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We all have different quirks that work in different ways or we use them in unique ways, yeah!
Alright, Cloud-san. Thank you! Next week then.
Alright, Cloud-san. Thank you! Next week then.
[ NO!! I LOOKED IT UP ONLY ONE POIROT BOOK WAS PUBLISHED AT THE TIME MINA'S FROM though I guess there's no restriction on him finding the later books when Minato goes looking now. Apparently there's a series of early police-procedural lit by J. E. Preston Muddock that was published in the Strand Magazine alongside Conan Doyle and I literally only know this because of a footnote in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. sven please shoot me. ]
I don't know...
It feels like a road too far to point fingers yet. We don't know who those soldiers really belonged to, only that they were contained in the basement, right?
[ translation Cloud please shhh with the open accusations he's begging you ]
When you're feeling better, perhaps see if you have any contacts besides the kappa who might be able to help decipher this puzzle? You mentioned a Tamamo friend?
After all, as a Sutoku, information brokering is meant to be your specialty, not mine!
Though of course I will try to do what I can.
I don't know...
It feels like a road too far to point fingers yet. We don't know who those soldiers really belonged to, only that they were contained in the basement, right?
[ translation Cloud please shhh with the open accusations he's begging you ]
When you're feeling better, perhaps see if you have any contacts besides the kappa who might be able to help decipher this puzzle? You mentioned a Tamamo friend?
After all, as a Sutoku, information brokering is meant to be your specialty, not mine!
Though of course I will try to do what I can.
i'm not claiming anyone was responsible for anything.
just that there's a connection there.
[ Look, there is only so much he can do from bed!! ]
yeah, i have a friend in tamamo - aerith. she's been doing her own investigating.
we can probably compare notes. she's been investigating other angles.
i'm not going to make you do my legwork, but if you find anything, sent it along.
and if i find anything by the time you do come say hello, i'll let you know in person.
just that there's a connection there.
[ Look, there is only so much he can do from bed!! ]
yeah, i have a friend in tamamo - aerith. she's been doing her own investigating.
we can probably compare notes. she's been investigating other angles.
i'm not going to make you do my legwork, but if you find anything, sent it along.
and if i find anything by the time you do come say hello, i'll let you know in person.
Aerith... didn't she develop the warding incense? Her and some others? Then you're in good hands, though I suspect you knew that already.
I'll visit as soon as I can. Take care, Strife-san.
I'll visit as soon as I can. Take care, Strife-san.
I'm not sure if I have the right contact. But if this is Cloud, hello. My name is Jonathan Sims, the Archivist. I'm a new arrival and am looking for information about the incident last month. I was told you had video footage of it. I would like to speak with you regarding this, if you are able.
[ He's surprised a bit by the name, given he's not interacted with Jon before, but he replies fairly quickly. ]
this is cloud, yeah.
i have the footage. i also have a copy of the footage from the other team.
none of it has been cleaned yet, but it's available.
what do you want to know?
this is cloud, yeah.
i have the footage. i also have a copy of the footage from the other team.
none of it has been cleaned yet, but it's available.
what do you want to know?
Whatever you feel comfortable telling me.
[It's odd, asking for something that amounts to a statement over text and not in person. Even stranger asking without his compulsion ability...]
If there is anything you don't wish to share, I understand. I'm mostly looking for any details about the larger picture, as well as any footage you're willing to share.
[It's odd, asking for something that amounts to a statement over text and not in person. Even stranger asking without his compulsion ability...]
If there is anything you don't wish to share, I understand. I'm mostly looking for any details about the larger picture, as well as any footage you're willing to share.
[ Huh. Well, he's been asked for his statement before, but... ]
you mind if i ask what you need it for?
just doing my due diligence here, you understand.
i'm not the kind of guy who likes having attention on me.
[ Which is to say: it's not a no. But Cloud's a bit guarded talking about some of this. Mostly because he's gotten enough hero-of-the-hour looks to last a year. ]
you mind if i ask what you need it for?
just doing my due diligence here, you understand.
i'm not the kind of guy who likes having attention on me.
[ Which is to say: it's not a no. But Cloud's a bit guarded talking about some of this. Mostly because he's gotten enough hero-of-the-hour looks to last a year. ]
I understand. I'm much the same way.
I only need to confirm something about the incident itself. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but everything I've heard so far is something I need to deal with. I spoke with Mr. Kitsuragi who said he would like the information I have, but the information is only relevant if I'm able to confirm the details.
