[ Video ]

[ The Cat has already been settled under a blanket, so the shorter hair where he was shaved isn't visible. His bright purple eyes are very visible, though, staring straight into the camera. There's a pendant around his neck as well, hanging from a gold chain. It appears to be a burning ember, encased in resin but still glowing lightly.

There is no preamble, no explanation. ]

In the beginning, there was chaos. The essence of violence, suffering, rage and hate, swirling together in the very anathema of life.

But from the chaos arose two beings: Father Universe and Mother Flame. Together they tamed the chaos, shaped it to their own wills. From it Father Universe created the Earth, the seas, the forests and mountains, creatures both great and small. Mother Flame created the stars, the planets, comets and meteors and all that flies beyond the limits of the sky.

They looked at what they had created and knew that it was too great to be governed by only the two of them. It deserved proper, dedicated care. And so they created the gods.

First came great Mithros, and to him was given the sun, and justice, and the maintenance of order. And wise Mother Flame, understanding the shortcomings of her mate, saw that next came the Great Mother Goddess. She was given the moon, and magic, and the mysteries of life.

They created the Black God of death, the Smith's God, the Dream King Gainel, and the Trickster. But still there was chaos, and it wanted a shape of its own. And so they created Uusoae. And Uusoae hated the Great Gods, and the Great Gods hated Uusoae. But Father Universe and Mother Flame understood this, and forbade absolutely that any of their children kill another.

And so the universe is in balance. But Uusoae is chaos, and chaos is hunger. The Great Gods caged her long ago, at the beginning of things, and with their powers combined they have kept her at bay.

But a day will come when Uusoae overcomes them, and breaks free of her prison. And when she does, she and her children will devour the world.

As it began, so shall it end. And so it shall begin again, in time.

[ Apparently that's all, because the video feed ends. ]

[ It isn't every day that a person comes back from the dead, at least not from Wilson's perspective. He was told this happens here, but there's a massive difference between having it explained to you that people return after death and experiencing it.

He wants nothing more than to hide himself away for a few days until he gets his head back on straight, but he doesn't have the luxury of doing that. Unfortunately. Ever since waking up, he's had difficulty not feeling like he's being watched. He's been jumping at shadows a lot more than he normally does, and dealing with a constant need to watch his back is making him not want to turn his attention to the tablet. But, he needs to know what's happened, where specific people are, and what he's missed. So with that in mind, he reluctantly takes to the network.

Text seems to be the easiest option here, for more than one reason, the first being that he can't hear. ]

Hey. It's Wilson. Dr. James Wilson, if any of us haven't met yet.

[ This place seems to have new arrivals show up fairly often, and he's not quite certain how long it's been since the last group came in. ]

I'm going to venture a guess and say that I've missed a few things.

[ He's glanced over his tablet, looking things over for the past several days, and it's all enough to make his head spin. ]

Is everyone all right? I- All right, I don't really know how to process the whole die and revive thing that happens here, so I'm sorry about that.

It's different when you're on the receiving end of it, and not just hearing an explanation about how it works. But I don't want to talk about me right now. How is everyone? How are you all holding up?

Has anyone made any new discoveries or come across anything interesting?

[ If he can steer conversations away from talking about himself, then great. If not, well, it's expected, even if it's not what he wants to talk about right now. ]

Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Royce Melborn, Alfie Solomons
Location: Building 29
Date: Night 281
Summary: Team meet-up turns to grieving when Mary is lost to an anomaly.
Warnings: Character death, dissociation, hallucination

( How does your garden grow? )

[Dorian has his tablet set up on a pew to show him sitting where he's leaning against the altar in the chapel. He smiles in a friendly way and gives the tablet a little wave. His appearance shows signs of grooming and he's grown a small beard since he arrived.]

Manaveris! How is everyone? I am more alive than previously anticipated.

I'm afraid I don't know this building or the surroundings but I'm sure that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

But enough about me. How are the rest of you? Is there anyone nearby? This place is rather lonely.

[ As he comes on-screen, Gabriel looks just as disheveled as anyone in this town who has been here awhile. He doesn't try to hide the scars the Noisy Black gave him- it'd be impossible anyway, considering the large horizontal one in the middle of his forehead. At least the color has faded. He's leaning up against some lockers, giving the camera a slight smile. Unfortunately, the lights keep flickering on and off, so occasionally the view of him drops out almost entirely as the tablet camera struggles to compensate. ]

Hi, everyone. This is Gabriel Gray, if you haven't met me yet. I've had a couple good ideas, so I thought I'd share 'em.

First, me and Flynn- at-Librarian- have a book exchange going. It's simple- I'm just taking pictures of the book I have, ten pages at a time, and sending them over. But it's getting me and him new material to read. I thought I'd offer it to whoever was interested. It's for a biology text called Activating Evolution, from my home world. But it's not porn or a self-help book, which are the only two things I've found here, so maybe someone would be interested, too. Let me know? And go ahead and list your books up in the comments if you want to try the same thing. People can sign up to get them, or something.

The other idea is more involved, but I'll handle organizing it. I want to make a database of a list of skills. It's important to keep our doctors up to date, of course, but- we've had a lot of different puzzles and challenges, so we should know who to contact if something specific pops up.

So, please- tell me what your personal skills are. Anything that we might be able to use to get further and/or get out of here. Do not tell me about powers you used to have that aren't active anymore. That's- [ He looks to the side for a moment, clearly thinking his phrasing over. ] Let's just leave what's outside this world there, for the moment. Okay?

I'm not going to put anyone up there who hasn't volunteered themselves, but I did put people who were already on the guide up. I feel like I'm missing some medical help, in particular. Could also use some people who know computer programming, or supernatural things. Hate to admit it, but we keep running into that crap.

Anyway, that's it. Let me know what I can add.

[ After he turns off the camera, he attaches a link to his newly-deemed Norfinbury Skills database. ]