[Qubit does call back, eventually. It takes him about 10 minutes to feel like he's regained his composure sufficiently, although inside he still feels pretty wrecked. He does audio instead of video this time, and his voice almost sounds... heavier than a few minutes ago. Like he just went through eight-odd months of character development all at once.]
Sorry about that. Sabriel's people must have found what they were looking for.
[It's still sooner than Newt expected, and he jumps at the call when the phone jingles with his Qubit ringtone. The tone puts Qubit closer to where Newt's used to hearing him, if all the way at the other end of enthusiasm spectrum, and it's making him regret asking.]
Right.
[Regret doesn't, however, stop him from asking:] So... what happened?
[He chooses to interpret that question in probably a different way than it was meant.]
I don't know for sure. That's more her wheelhouse. But there was a spell someone cast a week ago, that's why so many people were acting oddly... They must have managed to dispel it, but it was very sudden. I wasn't expecting that.
[One of the nice things about logic: it allows him to distance himself from his emotions. They're still there, but he can put them aside for a while.
[Well, he can appreciate logic and analysis to divert you from the problems at hand.]
So, what DID you experience, exactly? A change in timeline? You didn't de-age significantly, if it was like that one that turned Hermann and I into nasty 20-somethings again. It was obviously significantly different somehow or it wouldn't have been so jarring to return. But you didn't change your identity completely, either, like Riku or Miles.
No, that's not it. It was more of a... parallel universe thing. The important thing is that my memory was altered.
[He sounds really annoyed at that. His mind is his sharpest tool and most potent weapon, and he's gone to great lengths to keep anyone from fiddling with it. It's seriously irritating how people keep circumventing his safeguards.]
And as a result, not everything I told you a minute ago was ... entirely accurate. I just want that to be clear.
[The number of mind-altering events they've had in the last year has been boggling. Newt's ready for another giant monster invasion. Or Zombiepocalypse. At least then he's still got his wits about him.]
What inaccuracies should I be disregarding then, just so I don't get confused?
[He's got his head in his hand now. Newt, don't. Don't make me answer that. On the other hand, though, a bitter impulse in him wants to make Newt feel bad for the constant invasive questions, if that's even possible. His tone here isn't dry so much as desiccated.]
[There's a sharp intake of breath and then a long silence. I was afraid you'd say that.
Newt tries to say something a few times, decides against at least three replies, and finally says:]
I'm sorry.
[How? Why? When? The fight to not ask is a tough one, because answers and information are EVERYTHING and he doesn't know how to be sensitive to others' feelings, really.]
...I'm really sorry. They sound like they were good people.
[Some of the wind goes out of his sails here. He's not even sure how to respond to that. Were they good people? Is that even his call to make? What happened in those months brought out the very worst in all of them - or anyway, in those of them lucky(?) enough to last that long. But he's included in that, too. He's lost the right to judge.]
... Mm. [For a moment, that's all he's got. He's already starting to regret being mean about it. Newt's his friend. The man's only curious because Qubit's spent an entire year staunchly refusing to tell him anything whatsoever about himself.
That really ought to change. But he chooses his words very carefully. It's a delicate subject.]
... We were facing an apocalypse. By the end, all life on Earth would have been wiped out within three generations. Ultimately we managed to stop it, but... at a cost that redefines the word "pyrrhic." Over a billion dead, including ... most of the Paradigm. Kaidan, Gilgamos and I were the only ones left.
Tony was... Tony was the one who put a stop to it. But it cost him his life. [That's not the whole truth - he's leaving out the part where Tony caused it in the first place, and had to be essentially tricked into that final act of sacrifice - but it's technically correct.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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audio
Sorry about that. Sabriel's people must have found what they were looking for.
audio
Right.
[Regret doesn't, however, stop him from asking:] So... what happened?
no subject
I don't know for sure. That's more her wheelhouse. But there was a spell someone cast a week ago, that's why so many people were acting oddly... They must have managed to dispel it, but it was very sudden. I wasn't expecting that.
[One of the nice things about logic: it allows him to distance himself from his emotions. They're still there, but he can put them aside for a while.
Long enough to run damage control, at least.]
no subject
[Well, he can appreciate logic and analysis to divert you from the problems at hand.]
So, what DID you experience, exactly? A change in timeline? You didn't de-age significantly, if it was like that one that turned Hermann and I into nasty 20-somethings again. It was obviously significantly different somehow or it wouldn't have been so jarring to return. But you didn't change your identity completely, either, like Riku or Miles.
no subject
[He sounds really annoyed at that. His mind is his sharpest tool and most potent weapon, and he's gone to great lengths to keep anyone from fiddling with it. It's seriously irritating how people keep circumventing his safeguards.]
And as a result, not everything I told you a minute ago was ... entirely accurate. I just want that to be clear.
no subject
[The number of mind-altering events they've had in the last year has been boggling. Newt's ready for another giant monster invasion. Or Zombiepocalypse. At least then he's still got his wits about him.]
What inaccuracies should I be disregarding then, just so I don't get confused?
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The part where everyone's still alive.
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Newt tries to say something a few times, decides against at least three replies, and finally says:]
I'm sorry.
[How? Why? When? The fight to not ask is a tough one, because answers and information are EVERYTHING and he doesn't know how to be sensitive to others' feelings, really.]
...I'm really sorry. They sound like they were good people.
no subject
... Mm. [For a moment, that's all he's got. He's already starting to regret being mean about it. Newt's his friend. The man's only curious because Qubit's spent an entire year staunchly refusing to tell him anything whatsoever about himself.
That really ought to change. But he chooses his words very carefully. It's a delicate subject.]
... We were facing an apocalypse. By the end, all life on Earth would have been wiped out within three generations. Ultimately we managed to stop it, but... at a cost that redefines the word "pyrrhic." Over a billion dead, including ... most of the Paradigm. Kaidan, Gilgamos and I were the only ones left.
Tony was... Tony was the one who put a stop to it. But it cost him his life. [That's not the whole truth - he's leaving out the part where Tony caused it in the first place, and had to be essentially tricked into that final act of sacrifice - but it's technically correct.]