I only need to confirm something about the incident itself. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but everything I've heard so far is something I need to deal with. I spoke with Mr. Kitsuragi who said he would like the information I have, but the information is only relevant if I'm able to confirm the details.
oh, you spoke with kim?
should have lead with that, then.
[ If Kim's interested in what Jon has to say, and Jon needs the footage, that's an easy solution Cloud can provide. Cloud trusts Kim's sense for bullshit. ]
inside the tower was a mess from top to bottom -rusted, gory, and warped in on itself.
the only reason we could survive was thanks to incense prepared in advance, and that didn't help either team when we reached our objectives.
both the supposed god responsible and the heart of the curse radiated energy that seemed to burn you from the inside out.
i got hit with the worst of it. i was lucky to make it out alive.
i don't know how well my connection will handle the footage - it's pretty big. but we can try, if that doesn't cover what you need to know.
ask whatever questions you'd like.
should have lead with that, then.
[ If Kim's interested in what Jon has to say, and Jon needs the footage, that's an easy solution Cloud can provide. Cloud trusts Kim's sense for bullshit. ]
inside the tower was a mess from top to bottom -rusted, gory, and warped in on itself.
the only reason we could survive was thanks to incense prepared in advance, and that didn't help either team when we reached our objectives.
both the supposed god responsible and the heart of the curse radiated energy that seemed to burn you from the inside out.
i got hit with the worst of it. i was lucky to make it out alive.
i don't know how well my connection will handle the footage - it's pretty big. but we can try, if that doesn't cover what you need to know.
ask whatever questions you'd like.
Yes, he assisted me when I first arrived here. He was very informative.
[But all of that... That definitely sounds like some sort of domain? A small one, if nothing else, but he still can't be sure. As horrific as the Beholding and all was, he does sometimes regret no longer having it here. It would make determining this much easier. 'Warped in on itself' sounds enough like the Spiral, but the 'burn from the inside out' has him questioning it. Not that the Fears can't comingle like that, but those two would be odd. Not impossible. But odd.]
That's all right. If you're willing to try to send it over, I'll let you know if I receive any part of it. But those details do help a bit, thank you.
[But all of that... That definitely sounds like some sort of domain? A small one, if nothing else, but he still can't be sure. As horrific as the Beholding and all was, he does sometimes regret no longer having it here. It would make determining this much easier. 'Warped in on itself' sounds enough like the Spiral, but the 'burn from the inside out' has him questioning it. Not that the Fears can't comingle like that, but those two would be odd. Not impossible. But odd.]
That's all right. If you're willing to try to send it over, I'll let you know if I receive any part of it. But those details do help a bit, thank you.
yeah, one second.
i think i can compress these down without any loss now that i've got a better handle on the tech.
it's not like any of this is classified, but it's worth being careful about it all the same.
[ FILE ATTACHED: RECORDINGB8 ]
[ FILE ATTACHED: RECORDINGENMASOFFICE ]
let me know if you have any issues with those. again, a lot of the footage gets choppier the deeper the groups go.
i think i can compress these down without any loss now that i've got a better handle on the tech.
it's not like any of this is classified, but it's worth being careful about it all the same.
[ FILE ATTACHED: RECORDINGB8 ]
[ FILE ATTACHED: RECORDINGENMASOFFICE ]
let me know if you have any issues with those. again, a lot of the footage gets choppier the deeper the groups go.
Edited 2022-07-26 07:04 (UTC)
[It takes a little while for any response to come. A couple of hours at least. Between watching the footage a first time through, pausing, rewinding, pausing on certain frames, watching again...
It's all of them. All of them, except the fifteenth, tangled up and intermingled and manifesting here. Except for whatever that thing was in the center that Cloud's group ran into. That's not something Jon's familiar with, not in the way these things work in his experience. It isn't what he knows. So maybe there is something about this place that made it different. Or maybe something about the Watcher's Crown that tied them together in a strange way that this would have happened no matter where they were pulled to.]
Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.
I'm relieved you all got out relatively safely.
It's all of them. All of them, except the fifteenth, tangled up and intermingled and manifesting here. Except for whatever that thing was in the center that Cloud's group ran into. That's not something Jon's familiar with, not in the way these things work in his experience. It isn't what he knows. So maybe there is something about this place that made it different. Or maybe something about the Watcher's Crown that tied them together in a strange way that this would have happened no matter where they were pulled to.]
Thank you. This is exactly what I needed.
I'm relieved you all got out relatively safely.
Edited (idk how to count the fears) 2022-07-26 08:47 (UTC)
yeah, i got off the worst out of everyone.
thankfully it seems that means everyone else made it out alright.
i'm a bit curious, though, now -
what were you trying to confirm?
i can answer more questions, if it helps.
thankfully it seems that means everyone else made it out alright.
i'm a bit curious, though, now -
what were you trying to confirm?
i can answer more questions, if it helps.
