[network] @TW; Video; Day 12 [open, cw for corpses and horrible]

[maskintape]

My voice is back.

[ Though for those who've heard Tim's voice before, it sounds much more hoarse than usual. Still, any voice is better than no voice! ]

I'm gonna - [cough cough] - I'm going to upload a video in a second. Some stuff I found yesterday. Kids shouldn't watch it. People who're already - you know, already freaked out by everything shouldn't watch either. It's not... I mean, it's. It isn't anything good, is what I'm saying. So.

[ He could try and filter the video away from those parties, but the thought doesn't sit well with him. The last time he tried to hide secret video footage from someone it kind of backfired spectactularly and people got killed and Tim got sent here by Tall McDarkandfaceless and everything was awful. He'd rather not repeat that, thanks. ]


[ When the promised video begins, it doesn't look very interesting. The camera is trained on the ground, where someone has been digging at the snow and dirt to reveal a layer of smooth pebbles. The cameraman - Tim, obviously, though he can't be seen - kneels in the snow, picks up a handful of the pebbles and brings them closer to the tablet. It's a little hard to make out since they're covered in dirt, but each of the stones is speckled in something that looks very much like dried blood.

The tablet is then propped up against something on the ground, showing a better view of the surroundings: a park complete with playground equipment. Tim walks back into shot, crouches, and resumes digging. After a minute or two he stops, a puzzled expression on his face, and pulls at something in the hole to get a better look at it.

There's a strangled gasp of breath that might have been an attempt at a scream, and Tim drops the thing like it's on fire. People with sharp eyes (or who pause the footage) will see that it was a human arm, dismembered just above the elbow. Tim scrambles out of view and the video briefly goes black as he turns off the tablet.

When the video resumes, it seems Tim has been busy. The view is panning across the ground again, revealing several patches that have been dug up to reveal frozen corpses. Some are bloody and horribly wounded, while others appear to have died less violently - the only thing they seem to have in common is that they're all remarkably well-preserved. And remarkably dead. That too.

Also worth noting is that the video is distorted badly. It's warped and stretched as if it's being tugged on at the edges, and there's a large amount of visual tearing evident in the footage. There isn't exactly a lot to be heard - wind noises and muted, huffy coughs - but the little audio that's there sounds tinny and distorted as well. It doesn't really make the fact that there's a mass grave in the fucking park any less horrifying, unfortunately.

After half a minute or so, the video cuts out. Mercifully. ]

Comments

[maskintape]

Maybe.

[ Unless this is the afterlife. Or a helldimension that Tall Dark And Slender dumps people in. Or both. ]

Just don't get your hopes too high. I mean, we're all from different worlds and times and stuff, so...

[ The implication being that even if everyone escapes the walls, at least some people won't be in their own world any more. If anyone ever gets home, it'll be a miracle. ]

[carrywithyou]

[ Hey, she managed to get out of the Fade. They can do this. ]

I know. That's why we have to find whoever or whatever was used to bring us here and then we can reverse it so we all go back to where we're meant to be.

[maskintape]

[ Oh.

Oh, this is awkward. Really, really awkward. Possibly too awkward for Tim to just half-heartedly mumble some sorta-lies and let it be.

That awkward. ]

Uh, not - not all of us, you know. Not all of us want that. Not exactly.

[carrywithyou]

[ Oh. Well, that's what she gets for assuming. Her expression shifts from mild surprise to understanding rather quick. ]

It's all right. We won't know what we're dealing with until we find the way home, but maybe those who don't want to go can be taken to another world by someone else.

[maskintape]

Yeah, uh. Maybe.

[ Except since Jay's dead back home, Tim isn't sure if he'd be alive or dead if he were brought to someone else's world. Which means he's staying here with Jay no matter what - it's his fault the guy died, after all. And it's not like he has anything good waiting for him anywhere else. ]

I guess your world's worth going back to then, huh?

[carrywithyou]

It's worth saving.

[ She exhales a soft sigh. ]

There's a lot that's wrong with it right now: wars, conspiracies, people sacrificing others for power. But I'm part of a group that's looking to stop that. There's this-- [ What to even call Corypheus? ] --creature with a lot of power, trying to gather armies, trying to destroy and rebuild the world with himself as a god.

[ And she's seen a small piece of that coming to pass when she was sent to the future. HER LIFE, YOU GUYS. ]

I have to go back and stop him. I'm-- I think I'm the only one who can. I have a power I can use against him.

[ Really, it's the power to undo what he did when he tried opening the orb and she picked it up. But more than that, she thinks it's the only way to destroy his body for good. ]

[maskintape]

...Yeah, this isn't helping with that whole thing where you sound like something out of a storybook.

[ His tone is light, but geez. There are a lot of hero-types here!

And then there's Tim. Who has been a victim spreading misery to everyone he gets close to for the last twenty years.

FEELS BAD, MAN. ]

For what it's worth, I hope you kick his ass. You would if your life was a storybook, so...

[carrywithyou]

[ Who says her life isn't already a storybook, though? ]

That makes two of us. I've really been taken away from home at the worst time. I'm sure the confrontation will come soon. I just kept him from getting his hands on something that would get him what he wanted, and I think the final blow has to be right around the corner.

[ And yet she's stuck here. The people at home must be beside themselves wondering what happened to her. That, or they think she's run away from her responsibilities. ]

[maskintape]

Well. That sucks.

[ A+, Tim. ]

You'd think that, like. Something that can yank people through time and space would be better with timing. But noooo...

[ Then again, maybe said thing is just a DICK. ]

[carrywithyou]

[ She can get the context of "sucks" from how he says it. ]

Somehow, I don't think that person or thing cares about what our current plans were.

[maskintape]

It's a thing.

[ Whether it's the thing he's thinking of or not, he's still pretty sure it can't be a person. ]

It's - I mean, whoever did it is a monster by some definition. So.

[carrywithyou]

That's true. Thing, then.

[ Not that what they choose to call it is as important as finding out what happened here, what's happening now, and how they stop all this from happening in the future. ]

We'll find it. This place can't be so big that it won't eventually be completely searched over.

[maskintape]

Mmm. I just don't think it'll be that easy. Not if - you know, not if it doesn't want to be found.

[ And it clearly doesn't. That fucker. ]

[carrywithyou]

Everything has a weakness. Maybe that weakness is a way it can be found. And we'll find it.

[maskintape]

Yeah. I - I hope so.

[ NO HE DOESN'T ]

[carrywithyou]

[ Oh, he doesn't sound very confident, does he? She wishes she could do more to reassure him, but they barely know each other, and he has no reason to believe her confidence will amount to anything. ]

In the meantime, will you be all right?

[maskintape]

Huh?

Oh - yeah, yeah. Just still, uh, a little unnerved or whatever. Seriously. Fine.

[ He even manages a smile and a thumbs up. GOSH ]

[carrywithyou]

[ She doesn't buy this for a second, mister. It might show in her expression too. She's never been very good at masking her feelings. ]

All right. If that changes, I'm here to listen. Just let me know.

[maskintape]

Thanks. That's - you know. Same applies in reverse, yeah?

[ Shrug shrug. He's still not really used to people watching out for him in any capacity, but it's not like he's going to reject it or anything. ]

[carrywithyou]

Yes, it does. I'll come to you if I need an ear. But for now, I think I'll let you be.