CRYSTAL

[youwonscience]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Cosima Niehaus
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: n/a

What's up, party people? For those of you I haven't met, I'm Cosima Niehaus. For those of you I have met, let's catch up. It's been some amount of time, no one's showed me a calendar yet, I'm excited to see what new and weird plagues you've had while I was gone.

...seriously, though, if anyone in Research wants to get me up to speed, I'd appreciate it.

Also, if anyone broke my microscope I'm going to be seriously pissed. Those do not fall out of Rifts every day.

Comments

[highborn]

[ oh hello, you sure don't sound like you belong here. with interest: ] We've not met, I think. I'm Vanadi, still quite new. Where is it you've been, if I may?

[youwonscience]

Hi. I'm from Earth; California, if that means anything to you. I was in Argentina right before I came through the Rift. ...oh shit, you guys may have worked out new Rifter theories while I was gone, I'll want those too.

Anyway, I was here for a few years some time ago. I'll sort out exactly how long ago soon, I'm sure. Started with the Inquisition, made the move to Kirkwall, stuck with Riftwatch when it broke off.

[innerharbor]

[An American accent (tinges of the East Coast for those with ears to hear it), tone dull and expressionless:]

What d'you need to know?

[youwonscience]

I mean, it's already obvious I've been gone awhile, so I know it'll take some time to sort through the notes. But highlights would be nice. I'm a biologist, evolutionary development if that's helpful to you. My work here before was mainly on red lyrium and the nature of Rifters, so they're probably where I'll jump back in, unless there are any wild new developments that it makes more sense to put me on.

[okayimin]

Are you the person who made the microscope then? You're a Rifter?

[youwonscience]

Oh man, I wish I knew how to make a microscope, I could make us a few. No, it fell out of a rift. I just knew it was valuable enough to keep it intact, clean it up and bring it back here after the field mission where we found it.

But yeah, I'm a Rifter. We've got microscopes where I come from, too; different features, but same basic idea as the one I found. Most of my work back home happens at a level too small to see without magnification.

[justashotaway]

What is a microscope?

[youwonscience]

It's a piece of equipment that lets you look at certain things that are too small to see normally. It uses curved pieces of glass, sort of the way a spyglass lets you see things that are too far away to see otherwise.

[hornswoggle]

I think I remember you. We spoke a year or two ago.

[ politely not mentioning the whole...where do rifters go...situation ]

Congratulations, you've missed the plague.

[youwonscience]

Oh yeah, hey.

[It takes a second, but she places his voice. Given that their last conversation was about mourning, she opts not to bring it up in the moment, though.]

Great, love that. What was it this time?

[wythersake]

There was a terrifically boring plague. Really just a fever. Lots of phlegm - I shan't say you'll be sorry to have missed it.

[youwonscience]

Hey, boring plagues can still kill you. I'm happy to miss any and all of them. But the notes probably won't be as interesting.

[acreage]

You've been here before and then, what, you left?

[youwonscience]

Yeah. Well, I mean. I don't want to over-speculate yet, but here's what it felt like to me: I was home, I went to sleep one night and then I was here. I was here what felt like a long time, went to sleep, and then I was there and didn't remember any of this. A couple years went by back home, I went to sleep there and boom: re-Thedased, plus the memories of my first time here.

Sorry, I know that's super frustrating, since I don't have any tips on how to leave on purpose or even for sure what's going on. I wish it was better news.

[oyedeng]

Hey Cosima. I can't really catch you up, but... how were you able to leave?

[ The accent has a decidedly London sort of lilt to it, but with something layered under it that doesn't quite fit any specific place. ]

Naomi, by the way.

[youwonscience]

Nice to meet you.

Unfortunately, I don't have any tips. Whatever happened, as far as I know, happened while I was asleep. The people here who've been around long enough for rifters to vanish on them know about as much as I do; from this end, you go to look one day and they're just gone.

[It hurts, from this end, especially without the assurance of where they're going.]

[propulsion]

Wow, what a welcome wagon.

[ Hello? Riftwatch? Adults need to talk? ]

Hi. Stark. Huge fan.

[youwonscience]

Wow, that's super flattering from the man attempting to popularize hand sanitizer in Thedas. I definitely didn't think big enough, I was just shilling soap.

[obdurata]

He wouldn't have been able to make the hand sanitizer without me.

( ISAAC!!! )

Would you benefit from a native alchemist partner? I think you might be able to help me more than Tony. It isn't his area.

[wythersake]

[ ""tony"" ?? ]

[youwonscience]

I might, yeah. I mean, my knowledge of alchemy is really basic and also rusty, so you'll probably have to be patient with some obvious questions, but if you think there's overlap there probably is.

[muckspout]

Party people? These people?

[youwonscience]

I mean, has this not been entertaining?

[She feels like she's proved her point.]

[clawings]

Damn we only got one microscope up in here? Fuck.

Welcome back, though.

[youwonscience]

Oh my god, I will be thrilled if someone figured out how to reverse-engineer it and made more while I was gone.

Thanks, though. Weird to be back, but I hope I can at least do some good while I'm here, you know?