[network] @claytonator; Prints/Thanks [open] [deathtalk?]

[dr_unconscious]

[text - day 010, early evening]

[Posted first is a picture that Clayton's taken of the roof of house 60--more specifically, of a nearby crested window. The top of it is covered in snow, of course, but it isn't fresh, meaning that the uncountable number of tiny prints within it are well-preserved. Each is perfectly circular and roughly the circumference of a pen.]

Staying at a nice house next to the southern wall with fresh water tonight, and I found this hatch that has a view of the roof. These footprints(?) were on top of the window next to it.

Does anybody know what would make these? Some kind of animal?


[video - day 011, morning]

[When Clayton wakes up the next morning, he's feeling very different. This has nothing to do with the excitement from last night; it has everything to do with suddenly remembering four days' worth of information all in one go. It's like a brilliant epiphany, or like opening a musty album and finding an old, forgotten photograph--or something in-between. Clayton can't quite put his finger on it. But suddenly all those old posts have a real, tangible context for him to work with, all these meetings and relationships people keep mentioning connect. He remembers dying.]

[Holy shit, he actually died.]

[This is all a bit too much to take in at once. Clayton needs time to parse it. Or at the very least, somewhere to start. The whole "dying" thing demands his attention, but he doesn't feel prepared to tackle that right now. Still, he ends up watching his video from when it happened...several times. Settling in on specific conversations, laughing at depressing jokes, spending some silent minutes sifting through usernames and tracing them back to the obituaries.]

[By the time he actually thinks of something to say on the network, Clayton's eyes are puffy with tears. But for all the sadness he's just waded through, he's grinning, ear-to-ear, the epitome of happiness. There is nothing forced about this.]

Hey, uh...goodness.

[He has to stop, sniffle and quickly duck away to wipe his hand across his nose.]

...I'mma mess. Sorry 'bout that. I just, ah...heh. [Clayton chuckles and looks away in a desperate bid not to cry.] ...I remember! All four days. Still missin' the day after, 'fore I woke up by the west wall, but I was probl'y knocked out. Makes sense. If this's like the other symptoms folks're showin' after wakin' up, then good news is, it might not be permanent. So there's that.

[This infodump makes for a convenient lead-up to the sappy bullshit. Clayton looks away again, bites his lip, and prepares to switch tracks.]

That ain't...quite what I wanted to talk about, though. [He turns back and his smile wavers.] I was watchin' my, uh...my video I made. It'd odd, you know? Lookin' at it the day I woke up, it didn't really hit me 'bout just what y'all were doin'. Must've been 'least half'a us brought here--some ain't even with us anymore--come show up ta humor a dyin' man so he don't have'ta go alone--hot damn--

[Clayton's hand snaps up to cover the lower half of his face. He sits there, taking deep breaths, anxiously shifting position on his knuckles and furiously telling himself not to sob for a tense minute. Eventually he recovers enough to continue.]

...It don't hit quite so hard when you don't remember bein' there, see? [another nervous chuckle] Point is...we only known each other fer 'bout two weeks now, and whoever brought us here's tryin' their darnedest to keep us alone, but...ain't never felt more blessed to be workin' with a buncha folks I ain't never met in my whole life. [loud sniff, he's not even bothering to try and hide it anymore] With this bunch, we ain't gonna be stuck here forever. I know we ain't. All y'all stuck with me an' I'll stick with y'all, ain't no question. 'Bout the best way I can think to thank ya, 'sides from just sayin' it, so...

[This has suddenly gotten very awkward.]

...Thanks.

[Yup, he's done. Clayton flashes one last smile and the video ends.]

Comments

day 011; @MarbleHornets; voice

[genreblindness]

...You remember?

[He's completely taken aback - in his experience, lost memories are gone forever. Everything else Clayton said is completely drowned out by that.]

voice

[dr_unconscious]

[Somehow not surprised that this is what Jay latched onto. Thankfully Clayton has sobered up considerably by the time he responds so they can stick to business.]

