Volunteering

[hellofishies]

Type: Video
Sender ID: hellofishies (Arkady)
To: Everyone
Subject: Volunteering Volunteers?
Warnings: N/A

Hello! [ Arkady waves with a big smile ] I'm Arkady and I need help. I'd like to be able to help people more here but I need to know how much I can. Back home I can see the future sometimes when I try. But the people I would try with aren't here.

[ which is very hard for her so really she's just looking to find more people she can help look after. Anything to feel more useful than she currently does. ]

Would anyone be willing to let them look for them? It wouldn't hurt you! [ just her ]

I could also maybe help with other things. Lost memories or broken minds. It's wasn't my specialty but I know hurt. I just... [ she fidgets awkwardly with the sheer skirt she's wearing before saying quietly: ] want to do more than I did back home

Comments

[withermarked]

I suppose that makes sense.

[ Are they puzzle pieces or just foregone conclusions he's trying to avoid? He's not sure. So for now he'll ask something else that's bothering him. ]

So if—if you can see into people's minds, too, can you be certain you're not seeing... I don't know, possibilities they're already picturin'?

[ Because the problem is he's worried about a very specific possibility back home, and he's aware that could make him very easy to mess with. Not that someone whose actual intent was to do that would admit to it. ]

[hellofishies]

[ She looks a bit confused for just a moment and then shakes her head. ]

Oh, they're two different skills! I have to do different things to active each one.

[withermarked]

That so? I'll admit it's hard to imagine how either would work, I suppose.

[ But that's certainly an interesting detail to know. He still looks thoughtful. ]

[hellofishies]

I could explain more if you'd like.

[withermarked]

If you wouldn't mind, I'm... more than a little curious about all this.

[ To say the least. ]

[hellofishies]

Reading someone's mind means connecting directly with them, in their head. In their head you sometimes hear the things they're thinking at the surface but you have to actually push to hear the real thoughts. Or to see the broken bits, sometimes those really stand out.

[ She pauses for a beat ] When I look to try to see the future it's looking outside them. It's like swimming through a big darkness to find a specific landmark. I have to think about the person or the place and then sometimes it starts to come in more clear.

[withermarked]

That's interesting.

[ It genuinely is, though it doesn't really fix the angle he's concerned about. That's probably just going to have to be a matter of trust at the end of the day. ]

Do you have to know them well, or... just know who they are?

[hellofishies]

It makes it a little easier when I know them well. Back home I could always feel where my friends were because we knew each other so well. [ For better or worse. But that was becasue they'd known each other since birth. ]

[withermarked]

Suppose that makes sense.

[ He's not sure whether to say all the reasons he asked that, but he might as well ask about one of them. ]

I wonder, have you—have you tried to see for anyone who isn't in this world...?

[hellofishies]

I've tried to reach my friends, but I couldn't. [ She bites down on her lower lip and falls silent for a few seconds. ]

I want to try if I can see something about them but I'm afraid. [ Not that she might not see anything, but that she might see that her absence has caused some sort of bigger problem for her world. ]

[withermarked]

Afraid it won't work or... somethin' else?

[ His tone is gentle, though he wonders if he's prying too much. ]

[hellofishies]

[ She pauses for a few seconds. ] I'm afraid of it working.

[withermarked]

I think I can understand that.

[ After all, it's definitely part of his own concern. ]

[hellofishies]

Really?

[withermarked]

Maybe I'm makin' assumptions. But... I can imagine some things might feel worse to know for certain.

[ Even if he's not sure he wants to specify more than that just yet, in his case. ]

[hellofishies]

[ She doesn't say anything for a few seconds. ] I think so. I don't want to know that me being gone made things worse again.

[withermarked]

For what it's worth... I'm not sure things work that way? I mean—I mean I don't how it'd work with seein' the future but it doesn't seem like time passes the same. People go back like the never left.

[ Which he actually finds more upsetting, in his case. ]

[hellofishies]

I've heard that but I'm just...I guess it's silly to be so worried. It also... [ she frowns a tiny bit, not sure how to say the rest. ] makes things sort of sad. [ wouldn't that mean anything they do here doesn't really matter either? ]

[withermarked]

It doesn't seem silly at all... just thought that might help to know.

[ A pause. ]

Sad how?

[ There are certainly things he finds sad about the whole situation, but he'll make sure he knows what she's thinking of first. ]