"My parlor," a man's voice answers from one of the thirteen chairs. An immaculately dressed man sits nearest the drink cart, calmly pouring himself a crystalline glass of something strong. Only when Felih gets a good look at the man does he see just how gaunt and bony this gentleman is. He seems to take it all in stride, though, taking a sip of his drink with blued lips. Upon his lapel is a triplet of Nymeia lilies, tied with a delicate black ribbon.
"Welcome, Mister Tia. I am Death, or Mortimer, if you prefer. It is good to finally meet you. I trust the other Travelers have answered your questions about our... situation by now?"
Felih startles to suddenly detect a presence he was very certain wasn't there before, and his initial response is to think Ascian, because very few people have the skill of simply appearing from thin air. Still, he sees the Nymeia lilies on Death's lapel and he pauses, regarding the flowers curiously, before he slowly relaxes.
"Mortimer, then," Felih says, slowly walking over to the table and taking a seat. While he won't drink, he does curiously look over the choices, before humming. "Oh, yes. They've been helpful. Even let me know that you're much the same- compared to your compatriots, at least," he hums, regarding him with interest.
"Still, even they don't have all the answers- answers I hope you'll be willing to give ne."
Felih doesn't like the sound of this- all this secrecy. He's tired of secrets, and he already mistrusts the being before him. At least for now, it doesn't seem as if Mortimer is an immediate threat, and so Felih lays his first question without hesitation or beating around the bush.
"My first- all of us here, 'travelers'- are we our true and original selves, or mere copies made for this game of yours?"
In all honesty, Death's pretty damn tired of all these secrets too.
"I can say with certainty that the Felih Tia standing before me is you, as you were originally in your world. Of course, as you spend time here, you will gain knowledge and skills the likes of which your world has never seen."
"Then, how can it be explained that others of us have had... experiences- time lapses, where they attain memories of what has occurred to them at home, without anyone else who is also here having seen signs of their change? That is- there seem to be two of ourselves at any given point, with the one at home never betraying their knowledge of this place, yet somehow contributing to the memories of those here, are if they were the same person, and yet..." He can't find the words. This is too complicated! Existential conundrums alone were hard enough- but now he has to worry about what's at home if he's the one here!
With a groan, he rubs at his temples with his hands before trying to simplify his query. "If we're here, who's at home? Why is it that the 'us' at home never remembers... this place, when people who vanish from this place return and think over their new memories?" He's heard already that some people seem to "return" home for a while, or at least gain memories of a life that has carried on in their absence.
Felih cocks his head curiously, an ear twitching as he folds his arms. "No. What's that?" he asks. His world lacks a Schrödinger, but if anything it ought to make this whole mess even more interesting to consider.
"Schrödinger is a human on most Earth-like planets. A brilliant one at that. He posited a thought experiment, wherein... well, I will not go into full detail, but the summation is that he was attempting to disprove an interpretation of his life's work. He posited that a cat be left in a sealed box with a flask of poison, theoretically speaking. Then he posited that the box was monitored by a device which would, at the subatomic level, detect a change and automatically break the flask, or would detect no change at all and not automatically break the flask. The cat in the box would be, according to this particular interpretation, both alive and dead whilst the box was sealed, as there would be no way of knowing if the change had occurred or not. But clearly, the cat would be either alive or dead when the box was opened and observed."
Felih listens curiously, head still tilted, although he frowns slightly. Why must a cat be used as the helpless creature in this sadistic thought experiment? Though the disapproval is clear on his face, he thinks a moment and murmurs, “So what does this thought experiment have to do with all of us being here?” If it’s meant as an analogy for their existence here... well, doesn’t it still not answer the question? It must surely be one state or the other! Mustn’t it?
His tail lashes anxiously behind him where he sits.
"When you are not under observation, you Travelers are that cat." He lets that sit for just a moment, before explaining, "That is, you are capable of such changes within liminality. It's actually rather fascinating, from our point of view. We cannot change in that way."
"So you're saying we're both here and not here, all at once," Felih murmurs in absolute confusion. That- that doesn't quite match up to his understanding of reality, but at this point he's not sure if he believes in anything as solidly sacred or real anymore.
"So what happens when this game of yours ends? What will become of us, when we're out of this liminal state?"
"I am saying... you are you from each moment in your timeline, all at once. You are both here and not here. You are liminal." He pauses for a moment before asking, "You do know what liminal means, do you not?"
Death frowns at Felih's next question, but it doesn't take long for him to respond. "It depends entirely on who wins the round. Each of us has a different idea of what the World should look like. I intend on letting you all go home, if I win."
Felih sighs. "Liminality... it's not something that really comes up unless we're talking about traveling between worlds. Which I suppose is what we're doing, isn't it?" he admits after a moment, before he suddenly tenses.
"Are you saying we may well all remained trapped here should you lose?" Felih asks, straightening up and fixing Death with a much harder gaze, tail starting to bristle anxiously.
"Think of it as... a threshold. A border between one place and another. The In Between. That is what Liminality means. That is what it is."
Death's mouth purses into a thin, hard line, and he nods solemnly. "Some would keep you here. Some would let you go home, as I would. But I will allow you to remember your time here."
Felih considers his words carefully, still trying to wrap his mind around it- but after a few moments, he sighs, resigning himself to his fate, though his tail is still clearly bristling and lashing in blatant upset and anxiety.
"Right, of course. Well, I don't quite favor that outcome, and I don't like losing, so I think we're going to work well together. At the very least, you haven't given me a reason not to trust you, so as long as we can keep it that way, we're golden."