Yeah, all'a it. Ain't too unusual for trauma-based amnesia to fix itself if ya give it time. [A pause. There's the faint sound of Clayton scratching his beard.] 'Though I'm, ah...startin' to think it ain't quite so simple, these cases.

voice

[genreblindness]

And you, uh. You think it was trauma-based? Not, like, a side-effect of dying or anything?

[The 'or anything' part meaning creepy tall guys or other paranormal weirdos, of course.]

day ten; text; @LINK

[tapferkeit]

[ Prints! Link hadn't seen any prints for wild animals since arriving here, so the picture captures his immediate attention. Unfortunately, he's not sure what would make prints like that. They weren't like anything from Hyrule. Well - maybe the Flame Dancers before they lost their fire, but they wouldn't have kept the snow around them. Obviously.

He wonders if it's something with hooves. But on the roof? And birds... didn't they have a more splayed foot? It was kind of weird. ]

Did you hear anything?

text

[dr_unconscious]

Afraid not. Although they could be old prints--the ice wall and the rest of the house have that spot blocked in from snowfall on both sides, it looks like.

Do you have an idea about what they could be?

text

[tapferkeit]

[ Link shakes his head in answer to the question. Then he remembers that it's text, and he quickly types up a reply. ]

No, I haven't even seen any animals here yet.

Day 11; @TW; text

[maskintape]

why did it give your memories back? what did you do

[ and then a followup, a few moments later: ]

that's great. pretty sure everybody is wiping sap off themselves now but
still great

text

[dr_unconscious]

Don't tempt me, or there will be more.

[Yeah, Tim doesn't strike him as the kind of guy who would comfortably reciprocate that level of emotional investment. Best to just joke about it instead and let it go.]

I have no idea. I would say that I've naturally healed whatever hidden injury caused the amnesia in the first place, but that doesn't fit the new pattern I'm seeing in others that have woken up after being listed on the obituaries. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[maskintape]

you mean the pattern where we don't come back whole
right
like how my voice is gone? everyone has something missing

are you thinking it's accidental or not

Day 11; @technicalities; video

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi has spent a long time not showing his face on the network and only replying to people who message him directly. A lot of it has to do with Clayton's death and then reappearance -- he hasn't quite known how to handle it. When his feed cuts in, Tadashi has his baseball cap off for once and a sad smile in place. He still doesn't know Clayton that well, but he feels like he needs to start reaching out again. He takes a breath and his expression is earnest when he starts to speak.]

I just wanted to drop in and say that I'm really glad to see you're doing okay. We're all going to get out of here because of attitudes like yours.

video

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton's had time to recompose himself well enough by the time Tadashi gets to him, although his expression looks a little stiff and his eyes are still puffy. It's nice, not to be on the receiving end of these things every once in a while. Tadashi seems like a reliable person for that task when he needs it.]

Thanks, man. [sad smile, returned] And back at'cha--ain't seen you 'round much. You an' Mochi doin' alright?

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi tilts the camera to show a snoozing Mochi. His aunt's cat had betrayed him for most of the previous day, preferring Al's company. It was at least always Tadashi he wanted to sleep on, though.

He tilts the camera back to show his face and awkwardly rubs at the back of his neck. He'd sort of hoped his absence would go unnoticed.]

Yeah, we're great. [Really. All things considered.] We stumbled on Alphonse and some others the other night. I think Mochi was getting sick of just seeing me every day. [A slightly more amused half-smile this time.]

day 11; video; @Zelda

[sageprincess]

You remember.

[Zelda repeats the two words Clayton had heard and probably will hear again and again until this post loses steam. But there's something just a bit different in her inflection; a slight hesitance that stops her short of accepting this news entirely like the blessing it is.]

... Everything?

video

[dr_unconscious]

[It's a bit of a broken record, but a very significant one. Clayton certainly doesn't mind repeating himself.]

