Waves from the other side of the void
I wanna hear more about the double rhode au >::3 How did the two Rhodes react to each other at the start? What was going on with the Quantum Moon (Sola stuff)? Was there anything in particular that tipped Rhode off that they were in the wrong universe?
Please yap at me I would love to read ::D
IM GOING TO EXPLODE I WROTE SO MUCH AND IT DELETED GAHHHH
anywayyy. take two (hah!)
it goes Bad. it goes Very Bad. odie was having an increasingly confounding and frustrating day (what do you mean, no, I just got here! I-- no, no, what are you talking about, I didn't do that, none of this makes sense-- that wasn't me, that couldn't have been me--) and rhode had just dipped from a conversation with hal after they'd hit a tipping point of suspicion (you're-- you're not them, are you? who are you, what did you do to my rhodonite?? what's wrong with you??) so tensions are already high. and then they run into each other in the woods outside the village. they're both very confused and stressed and desperately need a good conversation after a nap. unfortunately we're having this conversation now, and it goes just as shit as you'd expect. they realise who the other is (kinda) and Really freak out about the other existing. they blame each other a lot for the situations they've been stuck in, even if neither of them really chose this. it's a big mess I fear, much verbal fighting and miscommunication. they Do later calm down and have a more reasonable discussion about all this but first the horrors.
the quantum moon!! odie was always Very fascinated by it, and, after visiting the tower on giant's deep, they landed there. unfortunately due to the eye spitting out rhode, the weird funky temporal anomalies thereof, and odie's shit timing for landing on the moon, they find themselves somewhat trapped in the space. it just. won't let em out. quantum & temporal bullshittery. and when they do try to signal for help... nobody responds (the travellers hear "they" got home shortly after the distress signal and assume it's fine. rhode physically arrives at hearth so everyone assumes they got out okay).
they manage to get to the sixth location through trial and error. the good news! living nomai!! solanum!! the bad news! sol has a new roommate now. sorry odie. they're not having the best time up there, especially because rhodonite, in all their forms, is a very restless person, always needing to do something, go somewhere. they go a bit stir crazy up there, even with sol for company. very fun considering their situation in the context of sol's own hypothesis that she's partially dead. oh the implications. they feel time slip from their grasp over the following months as they learn basic nomai and teach sol hearthian blackjack 👍 yayyy. eventually the universe does settle with there being two (2) of them now enough for odie to get out without fracturing spacetime.
ah yeah. the initial stuff they notice they kinda brush off (past stuff they can't quite remember, minor appearance details that they think are different, buildings are a little shuffled, ect) as a side effect of the loop. it's unsettling ofc, but they can assume it's their own brain being kinda fried from the time loop. then, more obvious differences start showing up: opinions & memories they know damn well didn't happen (hal insists they like swimming. rhode fucking hates water and has their whole life), personality changes, the bramble seed appearing later than it should, the stars looking wrong, everyone calling them odie for some reason, such things. a major breaking point for them is when gabbro gets back from giant's deep and, horrifyingly, doesn't remember the time loop.
wrote this before my first draft of this post got got ::P off the cuff early morning writing go brrt.
rhode. uh. really freaks out about this. if gabbro isn't in their corner here, if gabbro doesn't notice what's going on, then who tf will? after this point they start actively investigating more and find more and more discrepancies.
