caughtinanetwork | 01 ♕ ACTION / VIDEO

["Solf J. Kimblee" is currently standing near the coral, staring intently at the circles inscribed on his palms. Of course it isn't actually Kimblee, but rather Frank Archer, a newer arrival who comes from a world very similar to Kimblee's. He's certain he knows what the alchemic circles are supposed to do once they're pressed together, it's just a matter of figuring out how to get them to work. It's been years since he studied alchemy at all, and back then he wasn't able to activate any arrays. But that's not important now - he's in Kimblee's body, therefore he should be capable of using Kimblee's alchemy.

He claps his hands together suddenly, lining the arrays up perfectly before pressing his hands to the coral. He can feel something stir beneath his hands, but it's over before he can really process just what it was. Archer frowns. He pulls back, examines his hands again, and tries once more. Again, nothing happens.]

I don't understand. It should work!

[There's quite a bit of frustration in his tone. He's making Kimblee sound rather petulant, sorry about that.]

If I'm him I should be capable of doing what he does. He's capable of doing what I can!

[But that's because he's a weapon, and it isn't exactly difficult to figure out how to use the gun arm and the cannon.]

Dammit. [He goes back to examining his - or rather, Kimblee's - hands again for a moment, before opening the SFC to video.]

[The video opens to Kimblee - or rather Frank Archer in Kimblee's body - attempting to smile. It's not really working and comes off looking more aggressive than anything else.]

Hello, Vatheon. I'm afraid I haven't properly introduced myself. Now is hardly the best time for it, I'm afraid, but I do have a few questions for you all.

First of all - are these "curses" relatively common? I would really rather not be swapping bodies with people every week or so.

Secondly, for those of you who have swapped into bodies with powers, can you use those powers? Are they relatively easy to control?

Thank you very much for your time. Until this "curse" is over, I appear to be stuck in Kimblee's body; my name is Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer. It's a pleasure to meet you all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, that's certainly good to hear. I suppose there isn't any advance warning for these curses?

Not anymore. Before, it was possible to monitor the energy level of the coral in the plaza, which typically correlated with the onset of a curse. But that appears to have stabilized while the curses remain a constant. As far as I'm aware, there's no way to accurately predict them so long as the coral is in this state, but one every few weeks is a safe bet.

The energy level? What is the coral?

[Is it a robot? A living thing? ~~He is from 1915 and a landlocked country, what is this~~]

That certainly is frequent. How do you all put up with it?

And that would be the question I wish I had an answer to. But I'm working on it. The best I can tell you that is the coral is key to our being here. The locals call it a god, I have my doubts.

[Not that he's so willing to put his faith in some scraps of documents from an abandoned lab either, but.]

And some of us don't put up with it. The supposed science behind the curses in fascinating, but realistically they're an inconvenience all around. What can you do?

Would it be possible to destroy the coral and leave, then?

[Not that he's interested in that since he's sort of dead back home. But hey, destruction is always fun!]

Is there some sort of science behind these curses?

[Tech grins slightly. Now they're getting into his subject.]

Opinions differ, and that is mostly due to a lack of understanding of how this place operates on a physical level. Some evidence suggests that this city is a plane of existence that is created for or maintained by the coral itself. If that's the case, then destroying the coral could potentially return everyone home, but it could also leave us without a physical plane of existence. Which would be unfortunate, to say the least. However, there's also evidence to suggest that this world is much more conventional, and the coral itself is the only meta-dimensional aspect. As for the curses. It seems very likely that they're at least influenced by science, but that doesn't explain the near supernatural degree of their effects--much like what you are experiencing now. It's probably safe to assume that science is working through the coral in some way.

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