“What I prefer? I haven’t thought about that too much, really.” Llewellyn responded with a small frown, did he have a preference? Well… Maybe, it depended on the person, or the situation? He liked that Rhy used his name now. It had taken the man a while to change from calling him Watts during their friendship to Llewellyn after things shifted.

Other people used Watts, and he never minded, while others used his name. If he ever had a preference, or if something annoyed him somewhat… “I suppose as far as preferences go, I’d rather not be ‘Mr. Watts’ if that helps.” That was always the quickest thing for him to discourage. If there were to be a title, Detective Watts was preferred.

And Llewellyn was far more interested in the matter of her job. “Is that to say that you’ve got the mm… Ability to travel between worlds already?” Bad luck getting stuck in this one, though, if that was the case. At least for her, it seemed. She sounded like she had something urgent to attend to, given her reaction to arriving.

“It is, at least as far as I can tell, based on conversations I’ve had.” He offered a slightly awkward, apologetic expression at the clear headache she was developing.

“Much appreciated, and I’ll remember to not call you Ms. Braddock.” He responded in turn with a satisfied smile. At least it was an easier transition than it used to be. Most people didn’t tend to want to use formalities compared to his own world. It was a little more relaxed in that once he’d gotten used to it.

“Mm… Technology, I see. That would explain a few things, I suppose.” Like her clothing, for one, he noted with another confused glance. Future fashion was something he’d never figure out, or at least it felt that way whenever he ran into someone garbed rather strangely. Though he realized a little later that he might have seemed a bit rude in that. “Er- that is to say you seem like people I’ve met from more future times, so advanced technologies in which you could do such a thing make sense.” Llewellyn needed to stop talking, sometimes.

That involve first-hand experience. Not something he had… yet… And he was honestly hopeful that he didn’t gain any experience. He liked things how they were. “I suppose that it is… Just speaking with those who’ve left and returned to their world, only to come back with their memories, stating they didn’t remember this place at all when they were in their world. This is the second world like this I’ve been to. I’ve not been back to my world in a little over… Two years?”

“Er- yes…” He responded with an awkward shrug at her arched brow. Maybe it was a perfectly acceptable uniform in her world, but in his era? He could already recall the annoying women from the temperance movement that kept trying to get George to help her shut down Nina Bloom’s burlesque show. She’d probably die from the shock and anger. And the chance of that went up if Betsy’s old uniform didn’t have pants. He’d soon learned in the last world that fashion continued to change as quickly as it ever did in the future.

The question gets a pause, as Llewellyn needs to actually take a moment to think. What year had it been when he was scooped out of his world and into the last? “Uhhh…” He scratched as his cheek absentmindedly. Finally snapping his finger as a vague date came to mind as he recalled a newspaper article he’d read near the time he’d been taken. “I believe 1905, late fall.”

The next question was easier, if only because he couldn’t recall someone leaving and coming back without memories… From here. “Not to my knowledge… One person who was in the last world I was arrived here recently, and they don’t remember that place or me…” That had been awkward… “But that’s the nearest to that experience I’ve noted. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was possible, though.”

Oddly, Llewellyn waved off the sympathy for being away from his world for so long. “Mm… It’s alright, I’ve found positives to this situation by comparison- and I guess I didn’t have anything nearly as pressing as other people to go back to.” It was interesting to hear that Betsy had her own similar experiences, though, could provide some interesting perspective. “So you’re more experienced than most who end up here.”

Llewellyn was still trying to figure out if she might be annoyed, sometimes it was hard to tell with people… But her tone wasn’t particularly short or cutting on the subject, so he supposed she at least must have accepted that he didn’t mean to be offensive. “I see, so it’s more the situation you were pulled out of.” He nodded slightly. That didn’t really explain much… but enough. “If you decide you need to pick up some new clothes to have changes beyond what you arrived with, I’d recommend the tailor shop in the market. They do excellent work, and like a challenge if you have a particular style you prefer.” The recommendation had nothing to do with the fact that his husband worked there… It was just good to recommend places that did good work.

