- what the fuck, ow, ow, ow -

It is sort of hard to orient yourself when the lighting, temperature, and humidity change a second after you show up at a place.

Are they going to keep doing that?

Nope! It's settled down on a dimly lit corridor of a sandstone cavern, carved in a way that makes it seem natural rather than man-made. As for her - her arm is broken, bleeding, held in the grip of a sandstone creature of some sort, and the wrong color but not any of the ones you'd expect her broken arm to be.

Okay, so - Leviathan, then discontinuity in her memories followed by some Master sending golems after her and... she has no explanation for her arm being brown. Is the golem otherwise stopping her from moving beyond holding her arm?

Nope, just steadily moving forward and dragging her by said arm. 

She will try to keep up - oh, heck, her implants aren't working. Or have never been here? Since she's... not herself? She will try to keep up anyway.

The floor isn't exactly smooth but it's definitely better than not trying to keep up at all.

Eventually there is a brighter light coming up ahead, and she can see... what might be an exit? Except there's another wall in the distance from the exit. As they get closer it becomes clear that the exit leads directly into an extremely deep ravine of some kind, sandstone cliffs - dotted with similar exits - on either side. 

Well, this is a shitty place to be a software tinker.

...

Wait a second, is she... a...

Wow, this is a shitty place to not even be a software Tinker.

The golem thrusts her out of the exit, still holding her hand, and she dangles over the edge of the gaping chasm for a moment before it angles it's arm to bring her up to a somewhat precarious ledge on the side of cliff.

Okay, okay, she's going, she's going!

It leaves her there, with what would ordinarily be a reasonable pretty view of the other side of the sandstone ravine.

Is there anything obviously to be done about her arm? Can she take off her shirt and wrap it up maybe?

That will in fact help with the bleeding and keep it from being painfully jostled quite as easily.

Eventually other people are dragged to other ledges.

Do any of them look like they might be in a condition to talk to her?

Also is there anything in her pockets?

"Do you know what's going on here?" Lorica asks her neighbor.

"Exactly what it looks like?"

"I think I might have hit my head or something, I'm really confused."

"We've been kidnapped into a dungeon - I don't know if this one has showed up before."

"A - dungeon?"

Wow, what is it you are supposed to do for a possibly concussed person again?

"Do you know what year it is?"

"Not, uh, confidently."

Well that isn't a great sign.

"Want to guess?"

"...2004?"

Wow that is so far off.

"Uh, I think you are definitely concussed? I am not sure how to help with that from over here. Maybe you should lie down or something?"

"Yeah, okay, I will lie down," with the bad arm facing up, "but could you maybe explain more about dungeons and it not being 2004, I don't obviously have ongoing short term memory problems."

"You're off by about three decades and dungeons are the pocket dimensions that kidnap people until espers or the military rescue them."

"Well, I know what a military is."

"Pocket dimensions are places that exist outside of normal space, I think? Espers are the people with powers."

"Oh. For... some reason... I thought those were called 'capes'."

"Well, that wouldn't be the weirdest name but no, they're espers."

"Okay. How long do we wait for espers or the military to come save us, about?"

"This one seems rougher, so hopefully only an hour or two?"

"...okay."

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Does she still have a power at all -

Well, did she previously feel like she could push herself along an axis entirely distinct from the three typical spatial ones?

No, she previously felt like maybe she could make a robot do that, but since she doesn't have any robots here -

- push?

She pushes not up, but something else entirely, and then she is floating in a dark void with an almost complete absence of sensory input of any kind, except for the feeling of being able to push.

Aaaaah back whence she came??

A push in the opposite direction and she's back! Her neighbor evidently too engrossed with a phone game to notice Lorica was gone.

Can she... go the other direction? Since she doesn't seem to have suffocated or anything in her excursion?

Yep! This time instead of a void she gets a sidewalk outside an apartment building! It's a bit chilly and drizzly and there's a cluster of what might be police officers along with multiple ambulances.

"Excuse me, officer, I'm very lost and confused, I might have hit my head."

"We're setting up for dungeon rescues but I suppose we won't get the first for at least a few minutes," she can be sent over to a medic. 

