Characters: Everyone who attends the town hall meeting on Day 67 at Building 28, as well as people who phone in. This is a lot of people.
Location Building 28
Date: Day 67, all day for mingle, around midday for meeting
Summary: Snowbos meet up to talk snowplans.
Warnings: Snowplans may result in swearing. House and Jack are present, with all that implies.

( One does not simply walk out of Snowhell )

[The feed shows a pile of papers that, on closer examination, looks like someone was interrupted in the middle of grading homework. Particularly, the camera focuses on some maps of North America with states labelled, some more successfully than others. A deliberate shot, as Cissnei's voice over the feed betrays.]

I was hoping I might find something useful in all this homework - just because the kids here learned it as standard doesn't mean there might not be a clue that would help us, right? But the only thing I've really found are these maps and, well. They don't look familiar to me. That's where you guys come in.

[She focuses the camera more closely on one of the more highly-graded papers so everyone can see how it's labelled.]

I know some people are from worlds that are more similar to this one than mine. So I thought I'd see if these maps are familiar to anyone - and if they are, if there's anything about these that strikes them as unusual or not quite what they'd expect. It's a long shot, I know, but I'll feel better for knowing I haven't ignored something that might have been important.

[And okay. Maybe she misses talking to people. Her current company has not been particularly sociable of late.]

Characters: Zack, Kunsel, Tifa, Hiro, Jim, Zell, Sephiroth and Cissnei
Location House 79
Date: Night 60
Summary: Zack and Kunsel try to explain what happened at Nibelheim to Sephiroth, because this is the best idea. Hey, why is everyone getting so angry?
Warnings: Talk of death and destruction and serious injury and awfulness?

( Read more... )

[When the video comes on, it's focused on a black SD card dusted with white marks like stars sitting in someone's gloved hand. The video feed is accompanied by Kunsel's voice, though the camera never once turns towards his face.]

We found this a couple days ago. I left a note behind in the place where I found it, hoping to contact whoever left it there, but it's looking more like they moved on to somewhere else. If they're still here.

[It would make sense if they're on the move, trying to avoid being found.]

We've already transferred the contents to the public data app, but I'll copy it out here, too. Considering the messages that are showing up, this may be relevant. I think someone from a previous group is still here, and they might be responsible for both.

[He switches briefly to text.]

I am still here
I do not know what day it is
I am hiding
but I do not know for how long it will last
I cannot speak to @ADMIN but I will keep trying

[And now to audio.]

The thing I have to wonder is, who are they hiding from if it's not the Admin? I've suspected before that there's a third party involved, but that's more based on connecting dots than concrete confirmation.

Good morning. Last night, I managed to break open a deactivated tablet.

[ Angel sounds less triumphant about this than you might expect. She's a little subdued, if anything. ]

They seem to be reinforced with the same material as the doors and windows are, so I had to get it trapped in a doorway at lockdown to finally break through it. I - hm. I suppose that means the tablets can be thrown at anomalies if you get desperate? I'm not sure how much time it would buy you, but. There's that. Anyway, inside - there was a battery. Pretty ordinary, no weird alternative power source. And there was a whoooole bunch of computer chips. See attachment number one.

[ Attachment #1 is just a picture linked after the recording ends - chips.jpg - nothing too interesting at all. ]

Rhys got a text from the administrator account after that, saying that the chips would be collected for recycling? And - and, um, we kinda wanted to get a better look first, so we kinda. Took a few anyway. Tried to hide them in our pockets and, uh, our stomachs. It didn't work - we got paralysed pretty much straight away, and when we could move again all of the chips were gone. All of them. Attachment number two contains images of post-surgical scarring, so... don't look at that one if you're squeamish.

[ Attachment #2 isn't actually as gross as that might imply. It's just a picture of Angel's midriff - pale, half-covered in swirly glowy tattoos, and sporting a fresh livid scar just above her stomach. AWESOME. ]

I checked again this morning, and the wound has already faded. With that and the lack of any tracking device visible in the remains of the tablet, I'm... maybe ninety percent convinced that we're being tracked via neural implants and not through the tablets. And that we are definitely being monitored constantly, not just over the network. I mean - the recording of me turning on my beacon proved that it was likely, but the instant response as soon as I managed to break the tablet casing kind of cements that. Don't you think?

Um, anyway. I know that's not the coolest thing to hear, but. I thought people should know. Sorry.

[ And with that, she ends the recording. ]

[Technically, it's still Day 55 though not for very much longer for how late it is. And the voice that addresses everyone certainly sounds tired, with an edge of irritation that suggests she's not awake by choice right now.

There's also a slightly hushed quality to it, as though she's trying not to draw attention to herself...and, say, let slip that she's not alone right now.]

So, especially in light of all this beacon talk I can't help but wonder. Is hearing things you can never quite get a good look at normal around here or am I already letting the place get to me? I keep thinking I'm seeing a cat out of the corner of my eye and I keep hearing it but I can't find it no matter how much I turn the place over. And it's not even that big a place.

[And then, with just a hint of mischief that suggests she's grown up around slightly morbid senses of humour:]

Still, I guess as far as deaths around here go, clawed to death by a stealth kitty has to be one of the better ways to go. Doesn't mean I'm in any hurry to find out for sure, though.

Characters: cissnei + sephiroth
Location house 88, residential zone 2
Date: day 54
Summary: sephiroth and cissnei run into each other
Warnings: none

( relics of another time )

[The video feed opens to a shot of the first floor of the hospital, pointed down at a small vent that has had its cover unscrewed and pulled off. House's voice comes from off camera.]

It's coming through? Good. Hello, citizens of Snowhell!

[He's cut off by an ungodly - yet familiar - shriek right up next to the tablet.]

Yeah, yeah, I was getting to you. As no one came to claim him and this asshole kept me up all night, I thought he could do with some community service. It builds character.

[There's an annoyed voice; though, the words aren't clear.]

I'm not hurting it, kid. Although I'm really surprised he hasn't blown up, yet. It's almost like somebody was lying about that. Oh, well! I'm sure it's just that he doesn't feel threatened. So, WALL-E here's going to get us a nice view of the ducts around here.

[Dumpy screams as he and the tablet are lowered down into the dark vent. There's a screech of metal on metal after a moment, then the camera jerks up and down a few times, showing off the vent. The robot continues to wail and the echoes reverberate.]

I'm trying to get him out. He's stuck! [There's an annoyed snort.] The only thing I've got is hand-santizer and that won't- Would you shut up? [The camera shakes again and there's a raised angry voice that isn't House's.]

Oh, stop. It's a robot. They've probably got some sort of lubricant upstairs in the pharmacy. Come on, kid. Two eyes are better than one and you can move faster than me if you really care that much to get back down here.

[Dumpy's cries continue for a while, perhaps a solid minute or two before a large group of tiny, too-quick-to-record-smoothly things with multiple legs and glittery eyes appear in the vents. They rush toward Dumpy as the robot screeches, reaching the tablet and-

The feed ends abruptly.]

[The video feed will show the inside of a tool shed where a small, flying robot is moving around in the dim light cast by the tablet.]

Hey, Trinity! Wibblelips! Look what I found. It flies, it screams, it's alive. It also happens to be the reason I'm stuck in a shed for the night. Now, I got a screwdriver.

[The screwdriver is held up into view in a pink-gloved hand.]

And I got a hammer.

[The screwdriver is set down and the hammer is picked up to show.]

It's a hammer of justice. It's a hammer of warning. And it's going to be the hammer I take to that freaking thing unless you tell me how to get it to stop screaming in my face. Hiro, you needed some robot parts, right? Might be able to get you some.