A hundred years? Yes, from his readings in the last world and conversations with people from that far into the future…? A very different time from his own. “Ah, yes, then that would be quite different from my own.” He nodded lightly. “You’ll probably find a few people here that are also from about that far… So you aren’t the only one.” At least he knew of those who told him more about their world. Not everyone was so open about their lives before arriving here. He and Rhy were honestly a bit lucky in that their eras made adjusting to this world easier than some other people, even with some of the oddities.

“It was… I hadn’t anticipated it. They didn’t react well to someone acting like they knew them.” Llewellyn considered that possibility… Someone from an alternate reality. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t met people like that either. “I… don’t believe that’s the case. Most of the facts and details I knew about her were correct… So I believe the only thing she missed was her memories of that world and the people there, myself included.”

He offered an awkward shrug. “No… I suppose not. I’ve found having already been in a world like this once before at least somewhat helpful in adjusting to sudden changes.” A little… Most of the time. Llewellyn tried to be more optimistic than he used to be.

“That we do! They’ve done quite nice work, for individuals and for events. The apprentice is usually pleased to take on new projects if you bring an idea or request to him.” Alright, so talking up his husband was exactly what he was doing. There was no harm in it, if he did so discretely. He was proud of Rhy and his abilities, that was all.

Besides, Betsy would absolutely need some more clothes if she was going to be here for a while, like the rest of them. “It’s in the market, not too hard to find.” He added when she said she’d have a look for it. Though he shrugged, why would her clothing bother him? It was a point of interest, yes, because it was very different… A bit awkward given he was prone to directing attention to things and people mistaking him for being rude… But it wasn’t like he was concerned with looking at her. “I think the greater concern would be what the locals might think. People are funny like that, always worried about saying what one should or should not say about a variety of things.” Although people weren’t as bad here, but he wasn’t sure how they’d take her fashion.

Llewellyn grinned a little, “I suppose it would, but it’s not so bad.” He rubbed the back of his neck lightly. “There are some more modern things in the apartments they assign to new arrivals. Small kitchen appliances, and the like. Not sure how they work, most of us figure it’s magic.” So she wouldn’t be without some comforts, and he was of the mind that the easy-to-use kitchen gadgets of the future were an excellent thing to have.

“Considering how uh- powerful the thing in the last world seemed, I suppose that’s not impossible.” Damn hard to figure out what any of that was, and that they had their memories while she didn’t? It was confusing, to say the least. “Connections between this world and the last are… difficult to think of. They’re very different places. Though, I suppose the fact that people were brought to it and this world for the purpose of helping to achieve a goal. Different goals, but goals nonetheless.”

“Indeed! Most of what I have was made by them?” Of course, aside from what he arrived in this world with. “And they’re excellent at smaller details.” He added, tugging out a handkerchief with a rather complicated looking floral pattern sewn into it. Something Rhy had made with him in mind, given Llewellyn needed things to fuss with and hold his attention while he tried to work on a problem. “This is an, uh- example of his embroidery as well.”

Llewellyn was about to ask how she wouldn’t attract attention from locals, given that seemed… a bit difficult? Until she continued a moment later, mentioning she was a mutant. There were some perks to having been around two of these worlds now. He knew the term and had a better idea of the kind of world she was from, thanks to that. “A mutant? Ah, I see, I’ve met one or two since I left my world… They seem to have rather varied abilities.” And so, he supposed she must have something that would help her blend.

Llewellyn was quite fond of the modern comforts himself, especially things like toasters and coffee makers… And microwaves that were not as large as a closet. Far less dangerous, those.

“The goals?” He rubbed the side of his face, while the other tucked his handkerchief away… Though his hand remained in his pocket as he fussed with it a bit, fingers running over stitches while he pulled what he knew of both worlds together in his mind. “Well, in this world I’m sure you’ve uh- already gotten the speech about the ruin that came to this place and that they want us to assist in rebuilding- which mostly just seems to be populating it and living our lives.” Simple enough in theory, though he had a feeling they’d find something more complicated to it than that before long.

“And in the last? Well… I had a conversation with the entity in charge, and it was the last of its kind… It wanted to study us as an experiment to bring back its kind. If I’m being honest, I still fail to see how we could have really given it answers. We were all very different from it… And the stages of the experiment I was there for didn’t really make much sense for that goal.”