...yeah she does also need a medic, this arm is pretty fucked up.

The medic can start getting her arm into a splint.

"You said you might have hit your head as well?"

"My head doesn't hurt but also last I remember knowing what was going on it was 2004 and dungeons weren't a thing, so, maybe."

The medic can do concussion checks that are more accurate than just asking if she can remember things.

"Well, I don't think you're concussed."

"I guess that's sort of a relief and also sort of more worrying than thinking I just hit my head. I... was in the dungeon? But I got out."

"Huh, I still wouldn't expect that to result in memory loss. I can ask about resources for you and get back to you once the dungeon's been cleared?"

"Also I remember being white and the name in the wallet in the pocket is not the one I expected to have."

"... Maybe you should stand around in case you show other symptoms regardless of whether you want whatever resources I can find."

"Thanks."

And here come two masked espers! This one is recognizable if you happen to be the sort of person who recognizes espers.

"Okay don't worry I won't ask anyone to buddy with you unless there's someone who's obviously fre-oh hi! You look free - I'm Venture and this is Turnaround are you up for keeping him company while he helps save people?" 

Every time.

"Uh, sure, especially if that can double as him explaining things about the world that I mysteriously don't know for some reason."

"Oh huh, uh, yeah that would work. Though if you want to talk to someone else about that instead I'll be fine."

He's really not that backlashed.

Oh wow she's pretty, Lia thinks on Lucien's behalf.

"Ignore him - you sound perfect. See you later!" And she grabs Lucien's hand one last time for a re-up and she is off at a jog towards the dungeon.

"I don't really have anyone else to talk to besides these medics who should probably be focusing on injuries and stuff. Uh, last I remember before being in the dungeon, I was in Brockton Bay during a Leviathan attack, and also I was white and had a name that doesn't match the one on the ID in my pocket."

"I-"

... Is she playing a practical joke on him? ... No that is probably the backlash he doesn't have much of talking.

"-I've never heard of Brockton Bay or Leviathan, what part of the world were you in?"

"...eastern seaboard, United States. Not having heard of Leviathan is much much weirder than not having heard of Brockton Bay."

"I'm from the northeast and havn't heard of it - we're in Philly right now. Is Leviathan a dungeon or something?"

"No, big speedster hyrdrokinesis monster. I'm, uh, considering the possibility that he killed me and I have somehow reincarnated into some poor random person's body."

"This doesn't sound like any backlash I can think of but is it possible you're awakening?"

"I don't know what that is. Is it an esper thing? We called people with powers 'parahumans' - or 'capes', especially if they do the cops and robbers thing."

"Uh, yeah it's an esper thing. Backlash is the negative effect an esper gets when they use their powers, awakening is the week where you get a ton of backlash and you get powers afterwards. Delusions aren't that uncommon of a symptom for backlash though yours do seem obviously specific."

"I... do also have a power. But it is not the one I had before so I don't know how it works very well yet. It got me out of the dungeon though."

"... Huh, in that case you wouldn't be awakening since powers don't manifest before that's over but you could have some sort of backlash from power use. If it's okay for me to poke you I can check for whether you are an esper which should narrow it down some?"

"Yeah, sure." She holds out her good arm.

Poke.

"Well, you're not an esper."

"I was a cape before but I was a Tinker, the kind that does custom technology stuff. I can't - think about any of the stuff I built in a Tinkery way any more. Instead I have some kind of, I don't know, phasing power or something? I pushed on it and it put me in some nowhere place which at least didn't suffocate me, and I pulled on it and it took me back to the dungeon, and then I pulled again and I landed right over - there."

"Huh! Do you know what your backlash is - if your type of power has backlash I guess."

"Capes don't. - well, Thinkers get headaches."

"Are you a Thinker?"

"I had a low-rating passive Thinker or Trump power - you could classify it as either. Nothing that gave me a headache. I don't know if I still have that; it made me immune to certain Master and Stranger effects but for all I know it wouldn't work on espers even if I still had it in its original form and you had one I'd be comfortable testing it with to hand."

