entranceway | ƒ 004 [voice/action] open } { i can’t promise to obey you, i can’t swear i won’t betray you

[The ambient sounds of Lux Deux is prominent in the background as the feed starts up again, and for a long time it is the only sound aside from the clink of the glass being moved against the bar while Freya tries to get her words in order. She’s ascertained from her siblings at this point that she’s been gone far longer than would be considered “normal” for Wonderland – if there ever was such a thing.

She could simply announce that she’s returned and leave it at that, let those who wish to seek her out come find her, but that has never been her way, and while she doesn’t wish to talk about herself, she’s curious about something else.]

A question for you, Wonderland, though it is a rather specific one.

[Her words are slow and deliberate, likely indicating the amount she’s had to drink at this point – enough to dull the events of the last few months spent home, but not enough to make her sloppy – and the sound of her placing the glass back down on the bar can be heard before she continues.]

At this point, I’m sure we’re all aware of the … complications, involving those of us arriving from different points in the same timeline. For those of us who have come here and then learned of our future before actually going home to live through it, what do you think was worse? The speculation of what was to come, or the events themselves?

[There’s a small scrape as the glass is lifted again.]

Would you prefer to have remained ignorant, or do you feel at peace having lived the truth for yourself?

[And she’ll have the device with her to answer replies, though if you would prefer to visit her in person, she would not say no to company either. She’s probably going to be at the bar for a while.]

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Is there an Option C, all of the above? Hearing about your future antics from others and then living it the exact same way, making the exact same mistakes, both sound unpleasant.

_{[Anders' voice has a sigh trapped in it.]}

Speaking for myself, I haven't done the "living it" part yet and I don't plan on it.

Then I hope you don't have to.

[Because he's right. It's incredibly unpleasant.]

However, it is nice to be on the same page as my siblings. To know that there are no secrets between us.

You and me both, you and me both.

_{[What he's heard of the future has only made him more determined not to see it come to pass. He's not sure taking Justice on and travelling to Kirkwall is a road he wants to follow anymore, and he definitely doesn't want to reach that road's conclusion, Justice corrupted and Kirkwall in flames.

Fenris is long gone now, but Anders would prefer to believe in the elf's viewpoint. That if he wants change, he must change it. He can change it.]}

Is that what happened? You have family here in Wonderland who remembered events you didn't?

Several months worth, in fact. They came from a future we spent a long time trying to avoid.

[But in the end, it found them anyway. A self-fulfilling prophecy, as it were.]

That bad, huh?

_{[It certainly doesn't sound like it'd been the kind of relaxing trip home involving sand, sun, and a fruity drink with a little paper umbrella.]}

Sorry things went south at home.

[She gives a small shrug.]

It was bound to eventually. In my world, things are never calm for long.

That's a cynical way to look at things. You said you were trying to avoid the outcome you got--you're allowed to shake your fist at the universe. We'll start you off at twenty seconds of fist-shaking, and if you need more we can go longer.

_{[But his tone lacks judgement. They could come from the same world with talk like that. He routinely jokes about everything going to the void in a handbasket, and more often than not it certainly feels that way between Blights, and sentient darkspawn, and the Circle, and Wonderland with its mind fuckery.]}

Everyone came out of it all right? All present and accounted for?

_{[The worst case scenario he can envision is that Freya had bit the dust in her home world, and now she's back to tell the tale, but there's no tactful way to ask that.]}

[And that makes her laugh, a genuine one, before she nods once.]

I'll look into the fist shaking.

[There's another pause as she considers, swirling her drink.]

More or less. We're down, but not for the count. At least not yet.

_{[In response, he makes an approving noise. She can take it as official medical advice from a healer, if she likes. Sometimes a person needs to blow off some steam with ineffectual gesturing.]}

I suppose that's good, then? Sounds like there's still a chance things can turn around.

_{[Being down for the count doesn't sound all that good, but so long as Freya and her people are alive and have all their fingers and toes, that's all a person can really ask for. You know, excluding not being pinballed between dimensions at Wonderland's whim.]}

There is.

[That much she is certain of. There isn't a lot that Hayley won't do once she puts her mind to something.]

And the person with the means to do it, I would trust with my life.

Too bad Wonderland benched you before you could get to the good part. Guess you're stuck waiting to see how the cliffhanger ends again.

_{[They really ought to be charging interest for all the time Wonderland makes them waste while it gorges on their memories like some overly large mosquito.]}

Welcome back, by the way. Did I forget to say that? Well, there it is. What ended up being your answer to the question? Was it better to live those months even if you didn't get to change anything?

Still undetermined.

[She finishes off her drink, but there's a smile in her tone.]

But I'll take experience over conjecture most of the time, if I was given the opportunity to choose.

I don't know that I could nip back home for a stint just to live someone else's memory of events. If Wonderland's proven anything, it's that these things are mutable. I have to believe we aren't locked into a future and can change events.

_{[But it's easy to say when he's not standing in Freya's shoes. He's still managed to retain all of his memories of Wonderland and of home--or he's relatively sure he has.]}

That would require actually remembering we were supposed to remember something once Wonderland ships us out, though. Don't suppose the old "string around the finger" trick would work.

_{[If they're ever going to get the edge on Wonderland, keeping their memories is the first step. Also easier said than done.]}

That I haven't tried.

[She considers quietly for a moment.]

But I suppose it might be worth a shot. Who knows how long it would take to achieve that particular experiment, however.

As long it takes. No one should have their memories toyed with the way Wonderland does with all this coming and going.

_{[Things could've worked out differently for Freya if she'd remembered her time here. It still could. He has to have hope in that.]}

[Maybe he's right. But she knows how strong Wonderland is, and she fears it may take longer than they truly have.]

Then we better get to work.

_{[The corner of his mouth curls. He's long believed there are few things more attractive than a woman when she gets down to business.]}

Well, we've got nothing but time, right?

_{[He just hopes it won't take twenty blighted years to pull off like escaping the Circle. Or worse yet, two hundred. Two thousand. He doesn't have that much time.]}

Any insights from your survey so far? You must be getting a wealth of interesting answers, given the motley crew we have here. Everybody seems to come back with a different story.

There are definitely a variety of reasons for their view point, but in the end, it always comes down to the same thing: Ignorance is never truly bliss.

[And it certainly doesn't make anyone's life easier.]

ƒ 004 [voice/action] open } { i can’t promise to obey you, i can’t swear i won’t betray you

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