Death nods at Felih's answer. "I can explain more as time passes. I am bound by Fortune's rules to keep certain information hidden for now. I want to work together with you and my other Marked, though. I want to make sure that this tournament never claims another life, whether Traveler or Arcanum."
"Yes. She was the Tenth of our number. She is dead now, along with three others."
Though he is the embodiment of it, the discussion of the death of his own kind always leaves Mortimer looking rather depressed. Further, the discussion of Möbius is always difficult. After a moment of solemn contemplation, Death nods. "You can experience death within Jaunts, but it is not a True Death. And outside of Jaunts... Travelers have never been permanently killed. I have seen to that personally. But I could do nothing with regard to the deaths of the other Arcana."
Felih can see the way it's affecting Death, and he sighs softly, his ears lowering in sympathy. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I know the feeling," he adds, though he swallows thickly- both to calm himself and to swallow his pride and admit such things.
"I too was helpless to stop the deaths of those I cared for."
"And that is why I found you suitable for my team of Chosen. You understand me in a way that most do not or cannot."
Mortimer pauses for a moment, and then he adds, "I hope to work with you so that you are no longer helpess to affect change on the world. I hope to work with you so you can prevent the wanton destruction of lives."
Felih listens to this, before nodding. He feels more relaxed now than before, though he is still not willing to take drink from new faces just yet. He's feeling more trusting of Death for now- even if he was technically part of those that kidnapped him, so far it seems as if the outcome could be good so long as he does what he usually does.
"I... would like that very much," he murmurs, still haunted endlessly by the many times he couldn't save.
Death nods, relaxing his shoulders slightly. "Good. Then let me tell you of my idioms and your other teammates. Then I can explain how I can help you." He takes a swig of his own drink, as if to clear a parched throat. "What do you know of Tarot?"
Felih hums curiously. "Tarot... in my realm, there are such cards used for Divination, though the deck I am acquainted with is likely not the same as yours. It seems very few worlds share such things in common," he murmurs, tail idly swishing as he considers the people he's met so far, and how different their worlds all seemed.
His ears are perked up and face forwards intently, quite curious.
"Not the same, but similar," he answers with a bit of a grim smile. "Knowing of Tarot only makes the process a bit easier, that is all. But to your teammates, first. Your other teammates still in ambit are Daniel Cross, Taleenya Flyleaf, Naoki Konishi, Malik Al-Sayf, Matthew Swift, Yosuke Hanamura, and Malin Lindberg. I have no doubt you will meet them soon. Your teammates out of ambit are October Daye, Natasha Romanoff, and Jun Ushiro."
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"Welcome, Mister Tia. I am Death, or Mortimer, if you prefer. It is good to finally meet you. I trust the other Travelers have answered your questions about our... situation by now?"
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"Mortimer, then," Felih says, slowly walking over to the table and taking a seat. While he won't drink, he does curiously look over the choices, before humming. "Oh, yes. They've been helpful. Even let me know that you're much the same- compared to your compatriots, at least," he hums, regarding him with interest.
"Still, even they don't have all the answers- answers I hope you'll be willing to give ne."
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He frowns at that, but can't really say more. For now, he waits for a question.
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"My first- all of us here, 'travelers'- are we our true and original selves, or mere copies made for this game of yours?"
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"I can say with certainty that the Felih Tia standing before me is you, as you were originally in your world. Of course, as you spend time here, you will gain knowledge and skills the likes of which your world has never seen."
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With a groan, he rubs at his temples with his hands before trying to simplify his query. "If we're here, who's at home? Why is it that the 'us' at home never remembers... this place, when people who vanish from this place return and think over their new memories?" He's heard already that some people seem to "return" home for a while, or at least gain memories of a life that has carried on in their absence.
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"Have you ever heard of the concept of Schrödinger's cat?"
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His tail lashes anxiously behind him where he sits.
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"So what happens when this game of yours ends? What will become of us, when we're out of this liminal state?"
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Death frowns at Felih's next question, but it doesn't take long for him to respond. "It depends entirely on who wins the round. Each of us has a different idea of what the World should look like. I intend on letting you all go home, if I win."
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"Are you saying we may well all remained trapped here should you lose?" Felih asks, straightening up and fixing Death with a much harder gaze, tail starting to bristle anxiously.
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Death's mouth purses into a thin, hard line, and he nods solemnly. "Some would keep you here. Some would let you go home, as I would. But I will allow you to remember your time here."
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"Right, of course. Well, I don't quite favor that outcome, and I don't like losing, so I think we're going to work well together. At the very least, you haven't given me a reason not to trust you, so as long as we can keep it that way, we're golden."
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"Claims another life? So- Travelers and Arcana alike, we have died for this game of yours?"
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Though he is the embodiment of it, the discussion of the death of his own kind always leaves Mortimer looking rather depressed. Further, the discussion of Möbius is always difficult. After a moment of solemn contemplation, Death nods. "You can experience death within Jaunts, but it is not a True Death. And outside of Jaunts... Travelers have never been permanently killed. I have seen to that personally. But I could do nothing with regard to the deaths of the other Arcana."
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"I too was helpless to stop the deaths of those I cared for."
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Mortimer pauses for a moment, and then he adds, "I hope to work with you so that you are no longer helpess to affect change on the world. I hope to work with you so you can prevent the wanton destruction of lives."
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"I... would like that very much," he murmurs, still haunted endlessly by the many times he couldn't save.
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His ears are perked up and face forwards intently, quite curious.
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