"If you don't get backlash from doing it and wanted to phase again I can check to see if you actually have powers without being an esper rather than you having some sort of um - delusional disorder?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm... at all worried I could push back into the dungeon, I'll do the pull direction -" Pull.

The void is still empty of all things except for Lorica.

And she's back.

"Well, you definitely just disappeared, which eliminates any option I can think of except you actually being from another universe and having reincarnated into someone else's body." 

"Cool. Can someone... tell her family... somehow."

"Yeah I can ask one of the response coordinators to make sure that happens."

"It says Nikki Carter." She fishes out the wallet again.

Lucien nods.

"I can pass that on, possibly someone will want to come by and confirm you have her wallet and get you to confirm that you are not in fact her."

"Yeah. Is this a thing that is known to happen here, somehow, or am I going to maybe have to deal with her family not believing me?"

"It is not known to happen though I am not sure anyone will force you to speak to the family?"

"I mean, I would if it'd help but if they'd just be freaking out the entire time that doesn't seem constructive. ...can't decide whether to go by my cape name or my normal name here."

"It seems possible you'll be afforded more latitude in not interacting with Nikki's civilian life if you positioned yourself as similar to an esper?"

"Yeah. In that case hi, I'm Lorica."

"I'm Turnaround," says the masked esper.

"What does your power do exactly?"

"Basically I can pull people towards me while keeping them safe along the way, it's really useful for rescuing people from dungeons."

"Sounds it. How do you find them to do that?"

"I can tag people I touch and also the people who are touched by the people I've tagged."

"So you... tag your friend and then she goes around poking everybody?"

"Yeah, and hopefully killing the dungeon."

"And this made her want to assign you to someone to talk to because..."

"I have backlash that makes me think everything is about me and this is a bigger issue if the only thing I have to focus on is bringing injured people back from inside the dungeon."

"Wow, okay. It's not a problem that I am an injured person who was in the dungeon?"

"It is less of a problem because I didn't get you, also I'm less backlashed right now than I will be by the time this is over and so I can get myself thoroughly convinced that I am not somehow responsible for breaking your arm and snatching you from another dimension and putting you in this body. Which is also helpfully implausibly my fault. I might still assume comments you make are about me when they aren't, sorry about that in advance."

"Is there... a helpful way to phrase things or anything that I should know?"

"If you seem annoyed or sad and it's not clear to me its not my fault I will either have to risk being inconsiderate about having offended you or risk trying to address something completely unrelated to me. I have mostly come down on the side of being inconsiderate because I kept track of what I said sorry for for a bit and I was approximately wrong 92% of the time. So uh, if you are in the 8% don't expect an apology? Also don't blame me for major world problems even jokingly, I know you probably weren't going to but it can be very bad if you do."

"Oh, no, I possibly might have, I'm very sarcastic, I'll keep a lid on it."

"Thanks. Did you have more questions about things you wanted answered?"

"Uh, what're my options for short term - food shelter internet all that good stuff?"

"I...don't actually know if you fit into any of the obvious categories of someone who could get support from the government beyond like, homeless shelters. I'd be willing to spot you a month or two of support if you are willing to trade talking about your world and powers for it?"

"That sounds more than fair to me!"

"I have a guest room if that works?" Lia can sleep in his bed or a couch when she visits. 

"Sure!"

"In the meantime uh, if you more questions I am happy to answer them or you can talk about how inventing worked as a power since that seems like it would be extremely cool."

"It waaaas, I already miss my robot. I had one main software project, its name was Rete. It handled my email, when I had my helmet on and people couldn't see me it'd even talk to them for me with my voice so I didn't have to deal with annoying PR stuff, it managed a lot of little scout drones for me in the field. Tinkers all have specialties and mine was approximately software that makes its own decisions. It made it hard to be around, like, a normal microwave."

"Because you'd want the microwave to make decisions?"

"Right, like, if it had a popcorn button I would have intrusive thoughts about how it ought to be able to figure out whether you'd put popcorn in it or not and use that information."

"What sort of things do you enable to make decisions aside from Rete?"

"Mostly just Rete, I built it a ton of peripherals and focused on the one software. I had a super-suit and so did my dad, he's also a cape."

