Early Morning 59 [network] @lawbringer; RUMORS OF MY DEMISE... [open] [morbid content]

[cloneprincess]

I know there are several people here who have expressed concern or the desire to locate the bodies of those who have died before; to that end, while I was recently in the funeral home I documented the corpses' faces. The images show the typical distortions present in many of the photographs of Norfinbury's more unusual phenomenon, but the faces should still be recognizable.

[ Attached: Distorted photographs of every body currently in the morgue. ]

This one [ linked to the photo of Rhys' first body ] is especially interesting, don't you think?

Comments

text; @hotstud_xxx

[rubikscomplex]

who said dying never brought results
that is interesting
good to see you back, though, miri
i was worried we'd lost you forever
your girlfriend was, too
really moving moments with her

text, private

[cloneprincess]

I know you'd miss me terribly, Greg.

text, private

[rubikscomplex]

always and forever
especially if i didn't get to rub your real name in your face
you can do it for me when i die

but on more relevant things than your seriously weird fascination with maintaining just ONE fake name
(and your girlfriend's at that?
that's kinda obsessive
you two might want to take a break
after the reunion sex i mean
record that)
that's a nice, tidy group of dead people
any chance there's an sd card around?
some kid found one with records of the bodies and resuscitation attempts
when they rose from the dead last time

@CaptSteveRogers; video

[starsandtights]

[Steve had sort of put together that @lawbringer was someone named Miranda Lawson and had gotten herself killed going to the chapel to look for Sealand, so seeing her post fills him, first and foremost, with relief; one less person on the list of the dead. But then... 'recently in the funeral home'? She had to have died on the night of day 57... it's possible she woke up again yesterday, but surely she would've said something earlier?

God, Steve's afraid to hope. Even with his voice all fucked up, he's got no patience for typing; he switches to video.]

I'm very glad to see you're still with us. Please, though—this is very important—are you still in the funeral home?

[The urgency in his (raspy as fuck) voice and on his face is apparent.]

video

[cloneprincess]

[ Miranda is looking excessively clean for a Norfinbury resident, but exhausted. ]

Captain, I've seen the post, but - I looked this entire place over from top to bottom when I woke up last night. There wasn't anyone here.

[starsandtights]

[Steve rears back slightly, shocked and confused.]

What? That—that doesn't make any sense!

@lockhart; text

[powersouls]

[Tifa goes through each and every one of the photos, looking for Cloud, of course. As much as she dreads every click, she feels an overwhelming rush of relief when she doesn't see him. Until she gets to that last photo of Rhys. But she'd just spoken to him the other day, and there hasn't been an obituary since Cloud's...

Ugh, she's been so inundated with awful and confusing things in the past week that she's completely drained. She can't wrap her mind around it.]

Is that last picture of Rhys? That doesn't make any sense.

[cloneprincess]

It would certainly seem so. He was here, once before, and died for several weeks before reappearing with seemingly no memories.

A troubling discovery in light of the other things we've recently learned, isn't it?

[ She remembers Tifa's concern with alternate universes matching up to her own. ]

[powersouls]

[No memories, huh? Tifa resists the urge to shiver.]

But people have died and come back without an extra body being found, right? Why is Rhys different?

voice;

[headjacked]

[ The first thing that catches his attention is Fiona. Oh god, Fiona. It makes his stomach churn and drop in a way he never would've expected. She'd said they were friends. They were friends. They --

He almost leaves the tablet without checking the other link, but curiousity (barely) wins out in the end.

When he finally finds his voice, it's hoarse and dumbfounded. ]

But.

I'm not dead.

voice;

[cloneprincess]

Well, that's the least disturbing possibility eliminated.

I don't suppose you have an secret twin brothers? Clones?

voice;

[headjacked]

If I did, I'd have probably led with something like, "oh, hey, yeah, that's just my twin brother! And/or clone!"

B- okay, you said secret, in that case way to ask useful questions!!

