[It's midday when Stephen appears on the network, eyes rimmed red from crying, the vaulted ceiling of the chapel visible behind him. It's ridiculous to feel betrayed, as though there had ever been any reason to trust in the healing powers of a system of resurrection he doesn't even understand, but the shock of waking up in a body bag has been chased by grief and anger.

That's not why he's posting an open video to the network, though. Stephen's first thought had been to send a quick message to his traveling companion to let her know he's alright back and arrange a place to meet, but that plan had gone down the toilet the moment he'd opened up the network and realized he didn't recognize any of the names. That's deeply disturbing inconvenient, but there's an obvious solution -- he'll just have to identify people by sight instead of by name for a few days. It's fine. It's not real brain damage, it's something to do with the way the revival system works, so it's fine.

He offers the camera a fairly convincing smile, though his voice is a little raw.]

So the good news is that I'm alive. I'm not quite sure where I am, though, and I'm guessing I need to get out of here sooner rather than later if I'm going to make shelter. Anyone recognize this place?

[He lifts and turns the tablet, giving the camera a look at the altar. It's a lie, of course; he's already looked this place up on Nat's guide. He just wants to see some faces, get back in contact.]

A couple of nights ago, Charles brought up a very good point. I'm sure you've all seen it by now. And I think that even if no one but the explorers is taking the food and supplies left, he's shed some light on an important issue to consider for the future.

[There's a creak of a chair as he adjusts, still struggling to get comfortable with his broken ribs.]

So what I'm suggesting here, right, is a system of accountability. Those of us who are leaving supplies will leave our contact information - names and usernames, with a request to give us a ring when supplies are taken. And that, yeah, that'll serve two purposes. One, it'll let us know when a supply point is running low and needs to be restocked. And two, if many things are disappearing without any messages to us, it'll let us know that something might be going on that needs to be looked into.

I, for one, would very much like to know if the supplies meant for the explorers are being misappropriated.

[He gives a significant pause here, wanting that to sink in. It's no coincidence that this is coming right on the heels of House's post about him. If anyone who isn't exploring new areas is taking food and supplies that are being left, he wants them to know that he specifically is paying attention.]

Now - it's true that things aren't very centralized here. Yeah, there hasn't been much communication. And therefore, I think that most of us are gonna be understanding towards those that might have taken things out of ignorance - not knowing that they were meant only for people traveling into unexplored areas, where useful tools might be especially needed and town-provided food might be hard to get to. But I would hope that now that this has been made clear by both Charles and myself, you'll all keep this in mind for the future - and, of course, return any supplies you might have taken that haven't already been used up.

Thank you.

[He cuts the feed.]

Characters: John Watson, Alexander Pierce, Franken Stein
Location: The Aquarium
Date: 206-208
Summary: John and Pierce meet up for the first time in person since the Core of the Spiral. John and Stein meet up to perform a surgery the next day.
Warnings: Some mind-fuckery and discussion of mental illness, brain surgery, descriptions of injuries, blood, character death

( Your grace is wasted in your face... )

This is Dr. Watson. I've woken up in the police station and don't appear to have a death price at the moment. Not entirely sure what to make of that. I know there have been a few isolated incidences of that happening.

[Such as they are. This is all a dream, but he'll stick to the dream logic for the moment while communicating with the broader network.]

If anyone's in need of medical assistance in the area, please let me know. I'll be heading north and east in the next few days.

[He looks up at Mary.]

Anything else to add?

[She shakes her head, looking thoroughly upset.

You should have talked to Sherlock.]

I'm sorry for any inconvenience, and yes, I've already spoken with Sherlock. Thank you.

[For once Sherlock is not on text only, he's on video in all his glory. Which is a very diminished glory today, considering he looks terrible. Too thin in the face, though his clothes hide the rest of him, and dishevelled as though he's spent a few months not really putting any care into his appearance. His hair is longer than the last time anyone has seen him, and he looks older.

He's moving frantically in short bursts of energy, jittery, as if he isn't quite sure whether he wants to stay still or keep moving.]

Data, yes, I should share that. [It's a mumble to himself as the tablet tilts, giving an askew feed of the detective.] Purposeful death does cause nearly guaranteed revival, this has now been tested several times with no known cases of permanent death.

[The tablet shifts again as Sherlock moves between morgue drawers, checking them one by one and then moving on.]

John. [It's a sudden shift in direction.] John Watson, has anyone seen him?

the way hasbeen
opened

*After a few moments for people to read that, the post switches to a short video of the doors at the end of the split tunnels Hsiaoke Pass opening.
Then it switches back to text.*

- .... . / ... .--. .. .-. .- .-.. / -.-. --- -. - .. ..- -. . ...

((Because Brian can't ever do anything straightforward The morse code at the end translates to "the spiral contiunes"))

Characters: Bucky Barnes and Alexander Pierce
Location: Building 149
Date: Day 198, evening
Summary: Bucky finally runs into Pierce, they have words.
Warnings: Graphic violence, will add others if necessary.

( Read more... )

[The audio playback on Stephen's tablet is gone, the speakers destroyed. When it happened during House's experiment he wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't gone deaf for the first few seconds. He doesn't entirely trust his voice (especially not putting it out there when he can't hear his own recording) but his hands sure as hell aren't cooperating, so for once he'll concede to using the voice to text function. It's something of a mistake; he's sleep deprived and the machine is uncooperative.]

Doctor House is dead. Again. Hitting the creature in the morgue with a mallet does not prevent it from killing you I think that probably should have been obvious.

It can be hit. He proved that it was not a hallucination but probably an anomaly the same as the ones seen outside the morgue. The mallet used to hit it was coated in rubble and it definitely struck.

