004 :: VIDEO

[stimulations]

I have to say, as cavernous as this place is usually, having it even more devoid of people really exacerbates the effect. I'm glad to see you've all returned, or at least started returning, however these things work.

[Adopting a vaguely nonchalant tone to try and cover over the concern he'd started feeling for the absent people and for how alone he'd started feeling, but his brow is still pinched slightly. He glances away from the camera.]

I did my best to care for the animals in the oxygen gardens in everyone's absence, and I believe Dr. Ross was looking after a pack of dogs she found. Clearly whatever trips you went on didn't require animal companionship.

Is it too soon to ask if anyone knows what the hell happened? There was some talk of fog, but I didn't see any of that. [A pause.] Please tell me I didn't miss out on something interesting.

Comments

[signatures]

[ It happened. The fact that Eames can't discern why it happened to more people than he was expecting is something he doesn't want to try and figure out. Right now he can't decide which is the lesser of two evils - for it to have all been the influence of a shared dream (that doesn't account for more than half the ship's residents) or something altogether almost supernatural in source. Poison again, maybe. Something in the air again, could be.

Eames refuses to believe in ghosts - at least in the literal sense of the word.

The audio clip goes on, then goes off again because all of the sudden he doesn't know what to say. Then, a little later: ]

I don't think everyone had the same experiences, whatever it was.

[stimulations]

A coordinated disappearance and reappearance, but you all had different experiences.

[That really only makes the whole thing sound more interesting to him, though without knowing the nature (he could assume bad; it's a running theme), he's careful not to let too much curiosity enter his voice.]

What was yours?

[signatures]

A city. There were a few houses that belonged to the people I was traveling with. But that's all not necessarily my business to share.

voice;

[adlered]

Were there four of them? Or did Dr. Ross decline telling you the number in the pack?

[ She had animal companionship, technically, she supposes, but not the kind she could control, not really. But perhaps more to the point, Josias mentioning the pack of dogs only makes her think of Tyke and her dogs, and admittedly makes her tense a bit ( which truly, is half the reason she chose voice over video ) for a number of reasons. Thankfully she keeps it out of her voice and instead focuses on question at hand. ]

It depends on what you define as interesting.

video;

[stimulations]

Four, yes, though only three would leave the room at a time. [Which was rather bizarre behaviour from dogs, he'd think, but then, he'd never had much dealings with them before.] Are they yours, then?

I prefer to keep my definitions of such things very open around here. I could try to limit it and then another dinosaur could arrive. Or perhaps a sabre-toothed tiger.

voice;

[adlered]

They're trained to do that, I believe. [ Him asking if they're hers startles her a bit because they're not, they're Tyke's but if she's not here then who do they go to? Probably Tommy, but the fact remains that they're Tyke's now and until Irene has proof one way or the other that she's not on the ship, it'll stay that way. It takes her a moment to actually think of what to call Tyke, because if Moriarty knows she's something to Irene, it's a weakness, not to mention the sheer fact that they're not really friends, are they? They're just Tyke and Irene. ] They're Tyke's, if there's four of them. I imagine she wants to know where they are if Dr. Ross hasn't found her to return them.

[ That earns a small laugh out of Irene. ] Then I suppose you could call it interesting. Perhaps not a fun time, but then again, when is anything involving this ship fun?

[tumbleweeds]

Thanks for taking care of them. Chickens didn't give you any trouble, did they?

[ They give her plenty of trouble... ]

[stimulations]

I could hardly let them starve. No trouble, though I was only there feeding them.

[If there'd been anything else he was meant to do with chickens, he had no idea.]

[tumbleweeds]

[ She exercises her animals. Exercising the chickens usually involves a lot of chasing them around at the end of their exercise period to get them back in the coop. ]

Still, it's more than I'd expect out of most people. Seriously, I appreciate it -- if there's anything I can do to show that...

[ classy. ]

text;

[handelaar]

[Not even going to talk about what the hell happened. And he hasn't actually been down to the Gardens since, has hardly thought of them, but Oxygen Gardens still pings him.

