[IC Inbox -- Snowblind]

[heavensreader]

Is it worki - oh. Ahem. This is Kesara Freamon. Please leave your message here and I will call back on you as soon as I can.







Wait, is it still - argh, how do I ma-

Comments

video, @jphawkins; very early day 119 - filterhax private

[rattlingthestars]

[ Jim's message several hours before the doors unlock. Now that he's had some kind of sleep he can start to think through their immediate next steps, though he's refusing to go much further than that. First, people need to know. Especially people that might not recognize Kunsel's name when it shows up on the obituary. To that end, Kesara's the first person he calls. He still doesn't have any idea what to say when he presses the record button over Zell's head resting in his lap; maybe that's why he stares stupidly at the video feed for a few awkward seconds before he breaks eye contact with the camera and says, lamely: ]

Hey. Can you message me back when you get this?

[ Knowing how inadequate this is, he rubs his eyes and winces when it touches one of the shallow cuts he'd gotten from the explosion. ]

I've got something important to tell you and I don't want to wait too long.

video;

[heavensreader]

[Kesara has always been a light sleeper, and more than ever in Norbinfury. When the tablet beeps, she sits up almost at once, though she rubs her face and yawns. Calls deep in the night are not that unusual, and at the sight of Jim's name she feels a leap of excitement. He's found something! That must be it.

That is not what the message itself suggests, though - not the way he looks, not his cut face, not the eyes that wouldn't meet the camera. When she appears in response, a few minutes later, her excitement wavers on the edge of alarm. She's still pushing sleep-rumpled hair away from her face, peering down with mounting tension at the corners of her eyes and mouth.]

Jim? What happened? Did you discover something?

@ASolomons; audio; late morning 121

[devoutish]

[When Alfie wakes up to find his hearing completely back to normal, he's relieved enough that it puts him in something that almost resembles a good mood. It's a good enough mood that, while he's walking between buildings, he decides to pull out his tablet and record a little story.]

Right. The Forty Elephants. I told you they have different kinds of raids, yeah? They've got the subtle ones, and they've got the big ones. Well, one day, they send one of their new girls into Whiteleys. As a scout, see - they can't use one of their older members, because if someone recognizable as a Forty Elephant is so much as spotted about, there's a panic. And they don't want a panic just yet. Not until they're ready.

So this girl, she goes inside and starts lifting things. She's new, but she's trained; they've prepared her. She's approached by a cashier at one point, who's a bit suspicious over how long she's lingering without picking anything up to buy. But she gives him the most indignant stare she's got, and tells him, "If you don't trust my word and you don't care about propriety, then search me right now". He doesn't, of course - because he may not trust her, but he does care about how it'd look, a man searching a woman in the middle of a department store. And she knows that, yeah; they all do.

There's another new girl loitering outside, looking like she's doing a bit of window-shopping. First girl gives her the secret signal when she's ready, the one that says it's time. And that's when the rest of them come in. Twenty women, tearing out of an alley and into the shop, all at once, not bothering to hide anymore. They spread out, going off every which way, so the police have got to split up to chase them. A security guard grabs for one, but-- crash! She shoves a display cabinet in front of him, blocking his path. Grabs a couple of necklaces too, while she's at it. Shoves 'em in the inside pockets of her coat, right in front of everybody. Another one switches out her coat for one five times more expensive, and hangs the old one up on the rack next to the fancy ones, as a little joke.

They're there for, oh-- ten minutes. Not all of 'em are faster than the guards, but every one of them is trickier. They don't care about damaging property, and spilled goods and smashed displays are a good distraction. They've all got shoes with rubber soles, better for running on the slippery floors than what the guards have. Imagine the chaos. They're experienced thieves, knowing exactly what they're doing and how to do it best - and all the guards can do is chase them, yeah, and often lose. They started out two steps behind, and the Elephants aren't about to let them catch up. When they leave, they do it on their own terms; they can't be driven out. They end up taking away nearly five thousand pounds' worth of goods. Two get caught and will go to trial, but the rest hop into cars waiting outside and escape, to take their prizes home to count and sell.

And our first girl, the new girl, slips out after them, nobody the wiser.

[He pauses, signaling the end of the story.]

That one's for free.

audio

[heavensreader]

[It's been a long and busy day for Kesara, so the response comes rather later, after she's bedded down for the night done with all her explorations. And it has not been a good day. She sounds tired, still a little hoarse with crying, her breathing loud. It's difficult to pretend. Doubly difficult when this kind of story, this brilliant story, is just what she needed right now to make her feel better.

