private 1x1 with Unicorncob (rp)

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"I guess you'll go back in there and see what you can find?" Oliver said, eating a bit as well. He hoped she wouldn't realise that he knew what was in there, since he wasn't sure how she'd react. It wasn't her room after all, it was the other Jenna's.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"The computer room yes." Jenna responded, she could have pointed out that it wasn't really going back in there when she never had the chance to go there in first place, but it was ultimately pointless and she was still feeling bit off from her very long nap so she didn't think much about it "I did glance inside and there does seem to be bit more stuff in there that I have, so she was certainly looking into something I haven't." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver nodded. He knew what was in there but he didn't want to tell Jenna. Though, he thought the time alone would be an opportunity to practice sounding surprised when she relayed information to him.

"Anything you need me to do?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"Honestly, not really" Jenna admitted between eating "I'd like to say that you could help me research, and you could still do that, but I want to read the information myself too anyway, so it's less a need and more a 'if you want to'." "I don't really have a plan so I don't know what either of us needs to do at the moment." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"I can help you with that," Oliver offered, smiling. He really wanted to prove he could be helpful to Jenna here. "Maybe I can help you figure out what the information means and we can figure it out together."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"Obviously" Jenna stated "That's why I share my thoughts with you in the first place." she finished her food, it wasn't that good, but took away hunger and didn't make them sick, so good enough "I hope I haven't come across like you can't share your opinions, because I do want you to do that, especially if you disagree with me on something." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver nodded. "I just haven't been sure what to think. All of this is so weird, and you seem to know a lot more about what's going on here than I do. I just don't know if I have anything that could really help."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"I know nothing you don't know, I just try to make sense of the little we do know." Jenna pointed out "You could call it a form of coping, connecting dots and thinking about stuff calms me down." she got up and ready to head into the study/computer room "Even suggestions you know are far-fetched could help." "I also think we should just generally share our thoughts more, because with the weird dream situation, I'm seriously worried about the potential mental effect this place may have, we need to keep and eye open for each other, just in case, and if either of us starts acting weird, it needs to be pointed out."

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver nodded, feeling like that plan made sense. He got up and followed Jenna to the study, still thinking about what he found in there.

"I'll let you know if you start trying to kill me," he said jokingly.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

Jenna let out an amused exhale "You have my permission to punch me if it ever gets that bad."  "Though more seriously, I mean more subtle things like hallucinations, mood swings, want of isolation, things like that." As she spoke, she ran her hand in front of the shelf as she scanned it through with her eyes, then picking and choosing specific things from the shelf "If nothing else, the darkness of this place, both literally and figuratively, will no doubt make us low spirits after a while if we don't try to combat it." she took bunch of stuff out of the room and sat on the couch to look at them. 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver nodded. It made sense, considering he was feeling doubtful ever since coming to this place. But having Jenna around helped him feel better about it. "Right, sure, I'll keep a close eye on you."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

Jenna started reading, among everything she had taken, she had also taken an empty notebook and few pens, and as she read, she wrote down notes of her own. If Oliver tried to take a look, Jenna wouldn't stop him, same if Oliver decided to pick something up and read it again, Jenna wouldn't try to stop him, even though she would clearly notice it as she'd glance into the direction of movement for a moment before continuing reading. 

The notes themselves didn't really add anything, as they were just statements like 'She seems to have almost identical life to mine' 'No mention of this thing' or 'Mentions a thing that didn't happen to me.' . Basically, they were Jenna's thoughts written down as she read further, probably so that she could remember things when really analyzing everything. when she got to the point talking about the happenings, the notes would naturally be about those.

Until Oliver interrupted her for reason or another, this is how the next few hours would go, reading and taking notes, If Oliver decided to read stuff, or act like he did, Jenna would now and then ask if he found anything interesting, and would write notes based on his response. now and the she'd get up to get more things to read while also bringing back the ones already read. 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver either watched Jenna read or went to reread some things himself. He wanted to keep himself busy and try to be helpful. When she asked for his input, he'd repeat what he'd learned earlier to her while acting like he'd just discovered it then.

