video

[notimefordreams]

And now that all of the sprouting ears and tails business is over with...

[Among many other effects but whatever. She's adjusting and perhaps at a pace far more speedily than she really ought to be in all the wrong aspects. Ears and tails? That's okay. Thinking about not seeing Toby again for a long while? That's harder. The video tilts and moves a bit as Sarah settles her device a good enough distance away that she can more or less talk to it somewhat casually.

Once she's finally happy with that she leans back in her chair, bearing a mug between her hands. Steam rises off of it just a little and she completely looks like she's settling in for a nice chat with a friend here.]

So I'm not exactly well versed in video over networks and things like that but if I'm going to be here a while, might as well jump straight in. So in an effort to just get to know some of you and maybe satiate my curiosity at the same time, why don't you share a story with me?

[She pauses a moment to blow across the top of her mug, scattering the steam out of view of the camera for a second or so before she elaborates further.]

It can be anything you like. A personal story, a fairy tale, something you heard here or elsewhere, whatever. I'm not picky here.

[Maybe she will be in the future but for now she's feeling somewhat lonesome and stories have always been a way for her to outrun that particular emotion.]

Comments

[notimefordreams]

Ah yeah, organization. The bane of my existence.

[the_archivist]

I know the feeling. I'm not terrible at it, but we have statements going back two-hundred years. There's still a lot of work to do.

[notimefordreams]

[Now she whistles in appreciation.]

Two-hundred years. Okay, at least I'll never have to file two-hundred years worth of old school essays.

[the_archivist]

That does sound like it would be a kind of torture. Thankfully I don't have to deal with the more academic side of the Institute.

[notimefordreams]

Oh? Is it an actual academy with students? I thought it sounded more like s research thing.

[the_archivist]

We don't teach. But we are academic researchers. We have PhD candidates who work there, writing their thesis on folklore or mythology or- or whatever. I honestly never paid too much attention.

[notimefordreams]

[One can practically hear Sarah snap to attention.]

Where do I sign up.

[There's a lilt of humor in her tone but even with her light smile there's an air of thorough seriousness that still comes through.]

[the_archivist]

[He can't help a smile at that. He'd considered it himself once, back before the Archives, when Jurgen Leitner had been the worst monster he could conceive of.]

Well, London. The Magnus Institute if it exists where you're from. Or I suppose the Usher Foundation in Washington DC since you're American.

[notimefordreams]

I'll have to check in on those. I live in New York at the moment.

[the_archivist]

[He should warn her away. But he doubts it will help if she's truly interested.]

I'd offer you a reference, but... This place seems to draw people in from all sorts of times and realities.

[notimefordreams]

Oh. Yeah, I guess I tend to forget that.

[How exactly? It's a long story.]

What year is it for you?

[the_archivist]

It's 2018 for me. March. Or it was when I woke up here. You?

[notimefordreams]

[Her brows rise way up. This isn't the first time she's run into time differences but no one has ever given her a specific year.]

1999.

[the_archivist]

Well, that's quite a difference. Not the biggest I've seen but...

In that case, I definitely can't give you a letter of recommendation.

[notimefordreams]

What a shame. Remind me to hit you up again in nineteen years then.

[the_archivist]

Sorry. I don't think they'd take a letter from someone barely in high school seriously.

I will keep that in mind though.