Cloudless climes and sunny beams

Lucianne Lovejoy

"Oh?" There was nothing in particular about Jude that screamed otherworldly, with the exception of his arm. But Lucianne had assumed that it was just one of those normal quirks anybody would see on a normal day at the island. She looked him over again, carefully.

"It's hard getting used to new worlds," she said awkwardly, trailing off into a few moments of silence. "I actually, I have no idea how to explain this. It's like. While I'm standing here with you, I'm also not. But a billion times over. I'm doing a billion different things right now in a billion different worlds. Right now, right here, I'm talking to you. But in another place, I'm dancing in a graveyard, watching the sun rise across water. They're both real and happening but this is the one that I'm focused on at the time. What I'm trying to say, is that I know a bit about stuff in worlds not overlapping."

She bit her lip before continuing, flustered, "But I'm talking too much and making absolutely no sense, aren't I? Ahh, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I'm saying."

Lucianne Lovejoy

"Oh, I'm very aware of all of it," Lucianne said, relieved that he understood. "I just try to focus on what this me is doing instead of what the other ones are. It's harder sometimes because two of them are in this world as well and it's easy to mix them up."

"Compared with other worlds, this universe is just strange." She stared at the ground contemplatively before looking up. "I've never encountered so many world hoppers before in any world. It's definitely not a normal occurrence -it's not even a rare occurrence. With the exception of this world, it just doesn't happen for the most part."

Lucianne Lovejoy

"Funny," she said thoughtfully. "That's the same thing people say about the Asian side of the family. The elders say that they're literally cursed with that. After spending some time with them, I think I'd have to agree. Something is definitely fishy over there."

After a moment of contemplation, Lucianne changed the subject. "Tell me about your world?" she asked. "I probably have an incarnation over there and I've never come across people from those other worlds before. Honestly, I'd partially given up on it but it would be nice to know other people with the same experiences. Being in different worlds, I mean. You know?"

Lucianne Lovejoy

Scrunching her face in thought, Lucianne looked through the eyes of her other lives, trying to narrow down the world he was talking about. "Okay, um? Let's see. How about some landmarks? There's, um. Hm." Billions of worlds spilled out before her. She tried to keep her attention to the ones she knew were on the brink of destruction. Or had been.

"Duchess's Rock. Ghostlight Cemetery. Sentinel Square. Long Cove." She rattled off the names of some of the places she -the other hers- knew.

Lucianne Lovejoy

"Oh!" She concentrated all her attention on that world. "I was two people there, actually! Lucy Lovebridge and Lucille Dresden," she said excitedly. "Lucille was on the other side of the planet but Lucy actually lived pretty close to Halcyon. You probably know where Heron is, it's not even an inch away from Halcyon on a typical map. She was just an elementary school student, nothing particularly special."