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| sessions:005 [2014/12/06 17:34] – Today pinkgothic | sessions:005 [2017/11/18 15:22] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| The burning flame brightens a little, illuminating the two human figures with a soft light. Greg's left hand, not yet preoccupied, hovers a few inches away from Ethan's face. A scabbed, slightly nasty looking gash runs from the base of his middle finger down along the palm, curving outward slightly, then half the way around the bottom corner of the palm. It looks like someone might have given him grief with a knife and he got lucky that it didn't cut much deeper. | The burning flame brightens a little, illuminating the two human figures with a soft light. Greg's left hand, not yet preoccupied, hovers a few inches away from Ethan's face. A scabbed, slightly nasty looking gash runs from the base of his middle finger down along the palm, curving outward slightly, then half the way around the bottom corner of the palm. It looks like someone might have given him grief with a knife and he got lucky that it didn't cut much deeper. |
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| For a moment, it looks like the skin is subtly distending by itself, as if there might be a parasite shyly hidden beneath it, waiting to surface and confirm Delaney's bodysnatcher theory; then a twitch of the stranger's fingers and a falling flake of crusted blood reveals that it was probably just another telekinetic intervention. Briefly, the hand rises, tip of its ring finger disappearing between the mutant's lips, only for the fingers to curl, moistened digit dragging along the opened wound, smearing a thin trail of blood across the cusp of the finger. Whether due to a trick of the light or due to objective reality, the band of crimson seems to change its texture in the light, a regular pattern of little black dots forming amongst the dark colour. | For a moment, it looks like the skin is subtly distending by itself, as if there might be a parasite shyly hidden beneath it, waiting to surface and confirm [[characters:Delaney]]'s bodysnatcher theory; then a twitch of the stranger's fingers and a falling flake of crusted blood reveals that it was probably just another telekinetic intervention. Briefly, the hand rises, tip of its ring finger disappearing between the mutant's lips, only for the fingers to curl, moistened digit dragging along the opened wound, smearing a thin trail of blood across the cusp of the finger. Whether due to a trick of the light or due to objective reality, the band of crimson seems to change its texture in the light, a regular pattern of little black dots forming amongst the dark colour. |
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| Please be a trick of the light. | Please be a trick of the light. |
| <fc #008888>Ethan could probably accept that more if the other being had SAID any of that. But it was as if the words had been spoken and managed to bypass his ears and go straight to his brain. His brain that he still wasn't sure was his right now or if it was registering impulses correctly. His brain that was simultaneously convinced he was crying and still faintly sobbing yet his heart and lungs were perfectly steady and clear and somewhere outside his body, which made no //sense// but wouldn't let itself be discarded as illusionary.</fc> | <fc #008888>Ethan could probably accept that more if the other being had SAID any of that. But it was as if the words had been spoken and managed to bypass his ears and go straight to his brain. His brain that he still wasn't sure was his right now or if it was registering impulses correctly. His brain that was simultaneously convinced he was crying and still faintly sobbing yet his heart and lungs were perfectly steady and clear and somewhere outside his body, which made no //sense// but wouldn't let itself be discarded as illusionary.</fc> |
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| <fc #008888>'These things talk in impressions. I need to tell Ashfall that.' It was a clear thought, a plan, and it tasted of HIM. That... that was good. He needed more of that. He could talk, even if... and then the second half of his sentence fell away from him and he didn't know how to feel about that. Just kept poking his brain like a tongue on a missing tooth.</fc> | <fc #008888>'These things talk in impressions. I need to tell Ashfall that.' It was a clear thought, a plan, and it tasted of //him//. That... that was good. He needed more of that. He could talk, even if... and then the second half of his sentence fell away from him and he didn't know how to feel about that. Just kept poking his brain like a tongue on a missing tooth.</fc> |
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| He wasn't nearly as torn on the idea of conveying what he'd learnt to his contacts. A grain of him was hesitant - maybe they would do stupid things with the information, harm elements that only wanted to help them. Most of him concurred that sharing the information was a good idea, though the reasons were a jumbled mess. On the one hand, he had to warn them. He had to tell them the vector of transmission. He had to explain that there was a collective element to this. And, most importantly, he had to explain that it was nothing to worry about. They had to know that there was no reason to hide. Maybe he could figure out where they were, exactly. Maybe he could reach out and- //crush this invasive thought process, rewind, sort the facts, leave out the opinions//. His mobile phone