[He doesn't know what to say for a while. How do you apologize for threatening everyone on board; for alienating your friends at best and trying carelessly to start a work at worst? How do you even show your face after something like that?

So he keeps it short and simple:]

I'm sorry.



I'd advise anyone reading this to remove their mask. I haven't been able to [bring myself to, he nearly writes, but edits that out later] remove it entirely, but I've locked it away. I shan't be wearing it again.

[ there's the sound of a direwolf howling, unapologetic in his grief, and even the soft hushing murmur that comes after doesn't quite temper it, only reduces it to a low keening whine. there's a pause that stretches, and robb clears his throat more than once, trying to find the words. when he does speak he sounds tired, anger burning slow and hot under exhaustion but finally, finally, he speaks. ]

The lady Sansa Stark, who many called Alayne Stone, has gone.

[ there's a breath, as if robb means to say more, but instead he simply cuts the feed. ]

[ Cibo has made herself scarce after the last jump, because something didn't feel quite right from the previous month. Like something hadn't settled in her mind the way it should have. After resting the week after the jump, she wakes to a pleasant surprise and a newly rejuvenated attitude. And the video pops on to show it. ]

I'm sorry if I avoided you or didn't respond to you since the jump. I just couldn't bring myself to speak to anyone for some reason, but I'm feeling much better now. And my dream wasn't frightening like usual, so that may also be a sign that I'm better. Right?

I wish to meet with all of my friends soon. If you have some free time, please let me know.

[ And that's it! She'll trot off to the gardens to sit and watch her fish now. Possibly skim the network while thinking of some sort of interesting story that she would want to share with Murphy or Wheatley. Nothing she thinks of is as good as their stories are, though. Gosh. ]

[ tranquility! you were totally missing tony. or at least some of you were from the state of his communicator when he came back into a place where he could read it. whatever, there's some noise in the background that sounds suspiciously like the medbay when tony actually starts the feed up. there's a reason for this kids, but tony, being tony, isn't particularly up for explaining what it is beyond a select few. but hey, if you're feeling lucky, you'll actually be able to see what really happened hidden in this post. ]

I know what you all are thinking, how dare you disappear like that and worry half of the ship or at least random parts of it who were crying about it. Lost is actually the technical term for what I did, since I meant to just take a small stroll and then suddenly I took a bad turn it wasn't that bad. My bad, though, next time I'll take a map or something to show me around not just the communicator. Left the nonexistent map in my room clearly, which yes, I know, Tony, that was incredibly idiotic of you. But hey, it's not the worst thing any of you will or have seen me doing by  a long shot. And I have a thing about making interesting life choices like that. I could have disappeared during a time like the plague we had. Or during the lockdown. At least now it's shockingly quiet minus a few things. [ or disappearances, but hey, no one needs to know he noticed alayne was gone. he'd like to personally forget he ever saw that. but you know, he sees too much and he can't really take that back now can he? ] I'm not typically one to give little messages about how we should pay attention so nothing bad happens, because really, I'm pretty sure some of us keep watch enough so a number of you all can rest easy and not spend every waking moment monitoring the network. But I think, when everyone is wandering around, you might want to make sure you're watching where you step. You don't want to be like me coming out feeling gross and like you could eat a horse.

There's an old saying about that, I think. Eye or eyes have it.

Anyway, I'm not dead, rejoice or cry into your space food, either one is really fine with me actually. And you know, because I'm feeling generous after coming out of the hellish hallways, I know we have some engineers on here and I know we have people who randomly build things, I don't care about them, technically, but I do care if some of you might actually need something say built for you and are wondering god, who would do that for me, well as it turns out, I do actually have a lot of free time to do various projects and I seem to be lacking in them right now and for the foreseeable future. So, to rectify this, consider this me asking all of you to come to me if you're dying to have something done in the vein of building things for you. I could do encryptions, but people can be weirdly fussy about those. Whatever, you know my number. Call me if it sounds good to you maybe.

[ avengers encryption | stark encryption 100% | unhackable ]

Meeting as soon as I get out of medbay. Just with the four of us. Christ, we're down to four again. Awesome. Pepper sitting in, obviously, if only because I'm a little worse for wear as it turns out. 

[ encrypted to listmates | stark encryption 100% | unhackable ]

What are we down to now? Eighteen? Nineteen? Caffrey and I just randomly disappeared only to come back just a bit fucked up. I think this calls for a list members meeting. Just for kicks. And I don't actually care if you're rolling your eyes at this, any of you, because personally, I'm just a bit tired of wondering if one of us is going to magically get killed or disappear at a jump. Or, as Caffrey and I have demonstrated, just randomly get lost in a ship we've been on for months.

[ encrypted to neal caffrey | stark encryption 100% | unhackable ]

And it seems as if I'm not the prodigal son any more. Separate talk, you and me. Or do I offend your hipster sensibilities too much still?

[ encrypted to spock | stark encryption 100% | unhackable ]

...Can I trust you to keep a little secret from someone? You know who I'm talking about, I imagine, but if I do tell you something, it needs to stay extremely hush hush.


[ ooc | okay, two things! one, bare with me on any slowness with this post since i put it up now as opposed to monday for a very specific reason. and two, there is actually something wrong with tony, but he's not as crazy as neal was when he came back. what happened to him was more physical with a tiny bit of crazy added in that i might sprinkle in this post. this does not mean mr. stark will be dropping metaplot hints, because i don't really have any to actually give! beyond what we already know because of spock's misadventures in melding with the ship. 

what is hidden in this post and will be mentioned for sure is what exactly happened to tony and the "why" of what happened. so yeah, that's the end of this grossly long note. ]

[It starts out as an insistent ping sent out to everyone's communication devices. Like a pop-up advert that just won't quit, interrupting and annoying. First accessed, the screen shows nothing but rolling code, streaming too quickly to be read. Then, suddenly, it cuts to a solid blue screen - then green, then yellow, then, lingering for a good five seconds, red.

Another sudden cut, but this time to a still image of a low, internal pond. A staircase follows, then a woman, then a tiger. The last remains still for a moment, then begins to move, the tiger turning its head to look towards the screen, then moves forward, padding closer and closer until the fur of its chest blacks the camera out.

Nothing, for two seconds, and then music begins to play, no accompanying image. Mangled and broken for a moment, but then it slowly comes together, playing through for at least a minute before it fades into silence.

The 'message' ends, with no further explanation, and all device functions return to normal.]

[Around ten minutes later, Josias posts a video onto the network. He looks a little bemused, but pleased - but the most noticeable part, probably, is the cable coming from behind his left ear, running down and off camera.]

Apologies for that interruption earlier. Just running a test - and as is the way with tests, there were a few errors. One of which was accessing the entire network when I meant for it to be contained, apparently. [He looks more amused about it than embarrassed or apologetic, though he's trying to keep it tamped down.] Anyway, nothing malicious or related to disembodied smiles, don't worry.

[He almost looks like he's about to simply tip his head slightly and then cut the feed, but then reconsiders.]

Though I suppose while I'm speaking I should follow the example of the other departments, and mention that Agriculture are always looking for staff. We work in the Oxygen Gardens, maintaining the plants and harvesting the fruit and vegetables. It's an important role, considering the gardens provide us with air to breathe, but also one very easy to pick up, if you feel you have no applicable skills elsewhere. [A smile.] Or if you simply like working with your hands.

Inquire within if interested, so on and so forth.