"Was this a common sort of power?"

"Tinkers? There's plenty of Tinkers but different ones are all specialized differently, you get ones who make exotic ceramics or weird bombs or pharma stuff or whatever."

"Has that impacted the world economy a bunch?"

"Uh, less than you most think because Tinker stuff resists mass-production, it breaks down without the same Tinker or one with a closely related specialization managing it. I was planning to make oodles of money because my power lent itself really well to bending that pattern, Rete would be able to maintain a lot of simpler stuff for me including, I hoped, some of its own robots, as long as I maintained the maintainers."

"What sort of thing were you expecting to end up making money off of?"

"Procedurally generated video games, patrol drones... it's sort of hard to remember my more complicated ideas because the power's gone."

"Ah, that sounds really frustrating."

"Yeah, it's a bummer, but at least I apparently do not die when killed, that's neat even if it's awful for Nikki. I hope she's not, like, in here and just can't talk to me."

"Huh, I'm not sure how you'd tell? Which isn't great."

"If I don't have my opacity power any more, or if she's not covered by it, maybe someone with a power that can detect people would be able to tell? I don't know anyone with a power like that off the top of my head."

"I don't know of anyone and even if there was someone I'd expect they might miss some possibilities - like her being unconscious."

"Huh. ...what about powers that could get me to my universe? I guess I can't rule out that mine could, but I don't know if it's good for me to spend too much time in the weird void place."

"It seems plausible my power could pull you back if that's what your afraid of - I don't know of any powers that would obviously help you."

"...probably this isn't a good time to try pulling me back because you're about to need to use your power a lot. Later though."

"Yeah, that's a good point." As his parents and Lia keep trying to get him to learn. 

"When does that start happening? I didn't get a good look at the route through the dungeon because I got out with my power."

"Depends on how easy it is for Lia and the other espers to navigate and what they encounter on the way - she's tagged them but no one has tagged any kidnappees yet. I'm guessing another five to fifteen minutes before they start getting to people?"

"Oh, does it go more layers down, she tags the other espers and they can tag the kidnapped folks too? How many layers?"

"It wears off after a few hours from the original tag I did, more or less. No hard limit other than that - though additional tags do cost me a bit of backlash and pulling people costs me significantly more than that, but it's still relatively scalable."

"How long's the backlash take to wear off?"

"Uh, I can pretty consistently clear it after an evening?"

"I guess that's about in line with Thinker headaches as far as I know."

"It would take longer if I allowed a substantial amount to build up, or less long if I had a more compatible partner."

"Compatible partner?"

"Recovering from backlash requires contact with another esper who has compatible backlash which typically looks like the backlashes being opposites in some manner, though it can vary,"

"And that's your friend who dropped you off here, but the compatibility isn't very quick?"

"Yeah."

"How do you normally find a partner?"

"You can tell how compatible you are by touching - sometimes the government can recommend someone but other times you just have to shake hands when you meet new people until you get lucky."

"Wow, that sounds like such an annoying process, especially if you also have to work together well on, like, a coworker basis."

"I think it can be for some people but Lia and I at least get along really well."

"That's good then."

"Yeah, though not having any backlash at all sounds much nicer."

"I'm certainly accustomed to it. Some Thinkers might trade your thing for their migraines though."

"That makes sense - I don't have it that rough really, just have to be careful to not go overboard."

"What happens if you do?"

"Uh, I tried to turn myself into the cops for causing nationwide airplane delays once."

"Oh no."

"I had a really tough time convincing them that in aggregate the harm to hundreds of thousands of people was actually a really big deal!"

"Not every big deal is criminally chargeable!"

"I think mass sabotage of transit would be?"

"I guess they'd figure something out had you actually featured."

"Which I did not. Thankfully - it would be so much worse if I wasn't able to reassure myself that I've been wrong every time I panicked about something like that."

And soon enough it is time to start retrieving tagged people, keeping Lucien busy as he holds out his hand and translucent people speed towards him, coming to rest when they touch his hand and solidifying into normal existence.

Lorica falls silent, keeping alert for things she might need to do as his assigned buddy.