was on him somewhere. He hoped it was in a local pocket. | He wasn't nearly as torn on the idea of conveying what he'd learnt to his contacts. A grain of him was hesitant - maybe they would do stupid things with the information, harm elements that only wanted to help them. Most of him concurred that sharing the information was a good idea, though the reasons were a jumbled mess. On the one hand, he had to warn them. He had to tell them the vector of transmission. He had to explain that there was a collective element to this. And, most importantly, he had to explain that it was nothing to worry about. They had to know that there was no reason to hide. Maybe he could figure out where they were, exactly. Maybe he could reach out and- //crush this invasive thought process, rewind, sort the facts, leave out the opinions//. His mobile phone was on him somewhere. He hoped it was in a local pocket. |
| <fc #008888>Greg was a nice, friendly name. He should definitely share that. And if they read that and didn't trust Ethan, well... that was their choice, why would it be a //bad// thing? A smile crooked the very corner of his mouth even as part of him protested that thought, told him how of //course// they should trust their friend who was only trying to help them. And he was.</fc> | <fc #008888>Greg was a nice, friendly name. He should definitely share that. And if they read that and didn't trust Ethan, well... that was their choice, why would it be a //bad// thing? A smile crooked the very corner of his mouth even as part of him protested that thought, told him how of //course// they should trust their friend who was only trying to help them. And he was.</fc> |
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| So, was that 'Raptured', then? The Hangouts is quiet for a moment, before Robert's text pops in with: ''Robert Pearce: Good grief, Ethan. What's the scoop? Are you safe now?'' | So, was that 'Raptured', then? The Hangouts is quiet for a moment, before [[characters:Robert]]'s text pops in with: ''Robert Pearce: Good grief, Ethan. What's the scoop? Are you safe now?'' |
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| Apparently the instinct of his friends given the sudden influx of information was to assume he'd witnessed something and had gotten away and observed the mentioned traits from afar, by way of unambiguous symptoms. A shouted name, a one-sided argument, telekinesis in action when 'pull' would have been useful but did not work out. After all, he was currently typing to them. If there was a 'hivemind', surely he wouldn't be talking to them like this if he was an actual part of it. | Apparently the instinct of his friends given the sudden influx of information was to assume he'd witnessed something and had gotten away and observed the mentioned traits from afar, by way of unambiguous symptoms. A shouted name, a one-sided argument, telekinesis in action when 'pull' would have been useful but did not work out. After all, he was currently typing to them. If there was a 'hivemind', surely he wouldn't be talking to them like this if he was an actual part of it. |
| <fc #008888>''still staying put? You shouldn't'' and Ethan pauses. Shouldn't what. Shouldn't move? They'd probably run into someone if they moved. So moving was... badgood? But they were safe where they were and then someone could go to them and nobody would get hurt. And that was good. He didn't want anyone to get hurt. Fingers moved absently as the distant part of his brain peeled into interactions looking for clues, and then the screen blinked as the sentence ended ''trust me''.</fc> | <fc #008888>''still staying put? You shouldn't'' and Ethan pauses. Shouldn't what. Shouldn't move? They'd probably run into someone if they moved. So moving was... badgood? But they were safe where they were and then someone could go to them and nobody would get hurt. And that was good. He didn't want anyone to get hurt. Fingers moved absently as the distant part of his brain peeled into interactions looking for clues, and then the screen blinked as the sentence ended ''trust me''.</fc> |
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| Back in the mall, Robert feels his calm briefly punctured by a violent flare of an instinct not fully quashed by his fatalism. A deep concern laces him with unwelcome tension and temporarily frays his thoughts. His meticulously motionless posture attracts attention, a far more natural breath easing from Keneh as she leans a little closer. "Something happen?" | Back in the mall, Robert feels his calm briefly punctured by a violent flare of an instinct not fully quashed by his fatalism. A deep concern laces him with unwelcome tension and temporarily frays his thoughts. His meticulously motionless posture attracts attention, a far more natural breath easing from [[characters:Keneh]] as she leans a little closer. "Something happen?" |
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| "Ethan. Ethan happened," Robert comments, tone tinged with frustration, still staring at the screen. Then he's typing: ''Okay, you still have my attention. What else can you tell us?'' A pause, then: ''About Greg, not about the dog, I mean.'' | "Ethan. Ethan happened," Robert comments, tone tinged with frustration, still staring at the screen. Then he's typing: ''Okay, you still have my attention. What else can you tell us?'' A pause, then: ''About Greg, not about the dog, I mean.'' |
