[video] (un: elsa)

[coldhardy]

[The video is very short: the camera focuses on one of the pieces of strange fabric that fell during the jump, then changes position so the cloth can be seen from a different angle, causing a shift of light that makes the writing show up. She speaks over the image, but isn't on camera herself.]

I found this, and I know I wasn't the only one: there was more of it out there.

If this design is writing, can anybody read it? I've never seen it before.

Comments

video (un: reaperman)

[likescats]

[Death takes a look at it, then thinks back for a moment. Give him a minute, he's got a lot of languages to go through.]

IT IS NOTHING FROM THE DISCWORLD, I CAN TELL YOU THAT MUCH.

[switching to voice]

[coldhardy]

Thank you for answering!

A whole world of languages... is that a lot? There are a lot of languages in the world where I'm from.

[Tell her of your Discworld, Mr. Door.]

[also switching to voice]

[likescats]

QUITE A FEW. I HAVE A MEMORY OF MOST OF THEM. THE ONES IN THE FUTURE ARE A BIT HARDER TO REMEMBER BUT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO READ IT IF IT CAME FROM ANY TIME OR PLACE ON THE DISC.

[coldhardy]

... Is that magic?

[Magic is great, but Elsa is only really familiar with a single kind, her own, and how it's set her apart most of her life.]

[likescats]

MAGIC? NO THAT'S JUST ME. I EXIST OUTSIDE OF TIME ON THE DISC SO MY MEMORY WORKS BOTH WAYS.

[coldhardy]

Can everyone there exist outside of time?

[likescats]

NO. JUST A FEW OF US. I AM AN ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION. OR TO BE MORE PRECISE, I AM DEATH, I HAVE ALWAYS AND WILL ALWAYS EXIST.

AND BEFORE YOU ASK, NO I AM NOT ON DUTY HERE.

Elsa should pay more attention.

[coldhardy]

I see.

[She doesn't, and she sounds a bit perturbed, a bit awed. But he seems like a nice old man, and the same has been true of any distant observations she may have made of him, parts of conversations that she may have caught on the network, memories of someone talking about this kind of thing... and if he were really a terror of the camp, she thinks someone would mention it.

Wouldn't they?]

I'd like it if you would tell me more about the Discworld, but first, did you recognize any of the other things that fell from the sky at the same time? The metal, or the glass balls?

[likescats]

I WOULD BE GLAD TO. I QUITE ENJOY TALKING ABOUT THE WORLD I CAME FROM.

[He really misses it, after even only a few years away.]

I DO NOT RECOGNIZE ANY OF THE OBJECTS HOWEVER.

[Voice] (un: fleetside)

[hairrands]

Looks like something I saw once, only a little bit. Critter made of cloth like this, only red. Alive, though.

[Someone's gotten her hands on a device in the last four days. Despite all of her angst, the clone has been having an easier time of figuring her place out in camp, having been here once before.]

[coldhardy]

A live animal made of this kind of cloth?

[Her tone is cool -- Elsa is intelligent and frequently manages to be calm and sometimes even skeptical -- but there's a hint of amazement in it.]

Where did you see it?

[hairrands]

Not here, back where I used to be. Topside of where I used to be. It'd made its home in this covered bridge, like it didn't like the rain or getting wet. Had a scarf that glowed, though, it didn't just sparkle. It was dying.

[coldhardy]

[Now she sounds curious, maybe a little bit sad.]

Did you know what had happened to it?

[hairrands]

Died, just like everyone else there. Didn't come back like some of us, though.

Wouldn't be surprised if this stuff was it's bread and butter, though. You remember those gas masks and tins and shit... has this been happening a lot?

[coldhardy]

But did you know why it might have died? Would that have been important?

[It reminds her most of the trolls, but at home, if it was necessary, she could ask them: what is this animal, or what is this cloth? It's been many years since she's seen them, but Kristoff would probably help her if she needed him to, for Anna's sake. Or he'd seemed like he might try, at least: he'd seemed to have a noble spirit even though he'd smelled like a barn.]

I wouldn't say a lot, but it happens from time to time. Sometimes people freeze when the alarms go off.

[She bites her lower lip after that, unseen, her own careless use of the word "freeze" making her feel momentarily out of joint.]

[hairrands]

[Luckily, AJ is not a subtle person, nor is she attuned to subtle changes of tone in others. Elsa's pause goes more or less unnoticed as a particular tic of her voice, especially because this new information is alarming.]

What do you mean, freeze? Stuck in place? Scared shitless...?

[But there's too many questions out of this simple divulgence and AJ has to sit back and think for a moment or two.]

Listen, lady, I don't know much about how this place works, but it's... I feel like it can't be too far off from where I came from. People get into shit they can't figure out and there's a cage around us that we don't understand. They drop shit in--somebody does, anyways--and it's from really different places. This cloth, these things, they could be the same idea as the jugs, the playing cards, the whole stash of crap that rained down before. People freezing isn't all that different to waking up suddenly and having a year changed out from under your feet... only if only some people are experiencing it and not others...

[Forgive the rambling; AJ's at a loss and is trying to draw connections together.]

I don't think the writing on the cloth is important, [she finally gets around to Elsa's point.] But it's probably important that it's as different from the other rain of shit, and the ship everyone keeps coming out of, and... and all of the other weird shit. I guess that doesn't help much... but reading that's probably only going to be as helpful as reading a deck of playing cards, you know?

username: chook

[culver]

I picked some up too. It does not really mean anything to me though. I wonder if it really is important?

[coldhardy]

Did you pick up any of the other things?

[culver]

I found one of the orbs before it broke.