People are forwarded to medics as needed - in between clusters of people Lucien asks Lorica for a different conversation topic than the previous one since mulling over the past disasters is rapidly becoming a bad idea.

"Sure, uh, how're we getting to your place after this is wrapped up?"

"There's government transport for espers - I'm sure they can accommodate an extra person. My place is a couple hours away." 

"Good thing I'm not especially prone to getting carsick."

"Yeah - uh, don't worry I won't be driving or anything." 

"Does backlash make y- make it hard to drive?"

"Oh, no, I thought you were making a comment about my driving ability."

"No, it's just a long drive. - I guess it's possible that, uh, Nikki, gets carsick and now I will too, I don't know what I've picked up from her. Actually I don't even know what I look like besides 'brown'."

"Want to borrow my phone and look at a selfie?"

"Yes please."

Phone.

Selfie!

"Well, if I had to bodysnatch someone I guess it's at least nice for me that she was roughly my age and a she and nice-looking and whatnot."

Lucien is going to smile slightly about this and try not to leak how hot he finds her! Not that he expects to succeed!

"How often do these dungeon things pop up?"

"There are a few thousand each day."

"...wow, across - how big an area -"

"That's everywhere. - you won't get more than a few per major city."

"Is it always cities?"

"Population centers - rarely in a town but sometimes. Once on a cruise ship."

"Huh. Because that's where there's people to - kidnap, for - what do they want us for?"

"We don't know."

"...what do they do with people if nobody rescues them?"

"They vanish and the people aren't seen again."

"Ah."

"That largely doesn't happen but things can fall through the cracks, especially during confluences."

"That's... what it sounds like?"

"If what it sounds like is a dramatic increase in dungeon appearances, yeah."

"What makes those happen?"

"People aren't sure."

"I'm gonna guess that's also the case with dungeons themselves?"

"Unfortunately."

"How long has this been a thing?"

"Since the 70s. Uh, possibly we should switch subjects after this next batch I am starting to worry I am responsible for the sorry state of my world and that's never a good sign."

"Right, sorry. Uh, read any good books lately?"

Lucien read a government handbook on setting up rapidly deployable dungeon resource harvesting teams in medium sized municipalities! It was great.

Not what she'd pick for light reading but it seems to be keeping his mind off the world's woes.

It's really cool actually! It's an incredibly difficult logistical problem with serious pay-offs for getting it right, and the handbook is aimed at areas that lack the population to make use of any teams at all consistently so it's about being sure you have the right people on call to mine superconducting materials if they show up in a dungeon, without having that be those people's full time job! Also the financing around this whole thing is fascinating.

He must be so proud of himself. (She doesn't say that but she's really listening for the implication.)

He does not imply that! It's obviously not him.

Until he does the next batch of tagged at which point he is totally implying that - he does think about this a lot after all. He does feel bad for not doing better - there was a long period where they didn't manage to harvest resources from anywhere outside of the biggest cities.

"Do most dungeons have good stuff in them?"

"Nope, but the occasional important ones are a big deal, like the superconductors. That's why we set-up full time teams at the major cities."

"Do they need espers shepherding them in?"

"Sometimes military personnel will suffice in place of me."

"And is there intellectual property all over this or not so much because it's a discovery of a... natural-esque... thing?"

It's so complicated! Mostly because different countries had different opinions on this and people also tried to patent all sorts of fairly straightforward applications and it's a mess but mostly it works out to the basics being public domain and various complicated dynamics to make that the case that amount to rewards for finding new stuff in practice but legally speaking are the result of lawsuits constantly being settled out of court. Turnaround thinks this system is a decent idea and other people disagree with him and think he should have gone with something simpler and.... he admits he is failing to do better but it's not all bad, you know?

She's sure he's doing his very best.

He doesn't know why she'd think that given the state of things but perhaps she should move on and talk about something else, such as uses for superconductors in transportation.

Sure, she would have been more competent to remark on this topic as a tinker but it's not uninteresting now.

Eventually the dungeon wraps up and Venture emerges, covered in sand but otherwise unharmed . She is wearing the mildly subdued smile of someone who knows it's not an appropriate time to bounce excitedly.