It's almost like a bedtime story, though of course she's much too old for those.]

That is incredible. They really, truly do that - just do it? Rampage through shops like that? Have you seen it happen?

@duster, audio; morning of day 125

[bywolves]

[ Royce is already out in the snow by the time he sends the message. His voice is hoarse and he sounds tired - maybe a little sad, but mostly angry. ]

Kesara. Still alive?

voice;

[heavensreader]

[Oh, no. That is not a good sound. Is he angry at her? Kesara responds almost instantly, herself sounding a little breathless from hard work.]

Hullo, Duster. I'm still alive and I'm still digging. There's just more rubble.

@ASolomons; text; morning of 126

[devoutish]

I will be a few days late.

[Sup, sweetie.]

video;

[heavensreader]

[How dare he how dare he how dare he. First he dies, goes and dies, just like that. A whole dreadful day gone. Now he sends her this message in text, for Alexander to read in his flat, artificial voice And says he'll be late. As if she'll care!]

To hell with you! Late! I didn't die, so who told you that you could!?

[Oh yes, very angry. That must be why she looks like she might laugh and cry at the same time.]

@ASolomons; audio; 135

[devoutish]

[Since the days-long lockdown had ended, Alfie has been reaching out to Kesara at least once a day - to hear her updates, to give her his updates, and to just chat and share stories. Usually he's in a pretty light mood, though he often sounds exhausted and a little sick. But today, his voice is serious and heavy - not upset or regretful in any way, but he isn't contacting her with news that's going to be good for her.]

Kesara. Give me a call when you've got a moment, yeah?

audio

[heavensreader]

[This is the first time in not a very long time at all that Kesara gets this kind of message. First Jim, telling her about Kunsel and Zack; then Duster, telling her about Alfie. She's getting wise to the pattern. Her talks with Alfie in the last few days have been little highlights, always welcome, though she'd listened with some worry for his condition; he seemed not to have recovered as well as her from the community's collective brush with death. When she hears him now, she thinks perhaps this is what he's calling about, rather than someone having died. And she wonders which option she prefers.

Either way, her concern sounds, her voice delicate with it.] Are you all right, Mr. Solomons? You've not been pushing too hard, have you?

@duster, audio, day 141;

[bywolves]

[ It takes him a little while to get situated enough that he remembers he should... probably tell Kesara he's alive before she has to see it on the obituary. They haven't spoken in a while. He doesn't want her to find out that way.

So when Emily is asleep, he quietly sends Kesara a message. ]

I died. But I came back. [ He's flat, because it's still something that makes him panicky if he thinks too hard about it. ] You needed to know.

audio

[heavensreader]

[Kesara sees the message, and her heart leaps into her throat and starts dancing there, squirming, writhing.

Her first response should be a happy one. He's alive. She knows the odds, though other have beaten then. And he's seen fit to message her about it. Which means he doesn't know.

She spends an hour wrestling with her response, trying to put together a good lie. But every time she thinks of Ecks and Mr. Solomons and all the things beyond her control. She can't be sure of a lie. Which leaves the truth. Which is terrifying.

She promised him to earn his trust. She has to be upfront, the first to tell him if she can be. She answers eventually, in a small voice.] I know you died. Mr. Solomons told me. I know it was Ecks who did it.

@ASolomons; audio/text; day 144

[devoutish]

Good morning, Kesara.

[Alfie sounds a little tired today, but mostly all right.]

Listen - I'm gonna travel with Fiona to the clinic by the school, to take her to see Dr. Watson in his state of injury.

[Fiona, by this point, would have been mentioned more than once. She's a good friend, and though he doesn't travel with her as much as he does with Royce and Tifa, they've been spending quite a bit of time together lately.]

She's close to the man, yeah? Wouldn't want her to be on her own just now. So Duster's gonna get to you before me, and I've sent some things along with him. Use what you can and trade what you don't want. Here's a list.

- food
- a hat (top hat, black, not made for warmth but covers the ears if you pull it down far enough)
- a thin shirt (not made for warmth but good for burning or wrapping)
- the head of an axe
- disinfectant wipes
- clear tape
- wood with screws in (not a bad weapon in a pinch)
- a hand mirror
- wire cutters
- matches
- small sticking plasters
- a sponge
- a full-sized curtain (thin, but strip it up for burning or wrapping things)

audio

[heavensreader]

Good morning, Mr. Solomons.

[Kesara, for her part, is doing her very best to keep her spirits up, though it's been getting harder with the long days in the darkness of the tunnels, and the pain in her arm. But such is the explorer's lot and she will never be heard to complain.]

