video; un: urahara } and you can mistake it for anything that you want

[predomination]

 [the Urahara you know and, uh, tolerate, probably, has been replaced by... a guy who basically looks the same, except he's wearing a different outfit and no hat to be seen. he seems fantastically chill, despite everything.]

I know everything has been a bit intense lately with the infestation to take care of, but I did take the liberty of sorting out what exactly is going on here for myself. [aka he basically dug around until he had the answers he wanted, though maybe not necessarily an explanation for how he managed to get a bug bite he doesn't remember. and while maybe he's picked up on some strange timeline nonsense going on, he has no reason to believe it would be happening to him.]

One of the things I've picked up on is the Audentes don't have their own specific network of organized and dedicated scientists, which is a shame, really. It might have actually made this whole thing pass by far more smoothly than how it is currently, if we did.

[even 110 years younger, he's still throwing shade and being delightful about it at the same time.] If I'm wrong, you can correct me and direct me to it, but if I'm right, I have a proposition for you all to consider. Since I don't think I'll be returning to my squad any time soon, I might as well offer you all exactly what I was willing to offer them.

[after all, given everything, this is his squad now. granted, it's a squad full of humans and other assorted and he intends to keep the general details of Soul Society a secret because of that, he can only sit idly for so long. and he was so close to his lifelong ambitions to see them shattered by this nonsense. perhaps he can consider it a trial run before he puts forth the effort to get the real SRDI up and running.]

Comments

video | un: richards

[smarterthandad]

[This is relevant to Val's interests, temporally-displaced adult or otherwise.]

Assuming my ride doesn't show up immediately, I'm game.

[Yeah she's expecting either her functionally omnipotent brother or her time-traveling immortal grandfather to come get her.

Comics, man.]

[predomination]

That's going to be quite a ride, if it does. [dimension travel is all well and good, but he's already tried to open a senkaimon. it did not work. then again, he's not going to rule out other people having different forms of travel.

honestly, he's sort of hoping for it. this is awesome. yoruichi is going to be jealous.]

[smarterthandad]

Depends who's driving.

[There is a long list of ways to travel between universes. Some of them are smoother than others.]

In theory I can build a dimensional portal on my own, but in practice, this place doesn't have the right equipment. If I have to bootstrap the manufacturing capacity, we're going to be here a while, to say nothing of determining which set of physical laws are in play in the first place.

[Which is why she'd rather kick back with a lemonade and a book and wait for reinforcements, at least for a week or two, until she gets bored devouring the library.]

[predomination]

Not the ones I'm accustomed to, I'm afraid. I already ruled that out before I accepted my fate. [he doesn't even sound that mad about it. he'll figure it out. he always does.]

But it's not often I meet anyone else familiar with those particular theories. It's fascinating, isn't it? I'm not entirely sure it's all accidental, but the concept, itself, is intriguing.

[smarterthandad]

I have considered the possibility the multiverse runs on narrative, but I decided the best way to deal with that was just to be interesting.

[When you're so smart you almost realize you're fictional.]

So, anyway. You were proposing some kind of science club?

[Yes, she refers to it like they're going to built a treehouse for their HQ.]

[predomination]

[considering half his recruits for the SRDI look physically like children, maybe he is. it's not his fault he prefers minds not quite so rooted firmly in Soul Society's particular ideals.]

Something like that, yes. It seemed more efficient than just relying on ALASTAIR to figure things out while we smash bugs against walls.

video; un: white_lotus

[pummelling]

Sweet! Um... not that they don't have what it takes to help us, but it's good to finally have something to go on. I can't believe they didn't have a way to fix us from the beginning.

[Jin's lost about 13 years, sure, but he's very much aware enough to know that being unprepared in a place like this is a very bad idea. The boy scrunches his face up into a disapproving frown.]

What d'you got?

[predomination]

[oh Jin... Oh honey.]

You mean for the current problem? [awkward laughter] Well, nothing yet!

[pummelling]

[ :|||| ]

Then why're you propositioning everybody?

[predomination]

Well, it won't do us any good if we can't work together to solve it rationally. All we're doing right now is attacking the problem, and that may not be a long-term solution.

