“Huh?” Aoba looked back over at him, puzzled. The idea wasn’t fully articulated so at first Aoba thought, leave Declan another letter? Like the notes he’d left pinned in place by that first gifted crystal? Well, sure, that would be easy enough. But what did metal or stone have to do with—
Then something clicked and he realized, Declan maybe didn’t mean now. Maybe he actually meant, “You mean, like a time capsule? If…if I bury something in the past, it’ll survive to the future?”
Also if he decided (had decided) to do so, it would have to already exist. It would have existed even before the Aoba of now agreed to the idea, in fact. But Aoba didn’t have a head for time travel so this spin of paradoxes and certainties didn’t occur to him. The idea of a time capsule was achievement enough for his simpler mind.
no subject
Then something clicked and he realized, Declan maybe didn’t mean now. Maybe he actually meant, “You mean, like a time capsule? If…if I bury something in the past, it’ll survive to the future?”
Also if he decided (had decided) to do so, it would have to already exist. It would have existed even before the Aoba of now agreed to the idea, in fact. But Aoba didn’t have a head for time travel so this spin of paradoxes and certainties didn’t occur to him. The idea of a time capsule was achievement enough for his simpler mind.