her face for a closer look.]

I've seen your face—someone said Rue Ryuzaki, and I remembered your face! But your name is Lazarus?

[Misa leans back and the feed zooms back out. She looks a little unnerved, but mostly puzzled.]

I thought your name would be Ryuzaki.

[Her startled reaction startles him in turn, and he blinks his wide dark eyes and draws back from the mirror. He brings a hand to his face as though self-conscious; he knows he's not attractive, but that's a little mean.

Fortunately, she is able to explain further before he's decided he doesn't like her.]

Rue Ryuzaki? That's... really?

[Now his eyes are wide, and a smile tugs at his lip.]

I think my Other used that name. Whether it was his real one or not, I don't think I can say, but... yes, I'm Lazarus, and it's possible that our preincarnates knew each other, especially if you recognize my face.

[Inherently a lonely soul, he seems actually very pleased about this.]

Our preincarnates...?

[She isn't sure how pleased to be about this development (it's too weird to decide), but at least he's happy. Maybe he'll be more willing to talk now.]

Are you saying I remembered someone who isn't alive anymore?

Yeah... I'm aware that it sounds incredibly weird, and it is, but like anything, you do get used to it.

[It's certainly looking like he's going to be more willing to talk after the revelation that they're in some way connected even closer than most Numbered.]

The... implication is that we're all remembering dead people, yes.

[While this is an amazing discovery, Misa looks distressed by the news.]

Always...?

[It's silly to get worked up over nothing more than a face, but she can't help it. Not when it's been with her for so long.]

So then-- when I was little and I had my first kiss, I remembered a man's face. If that was an echo, then he's dead?

I don't know!

[He's quick to put this disclaimer out there.]

None of us know exactly how this works. If you were remembering a person, he might well be alive, but the person remembering him wouldn't be.

Do you... I don't suppose you could describe that face for me.

It sounds complicated.

[She takes a few deep breaths and smiles sheepishly.]

Sorry, I'm being dumb. He was... he seemed like an adult, but I was only 11 then, he's probably more like my age now. Late teens or early 20s. He had brown hair, he was Japanese like me and very handsome. But I don't know his name or what he was like or anything like that, it's just a face I've always remembered since then.

[She laughs a little, still smiling uncertainly.]

I promise I'm not crazy, or hung up on a face.

Heh... yeah, to say the very least, it's complicated.

[He wonders if it was smart to put the video feed on, because the way she describes that face makes it sound like she deeply admires it as well as its owner. The consideration that they might have known each other leads to the not-unreasonable notion that they had acquaintances in common, which of course leads L to remember the face of the man whose feet he touched. He smiles, but it's a touch awkward.]

No, he... sounds like someone my Other knew. It's not an unusual description, but if we were friends, we probably shared other friends, right?

Really?

[Misa falls quiet for a minute, thinking this over.]

So the memories of that face, and your face, and L... They belong to someone who isn't alive anymore, not me.

[It's hard to know what to make of that. While she had never had an explantation for remembering a face she had never seen, Misa had accepted it as hers none the less. To think that it's all just someone else's memories she has tapped into is somehow disappointing. But the mystery remains either way, and disappointed or not, she still wants answers.]

So they were all friends? That's a nice thought. But... If Ryuzaki has your face, does that mean the person whose memories I have looked like me...?

[The thought is oddly disquieting.]

L? I go by L sometimes, so... my Other did too, I think. Is that right? Did the person who looked like me go by "L?"

[He's eager, to the point of being somewhat naive about the whole thing. Even though he knows some unsavory things about "his detective" by this point, he's still hungry for facts about him, some more insight to tell him what kind of potential a shabby, washed-up chess prodigy can still tap into.]

It probably means that, yes. Do you know what she looks like? If you allays your fears at all, I've never really seen a face change as a result of echoes. It's mostly the color of your hair or your eyes, though a few people have undergone more drastic changes.

Wait, you're L too??

[This is all far too much new information to process at once. Misa shakes her head; since when are Rue Ryuzaki and L related?]

No, I never saw L's face. He was a creepy, computer-y voice that came on the TV one time. The voice talked about justice and there was this picture of an L on a white background. I didn't think he had anything to do with Ryuzaki.

If those two memories are related, does that mean maybe the mystery man is too?? Maybe not, since that one happened so long ago...

