eachdraidh | A1. video. [ open to both courts ]

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A1. video. [ open to both courts ]

[ it doesn't immediately occur to thomas that he could probably just communicate through a text system--as far as he knows, the locket is a lot easier to use by video, and so he does. the network is presented with a pair of big, brown doe eyes before he leans backwards a little, revealing a face that could be rather familiar to some--dark hair, a button nose, moles like spots littering his face.

this is not the man you are looking for, however: this is thomas "murphy", and he clears his throat before he introduces himself. ]

Hi. I'm Thomas Murphy, and I'm--kind of a new arrival. I guess they'd call me a greenie if this was back home. [ there's no hint of humor on his face, but he did actually just try and make a joke, and his tone is a little lighter, for it. ]

Can anyone tell me about the Seelie and Unseelie--in your own words, if that makes any sense? What you know about it...you don't have to tell me any secrets or anything, but, maybe why you're there, I guess. [ he's not going to say which court he is (though it's obvious eventually, by the background of caer scima), but he just needs to know. ] Or, if you're okay with where you are. Not that I'm not, but...I don't know. Is there any reason why someone wouldn't be? They apparently brought us here for a reason-- [ again. ] --since we have these "shards", or whatever they are, but I don't have a lot of trust for anybody who says that, because it's usually a load of klunk.

I guess that's all I've got to ask. [ a beat. ] Actually, that's not true. Is there another map around here? Besides the one they gave me, I mean, it's not very good. [ ... ] No offense.

[ thomas is just going to shut his trap now. he almost physically winces and shakes his head. ] That's it, honestly. I'm just going to... hang up now. Thanks.

[ thomas does hang up, and the feed ends--for all of five seconds, before he snaps it back on. ] Oh, wait--also, I want to know if anyone here's ever heard the phrase "WICKED is good." It has to look like this. [ after a second, there's a typed out phrase that appears instead, with WICKED fully capitalized. ] That's really all this time. Um, thanks.

[ click! for real this time. ]

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[ the memories are still very close to the surface, and thomas swallows himself, watching her expression. maybe she knew someone who was a crank, somehow? before they were called cranks, before the flare had a name. before WICKED was even truly the massive company it is today. ]

They get angry. [ he won't think of newt. he won't, he won't. ] Start to hallucinate, sometimes. It...someone I knew, he used to be my best friend, and he lashed out at us. He was the calmest guy you'd ever meet, and then one day, it took him over.

[ thomas's gaze flits off screen for a moment. please, tommy, please. ] At the end, they start wanting to eat things. Sometimes each other, sometimes munies--um, people who are immune to the disease. Then they hit the Gone and someone...[ he can't finish that sentence. ] ...yeah.

[Lose control. Start to hallucinate - he swallows behind a mouth twisting restlessly into a brief grimace in distant, rattled empathy over the thought before he connects - mutters up a bit too padded and un-inflected to make effectively for blurting - ]

Where - where's it come from...? The -- virus. I mean. My, um - apologies.

Edited 2014-08-04 02:27 (UTC)

[ thomas isn't expecting a second video to pop up, and he blinks, staring at it--he doesn't like talking so clinically about the flare because he was a part of it and all of the trials to cure it, no matter how cruel, but it's his duty, his burden to bear. guilt or not, he should tell people what he knows. ]

It was created in a WICKED lab. [ he thinks of rat man. "WICKED is good", over and over. ] They released it on the population to try and cut it down when the world almost ended, and it got out of control.

People tried to kill their own people -- [Or so he's gathering - the very fact that "WICKED is good" would be a phrase suggests that they weren't some outside faction sanctioned by an enemy.] -- and instead drove everyone mad...

[Somewhat mild, trailing, "is that right". He figures it'd naturally be an uncomfortable subject - there's some tension in his face and pinching of his brow out of concern for where he might be stepping, but stepping he is. Still holding his voice earnestly, seriously curious.]

[ thomas nods his head, a little curtly. that's exactly what happened, and exactly why he was against WICKED--why he'd tried so hard to atone for the things he'd done when he didn't know any better. ]

That's exactly right. Viruses aren't that easy to contain, and they mutate over time. They tried to find a cure, but they went about it all the wrong ways. [ literally all of them; and thomas would know. ]

And that was the end of it? [Thin, and again, he's sorry for talking about it - but the curiosity's honest, too, in as much of it is carrying.]

...Your world, I mean -- is that, um... still its state -- ? As you last knew it... [He does something not quite a nod at the locket, another serious, apologetic twitch in his face.]

It's complicated. [ it really, really is, and it feels kind of--freeing to talk about it with someone that doesn't know, almost. their situation has been normal news for so long that maybe only the right arm could have known that things were changing. ]

The whole world is still inhabited by Cranks, but two hundred munies--people who are immune--escaped to a guarded off place to try and start over. There are supplies and food and enough for us. Everyone else... [ he, resolutely, continues not to think of newt, newt who's in a better place now, who must have died to be with the rest of the gladers (the people thomas got killed, alby and teresa and chuck--) ] ...they're expected to live in the scorched out area until they all kill each other.

