"Yeah. I only ever had foster parents. Pretty even mix of good and bad there, and I haven't kept in touch with any set."

"The Endbringers sound like a really big problem - I bet a lot of people'd volunteer to go and help out. Especially people who're from Earth originally. There's not a lot big to do here - stuff from the Idealands isn't a big threat, and the nasty things from higher levels can't exist here, and the powerful Dreamers kind of keep each other in check. There's the mad gods, but... They haven't done anything in a while, and they're not really something to fight. An enemy with a face to punch is - people'll feel they can actually do something."

She shivers. "Maybe. You'd - I just mentioned them by name you don't know what they're like. They can't kill the Endbringers, only drive them away sometimes. And lots and lots of people who fight, die. But it's not like I'm going to deny anyone who wants to fight Endbringers. Even villains shape up long enough to try and hold them off. A truce."

"...Honestly they sound kind of like small mad gods. Mad gods - if you piss one off, your city might get turned to ash. Your county might get turned into a volcano. Your state might end up sunken under a thousand feet of glass. It's... Not even the most powerful Dreamers can hold them off. And Dreamers can shape the world - the really strong ones can say what's possible or not around them." He shakes his head. "Dunno where they come from, and I remember there being some counted number but not how many - lots, though."

"Well, Leviathan sank Kyushu. Which is the southernmost main island of Japan. There's two Endbringers... But we thought there was only one at first, so."

"Yeah, I get it - just. I don't think we lack things on that scale. Or bigger. Just... The visible part of the glass plains under Haneth are probably about that big?"

"Well, at least they respond to being fought. And you can save people by evacuating them and stuff. This place is - you said what the world is like changes a lot? Like that place where sound is light?"

"Yeah. That's - I'm pretty sure that's some kind of damage? Or Ink says it is. Rules from elsewhere bleeding into here. Here usually all that changes is the geography, or if someone magic decides to move things around."

"Crazy stuff... You and Ink haven't done anything the strongest heroes couldn't do but you've both got pretty good powers by our standards - Most powers are pretty narrow and specific. And most heroes, like, have secret identities, wear masks and costumes. The idea is so their friends and family are safe from retaliation, I think?"

That's really not a thing here but she is still a bit hesitant to admit to being a (former?) tinker.

"- I'm not sure why people's vulnerable friends and family don't, like, have guards then, but. Here mostly your friends and family are back on Earth, or you're nomadic, or you're powerful enough people don't try to anger you - and there's kind of a very strong cultural thing here of 'you don't anger the powerful person.' Especially since people who overuse their powers go insane. What I've shown... Maybe a tenth what I could do if I was being kind of reckless? And Ink's got a bigger gap."

"Its a little weird, yeah. Might've kind of grew out of a culture thing? Superhero stories were popular when capes started appearing. Comic books. And yeah, people follow capes. Places in Africa are basically at constant war between squabbling powered folk. It seems like both of you can do lots of different stuff. Powers back home are like specifically make metal spikes grow out of things, and nothing else. No flying, no moving metal around, just the one thing."

"Individual powers can be kind of like that? They're - everyone can Dream, every entangled person can use magic, and then each entangled has their own thing that magic can't do. Like, communication or teleportation. And Earth has superhero stuff, I was actually really big into comics before getting entangled - the stuff I hear this place compared to is Lovecraft and magical girls."

"...Magic?"

"Yeah? I mean pretty much everything that's not possible on Earth can be called magic, but what most of us call magic is the Magelands stuff. Uh there's a bunch of categories... Changing stuff, summoning items, summoning energy, making people better at doing things, healing, making items do fancy stuff, and illusions."

"Well... Not as ridiculous as it woulda seemed last week. Is this stuff something anyone can learn? ...Wait, you said only some folk can. People who call their powers magic aren't taken very seriously, back home."

"I mean we've also had this a lot longer, so - it's been called magic for centuries. And everyone in the Magelands can use magic, everyone in the Dreamlands can dream - superpowers-wise that's kind of low-level range-limited reality warping. So if you went to the Magelands, you'd have magic."

"Hmm. Probably dangerous there. Changing things would be real useful for making stuff though."

Deep breath.

"I actually had powers before. They - changed? - when I fell into that old city. No idea why."

"I mean it depends on where you live? Some places aren't dangerous at all, I've been there a lot. And you can use Dreaming to change stuff. And - might be here has a different definition of possible. I lose my powers when I go to Earth, because they're not possible there."

It's really really not a big deal here, huh.

"Yeah, well. Tinkers are a category of powers, lots of people have the same kind of thing. But my tinker power turned less - less helpful, but also friendlier? It's really weird. I just know how to make and fix a bunch of stuff now, like I spent twenty years learning engineering. Used to be the power would sort of - puppet me - to make things I didn't really understand, and I'd kind of steer it. I don't think I can make stuff that's quite as good now, but I actually understand most of it, so."

"Getting puppeted by a power sounds like it'd be really alarming! I bet once you practice with it you can probably do more now though? Like, at least long term."

"Also I got this urge to make stuff constantly. It could get pretty annoying if I didn't want to be making stuff at the time. I could shake it off and I didn't accidentally break things while it was going on, and it's how tinkers work... And it was easier to do complicated stuff. Like, I basically just ripped that engine off the ground and put it in here? And beefed it up a bit so it could burn lamp oil at least for a little bit before dying. The gearings are barely working and- Anyway. Hmm. What might help me now is, like, a laptop with CAD stuff."

"I don't know any engineering stuff, but I know Ink's got a laptop back on Earth for college stuff? She might let you borrow it? Or, like, be able to help you go laptop shopping or something, I think some of them get kind of cheap?"

"Beefy computers to run CAD software are more expensive. Buuuut I'll think about all that later. I don't suppose you and Ink need any things fixed? Or would be up for going back to the ruins and scavenging some stuff if I make something for you?"

"Ink probably has or wants some stuff, especially back on Earth. I travel light, so, not really?"

"Ahh. Well, I had an idea of tagging along with you guys and doing fix-it work along the way, maybe..." Shrug. "Too soon to tell, I guess? You said the rest of your group is coming back in a few days, right?"

"We're gonna meet up with them elsewhere, but yeah! We'd love to have you along."