Yeah. 'Cept, uh...fifth day. Seems ta line up with the others, though.

[This would be the end of it, if Zelda didn't sound so unnerved about the whole thing. He squints with concern.]

...Somethin' the matter?

[sageprincess]

[That was... a more casual response than she expected. She should be grateful; her title isn't public knowledge yet as far as she's aware, and a more formal response would probably turn a few heads. But it also leaves her uncertain and a bit confused.

She certainly can't bring it up like this, though.]

No. [She shakes her head, trying to clear those thoughts away.] I am glad to hear it, and am touched by your words. There are questions regarding the whys and hows, certainly, but I am not one to look at blessings ungratefully.

[Unnerved maybe, but not ungrateful.]

day 11, @lancer, 1/2

[croi]

[Man. Yeah. Damn. That's enough sap to drown them all. Feeling a little bit of secondhand embarrassment here. There's stuff said that he needs to pay attention to, and will pay attention to, and will respond to, but...at the moment there's so much cloyingly sweet sap that he's going to quietly ignore his communicator in lieu of hiking through nothing.

Because now's not the time.

Because that's a ton of sap. There's limits.]

2/2, ambiguously midday, at least a good solid hour, hour-half after the top post, voice

[croi]

[Because like hell is he going to aim his device while hiking through a shit ton of nothing. Hopefully the sap reserves have depleted a little. There's limits.]

So, how did it happen? You remembering. I saw your post.

day 11; @Nobody

[promises_to_keep]

[Lea just grins and taps his temple.]

See? Told you they might just come back. Good on ya, Doc.

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton chuckles, because this seems like a better response than crying.]

Ain't that just how it is? [sniff] Thanks, man. You got a good head on them shoulders.

voice only @LELRIC

[armoured]

You...

[Al's voice sounds a little thick and distinctly wobbly. He's been trying to take what Tim said into consideration and not lay his views so heavily on the reborn, not without evidence, but it still makes his skin crawl to think of it.

He remembers trying to fight his way out of the locked house to get to Clayton, and then the shock when he returned, and now... now this.]

...Don't you dare do that again.

voice

[dr_unconscious]

[That's a bit humbling, isn't it? Where Al remembers his side, Clayton remembers his own--the fear and frustration of thinking about this kid hurting himself trying to leave, or worse, breaking out and running blindly into the blizzard to die on his own. It's all dulled now with time, of course, but Al's tone does conjure up some of it again.]

Same fer you, Al. [The sound of Clayton folding his arms in disapproval is almost audible.] Boy, I just 'bout had a heart attack when you were smashin' yerself on that door. And ain't nobody 'round to fix you up after, too! The nerve, worryin' a man like that! You'd better not be hurt from all that.

text; day 10 (id: nanny)

[jinxings]

[ See, now this is stuff that actually interests Haku - if not just because he likes analyzing things and thinking them over, and those footprints are enough to give food for thought. If not just since they're unlike anything he's ever seen, so he's already glancing at the device for a little while before he types back an answer. ]

Isn't a better question what sort of animal that could be that'd survive out here?

text

[dr_unconscious]

That's what I'm thinking, too. I haven't seen any animals around here, apart from the ones we've brought, and I know these aren't cat prints.

This house is practically lined up next to the ice wall. Do you think maybe whatever it was came from the other side?

Day 10, @Enoch, text

[warriorscribe]

[He's spent most of today sleeping and munching on this corn cereal, and he has a much more alert mind for it now when Clayton shows the network the prints on the roof.

Alert mind or not, however, he still has absolutely no idea what to make of it.]

They aren't the prints of any animal I know. What sort of animal is that size and has no toes?

text

[dr_unconscious]

A really tiny horse? [He's only mostly kidding. Clayton Epps, master of tact.] Beats me. I'm starting to think they might not be from an animal at all. What else could they be from, do you think?