[ it sounds callous and cruel but it's the best they can do. that screwed up paradise they almost reached. ] But right now, there are still more Cranks than munies. They eliminated most of the population, so in the end, they got what they wanted.

[A vision of disaster. In another world even without an outside encroaching force, humanity imploded by a grim well-intentioned accident for the betterment of the whole.

A pause, breaking into a brisker pace...]

And what were you doing? [In a world in that state, is what he means to ask - the look and neutral do-tell of a loosely concerned interest in camaraderie by virtue of this being from one Shard-Holder to another.]

[ what was he doing is kind of an interesting question--thomas has to pause for a second, to think it over. ]

Surviving. [ everything WICKED threw at them, he lived through. everything. sometimes thomas questioned if that was really such a good thing, but the paradise that awaited him when he left this place would be the reward. seeing brenda and minho and frypan and all the gladers who survived live on another day. ] WICKED tried to cover their tracks by finding a cure for the virus, so they picked a bunch of us to try and test on, since we were immune.

[ unless you were newt, he thinks, but he has to gloss over it, pretend it doesn't matter. the glader's quiet for a second before he turns around, visibly in the feed, and pulls his shirt collar out of the way to reveal a tattoo in stark, black ink.

SUBJECT A2
TO BE KILLED BY GROUP B ]

[A hard blink and a peer closer in. It takes a moment to spot it, to recognize it, but it still parses, as well as if it had been in Latin, at the very least.

His eyes widen a tad in the uncertain working of facial muscles, and he says, little more than grimly:] God...

[He's under-advised to remark much further - there were survivors, and they were slated to be killed.]

[ thomas shrugs his shoulders as he drops the shirt collar, bringing the locket back across to show his face again. ]

It didn't work, obviously. [ and now he's just stuck with a mark of his survival. ] Their idea of testing involved brain surgery, more or less--that's what they called the "killzone". The virus was a neurotoxin that destroyed the brain functions, and they were trying to isolate the gene that made some people immune and some not. Before the brain surgery, they tried different enviornmental factors to agitate the virus, to try and see if it would form, but it never did.

For some of us, anyway. [ he doesn't think of newt, he doesn't. ] Even the people in my group who were affected didn't show signs until the very end. But once they did, it was over.

They -- took the still sane and drove them to die anyway.

[Bit thin, just to affirm. Picked "some of us", he'd said, and so surely some of the immune were actually protected - sad and perhaps sinister, aye, but he supposes he's not been in an entirely dissimilar position, on a certain scale.

He doesn't overthink or overhesitate, though his delivery's not exactly decisive - he doesn't judge there to be much of a gap to mind between them for care in formality's sake, in age or otherwise...]

I've, ah -- ...nothing else to say but my sympathies.

They were trying to find the best. [ thomas can't keep the bitterness out of his voice, then. ] The "Final Candidate". It was me.

[ and by doing so, people he loved, his friends were lost in the process. the entire thing was as twisted as it sounded, but it's almost kind of nice to get a little bit of a sympathy, even if it's weird. thomas huffs a faint laugh and shakes his head. ] It's okay. I appreciate it. I guess it feels like this place is nice in comparison.

video;

scramasax - 2014-08-31 21:48 (UTC) - Expand

[her eyes flick downwards, away from the locket, as she listens. ordinary people going mad, eating others, forgetting everything they ever were — she knows that story. call it the rising in their world, details are a bit different, but it comes down to the same thing.]

I'm sorry. About your friend.

[about his world, too. she hasn't thought out the idea of what other worlds might've had a rising or anything like it, and how many haven't, but it's not the sort of thing she'd wish on anyone. there's a twist to her lip; apologetic, she supposes. she's heard too many i'm sorrys — for her brother, henry, lisa, plenty others — and it's a shit thing to say. get sick of hearing it before long, but there's not much else to say, times like those.]

[ thomas is silent for a second at that, honestly kind of touched. he hasn't told anyone what he's done to newt--will never, never tell anyone what he'd done--and so no one's had the chance to say I'm sorry. (he doubts anyone would--he would deserve every ounce of their wrath, but newt begged him and he had to say yes, had to grant him something he maybe wanted.)

his throat clicks and he looks down, brows knitting together. ] Yeah. [ it's soft, and he nods his head. ] We didn't know until it was too late.

[ but there was no cure, ever, and it was thomas's fault newt was put in the maze. looking for a change of subject, he clears his throat to try and keep the lump down, so he won't cry or have a panic attack or maybe both. ] Did you know something similar?

