I mean, pretty stressed out, not going to lie.

[ sits down next to him. ]

Having you all back now is a huge relief.

I will admit, i was expecting that to go horribly wrong.

[ the bar is on the ground. ]

It's probably good that I didn't have a lot of details about exactly how it was going to work, I might have been a lot more pessimistic if I'd known the plan involved a bag of guinea pigs...

[ no offense to this little guy here. ]

Oh. Well, they were new. They sort of just showed up today?

[ owner has no idea where the guinea pigs came from but honestly it was too funny of an idea to not go along with it ]

[ blinks ]

Seriously? What was the plan before that, then?

Originally, we were going to knit us some rat dolls, but then we were attacked by the crystal rats from over here.

I see...

Yes...

How have things been over here?

Atmosphere-wise, I think it's been a little more tense than when you were here, but finally getting everyone on the same page helped with that...

[ which is kind of novel to him because he's usually secretive as fuck and doesn't tell people shit ]

And getting all of you back was a huge part of everyone's worries, so it should be even better with that settled now.

And, uh, ship-wise... well, it's been creepier and plants keep happening, but I think you knew that.

I see...

[ town halls can be useful, wow. it really is weird to think it's only been a week. ]

Mm. It is odd that we thought it was just a coincidence, but it really seems like it was not...

I know, what the hell! At least I don't feel like I was being overly dramatic about it now.

Well, we did learn that the reach this place has is... rather great. We located some surviving members of the original crew-- you likely saw us corresponding with them on HER-MES. But they're still affected even though they're who knows how far...

Wait, so they're back home and they're still affected? I read the messages some but it was hard to follow...

Mm, they are on some planet, it seems. I am not sure if it is their home, but it is nowhere we have visited.

But yes. They are still under its influence. So even if we just managed to simply leave, it seems like that wouldn't be enough to save ourselves.

Ugh... I guess not. So the stuff about it coming to our worlds is something we legitimately need to worry about.

Don't know what the hell it thinks it'd do with mine, but I'm not that eager to find out either.

... Todomatsu-sama, your world seems the most intriguing of them all...

[ owner is so deeply fascinated. ]

Kind of funny when it's just one of 15 versions of Earth on a list, but it's definitely got a different set of metaphysical principles.

[ ... ]

I don't know how it would even work if someone from here was able to go there. Would they end up getting animated to fit in with everyone else?

I would love to find out.

But it would be like how you adjusted to the rules of this place.