ataraxion | 001; text

I think I've finally figured out how to properly use this. It's alien to me, as is the rest of the ship. There is so little familiar here, and I can hardly describe the feeling of separation. It's like a dream.

Falling from my liquid bed was uncannily like being reborn. This only makes sense, given that the last I was aware of, I was dead. I panicked at first, but what I assume to be a week of exploration has afforded me a lot of time to be safely alone with my thoughts. Moreover, it has given me time to try to puzzle out devices like this one. I was never a scientist, but I have the feeling that even if I were, these would be far beyond my understanding. For a man who had thought 1839 to be the height of innovation, it's startling, to say the least.

I am writing in hopes of the other residents being able to offer some measure of help. My name is Daniel. I have gathered some information about why we're here, but with how little I understand, it feels like it will never be enough.

[feel free to assume you've seen a scraggly-looking guy wandering around the halls asking stupid questions and then booking it. :')]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Video because Alexander dislikes tiny keypads.]

[Now, it takes a lot to shock the Baron. But this popping up on the network would definitely be worthy of a spit take if he were drinking anything.]

Daniel.

[ICONSPAM, GO]

[he wants to run. he wants very desperately to run and hide somewhere, and on a ship this big, he could probably manage. his instincts are urging him to cower away from the threat. he can find a way to make himself disappear.

but that won't answer his questions, and Daniel, uninformed, is just waiting for Alexander to find him.]

How?

The same way you and everyone else has ended up here. It is some relief to have some sort of familiarity around.

[Because, you know, besides the coincidence of them both being bored there's obviously no reason for Daniel to be so bewildered. Of course now that Alexander is rereading Daniel's initial post, there's something weird about him mentioning that he should be dead. Did he go and try to kill himself after the whole incident with the Zimmerman girl? Daniel, you fool.]

...The Shadow, Daniel. Is it still with you? [Because that is the last thing he needs right now.]

[Alexander seems very calm, for someone Daniel's murdered. he's a relief? in what sick way is having Daniel there a relief? nothing here is quite adding up. Daniel is about to ask, but then there's more pressing matters at hand.]

No! It couldn't be. [it's a good thing Alexander can't hear him, he thinks, because just that one question's set him off again into a jittery panic.] I let it have me! My debt is paid, why would it follow me even here? [he hasn't seen hide or hair or mucky flesh moss of its influence since he's been here. it's impossible.]

Hmm.

[Sure, he looks calm. But on the inside he is extremely frustrating to have only written words to gather information from. Without the clues of vocal tones and body language, how is he supposed to interpret this? The worst part is it'll be hard to goad him into slipping up with that pesky delete button.]

You let it have you? Even after all you did to keep it at bay...?

[AS THOUGH DANIEL KNOWS HOW TO DELETE POSTS. as it is they're just half an hour apart while he nearly turns his teeth to dust trying to word his answers carefully.]

[this, though, explains some things. or maybe just raises more questions. either way, Daniel's brow furrows as he tries to come up with any possible scenario where Alexander, meticulous and shrewd, would forget such a detail as their mutual death. did the ship do it? no, Daniel remembers his own, or close enough. he even remembers what came after. there's the tonic, of course, but that doesn't seem to fit any motive Alexander could have.]

You don't remember? [and the ball is back in Alexander's field, thanks to answering a question with a question. at least it's a legitimate one. Daniel isn't good at this game of chess, but he knows, at the least, that his erstwhile mentor doesn't seem angry with him. maybe, then, it's best to play up his innocence.] I had no choice. [ohhh yes he did. and so the lies begin.]

[For a guy who's lived for, like, EVER, half an hour of staring at the screen and waiting for responses is nothing for Alexander. Of course it's probably unsettling for poor Daniel.]

[Besides, it gives Alexander time to mull over the situation a little more and think on things such as: if the ship has pulled people from all points in time, is it possible he and Daniel are also from different times? How much does he know?]

Hmm. Yes. Men do resort to such terrible things when they believe there is no other way. [Don't they, Daniel.]

[Daniel is opting to be as cagey as humanly possible about this, so he doesn't accidentally give away something he shouldn't, which is probably imminent anyway. He feels like he's walking across a floor rigged to collapse if he steps just one centimeter out of line. But there's been no hostility, none of the smug knowingness from when he prised his way into Alexander's inner sanctum.

Still, he can't really think of this as safe. Best to play up his ignorance while he feels this out, since it's too late to scuttle back to the shadows, idiot that he is.]

If you don't remember that, what do you?

[Well he sure is remembering Daniel's mad skills at TESTING ONE'S PATIENCE. Not that Alexander is in any position to be annoyed at people being vague about things, but he's going to be a hypocrite anyway.]

The things I can recall are ill suited for the ears of whoever may be listening. Wouldn't you agree?

[Blackmail's far from the worst thing he's ever done, at least.]

[This is a trap. This is a trap. This is so obvious, even he can't miss it. But he can't ignore it, either. Alexander's got both the carrot and the stick here: refuse, and he makes himself suspicious, agree, and he puts himself at his mercy. What else can he do? There's no third option offered here like there was before, no way to subvert him.]

[He tries to stop trembling with little success, thinking how best to phrase this without sounding as recalcitrant as he feels.]

Of course. Not in public, you're right. Where are you? [He's not saying where he is, naturally. He wants to meet Alexander on his own terms.]

[This is definitely not the kind of confrontation Alexander wants to have out in the common room where outsiders can interfere. On the other hand, in private, what's to stop Daniel from trying to kill him? He never would have thought the younger man had it in him, but if he did do it in Alexander's future that would have been...]

Presently in the sleeping quarters marked '180.' Don't keep me waiting.

[It's just a chance he'll have to take. At least Alexander has the advantage of expecting it. Daniel would be a fool to think he hasn't had to fight off and kill desperate men before.]

I'll be there soon.

[Soon is relative. He's not going to rush there by any stretch of the imagination. He knows he has to show up, but he doesn't know what to expect, and he's frightened, though that's nothing new. He thinks briefly that he wants some kind of weapon, but what kind of human weapon would work on Alexander, now that he knows what he knows? The best he can really do is be ready to run.]

001; text

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

looks like we need a log huh :>