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[youjustgot]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, MERLIN. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 135.18.129.14 *** Merlin has joined 135.18.129.14 <merlinofcourse> ⌁˚⊹ You have reached Prince Merlin ⊹˚⌁ <merlinofcourse> I know how to use computers now~

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[youjustgot]

[These are Maya's notes? That's...surprising, Maya never seemed like the note taking type to him, let alone multiple books worth. And here she is, trusting him with all this delicate information...]

Maya...this...this is amazing, I... thank you. I haven't even heard of some of this before-

[Wait.

As Merlin is lovingly stroking the book's binding, he can't help but look back at her, eyebrow raised.]

.......you mean to tell me that you've had all these notes, have seen me researching, and only now decide to let me know about this?

[Pout.]




...Better late than never, I suppose.

[missleadingquestions]

Well, you know, I did have to pry some of these out of your bestie's hands.

You two sure are gluttons for information, aren't you?

[Not that she— or Phoenix, for that matter— are very different...]

Buuuut I already heard you say thank you, so I'll take it.

[youjustgot]

Ooooooh, it's Hanna's selfishness I should be blaming, I see.

[Taking a quick glance around, Merlin decides he can probably open the door all the way now. There doesn't appear to be any pies-to-the-face waiting for him.]

Was there...anything else you needed? You're more than welcome to come in.

[missleadingquestions]

[Maya... also looks around, quite confused as to hwy Merlin's doing it but if he's looking around, clearly there must be a reason to. But the coast seems clear, so Maya nods.]

Let's hang out! I can give you the run down on all the brand new information you're gonna get.

We can even compare notes!

[youjustgot]

[Merlin gestures to his bed as a place to sit down, skimming books so he can choose the most relevant one as he places the others on his already cluttered desk. With a little more force than he probably should, he throws himself into his bed as well, causing him to bounce playfully before getting to business.]

I doubt there'll be much to compare to. [Which breaks his heart, he loves comparing notes...] It's difficult to compete with a first-hand experience. Felfri, for instance...

[He's PRETTY SURE he saw Felfri mentioned in this book, which is exactly why he grabbed it. He breezes through pages until he finds any mention of it again, placing his finger down on the page to keep himself from going any further. Sometimes you just get lost in the page turning sauce.]

Ah, here. The only thing I know about Felfri is that it's some sort of...alternate world where the Fourth God is in charge, instead of the Fog. Which...would make your multiverse theory completely on point and totally horrifying. I sure hope "Other Me" is living it up...

[Lucky bastard...]

Other than that, I can't say I know too much.

[missleadingquestions]

[Maya thinks over it, and decides—]

MMmmmmyeeeaah, I guess that's pretty much what it is.

[But... only because she can't come up with a better explanation. At some point, they'd thought it all to be a simulation— but it couldn't be just a simulation, after it had been connected to so many other worlds. Maybe that's just how worlds work. If you believe in one hard enough, if you connect it to enough other worlds, maybe it becomes real. Or maybe it was never a simulation in the first place.

Maya doesn't really consider herself smart enough to get it.]

I wasn't really involved in the god stuff... cos my powers weren't really strong enough to help anybody out in Felfri, and the Fourth god took all the cool stuff I got from Mana.

Cos he's a jerk.

[The pout on her face should reaffirm that idea.]

But! I do remember a bunch of what it looked like and the rules we had to follow! It should be in the one you picked.

[youjustgot]

[Yeeeeaaaah, that sure is a pout. The gods here confuse Merlin in a way he never thought possible, they aren't exactly black and white. If this were back home? Well, one god would obviously be Good, while they other would be unmistakably Evil.

And that's even if anyone actually believed they were gods at all.

Instead, Merlin has come to find that there's about as much distain for the Fourth as there is for the Fog. The hell did this guy do? How can you fight against an evil witch who turns people into monsters and forces them to EAT PEOPLE and STILL come out looking just as bad?!]

Rules?

You mean like laws?

[missleadingquestions]

That's right.

[Maya reaches over to flatten the notebook out for Merlin, sticking her fingers between a stack of pages and flipping it to one marked bright and clear with big handwriting. She's copied down several of the messages they were given in Felfri;

In bright red marker, in a handwriting that's attempting to look facetiously digital:


UPDATE PATCH: FOG VIRUS
Due to the drain in resources caused by the viral invasion of the Fog, resurrections will no longer be possible. In addition, the strict policy of nonviolence is WAIVED so long as the violent act is against the Fog virus or its resources.

Beside it, a very doodly representation of GEEVES is making quite a stupid face. It probably means nothing to Merlin, who never saw the hologram produced by E+L, but perhaps the other drawings will catch his eye; a cookie person with an impressive, sea-worthy cape, a black wolf with yellow eyes and question marks surrounding it, two humans resembling Hanna and Phoenix— there's clearly other people as well. Still, even if Merlin knew those faces, it might be hard to recognize; she's drawn their original forms, not their monster appearances. Phoenix's picture, and some of the others, are marked clearly with a 4.

Each of the illustrations has a word like "yes" or "no" or question marks around them, but none of them have any names attached. There was clearly a deliberate attempt to encode whatever information is communicated by these cartoony little portraits.

There are other rules written throughout the page, even if they weren't as blatantly laid out as E+L gave them; Don't talk in front of them!
No locations!
No Chip = Last Level!

As if it were a video game...]