video, un: gorgug (pre-mingle)

[tinflower]

[ The camera turns on and focuses in on a motley duo: Riz and Fabian, a Goblin and a Half-Elf respectively (and, it has to be said, the camera has to be considerably zoomed out to accommodate both of their heights) who wear matching expressions of distinct disgruntlement. Behind them is a clue board that Riz refers to every now and then while he talks, his speech quick and efficient, words stumbling over each other in his haste to get them out. ]

Uh, hey everyone. Welcome back to Etraya, I guess? I’m just going to cut straight to the chase: a team of us did some investigation of what was happening back at Moorecroft, and I think there are some things that everyone should know. We went ahead and tried to figure out what the whole curfew thing was about – in case some of you just decided to behave yourselves the whole time, our curfew was being maintained by robots that would straight up kill you if you decided to stay out.

First, some of us went to check out the hospital, which is where most of the suspicious activity was coming from. Something there had the ability to lock away people’s powers, and they were able to somehow mimic people we knew from home, which were sent out to attack us. Presumably, that was to get our guards down. Fabian and I managed to get into the underground, where… [ He frowns, rubbing the palms of his hand together. ] Honestly? Things there were pretty inconclusive. There were a bunch of hand-drawn pictures along the walls of the corridor, stuff from around town, and it looked like they were raising some sort of… kids down there? Some of the rooms were obviously for teens our age, and other rooms were for really little kids, and it all led to some sort of tracks that led somewhere else. Where and why, we don’t know. But something real fucked up is going on there. You don’t find empty hidden bunkers of kids stuff without it being super fucked up, you know?

The others ran into other stuff around the city – smoke that turned into these big monsters that tried to eat them, the things those robots were trying to protect us from. Others ran into these android kids, who we can pretty easily assume the rooms in the hospital were for. The monsters didn’t try to go after them; apparently they only went after people who didn’t belong. Namely, us. Now, we don’t know what the hell those monsters were, but Adaine could feel what sort of arcane energy they were giving off – it was some seriously powerful reality-shifting energy. Conjuration, but the sort you’d only get from really, really powerful wizards.

That energy isn’t restricted to Moorecroft. She felt it here too, once we got back. That doesn’t bode well for any of us.

[ Riz takes a deep breath, glancing up at Fabian. ]

Did I miss anything?

Yeah, maybe some more emphasis on how fucked up this all is? [ Riz may have sounded relatively composed. Just objectively trying to get information across. Fabian, on the other hand, sounds anything but. He’s not looking majorly upset - yet - but he’s definitely both looking and sounding annoyed as he speaks. It isn’t aimed at Riz, nor even really at the viewers, like it’s some sort of general annoyance at this place. ] We almost died back there. Someone actually did die! And it’s not even the first time, since the stuff with the maze and the stuff with the plushies was just as fucked up!

[ Riz grimaces, a row of sharp teeth on display as he tugs at Fabian’s arm, hissing in a far less officious whine: ] Dude, time and place, this is just the mission report—

[ Unfortunately, Fabian just keeps going, wildly gesturing with his hands at this point as he speaks, the smaller boy visibly giving up on stopping him beside him: ]

We can’t just act like this place is normal! If it really wanted to help us save our worlds or whatever, then it could at least stop constantly trying to kill all of us, right?! How are we supposed to trust anything in this place when clearly it does not have our best intentions in mind in any way? [ His hand gesture arm swing is so wild that he almost manages to accidentally hit Riz. Sorry bud. At least it’s a near miss. ] I mean, the least we can do is for people here to stop holding hands with the companion bots! They’re trying to kill us!

[ Wait, what is that weirdly specific mention—

And a deep sigh can be heard from the other side of the video, which then ends there. Wow, wonder who that could've been!!! ]

( ooc: responses can come from one of the three boys (riz, gorgug, or fabian) just as an fyi! )

Comments

[stresstokens]

This is me making the best of it. I'm trying to solve the mystery. That's what I do. Not very successfully these days, apparently, but there's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

I'm pretty sure this is imprisonment for everyone. Unless you somehow know a way of getting out?

[hasitsthorns]

Oh! You're a detective?

[ Those are the people who solve mysteries, right? She thinks so. Honestly, she reads mystery romance novels not actually for the mystery so... ]

Well, for me, it's kind of a second chance. Or, I guess- More like borrowed time? Either way, it's not quite a prison even if I don't know how to get out.

[stresstokens]

Kind of! I'm a PI. I mean, I haven't been one for very long, but mysteries are my whole thing.

[ ... ]

Oh, so you're dead?

[ Riz! You can't just ask people if they're dead! ]

[hasitsthorns]

Ohh, that's fun! I've never known a PI. At least, not like... an official one.

[ In technical terms, Rosie herself had been a spy. An informant, they actually titled her as in the operations. So she never solved mysteries but she did do her best to get exclusive information out of people. ]

Ah, well- I think so! I mean, the last thing I remember from home is... falling off a skyscraper, so. Not a lot of people live through that. Kind of a safe assumption that I'm no exception.