[she's got her own war stories she'll never tell. not even for a laugh when she's all bravado, badass member of the human volunteer force to the core; not even her family. only ones who know are the ones who were there, who remember it, and not a damn person more.

too late's always the story, isn't it?]

Similar, yeah. Called it the Rising. [hesitates. it occurred to her after having a personal conversation with her brother on these things that anyone can see them. what happened in their world isn't a secret, but that doesn't mean she wants it broadcast to the entire fucking drabwurld either.] I could phone you if you want to know about it. [er.] Locket you.

[that just sounds stupid.]

Or meet you, whatever.

[ thomas is quiet for a moment as he imagines someone else experiencing the same life that he has. it's terrible, something he wouldn't wish on any of the strange people of the drabwurld, but it's also oddly freeing, like they could commiserate, almost. getting thomas to talk about his life with the cranks and WICKED and everything involved has been an effort so far, but it's been kind of nice to actually talk to someone about it who wouldn't start...screaming or trying to rip his arm off.

(or never wanting to speak with him again, but that was a different story.)

his voice is soft when he responds, nodding into the video. ] You were at the feast, so--we're in the same court, right? I'd like that.

[she might've reacted badly when kieren suggested she talk to other people with similar backgrounds, but truth is — find someone who's known something like the war, and she wants to. it's probably fucked up that it seems like the only common ground she can have with people, but that's how it is. whether or not it's actually true, she's starting to think of thomas and those from his world as soldiers — maybe there weren't a rising, exactly, or even a war, but once you've seen some things (done some things) there's never any going back. not the sort of thing just anyone can understand.]

Have you been to the bailey before? It's a good place to talk.

[she's been once, likes the flowers and the relative quiet with all the din in the castle.]

Not yet, but I can find it. [ minho probably wouldn't approve of thomas running off by himself, but that's exactly what he's doing. maybe he's managed to find his first friend here, who knows? all thomas can assume is that there's nothing wrong with this girl.

from the way she talks, he thinks he gets it. war comes in a lot of different forms, he's starting to learn, and his world isn't the only one where things are kind of shucked up. ]

I can meet you there in five minutes, if you want.

[it doesn't occur to her that her brother might be watching, but if it did she'd think he could either mind his own business or be pleased enough she's listened to his advice. and, besides; she's meeting thomas because she wants to.]

Five minutes, then.

[and she ends the feed, moving to the bailey. she'll have her locket on hand in case he gets lost.]

[ he takes a second to, actually, tell minho he's meeting up with someone. he doesn't look too distressed/angry/bodyguard about it, so he promises him he'll be safe--though thomas doubts that this girl is going to hurt him, he's had that problem before--and leaves.

it doesn't take him long to find the bailey, and he pauses when he sees a familiar face, waving an arm. ] Hey--over here.

[ it is really nice, with all the flowers and such. thomas doesn't think he's ever even seen flowers before. he takes a moment to ruminate on it before he greets her with a small smile and a nod of his head. ] I'm learning something new about this place every day I'm here.

[now this is the proper way to talk to someone. all well and good to have magic lockets, but they're dead unnatural. not like the hvf used walkies more than they had to either; they're good for giving people a shout when you might be at opposite ends of the town, but there's no point in talking to someone when you can just meet them.

her expression warms when she notices the waving and makes her way over to him, smiling back when he does.]

Three whole days here, [says it mockingly, but not unkindly] and you haven't seen everything yet? Reckon you're a slow learner, Thomas.

[ the awkwardness in his smile fades and it's replaced with a slighter, more real one, as he ducks his head. it's not the first time he's been called so, and it takes him back to being a greenie for real--the terror, the way alby had to lead him through everything at first. it seems so simple, now--he'd give anything to go back to it. ]

Yeah. I was overwhelmed with the fairy castle, I guess. [ he would make a wisecrack but he really is not very good at that, so he just scratches at his neck, hand rubbing faintly over the tattoo. ] I'll have to add it to my friend's map when I get back inside.

[ looking around, thomas offers-- ] Do you want to sit?

[she nods, moving to sit at one of the nearer benches once she's sure thomas will do the same.]

What d'you mean, his map?

[ though he keeps a fair berth at first, it's not offended or worried so much as just paranoid--eventually, thomas sits down, long legs out into the pathway and arms resting on his thighs. ]

Back home--way back home [ he has to clarify, because the glade feels so far away now, but there's a hint of warmth to his tone as he recalls it. ] -- we had a big maze we had to solve. Me and my friend, we were Runners, which meant that we kind of explored the maze every day, because it changed. And then we'd come back home and make a map of what we found and where we went. The maps the imps or whatever gave us were kind of lame in comparison, so we thought we'd start trying to map out the whole place in more detail.

[ thomas shrugs his shoulders. ] I guess it's just habit, you know?

A1. video. [ open to both courts ]

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video; OOC apologies as well for the cut-in.

video; TOTALLY FINE let's have zombie story time.

video; HUZZAH. >80

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