[pummelling]

Oh!

So... thinking our way through instead of punching our way through, right?

[he's so clever.]

video | un: arima

[prodigism]

[ Arima is still the same stoic person as he was in adulthood but his hair is black now and he's also a lot younger. ]

I'll help depending on what you know.

[predomination]

That's a bit vague, isn't it? I know a lot of things.

[and Urahara is still a sassmaster 110 years younger.]

[prodigism]

[ urahara pls. Arima is too serious for this kind of sass. ]

I meant about the situation currently going on. You said you knew things and you have a proposition. I'd like to hear it, and others probably would as well.

[predomination]

[he's a giant asshole. case in point:]

Well, I only said that because I knew it would attract the attention of anyone doing their own research. I'm hoping to pool resources in a more organized fashion so if this happens again, the Audentes know where to turn to.

[a beat] But it's fairly obvious that all of this has to do with time.

video | un: evan

[evantuality]

[Evan, still his twenty-five-year-old, almost-two-hundred-year-old self shows up on the network, chuckling. Urahara being a man he instantly had developed a healthy respect for, and this younger self being familiar from the end result of the mishap with the bug fight, he feels equipped to respond.]

Much as I may not be entirely within my rights to accept on behalf of my younger self, I'm sure he wouldn't complain about being included in such ambitions.

I'll leave him a note, but you may have to remind him yourself when the time comes. His proficiencies include computer networking including architecture and with a particular focus on security; the fundamentals of chemistry, physics and biology; some niche knowledge of the intricacies of 21st-century-earth era space travel; and a brain just primed for absorbing all sorts of new and exciting scientific information. Sound like someone you could use?

[predomination]

[urahara takes all that in- and he's a bit perplexed by the wording on some of that, but he just accepts it as a quirk that he'll suss out in conversation or find out in a way more backhanded than asking.]

I think I could find a place for him. How's his biochemistry? I'm afraid I'm missing a very good biochemist right now.

[fundamentals, aside, it's still not his strong suit, but he'd never tell Mayuri that.]

[evantuality]

Shaky. Fundamentals only. You could likely convince him to make good use of the biochem textbooks in the library.

[He's amused at the idea of navigating his younger self into expanding his horizons, via the cheerfully nosy interference of this person.]

Biochemistry. What for in particular?

[predomination]

It's useful, and I'm afraid I got used to Kurotsuchi-san being around before I arrived here. [he leans forward conspiratorially] I'd never tell him this, because he's already a bit too proud as is, but he's quite brilliant in his field.

[evantuality]

Well, perhaps we'll get lucky and there'll be a fortuitous pull from your world. Stranger things have happened, and I don't necessarily absolve ALASTAIR of potentially being cleverer than they seem about who they pull, and when.

[He has, during his tenure here, been keeping an eye out for just that. But if their employers play their bumbling card to cover cunning, they haven't had need to show their hands in the few days old Evan has existed.]

So who is Kurotsuchi-san, hmm? Aside, presumably, from being an actually-quite-brilliant biochemist.

video: un southpaw

[reverseengineer]

[Pidge, meanwhile, looks a little older, a little wiser, and a lot more like she's got a robot eye. But at any age, her response to something like this is gonna be the same.]

Fascinating idea. There are people from enough worlds here that the exchange of ideas could be truly illuminating. Count me in.

[predomination]

That's exactly what I thought. We could all benefit from it, on top of putting our heads together to solve problems like this. I don't really see a downside to it.

[he'll get to the robot eye in a second.]

[reverseengineer]

Collaboration is the key to success. And new eyes on old ideas can bring new ideas. Honestly, I can't believe no one's set it up before.

[predomination]

I suppose everyone is holding out on the hope that ALASTAIR will provide everything, and they don't need to waste their free time doing extra work, but I just don't think of it like that.

[okay no, he can't hold it in anymore.] And speaking of new eyes, yours is certainly intriguing. Did you build that yourself?

[reverseengineer]

Huh? [It's not new for her anymore, so she actually raises her hand to her cheek, almost self-consciously.]

Oh, well, yes. I had another one while I worked on it, but I studied the design and knew I could make it better. So I did.