"Hi! Sorry for taking so long - the dungeon was a bit of a maze."

"No skin off my nose."

"Plan is for Lorica to come and at my place a bit - I was figuring we drop her off on the way to my silo,"

"...I can feel my bones and our silo is two hours away so I want to make out on the ride home, is that going to be awkward?"

"I don't really care."

"I. Um."

This would be so much easier if Lorica weren't really hot!

"Do care?"

".... Yeah I think so."

"We can get you an Uber to my place if that works?" Lucien asks Lorica who he is certain is imagining him kissing Lia right now and it's a very uncomfortable certainty that is mayyybe downstream of backlash.

"I don't know what that is but probably?"

It is apparently a taxi they call with an app on their phone to give Lorica a ride.

And that just works? Okay! What should she do if she gets there first? (Are the medics all done with her arm or does she need followup at a real clinic soon?)

Lucien can text his parents to unlock the door - they live across the street. He is going to be a couple of hours because he needs to go to his silo with Venture. 

Okay. She'll get in the uber once the medics release her with whatever followup instructions she needs about Nikki's her fucked up arm.

She is evidently going to need a follow-up on that - though not urgently. The door is unlocked - Turnaround evidently has a rather nice two bedroom apartment. It is decorated in the style of someone who was trying to restrain their best friend from filling the place with soft and cozy objects with only mild success.

Does he... have any books.

Yes! Quite a lot of books - they are organized according to the Universal Decimal Classification system (with corresponding spine labels) and cover a wide enough range of topics to make this decision not completely indefensible.

Cute. She will pick out something about espers and sit on his couch and read one-handed.

Then after an hour and a half a refreshed looking Turnaround will walk through the door, having changed out of his costume and mask.

Along with a beaming Lia, who has done the same.

"Lucien?"

Valid of presumably his parents to share his name considering she's staying him. 

"Hi! We were going to order dinner - does pizza work?"

"Yyyyes just - I recognize you, there's a you on Earth Bet."

".... Did my parents not tell you my name?"

"I didn't even see them! I would have recognized them too, probably."

"You knew them - and me?"

"Well, I'd met them like once. The Bet Lucien I know pretty well, though."

".... I'm confused why this would be the case."

"It's a thing known on Bet - that's the name of my Earth, they do Hebrew letters for some dumb reason - that there are duplicates of people, though mostly ones that are born before divergence points, which I don't think is the case here."

"Huh I sort of like Hebrew letters - we don't know of any other Earths. I'm confused about how even given that I exist in another earth you ended up knowing me there and landing near me here."

"Yeah, that's weird and I have no explanation."

"Is reincarnating into people a known thing with a cause in your universe?"

"Closest thing I can think of is a cape called the Butcher. If another cape kills them the Butcher's by now numerous accumulated personalities and memories and watered-down powers relocate into them. But Nikki didn't kill me and wasn't even nearby."

"It really doesn't seem like the sort of thing a dungeon would do either.

"That I wouldn't know, but I'll take your word for it. I could have a Butcher-esque power, this is just a weird way for it to manifest, across worlds like this."

"Do your type of powers usually... follow other people, such that you ending up near me would make sense?"

Lia is paying attention but also she is doing one armed pull-ups over here.

"Powers are confusing and poorly understood but I am not thinking of a pattern that should manifest like that. The other Lucien - uh, his cape name is awful, or I'd just use that - didn't trigger near me or anything..."

"Worse than Turnaround?"

"Tunnel Teen. The PR team was very skittish, someone else managed to name himself on live TV shortly beforehand and they wanted something inoffensive locked in for Lucien."

"Oh that's awful."

"I sold my naming rights to a real estate remodeling company, so at least I got something out of it."

"Wow, why'd you do that?"

"The co-op board of our building was attempting to evict me and my parents and we needed the money for a new place. "

"Huh. Well, you wound up with a better name than he did to boot, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm happy I made the deal. I wonder if there are any other overlapping people between our worlds."

"There should be more of me!"