"Are you getting anything from all this?" he asked.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"For now, without having thought it all through, it seems that we are not dealing with two, but three separate things." "Weird death of things, somehow connected to the mold we see everywhere, the weird undead that seems to be connected to the darkness, and lastly the broken time weirdness going on." "It's clear from these that the deaths came first, most likely leading to the collapse of the societal order, and that was then followed by the darkness and the time-nonsense" "It also seems that while almost identical, there are slight differences between myself and this Jenna, mainly the timeline doesn't match perfectly, for example, she mentions someone who sounds like you in positive light, but things here seemed to have happened few years from our time, while we obviously didn't meet, or couldn't even have met that long ago." "I also never wrote about you in my diaries." she said the last part slightly jokingly, but it was also true, she hadn't really seen him before they met, so she had had no time to acknowledge him in any way before it. 

There was also the point to be made that there was no indication that This world's Jenna and Oliver ever got the chance to know each other, but she didn't bring it up, at least not yet.

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"So this world's us knew each other a lot longer?" Oliver guessed, tilting his head. "If that is me she's talking about anyway. This world's me, I mean."

He looked around. "It still doesn't explain how all this started, or how to fix it."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"Knew of each other yes, but there's no indication that they ever became anything more than strangers." "There's also no mention of where she saw who I assume is the local you, but if she was the same age as I, it cannot be the school, since neither of us would have been old enough to be there few years ago." 

"For solutions, I don't think we will find them, I haven't read everything yet, but it is clear she was equally confused about all this as we are. Though we don't necessarily need to, this place is beyond saving at this point, so the only thing we need to solve is to figure out how to stop it from bleeding into our world." "Which leads to our original goal, the portals." "We need to find any and all information we can here of course, but it really looks like that there's no other option but keep going further."

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver didn't like the sound of that. It felt like they were getting nowhere. "And we've found nothing that tells us what to do with these portals. Or even where they're coming from. Where could we even go from here?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"We'll follow the dark beams on the sky like we did until now." Jenna reminded "Though I admit it's not fool proof, since we have no idea how far it goes, as far as we know, it could go to an another continent." "But we shouldn't think about that, we should at least try to be optimistic, because at this point, hope is the only thing we have." she closed a notebook she had been reading, it wasn't one of the ones Oliver had read, rather, it was one clearly used as personal diary rather than mix of both personal and research like the others, Jenna's matter-of-fact demeanor broke a bit, as genuine worry showed on her face "I don't want to end up like her." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver looked at Jenna, noting the look on her face. For the first time, he saw worry. Clearly this was bothering her as much as it was him.

"I'll help you get through this," he promised. "We'll find out what's going on."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"I don't even know which scares me more." Jenna continued "The potential of this place being our future, or the thought of becoming like her." "The hopelessness in this book, the dark thoughts she has written down, the crushing mental anguish on every page of this thing." "It's horrifying, especially when you know it is written by someone who thinks like you, who experienced lot of the same things you did, who is you." she suddenly got close to Oliver, leaning on him, she was shaking "I don't want to become like her"

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver looked at Jenna, saw the terror in her eyes as she spoke her worries to him. He blushed as she leaned on him, but he slowly put his arms around her.

"You won't," he said. "As long as I'm here, I'll help you stay who you are."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

Jenna pressed herself against Oliver, as if suddenly feeling cold "All this is so much." "Those writings, the dreams, and what happened yesterday." "I've prepared for lot of things, but I wasn't ready for something like this." she was still shaking, and her self-confidence was gone from her voice.  

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver swallowed and held Jenna close to her. Suddenly he felt like he had to be here, so she didn't have to deal with all this alone.

"Neither was I," he said. "I don't think anyone could be ready for this."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,430]

"Do you think we'll have a home to return to?" Jenna suddenly asked, it was a heavy question, but it was genuine "Will we see sunlight again?" while the questions were quite pessimistic, one more hopeful question bounced around Jenna's mind too, how many others decided to do what they did? they had seen videos of others with powers taking on the undead things before they came here, but how many of those individuals entered the portals?

[Unicorncob 5,628]

Oliver was surprised by the question. "Well, we came through a portal to get here, right? We'd just have to find one that takes us back."

Though, he sounded like he wasn't completely convinced by his own words.