[Network] @totheark, video/text, Morning 373, Ants in the Pants [cw: bugs]

[0thingsonmymind]

*Mornin' Norfinbury. Its been awhile since your last dosage of cryptic video, so Brian is here to help with that. What better to prove one isn't dangerous?

The post starts off with a video of a video--that is, a tablet recording of the playback on a video camera (the edges of the playback window are clearly visible.) This entire section is silent and filmed in low-light mode (so black and white).
It shows someone traveling through the bunker, from room 24 around to room 21 via the normal route. Most of the trip is uneventful but once the door to room 21 is open tons of ants swarm towards the filmer. The video jerks sharply and stops.*

01100100 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010

*After the text break (that translates to "danger" in binary), the post switches back to video. But this time its normal tablet video so there's color and video. It shows John, who's curled up in a corner, looking very unwell. He has lumps from the antbites on him, and he's looking to the side at empty space as he speaks in a low voice.*

Yeah, I got that, thanks. *He pauses.* I'm not bothering him over peppermint oil. The antacid's enough. *Another pause.* I'm not playing martyr. It's nausea. It'll pass.

*Then the video cuts to a dead ant (a mutated variant of hercules ant) laying in the snow. Words have been scrawled out in the snow next to it.*

BE WA RE
s i c k

*It stays on this visual for about half a minute before cutting to video-of-video of a centipede-like thing darting out of sight as a drawer is opened.*

sa fe
?

*He really just wants to warn people about dangerous bugs, okay.*

Comments

@zd; text

[swatsflies]

[ S'up buddy ]
WHOA! There are bugs? Actual living bugs?

@totheark; text

[0thingsonmymind]

yes
antsare
bad

ido not knowif
oth ers

ithink some
cau ght ?

*Well he caught ants but they all died somehow.*

[swatsflies]

Wow.
That's freaky as hell man.
Are you with Watson? Did you guys contact one of the other doctors?

[0thingsonmymind]

heis
here

al so rhys @hexappeal and ste phen str ange @beyonce

*Only Rhys was there when he got bit, though, and even with his peace offering he wasn't sure it'd be safe to go to him.*

[swatsflies]

[ Were the dead bugs the peace offering? ]

Oh good.
Did you and Rhys make up?
He's a good guy.
Did you get bit?

Audio

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ No comments worth anything, just some humming. ]

text

[0thingsonmymind]

?

text

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

Inside joke from the culture Watson and I share on Earth.

text

[0thingsonmymind]

*Its not really time for joking, is it? Then again he never really got joking so maybe it was.*

ok ay

text; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

[ Seeing life should be a good sign, right? That maybe they're onto something. Instead, it makes his skin crawl as he watches. Another hallucination? No, that's definitely very real to look at and John sounds miserable. ]

you SURE you wanna go trusting that thing too after those ants just bit you to hell? I say we don't mess with them if we can help it.

where was that anyway? where you found the ants.

text

[0thingsonmymind]

thatis why
?
iam not go ing to
test


all arein
bunk er

ishow ed
ants

*That's why the whole lead up to them, to show people how to get there. Or where they shouldn't go, rather.*

[heroproceeding]

[ He'll just be... going back and watching the video again. And maybe one more for good measure. ..Right. Okay, now he can better make out the recording. Just.. took him a few tries. ]

yeah now I see it. I'll make sure we stick clear of there then. and I meant that other bug. makes me wonder if it has any friends though those don't have colonies like ants do at least.

but they sure look different from anything I've seen. it almost looks like they were exposed to mako. is this what radiation does to things?

[0thingsonmymind]

oth er bug was
clos er
but on ly hid

thereare prob ab ly
m o r e


idonot know
but itwould make
sense

@Enoch, text

[warriorscribe]

[just popping in to add:]

My companions found the other. The centipede was more interested in escaping than attacking but normal centipedes are venomous, so this kind likely is, too. Be careful with them.

text

[0thingsonmymind]

whatis
like
?

*The centipedes. Its unclear if he's asking about the normal ones Enoch knows or the one they found here, though.*

text

[warriorscribe]

[He assumes the former, since Brian saw the other.]

They're not that different, really. I assume so, at least. They're smaller, but, thankfully, we don't know enough about these centipedes' bites to say whether or not it's any worse. But, given the ant bites' effect on John, it likely is, and a centipede's bite normally is as painful as a bee's sting. I've seen it kill smaller animals, but none as large as us. John did tell me they could be deadly, though. He's a physician, I'll take his word for it.

[0thingsonmymind]

weshould not
touch
then

@beyonce | audio | evening 374

[thewarningafter]

Is this supposed to be about the ants? You could just say there are biting ants. And keep marking the map with any infested areas so people know.

[He's...concerned by that clip of Dr. Watson, but he's not going to bring it up when no one else seems to be doing so.]

text

[0thingsonmymind]

yes

perma-audio

[thewarningafter]

Is that a yes this is about the ants or yes you'll keep the map updated?

perma-text

[0thingsonmymind]

yes

*That sure clears it up.*

@betterhalf; text

[darkincrement]

Looks to me like you had an exciting time.
How's the Doc?

text

[0thingsonmymind]

ex cit ing
yes may be
notgood


hewas
bit

text

[darkincrement]

[ That clarifies so much. ]
Anything else there?

text

[0thingsonmymind]

com pu ter partswith
act ual parts