daemonized | RECOLLE IC CONTACT.

[ ardyn might get to the scribbling notes down a little earlier than expected, considering that he's now pulling out a manila envelope from inside his briefcase, and then subsequently pulling out the contents of the envelope and passing it to ardyn for him to take a look.

they're legal documents. patent certificates and registrations from several different jurisdictions, signed with Kaiba's name in both English characters and kanji, and stamped to make it all official and the like. the strange thing? some of the information on the certificate is scratched out as if redacted.

weird, huh? ]

Yes, actually. Retrospec sent me these the other day and I wanted to get a second opinion.

[ because of course it's retrospec induced. what else could it be? ]

I know you're not a patent attorney, but I can't tell if they're actually authentic or very convincing forgeries.

[Ardyn takes the documents, briefly looking through them, only to raise his eyes to look at Kaiba questioningly.]

Some of the information here is missing.

[Though he's sure the other already knows this. Excuse him as he makes his way to his desk, sitting down, placing the papers flat to he can go over them more closely.]

Can you confirm that this is your signature?

[ he nods. ]

I received blueprints with them, too, they had similar information missing.

[ that's his way of confirming that, at least. when Ardyn asks to confirm his signature, he'll pull a pen out of his own pocket (he's not about to get pranked by his own prank tbh), spinning the pen idly before he signs a post-it note on Ardyn's desk with a flourish, adding his name in both kanji and in letters below it neatly.

if Ardyn tries to make a handwiting comparison, he'll find it's an exact match. ]

I don't remember signing these documents specifically.

[Ardyn takes the post-it note, sticking on his desk next to one of the documents. He compares the signature with the one he sees on the papers, and like Kaiba had said, they are indeed identical.]

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise to either of us.

[He clicks at one of his (invisible ink) pens, though he doesn't begin to scribble down anything just yet.]

If we're to buy into the theory of past lives and the like, then it only makes sense that this might actually be your own signature.

Tell me, do these patents mean anything to you?

[ there's a slight frown on his features, because honestly, he really shouldn't be surprised by this kind of thing right now, but somehow, retrospec has always managed to one up him somehow. ]

Somewhat.

[ he folds his arms. ]

Since the blueprints and patent registrations came together, I'm fairly certain that they're related. I spoke with Dr. Lutece earlier before coming to see you - I've actually been doing some research on the side into immersive virtual reality, true 3D gameplay.

[ here he'll pull out the blueprints for Ardyn to take a look at them, too, even if they're not his field of expertise. ]

If they appear to be projector screens-- [ and he'll tap on the relevant diagrams ] --then I suppose there's two questions of significance. One, how did Retrospec know what I was researching into, and two, how the hell did my other self figure this out enough to engineer it?

[And now Ardyn slides one of the diagrams closer, looking at it close. He taps on it with a pen.]

There are a few theories that might adhere to that. One, that your past self and your current self just happen to share the same interests. A notion which I've thought about in the past, if only briefly.

[He glances at the patents again as he speaks.]

And if we're to continue in that same vein, it would mean that the natural course of action is that this other you was interested, and therefore motivated to see it to competition, as you may feel now. The difference being that perhaps that other world had more resources than the one we live in now. The technology available might've been different.

[He takes a sticky note and decides copy down some of the information, but frowns as it refuses to write. He shakes it out with a bit of a frown.]

[ that... makes a strange amount of sense, and there's a part of him that agrees, considering that he's frowning, but he hasn't made any attempt to say anything directly contradictory just yet. ]

Reincarnation?

[ ... okay, so maybe there's a sharpness and an edge of scepticism in his tone when he says that - it's not that he's not familiar with reincarnation as a concept because that he's aware of,, he just. doesn't subscribe to it. ]

I'm not sure about the other resources. Based on the things that I've seen in my memories, I don't think there's very much discernible changes. Except perhaps locations that don't exist in this world. I doubt a place named Recolle existed in my memories.

... Or in yours.

[ and here he's duly distracted by Ardyn struggling with the invisible ink pen. he makes sure to keep his face carefully neutral though. ]

Is there something wrong with your pen?

Something like that, I suppose. [It sounds ridiculous to subscribe to, he knows. Ardyn wasn't exactly a believer in reincarnation before Retrospec, but with all that's been happening these days, it's a legitimate theory to consider for now. It lined up well with a lot of things, though some were quick to say something just as fantastical, such as "parallel universes".

Either way, he just nods, frowning at his pen that refuses to work. Back on the subject of patents and memories in a second, but first...]

My pen doesn't work. [He sets it aside to try for another one, but the result is the same.

...

Lifting his eyes up to Kaiba,] Any idea what could've happened to them? Strange that two in a row wouldn't write.

RECOLLE IC CONTACT.

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