[network] @Menmosyne; video; morning 265; as if nothing really matters [open]

[bookofnope]

I barely know where to begin.

[Beckett is seated on the loft bed in Building 108, all the plastic cases from the drawer under that bed - scattered in front of him. He's shirtless, despite the cold in the house, and alternates between fiddling with the cases, and carefully prodding at the deep bruising that is all that's left of the blows that shattered both his arms.]

It feels - aghhh, bloody hell, still hurts - feels like there are a hundred connections I'm not making. I can't believe I haven't connected the eye of the Prophet to the eye under the ocean before, though what does it mean? And what we're undergone - is there actual resemblance to what the patchwork anomalies have communicated undergoing? I haven't even had a chance to revise the timeline. Riley Sung died twenty-nine years before the catastrophic impact event. Whatever the demonstrations were against, something was abnormal in Norfinbury long before the town died. It's all - [he gestures limply at the cases] as scattered as this mess.

[Granted, some of it may be the recent extreme trauma. He's not about to talk about the bloody trauma, though. He shivers a little.]

Too damn cold here. Was this building always so... never mind. Those of you who were brainwashed, how much do you remember? Don't start with the guilt trips. Just think. Enoch said to me that the god the Prophet stands for is what caused the event that burned out her eyes. I'm not sure what to make of it. We need to know everything.

Comments

@guardian; video;

[phaseshifter]

Have you considered that you might be colder than usual because you're not wearing a coat? Or a shirt?

[ Her look would be pointed if it wasn't so muddled with all that fond relief. Alas. ]

Bundle up, it's easier to think when you're at least semi-comfortable. geez.

video;

[bookofnope]

Or what, I'll catch a cold?

[He does the Eyebrow Equivalent of sticking his tongue out at her, because if now is not the time for jokes then he has no knowledge of such time. But he does half-bend, awkwardly, to reach for the shirt he's left lying on the floor next to the bed.]

I cannot get over how - not complete, but good the healing is. I was certain that we were headed for the town's largest die-off yet, in this cycle at least.

[phaseshifter]

You'll get flu. Or skag pox. Maybe both. And yeah, I - I didn't expect things to end up as good as they have done. Not with medical services still down. It's kinda weird, but I doubt anyone's going to complain.

Also, I-- just a sec. I made notes. Not especially organised ones, but I'll upload them for you anyway.

[ And so she does. They're all colour coded and everything, naturally. ]

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

[Here is a post he feels more comfortable responding to.]

you think the eye is the prophet?
i'm still banking on it being evie
the eye-hand monster i talked to under the ocean
was freaking about the fact it couldn't see far enough

and put your clothes on
no one wants your hawt bod' distracting them while they're trying to ddx this

still video; cw massive scarring, mentions of skinning

[bookofnope]

[Such a useful answerbro you are, House. For that remark, Beckett will shift to let you have a glance of where the length of his arm is one ragged red scar.]

Isn't it hawt? I heard chicks dig them.

[And now that all vamp fanciers have been dealt with...]

I honestly don't know, but the imagery invites speculation. And we did theorize that the admin is connected with the Norfinbury Entity.

cw massive scarring, eye trauma

[rubikscomplex]

[House has his own scars, but they're nothing compared to was some of the others have come out of this with. He counts himself lucky. The only thing that would be visible to anyone are the scars around his eyelids where Kid had sewn them shut. Everything else can be and is covered.]

usually only the ones with a cooler story than
"i got tortured by a kid and dumped in a hole
it might have been mostly in my head"

andromeda's tied to the admin
that much is clearer than ever
if she's telling us what to do
directly influencing the connection
and leading us
star girl picked her side in this

@user; voice

[cosmicwords]

Oh....

Maybe if you were warmer.

Where are you right now?

video

[bookofnope]

In a moment. I'm trying to figure out... [he's not sure what. Maybe he's just morbidly fascinated.]

We are just north of the gas station. I believe this was Jia Xu's house.

voice

[cosmicwords]

Gas station... I'm not far. I passed that spot not long ago.

If you would like something to eat please let me know, I'll come to meet you.

I gathered as many rations as I could carry to bring out to the Industrial Sector and share with people who have been stuck there so I have much more than I need.

@beyonce | audio

[thewarningafter]

They were put together wrong. We were just taken apart.

I still think this was a historical reenactment.

video WHOOPS

[bookofnope]

To a degree, some echo was triggered, but I don't think 'reenactment' was all. I believe they could have gotten results, if - well.

