video | oo1 | τ = 1.

[topology]

[ The feed clicks on and, for a while, all you get is the shift of a hand writing something on a page. The paper in question isn't in view, but the curl of his hand is — a short scrawl, tight but not illegible, from the way his wrist shifts. Arthur thinks about not picking up the device at all and deleting what's been recorded so far but he doesn't, instead choosing to set the pen down angling it so he can speak directly and clearly to the screen. He looks rough but it's not in his overt presentation, not with his tie neat and the collar secure and his cufflinks done up. It's in his eyes, the pinch of his brow — Arthur looks tired. But that's really not any of your business. There's a reason for all this face-time too. Demon-free, and all that. ]

I need to know how this— [ His brows draw together; it isn't exactly his field of expertise beyond using it as some on-the-nose symbolism. ] demon possession happened.

[ He taps the pen idly on the surface of his desk, tap-tap-tap. After a beat, he adds: ]

And how to stop it from happening again.

[ Another long, long beat. He sets the device down and it's almost like he's forgotten that the feed is on. He hasn't and, eventually, Arthur huffs out a laugh. ]

I also need a new pen.




( ooc | all replies will be in perma-text unless otherwise marked! )

Comments

text | ENCRYPTION 100%

[wiretap]

002 » 200.

[ Then, after a few minutes. ]

a pen.

text / action.

[topology]

[ It takes him a little while to decide on whether to go. (He's not entirely sure a pen from Aberdeen actually means what it says on the tin. The universal limit is usually just the one freebie.) ]

Sure. Give me ten minutes.

[ And, just like he said, in ten (technically eleven) minutes there's a knock on her door, a polite rat-tat-tat. Open sesame, Aberdeen. ]

[not here]

[constructum]

[ obviously she doesn't have much to add here – you know as much as she knows.

so instead of asking you about mal, she will just lurk like a mofo here, hoping to learn as much as she can.

also. You might just find two pencils and a sketchbook lying right outside your door when you finally do come out of hiding arthur.

(just take it easy arthur she honestly worries about you.) ]

video

[became]

[ oh hey there, Guy With Nice Pants. ]

Good to see you survived fine. Any luck on the dry cleaner?

[ and now, almost as an afterthought. ]

Will a pencil do? It's not quite the same thing, but if you don't care I don't.

text.

[topology]

[ sup, Mr. Saville Row :') ]

Not yet.

I prefer a pen, [ because pencils can be erased and shit motherfucker what if somebody changes something in his super secret moleskine what if ] but a pencil's fine.

voice;

[goingsilent]

[ Look, you look much better than you did when you were all +300 demon points. ]

Back to work already?

voice;

[topology]

[ Yeah, he liked his life before all these spaceship points started to stack up too. B(

Also, voice mode: engaged. (Begrundgingly:) Quid pro quo when it comes to the space ninja that saved your cojones. :< ]

Got a lot to catch up on.

AUDIO;

[widowing]

It probably caught you off-guard at a moment of weakness or vulnerability.

[ she'd ask when it happened, but it doesn't really matter. ]

Any specific type of pen?

text.

[topology]

No, not particularly. [ Arthur's not one for being rude to a woman who offers him stationery but let's be honest, the recent demon fiasco is making him a little stir-crazy for answers. ]

It happened after the jump. Why now?

[jilt]

Pens.

[ one of these things is not like the other... ]

text.

[topology]

I like crosswords.

[ Because that's a much better idea than telling the whole network that he's been keeping notes on every single person here... ]

[andblockbuster]

[It's okay, Arthur. Topher looks enough rough trade for the both of you. It was not an excellent day for an exorcism.]

You and me both. [A beat] Demon thing. Not... Not the pen thing.

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

[ Ah, Topher. Just the man he wants to see. ]

You're Topher.
The brainwipe tech. Ariadne told me.

[ God, that sounds so fucking stupid spelled out like that. Maybe because it actually makes a modicum of sense in a tangibly sci-fi kind of way, which is why Arthur's refraining from turning it over with any degree of scrutiny. He just wants to sleep in a Waldorf room for 48 hours, fuck. ]

Did you get possessed?

[video]

[the_vishual]

....