Did you really find an axe-head? We could use that, sure enough! We've been going very deep - the tunnels just go on and on - we might still not be through them by the time you finally get here. [That "finally" is small, more teasing than anything else. She's made her peace with the delays, it wouldn't be different in any other expedition.

Her voice is a little more subdued when she speaks up next, though.] Is it just Duster who's coming...?

Evening 149; @zachtastic; video

[majorlazer]

[Zach, using his tablet stand, has managed to balance his tablet on his raised knees, looking at it with a grin on his face. He's still got a blanket thrown over his chest, and leaning against his shoulder is Steph, deeply absorbed in whatever she's reading on her own tablet. He waves at the camera.]

Hey Kes, checking in as promised. I'm good - I'm very good. Met up with Steph, now, as you can see. It's ridiculously cold today, don't know why, but it definitely got worse. How are the tunnels? Discovered anything cool today?

[He refrains from saying something silly like, I miss you or something. Just no.]

Video;

[heavensreader]

Zach!

[All good cheer and great excitement, despite Kesara's video showing barely her eyes under her enormous hat and over the collar of the coat that she'd pulled all the way up past the tip of her nose. It's cold in the tunnels. But the grin that the coat hides is in her voice.]

I'm so glad to see you - and Steph too! [The address "Miss Stephanie" has been abandoned along with Kesara's many illusions regarding the propriety of the courtship process involved.] It's abhorrent. It's colder than anywhere I've ever been even deepest in the desert. And outside everything is so strange - you're not going outside, are you? Don't get lost!

Day 148; evening; private; @username; text

[advanced]

[This has been a hard day with disturbing things seen, it's set him on edge and made him reluctant to just sit on his own in the house all night long with nothing but his own thoughts for company.

So he pulls the tablet towards him, remembering his promise to Kesara, and draws a few things before sending an image attachment of writing in Chinese characters.]

It's time for your lessons to begin.

[ooc: Chinese in italics because I don't speak or write it ooc and don't want to use google translate.]

voice + text

[heavensreader]

[It is, Kesara thinks as she opens the message, really not quite fair that she has to try to play this game with Mr. Username now after the day she's had. The one where she isn't actually too sure what the game is. Knowledge in exchange for nothing? No such thing. But the message is there, and if she takes too long to respond, he'll know she suspects something is wrong.

So she sets to, and after a little while sends him back an image of the characters he'd written out, neatly copied out ten times. The characters for "time" and "begin", which she doesn't know, are circled. She adds a voice message:]

Could you explain these, please, sir? Your handwriting is very good!


[ooc: Yeah I think we're best sticking to italics XD google translate is hilariously shit with Chinese hilariously okay]

@ASolomons; audio; day 150

[devoutish]

Six people, eh?

[Someone's been talking to Royce.]

audio;

[heavensreader]

Oah, yes. And two of them are Duster and House.

[Kesara sounds remarkably bitter for an eleven years old.]

This is terrible business. I so wish we could build our own shelter.

@Spoiler ; video ; night 153

[spoileralert]

He's dead.

[ The video is pointed at the ceiling of the shed next to the school, an hour or so after lockdown. She can't make herself focus on anything long enough to turn off the video, so she just leaves it. Her voice is distant, bland, like she's not really there. ]

There was nothing I could do.

I'm sorry.

voice;

[heavensreader]

[Kesara watches the message the first time, and doesn't understand it. She watches it a second time, and understands it, and doesn't believe it. She watches it a third time.

She sits with her back to the wall while the world spins around her, full of confusion and darkness and Kunsel's whirling numbers and odds, and feels like the wall is tipping over and tumbling into an abyss.

After a time that her tablet tells her is just ten minutes, but the tablet must be lying because it must have been months, she tries to reply. She switches her voice function on. She starts to say how, but there's a strange sound in her ears, like a tiny, breathless, broken wail, the noise of an small animal in physical pain. It's only when she runs out of air that she realises that sound is coming from her.]

@ASolomons; audio; night 157

[devoutish]

Kesara.

[Alfie's voice will immediately tell her that all is not well - it's weaker than normal, and his breathing is more labored. He sounds lucid, but his words are just slightly less measured than normal - and considering the great lengths he goes to be composed most of the time, even just slightly is still highly abnormal.]

We've-- I've gotten into some trouble, right, in the form of a very sharp piece of wood poking a very deep hole into my gut. We've staunched it, we've done all we can, but there's no coming back from this. I wanted to give you a ring, tell you myself--

[He stifles a groan.]