| Keneh sinks into a crouch beside Robert, cautiously tense, he hands clasping against the edge of the table. Her gaze nervously travels to the monitors, suspecting evidence for lurking danger, somehow more tangible than before. //Hivemind.// If Ethan was a part of it now, they should go. He knew they were in a mall near one of the bridges. There were only so many places that description applied to, depending on how flexible one was with the definition of 'near'. | Keneh sinks into a crouch beside Robert, cautiously tense, he hands clasping against the edge of the table. Her gaze nervously travels to the monitors, suspecting evidence for lurking danger, somehow more tangible than before. //Hivemind.// If Ethan was a part of it now, they should go. He knew they were in a mall near one of the bridges. There were only so many places that description applied to, depending on how flexible one was with the definition of 'near'. |
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| <fc #008888>They were asking questions about Greg. That was... he could CONVINCE himself that was good, and if Ethan could just sort of doublethink his way into believing they were scared and wanted comfort before they came out he could tell them and everything was good. This was good. (He was sure the valuable bit 1984 was supposed to be the warnings on surveillance, not on balancing opposing opinions.)</fc> | <fc #008888>They were asking questions about Greg. That was... he could //convince// himself that was good, and if Ethan could just sort of doublethink his way into believing they were scared and wanted comfort before they came out he could tell them and everything was good. This was good. (He was sure the valuable bit 1984 was supposed to be the warnings on surveillance, not on balancing opposing opinions.)</fc> |
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| <fc #008888>''Ethan Z: seems to be a blood vector. Maybe other fluids? Not sure. The rings of fire are for intimidation, greg doesn't want to hurt people but wants them to stop. I jumped one and fell down the mountain and twisted my ankle. Bad choice. ;)''</fc> | <fc #008888>''Ethan Z: seems to be a blood vector. Maybe other fluids? Not sure. The rings of fire are for intimidation, greg doesn't want to hurt people but wants them to stop. I jumped one and fell down the mountain and twisted my ankle. Bad choice. ;)''</fc> |
| Robert halts, pausing his instinct to share this revelation with the rest of the room as a sudden insight. Don't trust him. ...on the other hand, there was nothing to lose by believing it. "Looks like we're probably dealing with something artificial," he comments so Delaney can hear it without having to squint at the screen. To Ethan he writes: ''Do you know who made it?'' If they can figure out an approximate epicentre to this and a hivemind really is involved, some of the decisions of the overall 'creature' (was that the right word?) might become predictable. Furthermore, if they made it out of Townsville and got help, a more effective approach might be planned. Even just the knowledge whether the inventor was a single human or it was a company in electronics or biochemistry would help. Anything at all - providing Ethan knew and the 'hivemind' had no vested interest in keeping the information contained. | Robert halts, pausing his instinct to share this revelation with the rest of the room as a sudden insight. Don't trust him. ...on the other hand, there was nothing to lose by believing it. "Looks like we're probably dealing with something artificial," he comments so Delaney can hear it without having to squint at the screen. To Ethan he writes: ''Do you know who made it?'' If they can figure out an approximate epicentre to this and a hivemind really is involved, some of the decisions of the overall 'creature' (was that the right word?) might become predictable. Furthermore, if they made it out of Townsville and got help, a more effective approach might be planned. Even just the knowledge whether the inventor was a single human or it was a company in electronics or biochemistry would help. Anything at all - providing Ethan knew and the 'hivemind' had no vested interest in keeping the information contained. |
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| **✘ IN PROGRESS** | <fc #008888>What did he know about Greg? Not much, really. Everything was weird and hard to understand. He knew what had happened at the beginning was really clever, and that the one involved didn't expect this. But that's why serendipity is so nice. You can make something and it can turn out even better than planned, and be the first to benefit. There was no sense of who was responsible that he could feel, just a pleased 'me' that wasn't Ethan but was at the same time.</fc> |
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| | <fc #008888>The him-that-is-not-him seems to be growing stronger though. Ethan twisted around to feel for the presence behind him.</fc> |
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| | The tide that had receded with the other's retreat was returning, lapping at the edges of his psyche, beginning to make the clear delineation he'd found for himself less distinct and washing away some more grains of Ethan's self. And now that he was looking for the information, it was there, though in the form of a half-forgotten memory. Somewhere he'd worked before. People who knew what they were doing. People who were really, //really// good, in more than one sense of the word. But there was also scepticism - why did they want to know, anyway? It didn't matter. For all intents and purposes, the cradle no longer existed. They'd all been high-priority targets, for so many reasons. Intelligent, kind people, ones that most easily understood the benefits once converted, ones most likely to try objectively stupid things if they were not. What did the source matter? |