I am glad to hear that. Not that you suffered the worst, but about everyone else.
[The next series of texts come stutteringly, like he isn't sure to send them before his thumb accidentally hits the button for him, something pushing him to do it. He should. He has to. They deserve to know, as much as he wishes he'd had known.]
There is a chance-
Albeit not confirmed
But a chance that this
What you saw is familiar to my world
[Gods. God he does not want to talk about this. These are his secrets, his suffering. But anyone who's seen what he's seen deserves to know. But how does he even talk about it without talking about himself?]
The idea of multiple or parallel or alternate universes is not
It's a hypothetical I'm familiar with but there was some documentation of precedence in my world, only to be confirmed shortly before I arrived here
And some things in my world may have come through
before me
What do you know about the nature of Fear?
[The next series of texts come stutteringly, like he isn't sure to send them before his thumb accidentally hits the button for him, something pushing him to do it. He should. He has to. They deserve to know, as much as he wishes he'd had known.]
There is a chance-
Albeit not confirmed
But a chance that this
What you saw is familiar to my world
[Gods. God he does not want to talk about this. These are his secrets, his suffering. But anyone who's seen what he's seen deserves to know. But how does he even talk about it without talking about himself?]
The idea of multiple or parallel or alternate universes is not
It's a hypothetical I'm familiar with but there was some documentation of precedence in my world, only to be confirmed shortly before I arrived here
And some things in my world may have come through
before me
What do you know about the nature of Fear?
[ Truthfully, Cloud's first reaction to the way the texts come in is to think that this guy's a crazy bastard. Which, while not wrong, is perhaps not an unflattering read. Still, Cloud can't say... this doesn't sound familiar. So someone told him about how people come from alternate worlds already (Kim? Seems like the thing Kim would have filled him in on.)
Still, the idea that these things came from his world... it'd be a big thing to digest. And it's not confirmed. But... ]
[ The next texts don't come immediately, but not so slow for Jon to think Cloud has written him off. ]
i know what fear feels like.
not being afraid, but the sensation where you panic, and freeze.
and you can't do anything.
that bone-deep fear.
i've felt it a few times before.
Still, the idea that these things came from his world... it'd be a big thing to digest. And it's not confirmed. But... ]
[ The next texts don't come immediately, but not so slow for Jon to think Cloud has written him off. ]
i know what fear feels like.
not being afraid, but the sensation where you panic, and freeze.
and you can't do anything.
that bone-deep fear.
i've felt it a few times before.
[It isn't quite what he meant, not what he was getting at. Which is fine, it was a very open question with little direction. That's all right.]
The Fears in my world are... tangible. Real things. Real entities. And they feed off your fear. There are... Specificities to it, what fears correlate to what entity. But the footage you sent me... I could clearly see almost all of them.
The Fears in my world are... tangible. Real things. Real entities. And they feed off your fear. There are... Specificities to it, what fears correlate to what entity. But the footage you sent me... I could clearly see almost all of them.
fear as... tangible entities? beings?
like... gods, you mean, of a sort.
[ This conversation is a bit high-concept for Cloud, but he thinks he gets the jist - whatever was in there... it had markings of things Jon had seen before. ]
you're talking about like...
concepts, basically?
like being killed. or being alone.
or being forgotten.
things like that, right?
like... gods, you mean, of a sort.
[ This conversation is a bit high-concept for Cloud, but he thinks he gets the jist - whatever was in there... it had markings of things Jon had seen before. ]
you're talking about like...
concepts, basically?
like being killed. or being alone.
or being forgotten.
things like that, right?
Yes. Exactly like that. Those entities *are* our fears. And the fear of them we feel only fuels them, makes them stronger.
Someone before me categorized them and put names to them, but they all exist. And they were
cast out of my universe, into another.
The footage you sent me. It looks like nearly all of them in some form or another.
[Maybe it's less that the Fears that developed in Jon's universe are manifesting here, maybe people in every universe are just afraid of the same things. But what a coincidence that would be, that every universe just coincidentally has the exact same fears as the ones that developed in his own in its creation.]
Someone before me categorized them and put names to them, but they all exist. And they were
cast out of my universe, into another.
The footage you sent me. It looks like nearly all of them in some form or another.
[Maybe it's less that the Fears that developed in Jon's universe are manifesting here, maybe people in every universe are just afraid of the same things. But what a coincidence that would be, that every universe just coincidentally has the exact same fears as the ones that developed in his own in its creation.]
nearly all of them. they have tells, then.
