[ Hm. Don't mind her as she pauses, briefly, to jot some of this information into a slim notebook. ]
As hypotheses go, it's got legs. However — there's another possibility. One I didn't mention when she first asked for my help.
[ Sciel had latched too quickly, too obviously onto the concept of a splintered timeline. On finding a way to control it. On — rewinding herself, it seemed like. And Jasnah realized in an instant that any further theories might require vetting. The one she's thinking of could wholly miss the mark. Best not agitate the other woman with mere conjecture. ]
Will you tell me more about the death in question?
[ If this were handwritten, Lune would be fidgeting. The other end of her pen tap-tap-tapping against the blank page (at least she'd learned from a young age not to chew on the nib, the ink got everywhere). In lieu of that, her fingers tap the edge of her clunky telephone. ]
Do you mean the one from the deceased person we met?
[ As soon as Jasnah confirms, Lune forces herself to answer the initial question. Crisp, factual, no matter how much it aches. She talks like the healer she's become. ]
Initial stab wounds and lacerations, then fully impaled on a sword. Deceased almost immediately after.
[ Maybe she ought to proceed more gently. Maybe she ought to pause and say I'm sorry for your loss — but Jasnah matches Lune's crisp and factual approach.
She does, at least, explain: ] That is, was it an ordinary death? There are stories of individuals returning from the dead if, at the moment of their passing, they were heavily imbued with magic.
[ Investiture, not magic. But she's not ready to get into the Proper Noun just yet . ]
[ She never really knows what to do with pity or condolences when she's on the receiving end of them; has always hated them. And it'd feel extra-strange now, accepting any words about loss when the loss himself is, technically, walking around again-- even if all of their grief still happened at the time.
So. It's appreciated. This approach is easier. ]
Hm. That, I'm not sure. I didn't witness it directly; it sounded ordinary as far as such things go, but technically nothing on the Continent is ordinary.
[ The blur of red petals left behind, so the only thing they had to bury was the prosthetic arm. Gustave hadn't crystallised into chroma, but that just meant he hadn't been killed by nevrons; he'd died like anyone in Lumière instead. ]
[ So. Not likely to be a Cognitive Shadow. Good. Jasnah would not have enjoyed explaining the concept to Lune. Specifically, the bit where no one is quite certain whether a Cognitive Shadow is someone truly returned from the dead or simply an echo left behind by vast amounts of Investiture. A copy, albeit a very, very good one. ]
Most likely a quirk of timelines and timing, then. One that remains to be seen whether it's mere coincidence or intentional on someone's part.
Intentional. As in, if some force is specifically and consciously choosing who to bring over into this world?
[ Lune asks that question; and then almost immediately starts to justify the theory, pondering it. ]
Despite all the diversity here, there does seem to be more overlap than you'd expect, if it were truly random across every conceivable world and every possible outcome to the ∞th degree.
[ Indeed. By Jasnah's estimation, certain worlds seem overrepresented. Others, conspicuously absent. And this is not merely the dull ache of personal loneliness; the distribution appears genuinely strange. If this phenomenon were sampling indiscriminately across all possible worlds, all possible histories, all possible outcomes, then the pattern should be more diffuse.
Then again, it's impossible to be certain of what the pattern truly is. If someone from Scadrial, Nalthis, or Sel had arrived here, they might have the good sense to hide it. She certainly has not been volunteering the full shape of her origins to every curious stranger. Still.
Patterns remain patterns, even when incomplete. ]
Whether by conscious choice or some established parameter. But I agree the distribution appears unlikely. Something may be selecting for particular qualities? Circumstances? Worlds? Or...points of crisis? If so, the question becomes whether those conditions are intentional (?) or some limitation on whatever mechanism is pulling us here.
[ The looser, less well-defined direction of Jasnah's theories surfaces in the dotted, uncertain punctuation. Empty spaces she'd like to fill. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
As hypotheses go, it's got legs. However — there's another possibility. One I didn't mention when she first asked for my help.
[ Sciel had latched too quickly, too obviously onto the concept of a splintered timeline. On finding a way to control it. On — rewinding herself, it seemed like. And Jasnah realized in an instant that any further theories might require vetting. The one she's thinking of could wholly miss the mark. Best not agitate the other woman with mere conjecture. ]
Will you tell me more about the death in question?
no subject
Do you mean the one from the deceased person we met?
[ As soon as Jasnah confirms, Lune forces herself to answer the initial question. Crisp, factual, no matter how much it aches. She talks like the healer she's become. ]
Initial stab wounds and lacerations, then fully impaled on a sword. Deceased almost immediately after.
no subject
[ Maybe she ought to proceed more gently. Maybe she ought to pause and say I'm sorry for your loss — but Jasnah matches Lune's crisp and factual approach.
She does, at least, explain: ] That is, was it an ordinary death? There are stories of individuals returning from the dead if, at the moment of their passing, they were heavily imbued with magic.
[ Investiture, not magic. But she's not ready to get into the Proper Noun just yet . ]
no subject
So. It's appreciated. This approach is easier. ]
Hm. That, I'm not sure. I didn't witness it directly; it sounded ordinary as far as such things go, but technically nothing on the Continent is ordinary.
[ The blur of red petals left behind, so the only thing they had to bury was the prosthetic arm. Gustave hadn't crystallised into chroma, but that just meant he hadn't been killed by nevrons; he'd died like anyone in Lumière instead. ]
no subject
Most likely a quirk of timelines and timing, then. One that remains to be seen whether it's mere coincidence or intentional on someone's part.
no subject
[ Lune asks that question; and then almost immediately starts to justify the theory, pondering it. ]
Despite all the diversity here, there does seem to be more overlap than you'd expect, if it were truly random across every conceivable world and every possible outcome to the ∞th degree.
no subject
Then again, it's impossible to be certain of what the pattern truly is. If someone from Scadrial, Nalthis, or Sel had arrived here, they might have the good sense to hide it. She certainly has not been volunteering the full shape of her origins to every curious stranger. Still.
Patterns remain patterns, even when incomplete. ]
Whether by conscious choice or some established parameter. But I agree the distribution appears unlikely. Something may be selecting for particular qualities? Circumstances? Worlds? Or...points of crisis? If so, the question becomes whether those conditions are intentional (?) or some limitation on whatever mechanism is pulling us here.
[ The looser, less well-defined direction of Jasnah's theories surfaces in the dotted, uncertain punctuation. Empty spaces she'd like to fill. ]