[network] @featherydouche; day 236; a message in the stars [open]

[mrcreamsicles]

[Davesprite's post does not go up until a couple hours after the obituary.]

sup everyone
so i visited andromedas place again since she dropped some info on me before
i told her about whats been going on recently from the escher dreams up to the anomalies that were just following us
and asked her about the lights and why she and samantha were trying to help each other
she didnt answer things directly
but i did get an sd card from her with this on it

[The message has been uploaded to the public data record, but he copypastes it here:]

"I have to keep going. This part of the town is so dangerous, the people here are the worst affected, but I have to keep going through, or Winter died for no reason.

I told Samantha which buildings to avoid, and she told me to avoid the church and the high school.

I can fix this."

so like
it kinda falls in with the audio file i found before
the one where she was telling winter that the cultists didnt know what they were doing and she could fix it
and both watson and i talked to the admin recently too
she told me she didnt have any recordings of the whole turning into monsters thing
and when watson asked it turns out we just looked like usual
like people
not the things we turned into
and suggested that it was mn poisoning making us see shit
we already know mn poisoning fucks people up from what happened to jia xu
but the other part of this is obviously places to look out for and be careful about
the high school hasnt been found yet has it
and im guessing the church is separate from the chapel if people havent found anything unusual there

im going to be scooting along to my last stop for the night but if yall got extra thoughts slap em down

Comments

[termineur]

Of course we're missing pieces. I doubt we'll ever have all of them, here. It's like trying to play poker with half a suit missing. But if we want to live, we've gotta try and play anyway.

And I mean- we say 'monsters', but most of them are human, human-sized, or made up of mostly human parts, right? Those previous bodies- what I'm guessing were people that fell apart due to NIMA malfunction- they take our fears and twist them onto themselves, use them as an imprint to have a distinct physical nature. When Magenta let out the one down by the entrance, it was just a featureless blob. They need us, need our fears to become something else. But of course, that doesn't fix the problem, which is that they've lost their own identity.

Let's see. I did see a monster with a mostly mechanical body- that was the one with all the human legs at the hospital, after Andromeda told us to run and we didn't. That one was larger. But that was a special situation, too.

[ Still, it's not something that fits into his theory, and that's annoying. ]

[mrcreamsicles]

... Okay, the blob thing? That's news to me, and that's gotta be important. But I'm still gonna hold off trying to figure the rest for now. You might be right. There has to be something personal, because removing memories is how Winter and the Admin fixed stuff for people before. But I'm just saying, I can't be sure until something else happens.

And if you are right about it all, you can totally tell me you told me so. Official permission, right here.

[termineur]

[ Okay, that gets a laugh. He hadn't been meaning to have Davesprite catch onto just how much he'd like to be right about something here, but- well, maybe he had been kind of broadcasting it. ]

Thanks. It's good to be cautious- after all, I was completely wrong about that first thing we talked about. [ And boy, was he glad about that. ] But its a thought.

[mrcreamsicles]

Yeah, I'll keep it in mind. I'll let you know if I find out anything more about it.

While we're at it, you want me to tell me what name to call you now?

[Might as well clear that up. He's been wondering already why the fake one.]

[termineur]

Heh. Right. Think I'm sticking with Gabriel here. You caught me before I changed over- sorry you had to deal with 'Zane'.

[ Zane, he thinks, had been a bad idea from the start. Oh, well. ]

[mrcreamsicles]

Sure. You want to tell me the story behind that?

[termineur]

You might not want to hear it.

[ But he dives into it anyway. ]

Zane was a guy I killed for his ability. And then a research scientist showed up at his door wanting to help keep him away from me. I played the part until I could figure out which people he was trying to shield. He found me out, though. At least, he did back home?

[ Except Sylar killed him here. What the hell, timelines? ]

Got a makeshift spinal tap for my trouble. Fun times.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Using audio like this, Sylar won't see when Davesprite presses his face into his palm. Okay. He heard about him having killed from Al, but even hearing it directly doesn't make it much better.]

Killed for his ability? You want to tell me why I should trust you for anything, bro?

[However that worked in his world is bound to be useless here with everyone locked down, but the question still stands.]

[termineur]

[ He chuckles, rather surprised by that question. ]

Trust me? You probably shouldn't. I know I don't.

But I'm interested in the mystery, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring things out, so here I am. Any knowledge is gonna help us here.

[ He seems done there, but after a moment, he adds: ] And I mean, if you're worried I'm going to go digging around in people's brains here, I'm not. With my ability suppressed, the compulsion's gone. Of course, if the nanites turn off then that's out the window, but I'm working on it.

[mrcreamsicles]

[What the fuck is up with this place and the people in it.]