"I don't recognize you, but even if you were a cape in my area I likely wouldn't, lots of people don't unmask. My Lucien doesn't even know what I look like. What I used to look like."

Is now an appropriate time to hit on her.... probably not???? Lia is very restrained.

"Oh well, I'll just have to find a way there and check myself."

"Is that feasible? I would like everyone back home to know I'm alive."

"I don't actually know of a way to do that, sorry."

"Could be a path through one of the dungeons to another universe, wouldn't be the weirdest thing that turned up in one."

"...it wouldn't? What was?"

"I fell in a conceptual soup once. It was very something in an entirely novel way. Another time there were these sort of yodeling buffalo, which were also very something in an entirely novel way."

"What is... a conceptual soup."

"A soup. Made of concepts."

"It was purple."

"She was covered in it when I pulled her out - my brain tried to claim it had the texture of an endless period of time which was rather disconcerting."

"Okay, I guess synesthesia goo is a little weirder than a dimensional portal."

"I preferred the buffalo."

"Did you get video?"

Yes! 

Yodeling buffalo! They really sure do appear to be yodeling, in unison even. 

"That's so fucking weird, I love it."

"It's definitely one of my favorites - not as pretty or fun as the rainbow stars but still really neat."

"Can I see those?"

Why yes of course.

The rainbow stars look like giant opaline caltrops, spinning through space and dive bombing a costume wearing Lia. She flips out of the way, stabbing a sword into a gap between two huge crystals, using it as leverage to push herself into the air, flying down onto the star herself, smashing it with her hands. She stumbles a bit on the landing, running forward to jump down somewhere below. A moment later three translucent people come flying from where she dropped accelerating out of view. They are followed shortly afterwards by Lia, who instead of being translucent is opaque, propelled by some form of jetpack. 

"Cape fights are very different, but obviously I don't have any footage with me."

"How are they different?"

"...well, none of the participants are rainbow stars, but I think even if there were a cape fight with rainbow stars it'd be - more chaotic? The battlefield conditions and everybody's positioning would change more."

"Huh, that sounds interesting?"

"I had a robot to keep track of things for me, which helped a lot."

"Seems handy."

"Yeah, I miss it. I wouldn't be able to upgrade it anymore but I think it'd probably still work for a pretty long time without maintenance, if I could get home."

"There are some heads up displays you could probably get by with?"

"I guess that'd be worth looking into if I were expecting to go into combat but I think either Nikki had or I have brought with me a balance disorder which I was solving with tinkertech at home so I really shouldn't get into combat situations here."

"Huh, that sounds unfortunate - I wonder if there's an esper who can fix that."

"I wouldn't know. Probably there are biotinkers who can but the only biotinker I knew was a pharma guy and it was not his core competency."

"I think there's an esper who can probably handle it? It's totally pretty much impossible to get an appointment with them unless you have something extremely serious, but if you need to be healed to run dungeons I think that'd bump you to the top of the waiting list."

"I don't feel nearly oriented enough to the situation to promise to run dungeons! Either the situation of dungeons or the situation of being in a new body with a new power! Besides, if enough of my previous body was found it should still have all the implants in it, and I was strictly non-bio, so the implants will work the same way if I dig them out of there and stick them in here, I'll be fine to balance like a normal person if I ever get to go home."

"Makes sense. What sort of things did the pharma tinker do?"

"He patched people up when we got hurt - legit healing powers are vanishingly rare but powers that can be turned in that direction there's a fair few - and he made a bunch of things that would let him and other people react faster or fight through pain or whatever. Called himself Miracle Max after the character in the Princess Bride."

"Huh, no disease cures?"

"Nothing you could mass-produce. Counters to biotinker villains sure."

"That's a really frustrating limitation on inventing powers."

"Wasn't the most fun, yeah."

Eventually Lucien remembers that they were going to order pizza and people should settle on toppings.

"I have no idea if my food tastes will have changed. At least before I was a pepperoni girl."

"Neither of us eats pepperoni, unfortunately."

"Whatever you're having is probably fine if it's not pineapple."

"Aw!" 

In that case they will end up with mushrooms on half and a variety of vegetables on the other half. And also a garlicy bread side.