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| | <fc #008888>The presence was a warm bath that his mind was urging him to sink into. Just relax and let it work and you'll feel so much better. It was hard to think about the past, to examine his memories for what had started this. Doubly so given they weren't //his// memories, and he had to cling to that; he was Ethan and he was a blogger and had a personal identity that was very very important and was not allowed to go away.</fc> |
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| | <fc #008888>''Ethan Z: Lots of smart people. Rational. A good nucleus.'' That was encouraging, wasn't it? His friends wouldn't be interested if they'd have to deal with unpleasant members. Who'd want to share their mind with an arsehole? And Del said she was a biologist, maybe she knew some of the first targets. ''Ask Del if she knows Deiparous Tech''</fc> |
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| | "Deiparous tell you anything, Delaney?" Robert asks almost automatically, while typing ''Will do.'' as a response to Ethan's prompt. There's a brief pause, then he's typing: ''Any way we can help?'' Regardless what the answer to that might be - should any even come - they were not going to do it, but it might grant them insights, either directly or (more likely) indirectly. |
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| | <fc #008888>A pang shoots through him at that question. What did he want? ''Don't get hurt.'' That was true. Everyone agreed that hurting people was bad. Better that they stay where they were, nice and safe, and that someone went and got them. Several someones to make things more efficient. Although they could just wait out the front if that was easier, or maybe someone could come to where the camera was and then they could go down and meet them.</fc> |
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| | <fc #008888>No! No, that wasn't right, they were supposed to be staying away from us because... because... it was on the tip of his tongue and really important, but they had something to do first. Something they had to find out and share with everyone that would stop people being hurt. Except people wouldn't //be// hurt if they stopped panicking, so they should join and then tell people things and... and...</fc> |
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| | <fc #008888>Fingers clenched in his hair and gripped tight. ''See you soon?''</fc> |
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| | "Unlikely," Robert mutters. Into the Hangout, he types ''Sure; take care.'' |
| | For a moment, he hesitates - then logs out of Hangouts. No reason to potentially prolong the ethically dubious conversation. He glances back at Delaney with some curiosity, then opens a new tab and launched a search for 'deiparous tech'. Sure enough, the first search result is a Townsville biotech company. Clicking on it and browsing briefly, the last news on their blog seems to be from over a week ago and effectively free of content; there's no immediate hint what might have gone wrong yesterday or tonight, or whenever this problem originated. "Any ideas? Or do you think it's a red herring?" |
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| | <fc #008888>Delaney bites her lip as she racks her brain. "The name is familiar... I think they're the ones that got the grant to test a new Alzheimer's treatment?" she answers uncertainly. "It's not a name someone would be likely to pluck out of the air. If someone has seriously screwed up they're as plausible as anyone else." And it would have to be a truly monumental fuck-up to have taken out large portions of a city with some genetically engineered parasite. Delaney was fairly certain the only sort of research likely to lead to a human(-ish) hivemind was already illegal. Apparently for reasons that weren't mere paranoia.</fc> |
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| | <fc #008888>As far as she was concerned there was no such thing as 'things man was not meant to know' but there certainly //was// 'things man is supposed to put proper containment protocols into place before fiddling with, damnit, this is not new'. And apparently she was going slightly hysterical.</fc> |
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| | Robert nods at her in acknowledgement, then uneasily regards the website for a few more seconds of uncertainty. A moment later, he inhales curtly and sharply and nudges the lid of the laptop shut, triggering shut-down. "I guess we're leaving early," he comments, tone steady. 'Leaving' meant not via the north route; after all, the area that led to really was only a good hiding place if no one knew you were there, and the Bohle river limited the amount you could just keep fleeing in the general direction. "I vote we try for Charters Towers and from there to Cloncurry." Latter was effectively a day's drive, but it was inland, which was hopefully counter-intuitive enough that it wouldn't be guessed as their destination. They could muse about where to go from there once they were there. The right thing to do was to head south-east, hoping to stay ahead of the synthetic threat, and warn the urban clusters at the east coast of the incoming disaster, but for the time being, Robert's immediate concern was for his two guests. 'Away' was the most important first step. |
