[network] @guardian; day 367; text [open]

[phaseshifter]

[ Soon after this happens mid-morning, a text appears on the network. Gotta clear up any confusion as soon as possible! Even if Angel herself isn't in the talkiest of moods. ]

Hey, um, me again with more app-related updates
Did everyone get the galaxy key thing on their tablets just before? Or was distribution limited to the people I'm with??
I assume everyone got it, it'd seem kinda dumb for people *not* to, but. Norfinbury, am I right? :V
Anyway, that seems to be the end result of decrypting the file left by Andromeda, so
I'm assuming it'll unlock the bunker. Probably. I hope.
Anyone who heads out that way to check: PLEASE be careful!! For all we know that could be where Miller is hiding. Or it could contain unstable equipment or volatile chemicals or
idk spiders??
My point being stay safe! And keep everyone informed of what you find ♥

Comments

[bookofnope]

I don't care because I'm old and wise. [Which is kind of another word for jaded, or possibly vice versa, but it sounds nicer.]

Oh, sure, pure true goodness happens to people now and then, usually when they aren't looking. But this is how most of us manage to carve our little corners of it: by finding ways to make the worst of us into the best of us. I think Anatole said this to me once, in those exact words.

[It sounds like him. Which means it is Unquestionable Wisdom of course.]

[phaseshifter]

Ooh, second-hand wisdom! Finely aged, too. And Anatole-flavoured! I think I missed that the most while I was off with Rhys and Squalo, you know.

[ She sounds like she's joking, but she's super not. NUGGETS OF BECKETT WISDOM ARE VERY CLOSE TO HER HEART OK ]

Well. That and the hugs. But that's a given.

[bookofnope]

Goodness, I feel downright sagely. [He knows she's not joking so she's going to have to watch him preen THE AGONY.] I should write a book.

[That he can make the joke is a very positive sign about his mental health, somehow, amazingly. Maybe it's mania.]

But I do mean it. About Andromeda. I think she would want to be saved. Everything we've seen of her suggests a fighter.

[phaseshifter]

I think you'd need to write an entire library, dude. One book alone would be so inadequate.

[ NO ANGEL DON'T ENCOURAGE THE PREENING ]

And you're right. Probably. As usual. I just hope we can save her. And Winter. And as many of the people in the ghost tangle as we can.

 

 

Oh, and us.

[ That too. ]

[bookofnope]

And us. [Yeah he gets how it is. It's funny, though, how both of them say "us" but kind of really mean you.

La la la avoidance.]

I'm less sure about the ghost collective's chances. Even if we manage to undo the tangling somehow, we don't know how many of them have bodies to reclaim.

[phaseshifter]

True, but. I'd consider separating them to be something of a success in itself, wouldn't you? Even if they just want their data to be deleted afterwards, then at least they'll be making the decision as themselves.

[ Which is important in a way she knows Beckett will appreciate. Doesn't he always? ]

And if any of them wanna stick around, we could... put them in other bodies. Artificial ones. Like. Iunno - the spiders?

[ IDK SPIDERS will never die, motherfuckers ]

[bookofnope]

I don't know whether being a robotic maintenance spider is necessarily better than being disembodied... [Because even vampires have some standards.] But they do deserve to make that choice, if possible.

[That is getting hopes up, though, and he prefers to leave that to her. And he does have another, if... weirder thought.]

I don't know, though, if being in the collective is entirely negative - I mean from their perspective. They're never alone? Some people like that.

[phaseshifter]

Hey, some people like that. The... weird inhuman robot body thing.

[ She's pretty sure Jack's buddy Wilhelm would've been into it. If he wasn't, y'know. Dead. Effing weirdo. ]

As for the collective being a good thing, Iunno. I hate being alone, but I think I'd take another decade or two in a bunker over that. Maybe some people wouldn't, but...

[ She can't imagine it. Ergh. ]

[bookofnope]

[He looks doubtful for a moment, then thinks of some Tzimisce he'd known which were perfectly respectable freaks unlike other Tzimisce and, yeah okay.]

As long as they have full occupation of the bodies, of course. No Admin connections.

[That seems obvious, though. Especially to the two of them.]

But you're probably right. I'd be the first to say that experiences far outside the norm do strange things to humans', well, humanity, but this is... I've seen things a little like it, and the coercion is always poisonous, even if the state itself isn't.

[phaseshifter]

Of course. Autonomy is... I don't have to tell you autonomy is important.

[ DUH. THIS IS VERY MUCH A DUH MOMENT. ]

...Can I ask what you've seen that's like the ghost mishmash? Or is it going to make me barf on your shoes, Rhys-style? Because, uh, I can imagine ways it could get really gross.

[bookofnope]

I can't promise barfing would not ensue, though I could tell you about instances that were more like the collective in the sense of being mental rather than physical. I've heard that this was possible with ghosts - never witnessed it myself, but experts claim...

[Aaaaaand he's gonna trail off there and. Look at her.]

Are you quite sure you want to know this?

[phaseshifter]

Nnnnnnnnno, but I'm gonna ask you to tell me anyway. I'm feeling very daring lately.

[ Squalo's bad influence, probably. Either way she's just going to give Beckett her rapt attention now. TELL HER YOUR TALES OF GROSSNESS OLD MAN ]

[bookofnope]

Well - [He's honestly hesitant, because it is grossness but also it is really, authentically horrifying, and sometimes he does wonder why she wants to know so much about some of the least appealing sides of his undead existence - but she asked, so well.]

The Cathedral of Flesh was probably the most extravagant example. Does exactly what it says on the tin, with the tin being the still living bodies of thousands. I've never been inside, but I heard the walls had mouths that sang and spoke prophecy, and I believe it.

[phaseshifter]

What the eff.

[ She's trying her best to imagine it, but the best visual she can come up with are the skin-covered rooms in some of the cultist buildings in town. Which. Probably doesn't even come close, does it. ]

How does that even - how? And why? I mean - dude. Dude.

[bookofnope]

[Beckett shrugs slightly. He did warn you, kid.] Little Tzimisce things?

[Does it become less or more horrific in meme form?]

Their bloodline ability allows them to sculpt flesh like clay, and many of them devote themselves to shedding all humanity. Personally I never understood why that has to play out like a Corman/Cronenberg production, but I try not to think about their motivations too closely.