You keep doing your amazing things, and I will be back soon, if I can.

Video;

[heavensreader]

[It takes a little time for Kesara to respond, because before she can respond she must go for a while to bury her face in her backpack and scream.

This is the fifth time someone has called her to tell her someone was dead or dying, though the first time she'd heard from someone of their own impending death. She'd kept count. She almost has a routine for it by now. She truly does think it should have become easier. It hasn't. It's happened and happened, and she'd survived and gotten through it and even Mr. Solomons has already died once already and made it back to shake her hand, and she'd been brave and not angry and not afraid and she can't she can't she can't

At first she thinks she'll cry, but instead, she finds herself screaming until her voice is gone.

So she appears to him on the screen, red-eyed, hunched, panting. Not calmer, but at least exhausted. She opens her mouth to speak but only a croaking little cough comes out.

Instead she raises a hand and shakily presses the tips of her fingers to the tablet. A tiny gesture. He'd have seen her do it before when talking to Zach. It's what she does when she's desperate to touch someone who is impossibly far out of her reach.]

@ASolomons; audio; night 161

[devoutish]

[Alfie returns after lockdown, over four days after he'd died. The first thing that can be heard when the channel opens is fumbling, followed by a muttered curse in a familiar voice. Then--]

Duster, Tifa, Fiona, Emily, Kesara, Watson - that's six of you, yeah; six of you that should be getting this message. Duster, Tifa, Fiona, Emily, Kesara, John. Can you hear me? I cannot see a fucking thing.

[He sends the same thing to all of them - or, at least, he hopes he does. He doesn't trust the voice commands on his tablet when he can't see for himself that they're working.]

Right. End. Stop. What do I need to--

[It cuts out.]

voice

[heavensreader]

Mr. Solomons!

[Kesara sounds thrilled, of course. She hadn't given up on him, not really, but she isn't in the habit of waiting for the dead and it's not a habit she's looking to grow. But something about the excitement is tempered. Guarded. His death has done something to her, she knows. She remembers screaming for what felt like hours.]

I can hear you, you got to me, it's all right! Zach lost his sight too and we've been managing. It doesn't last. You'll be all right!

@totheark, text, day 160

[0thingsonmymind]

*Sup smol, he might have a job for you.*

whereare
?

voice;

[heavensreader]

[It's the man who can't talk. Kesara prepares herself for frustration, but answers nonetheless.]

Just south of the school. There's a house that belonged to a teacher.

@username; voice; private; afternoon of 161

[advanced]

[He's not really sure why he's calling her.

The drugs have really taken hold of his mind, though. He only came around from the surgery about an hour ago, and he immediately took a full dose of Vicodin for the pain, so he's more than a little high right now. Some part of him has just become convinced he was supposed to call her... something about homework?

He doesn't have the coordination for text today, so she gets the rare sound of Bucky using voice over the tablets. Still private. He's quiet, slightly slurred, but only slightly.]

Did you practise?

voice; private;

[heavensreader]

[His voice is unclear again. Already high strung from the town's madness, from the conscious effort of maintaining conscious resolve, Kesara is as attentive as a little cat to every sound out of the ordinary. It had made sense for him before to sound like that - in her own mind at least - but why now? Is he simply keeping it up? Or is he truly hurt? Had she been wrong before?

She is always wary of being wrong, but never more than now. She tries to keep her voice neutral, again, but it strays into softness as she speaks on. He could be hurt. A lot of people have been hurt.]

I have. Almost every night. I practised all the sentences you wrote for me before. Do you want to see...?

@determination, text (Morning 163)

[despiteeverything]

Kesara are

are you anywhere near your pass

@hsiaoke; voice

[heavensreader]

Frisk? [She can immediately tell that something is wrong. Why is Frisk sending her a message in text? It isn't like them.] No, I'm near the school. What happened? Are you lost?

Day 167; video; @notasidekick

[nursetemple]

Hi, Kesara. That's your name, right? My name's Claire.

[She smiles at the camera, feeling awkward and yet - this is important. Alfie's right, and if the kid is from a long time ago, she probably thinks her prospects in life are limited, due to the fact that she's a girl, to start with, but mainly because she's black.]

I just wanted to say hello - your name came up in a conversation I've had with Mr Solomons. So I wanted to meet you, introduce myself, and also let you know - I'm a nurse, so if you ever have a need for some medical assistance for you or your own, I'll be very happy to help.

