voice, un: Undecided

[turningred]

WHO: Catalina and open!
WHERE: Somewhere in Kaisou
WHEN: The evening of 5/21
WHAT: A new AU is in town... er, has been in town
WARNINGS: More concerning children for the concerning child pile

... Why am I getting a bunch of messages now?

[Catalina doesn't seem to realize she's broadcasting to the whole network, as she kind of skims through the new app on her phone. She doesn't remember installing it, and it feels like some kind of weird sign that she shouldn't do what she's about to do.]

It's not going to change my mind. I'm... I'm doing this for me.

Comments

Voice | un: pequeña_montaña

[neverbreaks]

[ The voice that she hears sounds pretty young, and Luisa can't help being a little worried already. ]

Hey, uh...Is everything okay?

[turningred]

[Luisa probably has every right to be worried. Catalina pauses, before she realizes the voice on her phone is talking to her. She thinks about leaving the message, but... it can't hurt to answer, right?]

Mhm! I'm making a very important decision and I'm not going to let some weird app on my phone change my mind.

[Hoo boy.]

[neverbreaks]

[ That is definitely a bit concerning. ]

What kind of decision?

[turningred]

Oh, I'm going to leave home and live in the park! I'm going to build a treehouse and make it my new home, where I don't have to follow any rules or deal with dumb adopted families ever again!

[A+ logic]

[neverbreaks]

[ Well that's definitely not good. ]

Isn't...that a bit dangerous?

[ Dangerous is a bit of an understatement, but Lusia has a feeling that just telling her not to do this would just make her want to do it more. ]

[turningred]

Danger? Danger is my middle name!

[Actually it’s Margaret and she will die if anyone finds that out.]

I’ll be okay! I can handle myself pretty well.

[neverbreaks]

[ Somehow, Luisa isn't sure how much of that she really believes. But she'll let it slide for now. ]

But what about when you get hungry? What will you eat?

[turningred]

I'll... find food! Or steal it, if I have to.

[BRILLIANT 12-YEAR-OLD PLANS]

video: UN: trienemybest

[droptheious]

...Catalina?

[He sure recognises THAT voice. ]

Oh, jeez- I was hoping I'd get the portal up and running before anyone else fell through whatever brought me here. Has anyone noticed I've gone? Is everyone oka-

[And then he realises what's off. Catalina isn't acting like this is strange new technology to her and while the girls are pretty damn adaptable, they're not this adaptable. He remembers what Luz told him, about people from her home having lived whole lives here and not having a clue who they were.

A pit forms in his stomach.]

...Please tell me this is one of your jokes I don't get.

video, un: Undecided

[turningred]

[Catalina sees Varian on camera, but there's no recognition of him on her face.]

Uhm... I'm not making a joke.

[More importantly though...]

How did you know my name?

[droptheious]

[Oh no. Oh no no no. ]

...You really don't recognise me?

[Just because he knows this happens doesn't mean it happening to him is any less awful. He doesn't want to believe this is real at all.]

You're from Corona? Don't- don't you remember? What about Lance? Or Kiera?

[turningred]

[Catalina searches her memories. He's older, so she wouldn't recognize him from school. She's never had any siblings in the families she was adopted out to, so...?]

I don't. I'm sorry. Do you... know my... [She's hesitant to call them "moms", because even though they're a family on paper, that doesn't mean they'll stay that way. She's learned not to get attached.] ... moms?

... Where's Corona? And who's Lance and Kiera?

[Yeah it's... it's bad. Not even in the mention of "Kiera" gets a stir out of her, just the same confused look.]

Do you have me confused with someone else?

[But he knew her name?]

[droptheious]

[Varian is starting to genuinely freak out and he's not doing a very good job at masking it. ]

W-what do you mean moms? You have a- you have a dad. That's- that's who Lance is? And Kiera's your sister?

[But she doesn't know Lance. She doesn't know her dad. And the fact she doesn't recognise Kiera's name is...beyond bad. Out of everyone, he would have expected her to still remember Angry. He scrubs a hand over his face, trying to keep his breathing even.

This isn't right, this isn't right. ]

No! I know who you are. I just- I just don't know why you don't.

[turningred]

[Is he… is he trying to hurt her? She’s had dads, none of them never named Lance. And as for a sister….

He voice shakes a little.]

I-I’ve never had any siblings. I’ve just been shuffled around from family to family, I don’t… I don’t understand what you’re talking about!

I know who I am, I don’t - I don’t know you!

[droptheious]

[I've never had any siblings.

He doesn't understand this. He doesn't know how someone who is so blatantly Catalina can be on the other side of this screen, very clearly having no memory or being Catalina. He knew the Saporian Memory Wand could do something like this- hell, he played an active role in wiping the memories of the king and queen, but it could never create a whole new life. It just wiped everything away - a clean slate to fill in as needed.

And it sure didn't change other people's memories - this...is unfamiliar territory and he doesn't know the right way forward- how to fix this. It's hard to focus when all he can think about is how much seeing her like this hurts.]

You do though. Something... I don't know what's happened. Something in this world has done something to you and made you forget who you are.

Voice; un: Opera_Ghost

[not_a_possum]

Doing...what for you, exactly?

[He has no idea what's going on, but that sure is a young child and he is concerned.]

[turningred]

[He probably should be, because...]

Oh, I'm going to move out of my house and live in the park!

[BRILLIANT CHILD IDEAS.]

[not_a_possum]

[His concern is mounting.]

And why, exactly, do you want to do that?

[turningred]

Because the park is great! No rules, no adopted family after family, I get to look up and see the stars every night… it’s basically perfect.

I’m even gonna build my own treehouse out there, and live in it forever!

[BEST IDEA EVER.]

[not_a_possum]

[He feels bad for her. It sounds like she's in a shitty situation bouncing around in the foster care system, and it's not like he can do anything to fix that, really. He can't tell her it's not as bad as it seems or that it'll work out in the end if she sticks through it, because he doesn't know either of those things. Instead, he asks,]

What are you going to do when winter comes and it drops down to twenty below?

[turningred]

Well, I…

[Haven’t thought that far.]

… I’ll steal a bunch of blankets! Really fluffy ones to keep me warm!

[not_a_possum]

And what will you do when they're soaking wet from the snow and the freezing rain?

Voice, un melodiousnocturne

[ocean_songbird]

That's the spirit!

Um...

What are you doing?

[turningred]

Oh, I’m going to leave home to go live in the park!

[ocean_songbird]

Oh.

[Oops. Casually encouraging a runaway? That's not good.]

Not that I know your situation or anything... but uhh... parks aren't great places to live, y'know? They're like... full of bugs and there's nowhere comfortable to sleep. And when it rains all your stuff gets ruined. You sure you wanna do that?