"If it's less than a mile I want to move again," she sighs. "I'll make you a new gate in two weeks and meet you there in three when it's guaranteed to have settled. Can you try to - be Purple so I can take his order off and you can go back to the mortal world?"

Yeah, he writes, and then he starts trying to– what, think of being Purple? Sounds stupid, but he'll try it.

… Nothing seems to be happening.

"How'd it happen before?"

It just happened during the conversation. I wasn't paying attention, then I notice that it's later, it's apparently happened, and I remember most of the time between.

"Weird."

Yeah, he writes. I don't actually know what—

He's interrupted when he collapses to the floor. Still seems to be breathing.

The lumen's still hovering there, sentence half-finished.

"I rescind Yellow's orders. You have a second personality who has been taking over in your memory gaps."

"Thank you," he says, getting up and brushing himself off, then he remembers that she's deaf. Thank you, he repeats with lumen. Yeah. I gathered that, I remember the past minute or two. The teleportation is weird.

"Do you remember anything Blue didn't about what happened?"

Yellow asked me where you were, I delayed, then I disappeared. Doesn't match up with what he remembered – he's missing bits but it adds up wrong.

"What do you mean?"

Overlap? The teleportation is weird because there was overlap.

"Overlap?"

He appeared while I was being ordered. I didn't disappear until later. It's weird and I don't even know how I know this, but I'm pretty sure there was– overlap.

"This is all very strange and I don't know that I'll be much help with it. You should probably go to the mortal world. Come back in three weeks, I'm going to move somewhere farther away."

Yeah, he writes, noticing that he's– well, totally vulnerable to Yellow if he were to come along. Good idea – uh, bye.

And he goes back through the gate, unless she has something she wants to add.

Nope.

She shuts the gate and flies away.

He continues to be frustrated by the mortal world, but he seems to be learning the language relatively quickly, at least. Not quickly enough for his likings, and it's not like he can answer any of their questions – weird amnesia, apparently he was a fan of plastic surgery, who knows – but he tries to work out what the hell is up with the fact that he apparently has magic.

Purple manages to keep most of his memories during this three week period, with only a few hours missing overall. Blue has apparently, kindly enough, left him notes of what's happened during these times.

And then, three weeks later, he tries going back to the alley and through the gate.

It's somewhere different now - behind a waterfall, although it's nice and quiet possibly for sorcerous reasons in the cave behind it. "Hi Purple."

"Hi," he says. "Um. How've you been?"

"Okay. Move was uneventful, didn't run into Yellow."

"That's– good," he says. "I haven't had any progress with the thing. Teleportation or whatever." He shrugs. "It'd be frustrating if it only worked when I was ordered, and I would say I don't think that's likely, but it's some weird magic, so I have no idea what's likely."