[She doesn't come out and say 'hey look, in the future, we're free and we have jobs and we can marry whoever we want and we walk the streets next to white people without being spat at'. One, it wouldn't be entirely accurate, and two, it's a bit much, to throw at a kid like that.]

video;

[heavensreader]

[Kesara watches the message twice. It isn't as many times as she's reviewed other information, the sort she could hardly believe, but after the second time she's still blinking, sitting down to roll it around in her mind. This is the first time she has seen a woman of her own colour in Norfinbury. And that coloured woman is a nurse.

Not a governness. She understands the difference now. A nurse like the Chinese woman, Jia Xu. A medical professional. So it really is true. In the future even women who are not European can be something like that. She's full of wary, buzzing, jealous curiosity as she sits down to respond. Who is this Miss Claire? Or is it Doctor Claire? Where was she born, who were her parents? Where did she go to school? How?

But she restrains herself at first, only opens with a smile that fails to cover her hungry fascination.]

Hullo, Miss Claire - I mean - excuse me, is it Doctor Claire? They say in the future, being a nurse is very different from my time...

@ASolomons; audio; day 167

[devoutish]

[Usually Alfie checks in regularly - to talk, to share or receive information, to plan - so it's a little unusual that it's been a few days since he last called. To be precise, the last time had been on day 164, before Fiona's obituary had gone up. When he calls her now, he sounds a little distracted, but not too terrible on the whole.]

Kesara, Kesara - how are your many projects faring? I've got things for you.

audio;

[heavensreader]

[Of course he sounds distracted. If anything, Kesara is surprised that he is talking about her project, when she knows perfectly well what he must have been up to in the last few days. Perhaps it's as it was before - he doesn't want her to worry. He is a man and it is really to be expected that he should not talk about his grief with a small girl - or about his vengeance, if he had it.

If anything, it makes her feel worse about having so little to say to him. She sounds a little dejected.] Hullo, Mr. Solomons. It's not going so well now. I thought I had it, with the eyes, but now I think I couldn't have been right about any of it. Even the app doesn't stop the anomalies so well anymore.

@featherydouche; text; morning 167

[mrcreamsicles]

[Tracking down that jumble of letters Kesara has for a username took longer than it rightfully should have. What does that even mean. Gosh.]

hey so you know a lot about the prophet right
this is davesprite
that guy from before who told you who bucky is
im writing a guide to try and consolidate what people actually know about this place and whats going on into something more to the point
instead of making newbies have to schlock through a billion video clips and linked conversations and notes other people wrote about it
and basically i want to know more about who the prophet it is and what shes for so i can put it on there
because i had no idea when i showed up and still dont really get what her purpose is or what she wants

voice;

[heavensreader]

[This Davesprite is asking a rather substantial favour for someone who is still a newcomer in Kesara's mind, but then, he did give her information she needed. Valuable, and dangerous information. And she is done trying to keep secrets, Kesara thinks to herself as she has her tablet read out the message again. She's trying to be a better explorer, and not trying to be a spy.]

Hullo, Davesprite. [She still sounds a little cautious.] I can tell you what I know but a lot of it is still, oah, not quite guesses, but there is so little that we're sure about. But her name was Samantha Stevens. I think that is who she was. [A small pause after; almost as though she's waiting to be punished for saying the name.] She was a student in the school here. She liked sports. I don't know how she became the Prophet, if, if she is the Prophet, but she saw something - did you listen to the recording, the one where a girl is screaming? I think that was her.

@ASolomons; audio; day 175

[devoutish]

Kesara. Give me a ring, when you can.

[If she can. If she ever comes back.]

Morning 180; voice

[heavensreader]

[At last, after days, the tiniest squeak of a voice. She sounds fresh out of nearly hyperventilating herself unconscious. But it's her voice. She's alive.]

Mr. Solomons...?

@zachtastic; audio; morning 181

[majorlazer]

[Zach's voice is exhausted. It's weak, cracking on a word or all of them as he speaks, and he sounds worried. It was the worst night; even when he caught up with Kesara, what they did...

It was so wrong. So wrong.]

Are you okay? Kes...

video;

[heavensreader]

[Kesara is back in the chapel, back in the morgue, thankfully still indoors and alive. Looking haggard - the skin where her eyes should be seems bruised. She tilts her head towards his voice.

Her own is cracked, lost and confused.] Zach? Was I dreaming...?

voice; SORRY I missed the notif!

[heavensreader]

[Kesara is not feeling terribly steady today, for many reasons. But this is something to do, as she meanders blind through the snow. And she cannot very well leave a newcomer on their own unassisted. Not when she has something resembling answers.]

You can ask anything you want, but you have to use your voice. I don't like the tablet's voice.