#thread.matrix

Adarsh stared at the water as if it had personally insulted him, as if with a single look he could force it to part before him, split like that one guy from... was it Christianity? Clearly whomever he was had little interest to retain information regarding religion. He could barely recall a thing even if he wanted to. No impressions or rules or rituals or words to live by.

Or perhaps religion was so deeply tied to his memories that those were lost to him forever.

Could that be? That everything that retained some intense connection to him was muddled and vague and thus not within the waters of knowledge he seemed to have.

Some of it was useful information, but what if nothing would lead him to any answers.

He could swim.

But he doubted he was a strong enough swimmer to make it to the cruise ship and back onto it.

So instead he stared at the water and blamed its tide for his inability to get his answers. For good measure he hit it with rocks. It only made a small splash, but the exercise of throwing stones at least made him feel a bit better. As he yelled 'Take that!' in the language he didn't know the name of.

Clearly he hadn't been someone who played Baseball when he was younger.

He cursed at the ground as he looked for more rocks.

He touched the wakeboard shirt he was wearing. Had he grown up near the beach? Or been near a beach when the island had been taken? Or was the whole population of the island lying to him and had they actually all been on the cruise ship.

But he wasn't wearing swimming trunks? So it had to be an aesthetic choice. Or he burned quickly.

The last thing they remembered was their father’s face, his lips moving, to form the question that had haunted Baskar for years. For almost half their life. And they hadn’t been able to step back from it, hadn’t been able to turn away. 

Fear had filled every corner of their mind. 

And then suddenly he was on a beach. Sand below him, the temperature suddenly a good twenty degrees warmer, a chill breeze hitting him from the side. 

His first thought was that his father had gotten to him, that this was where he’d wanted him to go. Back to Indonesia. Only this wasn’t Indonesia, he realised that instantly. 

He skipped around, no ghost. Nothing. No ghosts. Just sand, a beach, the ocean… a ship… a ship? A Tower? Very far away. A tower. 

We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Adarsh had a hard time accepting that people didn't get injured left and right. It felt like with the danger of the island, he'd have plenty of work. Instead, he found himself wishing for another hornet attack. He made sure to trade his time and energy for some word on what was going on outside.

When he'd heard about Darcy and Tej - someone he could finally put a name to - battling and defeating the robot hornet with the hundred screens, he dropped his work and went to look for Darcy. He told himself that he just wanted to be there to heal any possibly injuries, but that wasn't true.

He spotted her easily, it was obvious that Darcy had not made herself a beloved part of the growing community. And that bothered him, so he glowered at anyone that looked at him oddly.

"Hey!" Him coming to find Darcy wasn't new at this point, his observant and intent gaze might be however, as he scanned her for any signs of injury. "I heard you fought the giant robot hornet," he said. "Are you injured?" He sounded a little too eager to have the answer be 'yes'.

Adarsh still had his journal, his list of things he wished to complete, wished to know - well that was everything but specifically - and with no power and no skill that seemed in any way useful, the fact that ‘checking up on Darcy’ was anywhere near on his mind jarred him. He’d supposed he wasn’t a good guy, quick to anger, always frustrated, barking at people. He had the ability to follow orders and apologise, but that did little to stop the self image. It also didn’t help that he was dressed like a homeless person and nothing seemed to bring any good memories back. He was vain as well, concerned about his hair and beard more than about getting enough food. 

And yet, he’d spend the past two hours looking all over the beach searching for Darcy. 

Which he’d give more thought too once he’d actually been able to check up on her. Because he certainly didn’t need to deal with even more confusing feelings.