[Let them not speculate on those things they would rather not speculate on.]

And I am not convinced that there is only accidental connection, either. If nothing else something kept them and us alive - some of those surgeries I'm sure were supposed to have been lethal. Isn't that so, doctor?

perma-audio

[thewarningafter]

I didn't see any of the others, but --

Yes. From what I heard described, yes. It isn't possible, even if the initial procedures didn't send us into shock, people would have been dropping from sepsis before they ever found the way out.

@zd; video

[swatsflies]

[ BECKETT!!! He's so happy to see he's on the network! ]

Yo! I'm glad to see you.

[ Because the last times he saw him around... was during the whole operation video. ]

Is everything back to normal? Well normal enough?

[ He sees those bruises. Zell himself has been clearly not sleeping for a few day, but other than that he looks like his usual. ]

video

[bookofnope]

Zell. I never saw - you weren't in there.

[A world of relief in these few words. He's not happy to realize how much he lost track, but that is a very minor unhappiness in comparison.]

Things have - no, they have not reset. We have evidence that what was done to us was real. I suspect I shouldn't be nearly as pleased with that as I am.

video

[swatsflies]

Yeah, I wasn't there.

[ Confirming it, even if he feels pretty mixed on the whole thing. He isn't sure if he should be counted as lucky for not being picked. He could have spared someone else the whole thing... Rubbing the back of his head as he gives something of an uneasy smile. ]

Yeah, even the admin admitted it actually happened. Nothing about it being in our heads or freaky footage showing us not doing anything.

[ It sucks it actually happened, but good they aren't losing their minds. ]

I heard everyone landed back where they started, too.

ACTION

[headjacked]

[ Yes, he slep.

Yes, he snor.

Yes, he jerks his leg in his sleep and boots Beckett. Not gently, either. ]

ACTION

[bookofnope]

[Caine on a cracker birdchild has he not suffered enough.

Thankfully the tablet has been turned off by now because Beckett yelps. Rhys may have got him right in the worst of the bruising. This is definitely a wake up call.]

Re: ACTION

[headjacked]

[ Yep. Rhys is up with a start, forehead drenched in sweat despite the temperature. ]

Whuh?! What's happening???

@quark; private text

[averytinyparticle]

im in building 64 on houses map if you still want to pay me back for what i did to you

[It's the only way Quark can think of to really apologize for what he did. It doesn't matter how many people assure him it wasn't his fault. What matters is Beckett's feelings. He knows, of course, that he can't let anyone else know about this message.]

[bookofnope]

[Hell.

Beckett reads the message and instantly switches to text. He doesn't want Quark to see even the slightest traces of expression that manage to escape his remarkable control. They are not pretty. He remembers hating and raging at the child too keenly for it to have entirely faded. He also remembers animal fear.

This is a child. He's far too small to be invested with so many emotions.]

Let it go, boy. Keep yourself alive.

[averytinyparticle]

do you really feel that way?

[Is he just saying that because he doesn't want anyone else to find out? Is he afraid of the backlash?]

i wouldnt tell anybody
ill just make something up

@Enoch voice/voice-to-text (late - Day 265)

[warriorscribe]

[Beckett won't get much out of Enoch - not before nightfall, at least. There's no energy in anything he's saying.]

I- no. No, I can't, he's with- Helel [the tablet chirps], end the call.

[He returns with text. Probably voice-to-text, because the style is not like his writing style at all. It's not even like his speech, but it's consistent with his overall drained state of mind.]

Didn't know who. What. Only knew the words.

voice

[bookofnope]

[With others, under other circumstances, he might have pushed. He would have pushed. But Enoch here is in the unique combined states of being his close friend, and bringing back the memory of the last time he pushed. That terrible mistake.]

Enoch - no. Don't strain yourself. Others will be able to speak more clearly, I'm sure.

@LELRIC; audio

[armoured]

[He feels obligated to reply and answer any questions he can, even though all he wants to do is hide away and he can't help the guilt that Beckett says need to be set aside.]

I'm sorry, I don't remember anything about a god or the Prophet, just-- just this surety that what we were doing was he--helping.

[His voice breaks on that last word.]

video

[bookofnope]

[Breaking won't help you, kid. Beckett is trying to do science, and even Enoch only gets a pass because of a particular piece of shared history. His eyes narrow slightly to hear the answer, and he pushes:]

Helping in what way? What as your impression of the end result? Or was it nothing so tangible?