[What more is there to say about that? House got a result. That result just doesn't seem to Stephen like it was worth a man's life. He pauses, gathers his thoughts, and goes on.]

I have evidence that the nanomachines are acting on in organic beings. The attached images are magnifications of the hem of my cloak which has magical properties that have been dampened here. You'll see something similar to capillaries in the fourth through sixth images though of course it doesn't have a vascular system given that it is in fact a piece of fabric. We can conclude that beings incompatible with the technology have been changed to make them compatible.

Your a very nice piece of fabric. Stop that. Stop.

Does anyone know how to fix the speakers on one of these tablets.

[Attached are a series of images taken through a compound microscope. The first few show woven fabric under magnification; in still images there isn't really anything wrong to be seen. It's when the images get to views of individual threads that one can just make out tiny vessels with black specks inside.]

Characters: everyone
Location: mysterious, white hallways
Date: Day 193-194
Summary: Find friends. Get lost. Don't look.
Warnings: Potential for gore and psychological horror. Please note any specific warnings in your subject lines!

While confusingly similar, the area is split into a few different sections:

The Core
The hallways here are narrow and twist at a rapid rate. With how dazzlingly white everything is, it's easy to not realize you're coming on a turn and slam right into the walls. There are no rooms here--no one starts here, though they may find it while they wander. At the center is a large, round area, like the center of a spiral. There's a lot of air pressure here.

The Inner Hallways
The largest area, filled with dead ends, gentle slopes and twists, and, occasionally, difficult-to-see drops where a higher hallway intersects with a lower one without a wall to separate them. The whole place tastes vaguely like blood. Most rooms are here--most people start here.

The Outer Hallways
The outer ring of the ball of yarn. It's not as thick with halls and twists as the other two areas, leading to a lot more boring walking in one direction. It's totally possible to circle around the same path multiple times without realizing it, as everything is so similar here. Occasionally, footsteps can be heard just outside the farthest walls. Sometimes, something breathes. There are a few rooms here--some people will start here.


Remember to note what kind of eyes your character has in their top level!

[No text today! Instead, the viewers of Norfinbury get a video showing a weird orange bird guy filmed from inside a house. In addition to the shades, behind which a faint orange glow is visible, he's got on the standard peacoat people receive here. It's the same violent shade of orange as the rest of him.]

Hey. A bunch of you already know by now, but the name's Davesprite, and I'm this thing called a sprite and I'm part crow.

[He caws demonstratively.]

But I'm posting this because House and I just did some experiments about the whole nonhuman thing yesterday. See, some people were positing that maybe I only look weird because of distorted perceptions and junk, so we wanted to test basically if I'm the way I should be or not.

Thing one, I've got a hole through the middle of my chest where my sword used to go, because sprites are weird. Don't worry about it. Watson told me how normal objects found here go right through anomalies, but stuff coated in rubble dust hits them. So he and Sherlock wanted me to try to stick some rubble in my sword hole. Spoilers, it worked.

Thing two, my blood's bright yellow like somebody cracked a glowstick open, and it doesn't look like a human's under a microscope. Since the admin said my bloodtype's been "adjusted", House wanted to inject some of it into himself to see if he could. And that worked too.

If you want to go and lecture us about how that was dangerous and stupid and we could have gotten ourselves killed: Yeah, I know, but too late. Sometimes you gotta be stupid to get science done. And now we've confirmed that looking nonhuman is still real and not just some illusion cast on our senses via the nanomachines, and that regular humans can accept "adjusted" blood with the right type.

Thing three's got nothing to do with the experiments, but House wanted me to share that he found an SD card back on day 183 with Andromeda and Winter talking some more. If you saw the post I made about the card I found a while back, the one where they were talking about the cult? It sounds like this one relates to that.

[Here at the end Davesprite links a few files. First are video recordings of him and House performing the experiments described above. His blood in the relevant experiment is indeed a yellow as he said and slightly luminescent. Along with this he includes a couple photos of his blood taken under a microscope. The blood cells aren't human or avian, but a shape that looks somewhere between both.]

[Next, he includes the audio file of Winter and Andromeda talking.]

(OOC: Replies may come from either Davesprite or House!)

Alright, everyone, so here's what's going on! Sewing requests were and still remain open, but oh my gosh, you're all just such busy bees that you never give me the chance to give you what you've asked for. And the way I see it, the sooner we can get these clothes into your hands, the sooner you'll be warmer and the more room that we'll have to pick up fabric and make more things!

[The "we" here being her including England and America. They're not directly in her camera feed, but it's clear from how she's set up that she's not alone in the room.]

I know most of you are up in those tunnels, and I don't want to take you too far away from your work, so we're going to head up to where all the houses are and find a good place to settle down. If we can't stay somewhere that you can get to, let us know if there's a better place to meet up! Or maybe someone will be friendly enough to help run some deliveries?

[She looks distracted for a moment as she pulls out her sketchbook and begins flipping pages. After a moment, she settles on one.]

Okay! So, like, I might be missing someone here, and if I did just give me a nudge, but the people who I'm super duper sure we have things ready for right now are Davespite, Clint, Charlie, and Royce.

[Ginger takes another moment to double check that she does indeed have what she's promising to have before giving an affirming nod to the camera.]

Yeah! Great! Let us know your thoughts! We're thinking if nothing else we'll aim to head toward the House with the sewing machine--it's close to the ice tunnel entrance if you've never been there! There's a snowman out front with a hat on it, you can't miss it!

((ooc: England and America are with her, so they might be responding as well! Be sure to specify if you want to talk to someone in particular.))