[video; open]

[51stcentury]

[Viewers are greeted by a charmingly dashing white smile, easy and confident without being cocky, shining blue eyes and the face of a 1950's matinee idol. He's dressed in his customary outfit of braces and greatcoat, his very presence commanding your attention]

Hey there, kids. So it's come to my attention that there are some of us a little more used to this whole traveling in space thing, am I right? I mean. There are some of us on here who have literally never even heard of the idea, which. Is charming, really it is. But that means that this whole Tranquility thing has gotta be more than a bit of a shock. So here's where I'm going to be taking a poll.

How many of you are familiar with travel in space? How many of you have heard of it, but never dreamed you'd do it yourself? How many of haven't even dreamed of traveling the stars?

I figure if we cover that much at least, we'll be able to determine how many of us need a bit more explanation than the fact that we seem to be on some sort of large passenger vessel traveling through some undetermined part of some unknown galaxy. Vague, I know, but I haven't exactly found a viewing screen yet, have you? That's where the rest of us come in. Maybe, with your help, we can figure this all out.

[He goes to reach forward to turn off the video feed, before a thought comes to him and he stops, a more mysterious look in his eyes as he does] I don't suppose that any of you are familiar with time travel...?

Comments

[51stcentury]

Alright, you've got my attention. Tell me more. Just what sort of a "realm" are you talking about here, exactly? What differentiates one place from the other?

[walksonrooftops]

I don't know what it looks like on the other side. No one does. It's the place where devils stay, outside of our world. You can summon them. But they can't cross on their own.

[51stcentury]

Devils, huh. What constitutes a devil, then? How are they different from the rest of you?

[walksonrooftops]

It's something with magical powers, with horn and a thin tail. I don't really know what they can do. People who worship devils are bad, and I've never seen one before.

I think they eat us, too.

[51stcentury]

Huh. Can these devil things get through to your world then? Or do they just exist in the other realm?

[walksonrooftops]

Not that I know. You have to bring them over if you want them to do anything for you.

[51stcentury]

Huh. That's the first I've heard of two different worlds with any kind of symbiotic relationship like that, but then I guess there's a first time for everything.

[walksonrooftops]

Symbiotic? [All these big words. He assumes it has to be true in describing the way his world--or worlds--work. The cats summon the devils to do their bidding, and the devils devour the flesh and souls of the cats if they so will it. It's a shaky coexistence, but it's something he knows quite well, even if his own tribe explicitly denounced devil-worship.]

It was different, in your world?

[51stcentury]

Co-existance. One gains from the other, that sort of thing.

It was. For a start, the worlds that connected to ours were more than fine on their own. It was only when we started mixing them that things started to get hairy.