"Working on it"? And how exactly does your ability work, then?

[Digging around in people's brains sounds unpleasant, to say the least, and the more he knows about it the safer he can be if it becomes a risk.]

[termineur]

[ That's at least partially why Sylar's being so forthcoming about this. But it doesn't hurt that he's talking about his ability. ]

It's been labelled intuitive aptitude. It basically means I know how to fix or complete any mechanism I look at. But it also comes with this hunger, to know more, to know everything there is to know. People with abilities are like flares- especially since so many of them have no idea how to use their power properly. So the first time I met someone like that- he had telekinesis- the inevitable happened. I tried to keep myself from searching them out, but clearly that didn't work out.

If we can get control of the nanites, maybe there could be a way to keep mine going. Maybe even tweak them. If not, it'd be good if the heavy hitters in the magic and powers department knew, because I'm going to be the biggest immediate threat there is, once those things go down. Al said he'd put me in the guide, but I bet he hasn't gotten around to it yet.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Okay. So he wants to avoid the problem, and he's not opposed to talking about it. Point to him, but not enough to make him trust. If Jade revives again, if the nanomachines stopped suppressing them, she'd make an instant target. She had too much power at her disposal even outside the domain of the Green Sun, and he's seen what can be done when it's misused.]

So how does the stealing part work? Apart from where you apparently fuckin' kill people for it. [It's pretty darn hard to be nice about that.] And what counts as using a power "properly"?

[termineur]

If I can understand the entirety of the state the person is in while they use the ability, I'll know enough to make the same ability work for myself. In order to understand as much as I need to, I have to get a look at the structure of their brain- then I can see the physical changes to the brain that need to be made.

As far as using their powers right- the telekinetic guy showed me scooting a cup across the table a few inches. When I took it, I made that same cup fly in circles around the room. By the end of the week, I could float myself around the room. I used it to stop bullets, flip semis over, pick locks. It takes people awhile to learn their abilities, but I know right away how to use all of them. And I can tell when it's not hitting its full potential.

[mrcreamsicles]

[That explains the "digging around people's brains" parts. Maybe it's for the best he didn't know about the one time he met him in person. The paranoia his MN poisoning gave him had him jumpy just from Sylar walking up behind him; he doesn't want to think how he would have reacted to this.]

And so you kill them instead of teaching them. Not gonna lie, dude, that's a little fucked up. You got any plans to, like, prevent yourself from going back to that state after all this is done? And I kind of have to ask—is the compulsion outright because of your power, or is it just "gone" because you can't do anything about it now?

[termineur]

[ He's not even going to deny that first part. ]

It's my power. I thought it was a mixture, but- well. I've seen what having my power does to other good people, now. They didn't do any better than me, other than having people who cared to pull them out of it.

[ Did he ever get a thanks for that one from Peter? No? Oh, well. ]

I'm looking for ways to keep myself under control after we're done here, but I haven't had anything concrete yet. Worst comes to worst, I'll fling myself into one of those asshole dimensions so if I'm going unrestrained, at least I'm going after jerks. Or find a place where everyone's so overpowered I'm not a problem. [ That would be Steph's universe. ] Ideally, though, I'd like to get brain scans of myself with and without nanite influence. I'd have to keep control long enough after I get my ability back to figure out how to replicate that in my brain, and use that as a permanent solution. Better if we just gain control of the nanites and we just don't turn them off in me.

They're all long shots, but so is getting out of here, right?

[mrcreamsicles]

[The start is a better answer than he could have gotten, and he listens patiently through the rest.]

At least you've got some idea.

[And a desire to change things. Sylar wins a couple points for that.]

I figure if we do find a way out, we'll probably run into something more about the nanomachines along the way, though I'm not going to be the one who knows how to control that.

[termineur]

[ That was the sort of response that Sylar was hoping for. Good, there's another one that was willing to listen. ]

If I had my power back, I could probably do it.

But yeah, since that's probably not the best way to solve the problem, I'll keep an eye open for people who understand the tech already. Unfortunately, we seem to be running low on those types.

[mrcreamsicles]

I'll let you know if I find anyone who seems like they would be willing to help. I'd rather help a dude not be murderous than stand by the sidelines, you know?

[He hasn't tried to help Bucky as much as he has without that being a thing.]

[termineur]

[ Now that, Sylar wasn't expecting. He didn't want people obstructing his goals, but willing to help him along? Or, at least, say that they are. It's a nice change of pace. ]

Yeah? I guess that makes some sense. And I guess that's all we can do, keep an eye open for opportunities to get us through this mess.

...thanks.

[mrcreamsicles]

No problem. I'll talk to you later, yeah?

[termineur]

Yep. Later, Davesprite.