@guardian; video

[phaseshifter]

[ Welp. That's a thing.

Angel waits for the initial shock and distress to wear off before responding. There's no use in freaking out, is there? Besides, Rhys has that angle covered. ]

I suppose this - um, the two Rhyses thing - confirms the admin's claims about the whole parallel universes deal, huh.

But I wonder - why keep the body if she picked up a replacement?

[cloneprincess]

Not conclusively, of course, but it's the best theory I have at the moment. Actually, you've had the best luck at speaking to @admin and she recently confirmed at least one instance of two people being from different but similar universes here. Do you think that if you asked, ah, her if the at-R-H-Y-5-W-1-N-Z and the Rhys you've been traveling with are the same person -?

[ No, she's not spelling @dickcheese. ]

[phaseshifter]

Um, I could try. I'm not sure whether or not she'll be happy to speak to me after that whole... thing the other day. But I can at least attempt to ask!

Um, by the by. Are there any bodies missing? Or missing parts?

@SceptredIsle; text, private

[keepscalm]

I realise this is far from the point of this post, but I'm glad you've returned safely.

I assume you're feeling well enough?

text, private forever

[cloneprincess]

Thank you. I owe you

[ Owe him what? Gratitude? A favor? ]

a great deal, for passing that message on to Shepard, even if it did turn out to be a lot of fuss for nothing but a little emotional trauma. I'm quite well, if so jealous I can barely breathe with it.

same

[keepscalm]

I had no intentions of going back on my word after what you did for me. It's no trouble.

I'm happy to hear that you're all right, though I confess I'm not entirely certain what you mean. Jealous of what, may I ask?

@nvcr; audio

[staytunednext]

Are you a professional corpse photographer? The lighting composition and uniform images of each expressionless dead face is extremely well represented.

[Colour him impressed.]

@lawbringer, audio

[cloneprincess]

I'm a former intelligence officer, but thank you for the compliment.

[ She sounds genuine enough about that, much to her own horror. ]

[staytunednext]

Really?

[He sounds surprised and pleased.]

It is rare to meet an intelligence officer outside of the dusty, cramped hand-dug tunnels out in the sand dunes. Much less a former one.

@greed; text

[ossifragant]

So the Rhys I spoke to some time ago really wasn't the same one who is here now.

What the hell is going on? Could this really all be the work of multiple universes?

[cloneprincess]

Hello, Greed.

The evidence for that being the case is certainly mounting, but perhaps he has a better explanation.

evening - action!

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton comes to this message late because he's been too busy hauling ass to the hot water house--only to find that the place is virtually empty. He's panicked, Ginger's panicked, Rydia's hurt, Steve's sick, Enoch and the kids are probably freaking the hell out over in the school, and really things could not be much worse in Clayton's world right now. He's latching onto whatever good news he can get and not hiding how simultaneously relieved and exhausted he sounds at hearing it.]

[Thankfully, about the time that he finishes reading through her message and some of the responses is about the time that Miranda herself opens the door. Clayton snaps to attention where he sits on the edge of the bed, instinctively alarmed, but that dies away quickly when he recognizes who it is.]

...Miranda? [His eyes start watering almost immediately. Clayton lunges to his feet, hunched and shuddering with anxiety.] Oh thank Christ--yer alright? Are ya hurt? Cold? I-I have some rations, there's--m-make yerself comfortable. Please.

Re: evening - action!

[cloneprincess]

[ Miranda's not optimistic enough to be expecting an empty house when she arrives - the place has become something of a hub, and for good reason - but it's still a little startling to hear another voice in person after a week or so of silence beyond the sounds of the tablet.

It brings her up short, but - it's Clayton. That relaxes her enough to shut the door behind her and drop her pack to close the distance between him. He's - emotional, for reasons she doesn't know yet, though she suspects at least some of it has to do with her own death. Hopes, maybe. ]

-I'm fine, Clayton. Good as new, thanks to the admin. There's no reason to be upset - did something else happen?