[Misa falls silent for a minute, overwhelmed. With the sudden connections, it would make sense for her kiss-person to factor in somehow. Maybe another echo will make it make sense.]

I've never seen... my "other." How would that happen, if I'm seeing things through her eyes? And wait, my body can change?!

Yeah, I'm L, too. It's like a nickname. I hated "Lazarus" a long time ago and tried to shorten it as much as I possibly could, and it stuck around, that's...

[Probably way more information than he meant to give away or he cares to know. Hated Lazarus, indeed. It's mortifying.]

...anyway. That's actually very consistent with what I know. I think that we remember the same background, and that broadcast about justice, where he... challenged someone. We must have worked very closely together.

[He's actually thrilled. This could be his chance to find out more, get the answers he's been missing, fill the gaps that have frustrated him up until now.]

Well, it can change, but usually not much. The most that's happened to me is a skeletal deformity. But... your other must have had a mirror, or a chance to see herself in one. If she looked like you, she was pretty, so she probably looked in them a lot, and you'll probably get an echo back to that effect eventually.

Ah, you saw it too! But it seemed like most people don't know who L is, right? So we must—my other and your other, they must have been close.

[Misa takes a moment to pause and then smile as it occurs to her that he called her pretty. He might have also implied that she (or her other) is vain, but still.]

Maybe... a skeletal deformity sounds like a pretty big deal though! I hope she didn't have anything like that. I wouldn't want to change too much.

I think I did see it. And I'm not sure... I think he was the most famous anonymous person in the world, if that makes any sense at all.

And I can see why you wouldn't want to change much. Have you done any modeling?

[It occurs to him that maybe that sounds creepy. Does that sound creepy?]

[Misa giggles, raising a hand to her cheek as if embarrassed. It's flattery, as far as she's concerned. Not creepy yet.]

No, nothing like that! Not professionally. I've always been into fashion and I used to pose for some friends— one of my exes was a photographer— but I'm definitely not pretty enough to make a career out of it!

What? No, if you wanted to, you definitely could. You're good at other things, obviously, but...

[He'll talk himself into a hole if he lets himself, so he lets that thought trail off.]

So I was right, you have done modeling.

[Misa waves her hand, brushing away the compliments, but she's obviously quite pleased.]

Nothing serious, it doesn't count! I'd rather focus on making my own things than modeling for other people.

[What were they talking about again? Ah, right, echoes.]

I'm sure no one would like changing, no matter what they look like. Unless they're really ugly, or maybe disabled... do you think that could happen? Has someone in a wheelchair or something like that echoed back working limbs before?

It totally counts, though... that being said I understand the desire to create and build something more substantial.

[There's really no good way to say "you're pretty so I didn't expect you to be a hard worker," so he doesn't attempt it.]

I... believe it probably has at some point. If not, then it could. I know there's a girl who was chronically ill and she was cured because of her echoes, so that's very positive, and I was disabled, but a surgery fixed me, not a pulse, so...

It depends on the situation. Some people have taken the changes in their appearances in stride, others have been less fortunate and therefore less satisfied.

Wow! That's pretty incredible!

[A scribbling noise can be heard as Misa jots down this information in a notebook that's off-screen.]

I guess that good things can come from changes too. Do you know how the echoes happen? What makes the changes, or memories appear?

Heh. Yeah, I guess it is.

[He looks and sounds a little self-conscious; the whole situation is, of course, but he's poor at accepting praise, and it comes just close enough that he feels similarly.]

Echoes happen... usually when something big does. Those animals, the lights that have been appearing in the sky, some of the other really strange occurrences or encounters cause them. But if something happens that's very similar to something that happened in your Other's life, it can also trigger them.

Something similar?

[Misa tilts her head, considering the ramifications of that. She can't remember anything big happening before her echoes, so it must be the other one. She files away "those animals" to ask about later.]

So if being kissed gave me an echo, it's because the person who looks like me was kissed... and the memory is related to that?

Very possibly. Was it your first kiss? Or was something about it completely novel? Maybe the person you shared it with?

It was my first kiss. I mean, my first real kiss, with an actual boyfriend... or that's what I thought then.

[She laughs, embarrassed to be talking about this with a stranger but also amused at the memory.]

We were just kids. But I never experienced something like that with other kisses, or other people.

Well, that explains it. A first kiss would have that "novelty" factor.

For it to be your first echo, it must have been at least somewhat significant in your Other's life. I wonder how much she loved that person.

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