[Write-locked Doctorward]

[nowinprint]

Docmandoo, know it's not a good time what with your little cascading exodus and all, but I was wondering. You posited something called a "perceptostatic Rift" back home. That ringing any bells for you?

Comments

[thatsortofaman.livejournal.com]

Please don't call me that. And of all the times to ask...

No, I have no idea. To be fair, there's a good chance I made the word up. Remember anything I said about it?

[nowinprint]

Puppy, with you, there's never a good time.

And I'm an Angel of Knowledge, sweets. Of course I remember what you said about it.

It's a sort of Rift which shifts you into a more abstracted schema of reality in which you don't technically exist, can't cognize or interact with the rest of the world as you knew it. But at the same time it progects a vague psychic or morphogenic impression of you which makes people less likely to register you as gone. A bit creepy, actually.

The upside is that on occasion people stumble into these Rifts – and it often takes set groups, though no one is sure why or what connects them – and no one notices they're missing until they stumble out a few days or weeks or months or years later having no clue what's going on. I mean, the perception effect is so pronounced that there've been documented cases of Guardian Angels losing their Wards to the Rift and not noticing.

[thatsortofaman.livejournal.com]

That's... more than a bit creepy, actually, but there's no reason it couldn't happen, especially somewhere like Chicago where there's already a Rift and the boundaries between realities are more fragile than they'd normally be. This has actually happened in your universe? I mean, it's possible we just haven't noticed, but in this reality, no one's Never mind.

[nowinprint]

Oh, yeah. More than a few times. Going through the Journals, I'd bet it's happening here, too. People just stop writing, stop being mentioned, no one acts like there's anything odd about it. Like an unconscious universal consensus that no one's going to bring it up.

[thatsortofaman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got that. Now that I think about it, I have no idea where my guardian angel is, and he's generally very insistent about... keeping me out of situations like... several that have happened lately. I hadn't even noticed.

You're not very good at 'good news', have you noticed that?

[nowinprint]

The forecast today is a beautiful 71°F and sunny with a gentle breeze, and England managed to win by an inning even though that idiot Jensen is still on their team. There's your good news, sport.

Come on, you'd rather know than not know, and you know it.

[thatsortofaman.livejournal.com]

Alright, yes. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

[nowinprint]

If it's any consolation, nothing from my universe suggested that they're in any danger unless they happen to pop out at an inopportune time.

[thatsortofaman.livejournal.com]

Well, that's something. I liked Charlie.