You're Ariadne's friend.

[ She's never met you, nor the other Arthur that dissappeared--Chase just knows, and she smiles. ]

I like Ariadne. I hope I like you, too.

text.

[topology]

[ He's taken note of the names of the kids, sure, but the last thing Arthur expects is for one of them to talk to him. She looks younger than he first thought — it's a little jarring at first. It's a good way of tugging at the heart-strings. Smart, for anyone looking to get information out of a unco-operative subject. ]

Yeah. And you're Chase.
That's what I'm hoping for.

video; mini tl;dr? i'm sorry..

[shadeling]

[ even if arthur hadn't decided to pick the device up, even if she simply got a glimpse of his handwriting, or the shift of his wrist as he wrote, she would've recognized who this belonged to.

her eyes narrow, very slightly, as she first, considers a reply. he could simply be a projection. yet again, all of this can. that ariadne girl, him. her? she was real, she knew. just perhaps not in this world. for now, she had concluded that living in mild ignorance would be the better option, until she could better get her bearings of this place. even though something in her mind kept trying to push her to start her questioning, she was smart enough to realize that she couldn't afford to think whether this was reality of not. not yet, anyway.

and ever since ariadne mentioned arthur being here, mal had wanted to talk to him. ]

Arthur? [ her voice is a controlled calm, although not a reflection of her actual state of mind. she's glad to see him, real or not. the softest smile fades as she takes in his appearance. ]

...You look tired.

[ truth be told, she wasn't too sure what to really say. she's always been adequate with her words, or so she thought, but...this wasn't exactly a regular situation dream. she exhaled the small breath she didn't realize she was holding as she found herself at a rare moment of loss. ]

text. /eats this tldr with a spooon :')

[topology]

[ Arthur stares.

He'd heard but he didn't know, had forgotten what it was like to be faced with not just the components of Mal or the guilt which wore her face but Mal framed in a way that seemed familiar to him. The sweep of her nose, the curl of her hair, the way things seemed soft and maybe better just because she was in the room. It's so easy to get lost in how things were, lost in some bullshit things would have been better if scenario but at the end of the day, it's not her — it can't be, and he feels like a fucking idiot for falling for something so textbook. Mallorie Cobb is dead. She fell from a hotel and left behind a husband and two kids and he knows this because he was the one who called the funeral home and picked the flowers and told Cobb I'll take care of this.

He knows she's not real because he loved her, and you don't forget loss. Not like that.

Arthur's answer comes quickly enough. Short, sweet and to the point: ]

Where are you?

video;

[entrapments]

No offense or anything? But um, I think that's the question that's been on everybody's mind.

text.

[topology]

[ Ah. Right. Arthur doesn't know her name but he knows that another wearing Ariadne's face (maybe at a younger age) is on the Tranquility and lo and fucking behold. It's a little jarring to find that she sounds like her too, but the inflection is so different that Arthur's not sure if this is a projection or a shit forge. Not that it matters, he supposes. ]

No offense taken.
If we go around thinking it and nobody says it, it makes for a shit question. I thought I'd bite the bullet.

[consulting]

Re: Possession.
Winchester.

Re: Pen.
Trade.

SH

text.

[topology]

Thanks.

What's your price on the pen?

video;

[butwedonot]

I tried asking that exact question, unfortunately I didn't get any response worth reiterating here. It seems the general population does not know; that said I can offer you a pen; if you are, of course, still in need of one?

text.

[topology]

Yeah, that's the impression I'm starting to get. Winchester's the name that keeps popping up.

[ A long, long beat. He's got a few pencils tucked away that he can work with but he'd still really like a fucking pen that maybe doesn't come with a catch. So, somewhat abruptly tacked onto the end of his reply comes: ]

Is it an offer or a trade?

text; scrambled source

[pocketfulofsouls]

Demons aren't exactly something you spray your lawn for every winter.

text.

[topology]

[ If there's a surefire way to piss Arthur off, it's the fact that he can't trace who this person is, everything getting scrambled in a way that's far beyond his reach. God, it just fucking— This dream is fucking stupid. Stupid. ]

So you take a shot for it. I don't care; there's gotta be a way.