[network] @notasidekick; death's open doors; Day 190; audio [open]

[nursetemple]

Okay, this is going to sound morbid, but I'm trying to understand something. [There's no preamble to the start of the post. For once, Claire is not on video, but on audio. There's something shaky about her voice, but she's got herself mostly under control, right now. She has a plan. And questions.]

Any of you ever remember anything about the time during which you were dead, while in Norfinbury? Anything you can recollect? Dreams, memories, anything strange at all? Feel free to tell me in private if you prefer. I'm also interested in discussing the science behind death, in this town.

[There's a small pause. She finds it hard to explain that it's simply because she cannot believe it was a true death, but has to be explained in another way. She's still going through the different possibilities, be it drugs, nanomachines, the anomalies being poisonous on contact, anything. She just can't have died, since she's here. That's not how it works.]

Sort of related note, does anyone know where I can find a rosary?

Comments

@totheark, text

[0thingsonmymind]

there was no thing



but somehave
drea med

audio;

[nursetemple]

Dreamed? Do you know what about?

[If some dreamed, it couldn't have been real. It couldn't be death.]

permatext

[0thingsonmymind]

home
?

ithink home
ask @gardenGnostic

@Spoiler ; audio

[spoileralert]

Claire! I'm glad you're okay.

I kind of dreamed, the last time I died.

[nursetemple]

I'm fine, sorry if I worried anyone. I was barely gone.

[Which, somehow, makes the idea of death even worse. How can it be, if it means so little?]

You did? Do you remember what about?

[spoileralert]

Of course we worried.

[ It means something, even if it doesn't last. ]

Yeah. I dreamed I was back home. For, like, a year.

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

there's nothing

[Just like it should be. Except the subsequent waking up part.]

and you know religion is bullshit, right?

[He went through this with Beckett and reaffirmed his own beliefs. Or lack thereof. So.]

[nursetemple]

As far as I'm aware, I wasn't asking for your opinion on my beliefs.

[She's not going to have this discussion, especially not with someone who gives her the firm impression that he'll just be disrespectful about anything she has to say. It's not worth it, that she knows for a fact.]

If there's nothing, how come people have dreamed? [That's closer to a coma than to death.] And saying there's nothing means nothing, Dr House. Death isn't something that you can turn on and off. There has to be another explanation.

[rubikscomplex]

no
you're just baring them all to the world
you open yourself up to criticism
don't whine when you get it

people haven't dreamed
they've had memories inserted into them
you died
achievement unlocked:
the rest of your memories we were keeping in storage

and you know what can be turned off and on?
wifi signals
one body gets eaten
just save the patterns
put it in a new one when that's ready to go

@joacin; text

[haillenarte]

What need have you for a rosary?

audio;

[nursetemple]

Praying? I find the counting and the rhythm reassuring.

@godsend, text

[termineur]

Glad you're back. I can't tell you about being dead just yet, unfortunately.

More unfortunately, I'm not seeing any rosaries here in the chapel, and I figure this would be the best bet for one. There's a Bible here, though. If you want me to pick it up for you.

audio;

[nursetemple]

Hi, Zane.

[A Bible? Oh! She perks up immediately. No rosaries in the chapel is a letdown, but at least she could brush up on some Holy text.]

I am actually headed to the chapel myself so I can grab it when I'm there! Could you maybe leave it somewhere a little hidden?

audio;

[nursetemple]

Thank you, Andersen. [There's a small smile in her voice, but it fades when she starts speaking again.]

I didn't. But some people did, and I'm trying to understand. To me, death is not something impermanent. I can't shake the feeling that there must be another explanation for what happens to us when we 'die'. And the fact that people have dreamed when they were 'dead' seems to confirm it.

[She's very much accentuating the air quotes, since she can't do them with her fingers. It's frustrating.]

@ketximq; audio

[mightyratslayer]

Why would people remember stuff about being dead? It's not, like, sleeping. It's being dead. You're just... Done.

[Duh. Charlie thought this would be interesting until rosaries got added to the mix, and now he's eye-rolling. Sorry, Claire.]

I died, and it was a whole lotta nothing until I woke up again.

audio;

[nursetemple]

That's my point exactly. Some people have dreamed. And people keep on, as you say, waking up. Which is scientifically impossible, right? People don't just die and then wake up. We're not zombies.

[She pauses. The fact that he's eye-rolling goes way past her because, obviously, no video. But she's starting to have a few theories of what could be happening.]

I want to understand what happens, because it feels a lot more like a coma, to me, than death. I've seen a lot of death, and nobody gets to just wake up and walk it off.

@haurchefant; voice (private to Claire)

[silverfuller]

My death was witnessed by many here. If you wish to know about it I will answer just pray do not speak of it to my companions.

'Twas...a rather grisly affair and I would not wish to upset them.

[And by "them" he means Francel.]

private; audio

[nursetemple]

If you wish to share it, I'm willing to hear it. It might help in understanding what exactly happens when we 'die'.

[Again, with the accent on the verb, without being able to properly do air quotes with her fingers. But you get the gist, Archie.]

I can promise you whatever you tell me will stay strictly confidential.

@quark; voice

[averytinyparticle]

When I died, I didn't dream.

[The statement is more matter-of-fact than someone his age should be capable of.]

Sorry that I can't help more, Miss.

audio;

[nursetemple]

Do you remember how long you were gone for?

[She finds it difficult to discuss this with a kid, but anything is useful at this point. There is no discrimination in who gets hit with it. They're all victims.]

action;

[phaseshifter]

[ There's very little point responding to the post itself with them in such close proximity, especially when it's a pretty delicate issue being discussed. Even moreso with Rhys still dealing with Vaughn's death, so when Angel speaks up her voice is soft and quiet. ]

Two deaths for me personally - exposure and an anomaly attack. I suppose it's feasible that my body could have been picked up before the moment of death both times? But I've witnessed deaths where that... doesn't apply.

Oh, and - I died before arriving here, if that counts. No dreams or other oddities during any of my, um. Downtime.

action;

[nursetemple]

[Claire looks up from her tablet when Angel speaks, soft. She remembers all too well the anomaly attack on Angel - she had been there, her first encounter with an anomaly, and it had shaken Rhys to his very core.

She nods, giving Angel a grateful look.]

It does count. Haurchefant has said the same, that he was dead before arriving here. Which seems to confirm what most people are saying, and what I'm starting to truly believe: that these are not our real bodies.

[Downtime. That's a good way to call it.]

I like the term downtime better than calling it death. Feels more accurate.

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

the anomaly touched me
then I woke up in a sack
that was all

audio;

[nursetemple]

Same thing. It doesn't feel like death should. Because we're not dead, simply put.