[ That's what Cloud is trying to draw from this. The idea that these things came from Jon's world - where, the horrors had... taken shape as if they were things from other people's memories. Monsters. ...Whispers. But Jon... hadn't yet arrived. ]
[ He doesn't buy it entirely, but he buys that Jon buys it. Which is enough for him to take it semi-seriously. ]
you ever see them mingle like that, before?
all of them at once?
where i come from, fears aren't like, that, but...
a lot of things are different here, compared to where i came from.
[ That's what Cloud is trying to draw from this. The idea that these things came from Jon's world - where, the horrors had... taken shape as if they were things from other people's memories. Monsters. ...Whispers. But Jon... hadn't yet arrived. ]
[ He doesn't buy it entirely, but he buys that Jon buys it. Which is enough for him to take it semi-seriously. ]
you ever see them mingle like that, before?
all of them at once?
where i come from, fears aren't like, that, but...
a lot of things are different here, compared to where i came from.
Identifying characteristics, yes. That was how they were classified.
[That question nearly has him laughing, despair threatening to bubble up as he stares down at his phone.]
All of them mingled together at once like that was what happened to my world before I was here. An apocalypse of terror.
[Cloud doesn't have to know it was his fault. That they reshaped the world through him.]
[That question nearly has him laughing, despair threatening to bubble up as he stares down at his phone.]
All of them mingled together at once like that was what happened to my world before I was here. An apocalypse of terror.
[Cloud doesn't have to know it was his fault. That they reshaped the world through him.]
[ An apocalypse of terror... he lets that sink in. It's no wonder Jon is afraid. And... Cloud can't entirely blame him. Being there had been so... oppressive, even before he had attempted to fight through all of it to quell the horror. It had felt apocalyptic. ]
real bad news, then.
maybe we avoided the worst of it?
could be, if they're here, they aren't as strong as they were, where you come from.
that's the best theory i got, anyway.
what about that woman? in the other video.
she look at all familiar? do the fears take... human shape?
real bad news, then.
maybe we avoided the worst of it?
could be, if they're here, they aren't as strong as they were, where you come from.
that's the best theory i got, anyway.
what about that woman? in the other video.
she look at all familiar? do the fears take... human shape?
They would be effectively starting over from scratch here. Small fears that haven't yet integrated themselves into the psyche of those living here. It took several millennia for them to build up to an apocalypse in my world.
[That question though... He flips back through to his gallery app, looking at the screenshot he took of her.]
She isn't familiar to me, no. But it's not unheard of for these entities to collect avatars. Acolytes, those working in their name with bits of power at their control. I'm not sure what that one would have been.
[He has a hint of a suspicion, but nothing he can confirm without his own connection, or more information available. Neither of which he has now.]
I'm sorry, I don't mean to overwhelm you with all of this. I'm still processing being here at all, and heard about this happening. There's the chance I might be wrong. [And he would really like to be, for the first time it would do any good.]
[That question though... He flips back through to his gallery app, looking at the screenshot he took of her.]
She isn't familiar to me, no. But it's not unheard of for these entities to collect avatars. Acolytes, those working in their name with bits of power at their control. I'm not sure what that one would have been.
[He has a hint of a suspicion, but nothing he can confirm without his own connection, or more information available. Neither of which he has now.]
I'm sorry, I don't mean to overwhelm you with all of this. I'm still processing being here at all, and heard about this happening. There's the chance I might be wrong. [And he would really like to be, for the first time it would do any good.]
it's possible you are.
[ He wants to be blunt about it. These things... could have followed Jon here, but if he's a more recent arrival, it might just be a score of coincidences. Even still, if the man believes it, he's going to take it seriously. ]
but if they can only do something like this right now working together, that's best for us. and we can evaluate whether they really are the fears from your world. and the more we learn about this woman, the more we'll be able to confirm if she's an 'acolyte' of those fears or not.
what i'm hearing is we have time. not to let it simmer - but to figure out what the real truth is.
[ He wants to be blunt about it. These things... could have followed Jon here, but if he's a more recent arrival, it might just be a score of coincidences. Even still, if the man believes it, he's going to take it seriously. ]
but if they can only do something like this right now working together, that's best for us. and we can evaluate whether they really are the fears from your world. and the more we learn about this woman, the more we'll be able to confirm if she's an 'acolyte' of those fears or not.
what i'm hearing is we have time. not to let it simmer - but to figure out what the real truth is.
Edited 2022-08-11 04:53 (UTC)
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