@mewatson, video/text, late morning 284

[agravating]

[The video feed starts in a bright and sterile morgue. A single drawer is open, a body bag unzipped and left where it sat on the drawer. A very slight collection of dust sits at the edge of the drawer, as if there had been something sitting there earlier. The camera pans through the remainder of the morgue quickly, as there isn't much else to see: more pristine counters and closed drawers.

Through a door, the video catching a peek of a red coat and a gloved hand opening the handle, and then the the camera reveals a darkened room. It's difficult to see; the tablet image jostles and a mini-flashlight turns on as the camera is straightened, and revealed are symbols of the prophet emblazoned everywhere. The entire area is decorated in a motif of black and red, curtains drawn, scattered chairs around the room and facing from. It's some kind of funeral home, and from the looks of it, it belonged to the cult.

After a few pans of the room, the video turns off.]

There is no mention of this building on any of the maps I've seen. Has anyone else seen it?

Comments

@betterhalf; text

[darkincrement]

You're southeast from the high school.

@mewatson, text

[agravating]

Recently discovered area, I presume.

[darkincrement]

Which makes you the first customer. Congratulations.

[agravating]

Ordinarily I try to stay alive. I'm not sure congratulations are in order.

[The have we met? remains unspoken, at least for now. This username is not among the contacts she saw frequently, so she's got no easy way of knowing if they have.]

@hotstud_xxx; audio

[rubikscomplex]

Hey! That's like the place the Better guy showed me. We're heading to the new area now. Maybe we can find you.

[The voice is definitely an adult male and American, but the inflections are childish and the accent is generic.]

[agravating]

[This one. She doesn't know House's voice even with an intact memory, as their correspondence has been almost entirely via text. But he has been dangerously questioning in the past, and it's of the utmost importance that she proceed carefully.

This response comes before Vanitas', and it's very unhelpful considering House seems to know her location.]

I don't need to be found. I need to know where I am.

>text

[rubikscomplex]

[This person is sticking to text, so House will switch to that.]

It's a funeral home in the new area. The Better guy said it was in the south. Do you not want to be found?

Re: >text

[agravating]

[...is he acting different?

Its setting off alarms. Every alarm.]

No. I just need to get my bearings. Ideally, a few other nearby locations so I can avoid death by exposure.

@theiceman, audio

[holmesice]

You're in the new area. Have you contacted Sherlock yet?

[Or John, but that was a given. Sherlock's reaction to her initial death back home, plus his reaction here, is enough to make Mycroft worry incessantly.]

[agravating]

Yes. He called me.

[Mycroft should know her enough to quickly identify the terse answer as somewhat unlike her.

By the way, she sure hasn't called John. And she wouldn't have called Sherlock if he hadn't called her first. As far as she's concerned, she's in enemy territory and any excess contact she can avoid she'll avoid.]

[holmesice]

[That is something of note. Clearly a death price must be in play, but she wasn't giving up information to what it might be. So it probably wasn't physical or she'd say so already, so he could rule that out. Mental, then. Lack of emotion, perhaps?]

Good. Where are you headed next?

[An innocent enough question.]

[agravating]

I have not decided. This area has limited known shelters, and I plan to proceed with caution.

[That's a TOTALLY REASONABLE ANSWER and not really dodging the question, right Mycroft?]

@bucky; text

[advanced]

I'm nearby and heading for John, I'll come and collect you.

[agravating]

I've found where I am and I do not need--or want--to be collected.

[advanced]

Don't you want to get back to John? It'll be safer to travel together.

[agravating]

[No, she really would rather not. John is a stranger. So is Bucky.]

I have a plan. I do not want to travel with a stranger.

@jwatson; text; private

[jumpthegun]

[John's message comes later than a lot of other people. He's gotten the rundown from Sherlock. This is painful to write, but he tries to remember how she treated it when he'd lost his memories of her. She didn't push. Just let him know who she was, and then gave him space.]

Hullo, Rosamund. My name's John. I just wanted you to know that Sherlock, Mycroft, and I are aware of your identity, but none of us will be disclosing it. I'm your husband, Sherlock is our daughter's godfather, and Mycroft is his brother. I'm a trained trauma surgeon and former Army Captain. I have a significant amount of supplies, and we were planning on heading to the area you're in now, anyway. If you need anything from me, please let me know. I'll be happy to provide it. We don't need to meet, if that's uncomfortable for you right now. I can just store supplies in a cache for you to pick up.

I would like to know you're safe, though. Periodically. I don't expect you to update me constantly, but I hope you won't mind me checking in.

@mewatson, private

[agravating]

[This John knows a lot. He knows about things he shouldn't. Her name, her real name--he can allude to her identity, and he can promise to keep quiet. He's friends with the man who called earlier, Sherlock--the one who phoned before she had even addressed the network. And he knows the man who seems to think he's got the entire situation under control. And evidently, they have a child? A baby girl?

A slightly nervous knot settles in her stomach, but for John, Rosamund switches the feed to audio. Her accent is English, but it isn't as clear or crisp as it is by the time they meet.]

I am safe. [There's just the slightest hint of hesitation in her voice.] I don't mind you checking in, but I don't want to meet right now.

private (I LOST THIS TAG I'M SORRY)

[jumpthegun]

[John switches to audio, as well. He sounds tired. Very, very tired.]

I understand. I'll contact you when I'm closer to the area. We can work out if you need anything and where I can drop it off for you. I'm sorry about... all of this. I've lost my memory before, as well. You're a lot nicer about things than I was.

private (IT IS SO FINE I have done this before I just then get scared cause the tag is old sob)

[agravating]

[She had made the error of her accent before, not concealing her voice, with Mycroft. She won't do it again.

Not even with her supposed husband.]

No need to be cross.

I would prefer not to meet. You're an entire stranger who knows far too much. As far as I know, your motives may be far from kind-- [There's a note of a threat in her tone, slight, but present.] That is a risk I won't take. Not with anyone, my supposed husband included.

@Mnemosyne; text

[bookofnope]

Now isn't that a fortuitous turn to a normally abysmal chain of events. Welcome back, madam. Do take care to document everything you see, especially any signs of the Prophet cult.

@mewatson, text

[agravating]

What you have seen is what is here. Dark with that symbol all about, typically red on black. Is there something in particular you would want searched?

Otherwise, I intend to head out fairly soon. It's known to be unsafe staying in these buildings overnight, and other buildings nearby are not exactly close.

text

[bookofnope]

Naturally. Don't endanger yourself. My main point of curiosity is whether there may be any way to access the inner workings of the system - possibly behind the drawers. Or any signs that the Prophet cult has attempted such access.

@SceptredIsle; text

[keepscalm]

[He can gather from the other responses that she's on guard, and probably won't want to meet up. What he can't gather is how much of her memory she's lost; England doesn't know her very well in the first place, so that doesn't help.]

Good morning, if you'll pardon the blatantly untrue pleasantry. My name is England.

I see that you've already been made aware of your location, so I will just let you know that I and my travelling companions, America and Ginger, are in the same area as you. You've probably seen Ginger in the guide as @prettypinkflowers, the one who makes clothes. If you need anything, please let us know. Shelter and supplies seem to be sparse in this area.

@mewatson; text

[agravating]

[This one. She'd had a conversation with this one. It's still in the box-- evidently the tablet's owner really didn't delete a thing--and she knows he knows more than he ought to.]

I appreciate your blatantly untrue pleasantry, though I admit that I would not call this morning good. It's freezing and I woke up in a body bag, in the morgue. Not much good about it, except that I'm not dead.

Where in the area are you? All I've been told is to move north quickly.