Damn. He'd say sorry, but.]

Thanks

[That's the best he's got at the moment.]

text;

[stimulations]

[Josias isn't really sure why he's getting thanked everywhere, considers what he'd done to just be common sense or courtesy, but he'll take it gracefully.]

I thought about taking the opportunity to skive off work completely, but then decided that would be rather irresponsible of me. I can't say I managed much, though. Only one set of hands and I did spend a large amount of time wandering around looking for people.

Are you alright?

text;

[handelaar]

Guess we're lucky it was you working, then

[Could be a compliment, could just be fact. He thinks about not answering the question, but even if he doesn't the fact that he's texting speaks for itself, so what the hell.]

Taking a few days off
Unless

[Unless Josias needs a break, unless something needs his personal attention, unless there's something urgent - all of that, but he doesn't feel like typing it out. The kid's smart, he'll get it.]

video; encrypted

[redhotsummers]

[Alex looks a bit worse for wear, but relieved. Because Josias missed out on what happened. Thank fuck. He isn't a fool--he doesn't think that just because of that night when Josie came over, things would be magically different between them. But it also doesn't change that he cares. At whatever level.

He lets out a breath, and shakes his head.]

Nightmares.

We got trapped in nightmares.

[It's the best explanation he could give. He had told Josie, previously, about what had happened to him in Promenade. At least these nightmares hadn't been his own.

He would have looked worse if they had been.]

It's good that you missed it, trust me.

video; encrypted

[stimulations]

[Well. That's succinct. Josias frowns at the screen slightly, trying to discern Alex's state.]

It's hardly like I want to have some terrible experience, but I'm starting to feel like I'm receiving some kind of special treatment.

[Which doesn't really seem like a good thing considering their circumstances.]

video; encrypted

[redhotsummers]

...seriously?

[Alex frowns for a moment.]

Has this happened before?

[Yeah, Josie didn't get caught during the whole station incident, but Alex had gotten free with help of Smiley. So that was special treatment for Alex, not Josie. This showed something, sure but--]

Did that blue sickness not hit you, either?

voice;

[coffeeking]

Is Myfanwy-- [he clears his throat] The pteranodon. Is she alright? Did she give you any trouble?

video;

[stimulations]

I saw her flying about a few times. I wasn't sure what her diet was meant to be, but I left food out for her and the wolf, and it was gone when I went back. [A pause.] She could probably do with a checkover from you rather than my word on it.

voice;

[coffeeking]

She just eats meat. And chocolate.

[he clears his throat]

Thanks for looking after her. I'm sure she's fine if she hasn't started eating the other animals, but I'll come by as soon as I can.

video;

[the_vishual]

Fear. That's what happened--a terrible darkness, of fog and dark, that swallowed everyone up.

[ A pause: ]

You said exacerbates. That's a good word--I like it.

video;

[stimulations]

You seem to be rather good with words yourself. Very evocative imagery there.

video;

[the_vishual]

[ She smiles, as if embarrassed at the compliment, grinning. ]

Thank you, sir. I like 'evocative,' too.

permavideo in return for bruce here

[aggressively]

[ bruce is-- as always when not found attached to betty ross and/or tony stark-- tooling around an otherwise empty lab. alone, his posture is slightly more relaxed and he even glides into frame on a space age rolly chair. ]

Another one us who was left waiting out that... whatever it was with a long, lonely week back here in the suddenly even more unsettling real world?

[stimulations]

That's one way to put it. Though if I wouldn't call it waiting out, considering I had no idea if there was any kind of ending date.

[He had started considering, in the last few days, if everyone had simply disappeared, and the few still around were going to be the only ones left for the foreseeable future.]

[text]

[wolfdreamer]

Were there wolves in the gardens?

[text]

[stimulations]

I've seen one around, and a woman that comes to feed it. If there were more, I couldn't tell you. I left meat out and it was gone when I checked back.