un: antigoneiguess | audio

[rudelanguage]

--en it's out loud for other people? Is there like a timer? A warning? A, a sound?

[the voice is small, feminine, kind of nasally in its dubious tone.

there's a brief beat, expectant. then, uneasily:] No, really. How do I know? Just--justjust tell me when this Hope-person can hear me so I don't jaw on like some kind of idiot asshole! I already feel dumb as shit so this doesn't help nothin'--Hey. Hello?

[...]

...I'm just talkin' to nothing, aren't I. Fuckin'--

Comments

[reincarnesiac]

Hmm...

( Forgive her, the United States was never her stomping ground, and names don't really match from this Earth to hers, so it takes a few seconds before she remembers all the mission info she did have: )

Is that San Francisco?

( Alex the other option is Palo Alto there's a fifty fifty chance here. )

[rudelanguage]

Yeah, that's the one. [sandwich fucko wasn't that far off. same syllable count!] A city full of people. Who knew.

[reincarnesiac]

Considering what the city we're in most the time is like? Seriously. Reminds me of home a little, except everyone's speaking English and this ocean's way colder than the one I grew up by.

[rudelanguage]

[so this is familiar to her, too? damn, everyone's from everywhere.]

Is that the anomaly? The cold water?

[reincarnesiac]

An anomaly to me, but the weird energy signals floating around that go hot and cold — they're here, then they're gone again — are probably more the space anomaly we're looking for.

Not that I wouldn't appreciate warmer waters for swimming without a wetsuit.

[rudelanguage]

Didn't you get enough swimming? When...when the machines dragged everyone to the water before this?

[reincarnesiac]

That whole water park challenge? Only a little, the one part that felt like real swimming was out in the bay area, not in the park. At least for me! I'm sure others swam a lot more in there than I did.

[rudelanguage]

[uneasily:] Is...is swimming what you're...going to do? Here? [is that why she's so on about it?]

[reincarnesiac]

I really hope not, unless the anomaly ends up settling in underwater.

[rudelanguage]

Then what are you planning to do? Did...did our assistant zookeeper Aurora tell you what to do?

[reincarnesiac]

Beyond find the anomaly? No, not a peep. Do what we can not to break our cover I guess, which... may mean pretending I'm good at villain work hunting down missing people. Or objects. Or who knows?

[rudelanguage]

[eh?]

...Why would a villain be hunting people who are already missing?

[reincarnesiac]

It's not always the good guys who want people found. Or who have their people go missing.

[rudelanguage]

Okay, so you're...you already got a list? Or somethin'?

[reincarnesiac]

Weirdly enough, I do, yeah.

[rudelanguage]

[flat:] Wow. Livin' on easy street for this one, aren'tcha? Lucky.

[reincarnesiac]

Would make more sense if I had special hunting skills, but I'm fresh out of those, sadly. Feeling stuck with your role?

[rudelanguage]

It's only stuck in that it's like a sticker. Unless I'm, uh, gonna explode? For messing up? It's whatever. I guess. [a feeble, nasally noise. wheee anxiety.]

[reincarnesiac]

You're right about that! I haven't heard about there being penalties for not following whatever's related to our roles... they're a cover for us to try and find the anomaly, not the mission itself. You'll be good!

[rudelanguage]

Y-yeah, sure. Sure thing. Yep. Great. Noooo problem.

[reincarnesiac]

Don't look down on yourself. You've got this! And if you have any questions over the next few weeks, feel free to give me a call, or reach out to anyone who said hello here. We're our own best support network, right?

( There's a voice in the background: time for her shift, and though her voice is muffled, she's calling back to the person speaking with her. After a few seconds: )

Hey, I have to go for now. I'm glad you got Hope on the line, and remember what I said about reaching out! Talk to you later!