[tinflower]

[ We would say he doesn't mean to be listening in, but this is kinda the whole point? Of the post?

But anyway, this is the time for him to bump on in and-- ]

Are you afraid you're gonna die? We can make something so if you get sent back you don't die!

[ Very help half-orc voice here very concerned!!! Rosie!! :( ]

[hasitsthorns]

[ She had known, of course, who the cameraman was but... It's still surprising to hear him intervene.

It shouldn't be, maybe, but it is. ]

Oh, uhm! I mean, I just kind of... figured that I would, yeah, and like I said, uh. Being here is just fun borrowed time for me?

I appreciate it! Just don't, like, worry too much about me and all that. I've already kind of accepted that's just how it is.

[tinflower]

Why?

[ There's no pressure or panic in the question--it's surprise, a genuine confusion. Typical of Gorgug, but, Rosie: why accept that's the way it is? ]

[hasitsthorns]

[ It's... a good question. Isn't it?

Why? She wishes she could answer that in any kind of easy way. She wishes she had an answer that felt satisfactory, even to her, but nothing she does call forth feels like enough. ]

It's kind of complicated, I guess? But I was caught up in some, like, not great things back home, so- I'm not saying I deserved it, or anything! [ She might be. Even if she isn't ashamed of the work she did, she knew how it looked to others from the outside. She knew it made enemies. ]

Just considering everything, it's not surprising that's how things ended for me.

[tinflower]

[ He tries thinking about it, though Rosie says that her past actions aren't why she should accept her death, so maybe he shouldn't. But maybe he understands the feeling of doing bad things that you--didn't really think about them being bad at the time. You just felt intensely. Violently.

He also knows something about dying, and that sucks. ]

Mmm... [ He's got a furrowed brow, like the kind where he's thinking hard. ] It would suck if you died if you had the chance not to. A lot of people do bad things, but then they turn out fine? I mean, there's people who like them...

[ He's saying these things, trying to go for reason and whatever. But then Gorgug pauses while he's still thinking about it, and decides: fuck that. You know what he really thinks? ]

--I just want you to stay alive. [ Plain! Simple! So, Rosie!: ] You want me to ask Aurora how people go back home if they're sent back and they're falling from a skyscraper?

[hasitsthorns]

[ It is true that she felt intensely. Violently, even, and especially about what Charlie was ultimately trying to accomplish. It was a good thing even if... his methods weren't always.

And she went along with said methods for 'the greater good.' With some time away from it though, she has begun to wonder. ]

Oh, [ is all she says, at first. A single word but with the complex notes of being equally surprise and touched. It wasn't that she didn't believe people wanted her to stay alive, of course they did, but just- Hearing it, you know? That's different. There was a lot in Rosie's life that wasn't said - even from her - and so she's not quite prepared for someone as earnest as Gorgug sometimes. ]

I, uhm. Thank you, for one, that's. It means a lot, really. I... If you want to ask, I'd. I'd appreciate it, yeah. I'm not sure I'm ready to ask myself, maybe. Or ask too much?

It seems like a lot to ask.

[tinflower]

It's okay, I get it. You never expect to get a second chance, and-- dying and coming back and be a lot. I get it.

[ He gets it so much that he's repeating himself, but he does, really. Not everyone gets the opportunity. And who even thinks they'll get the opportunity to have one? ]

I'll go ask now. I can text you her answer, or you want me to call?

[hasitsthorns]

[ It is a lot, isn't it? At first, she'd just taken her arrival here as a second chance. Borrowed time. Once it was over, it would be over so she should just enjoy it while she could.

It's difficult to imagine this isn't just a stop along the way to the end. It changes things. ]

Whatever you think is best. Either is fine for me, really, but I know texting is like. Easier, for some people. [ Youngins like Gorgug, anyway. Not that she's the paragon of maturity or anything. ]

[tinflower]

Okay, I'll-- I'll send a text.

[ Not that it's the option he wants, but having the choice about revealing an answer regarding life and death is also a lot that Gorgug wasn't prepared for.

B-but he'll get to it now, giving Rosie a wave. ] I'll go.

[ T-time to sign off so he can talk with Aurora!! ]

[stresstokens]

Oh, well... I'm pretty new to the gig. I'm not sure if I'd call myself like, super official yet.

[ That feels a bit like putting the cart ahead of the horse, even if he is proud of his deductive abilities. ]

I'm sorry that happened to you, though, if -- if we're brought back exactly to the point at which we were taken, I'm sure someone here could figure out how to put Feather Fall into something for you.

[ Problem solved! Magic! ]

[hasitsthorns]

Feather Fall, huh? Never heard of it, but I'm guessing it's pretty self-explanatory. That's a nice thought, but I don't want anyone to feel like they have to or anything!

I'm... Well, not okay with things ending that way. But I'm not surprised either, honestly. If that's how it is, then that's how it is! Might as well just try and enjoy my time here, right?