Lorica tentatively reports after trying a slice of each half that her tastes are at least basically similar.

"Sounds easier that way."

"What? I would definitely want to try a new tongue." Lia says, barely flirting at all.  

"It'd be annoying to figure out all over again what I like. I have enough to get used to right now."

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense." 

Lucien and Lia are happy to talk about pizza flavors and explain their dimension to Lorica until it is time to sleep, at which point Lucien heads to his room and Lia flops on the couch.

There's a guest room, right? Is there paper around or anything like that?

There is a guest room! There is a paper and pens in a cabinet in the kitchen.

She's gonna commandeer those. Good thing it was Nikki's her left arm that got fucked up.

In the morning Lucien asks Lorica is she would like to purchase clothes and a laptop and such.

"I mean, it's your money, but if you're asking if I would like to have them, yes."

He can give her a (rather large) budget and help her navigate amazon or recommend a place to buy clothes in person. Or well, he can't do that but his mom can. 

"I can tell you what the softest blankets are if you want more than I have here."

"I wasn't cold overnight, but thanks."

"Oh you can open a window to fix that."

"Lia has yet to figure out that most people don't like soft blankets as much as her."

"It doesn't have to be as much as me! Just a reasonable amount. Which is more than most people I guess."

"If you want to spend Lucien's money on blankets that's between you and him, don't bring me into it."

"It's not even that much money - good blankets cap out at a few hundred dollars. There are more expensive ones but it turns out they are worse."

"I don't think you are counting the dry cleaning costs."

"Anyway, uh, when's a good time to spot me trying out my new power?"

"Oh uh, how's 2pm work? I have to update my website before then but I'm free after that since it's a weekend."

"I will probably skip - Atlanta is short staffed so I'm going to run a dungeon and crash with a friend there I think."

"You're going all the way to Atlanta for a dungeon? What should I be concluding about the availability of teleportation?"

"Not much - it's a short flight and I like to travel and major cities have enough dungeons that I can visit one in the expectation of something turning up."

"Okay... is it wise for Lucien to be my lifeline if you're not in town?"

"Oh that's a good point - I can leave sooner and return tonight? If that's fine with you Lucien."

"That works for me."

"You're the experts."

Lia is in fact going to have to leave approximately now to make this work without having to forgo guiding after her dungeon. Luckily she has a go bag prepped.

"So how does this work?" Lorica asks Lucien.

"I tag you via tapping you - it feels like a very small electric zap I've been told - and for the next few hours I'll able to retrieve you. My guess is it will work with whatever you're doing - I havn't found a range limit and it works even when someone is in a dungeon and I'm not - but we still might want to start with a test run to check that. When I pull you back you'll look sort of translucent and feel weightless and a bit tingly if you pass through objects on the way back to me, but nothing will effect you more than that. Tags wear off after you return but I can retag you right away."

"Okay. You don't have to grab me instantly, I'll probably be able to come back, I was before."

"How long would you like me to wait?"

"...five seconds? Long enough to notice if I can't breathe in the void and might like to, not long enough for me to have a serious problem if the answer is that I can't."

"Works for me."

"Say when?"

The slightest of zaps.

"When."

Push.

A familiar void. 

Push again?

A forest! The air is humid and some unusually large beetles flit through the air, passing between large thick trees, including four grey ones which are mov-which, on second inspection, are actually the legs of what might be a cross of a horse and rhino if that cross was 20 feet tall. 

Wow. She would rather Not be stepped on. Pull, pull.

Lucien stops his timer.

"One push away is the void, I didn't stay long but am starting to get the sense that I'm physically fine there. Another push and there was very mega fauna."

"Huh - different Earth or a dungeon?"

"How should I distinguish, I've only been in the one dungeon."

"If you could see the horizon that's strong evidence, so is the sky to a lesser extent."

"I saw sky, but not a lot of it, there were trees in the way."

"Probably an earth then, but it could just have a ceiling that's illusioned to look like the sky or something like that."

"I could go back with a camera. I think I probably could pull out fast enough not to get stepped on."

"Go for it - you're still tagged."