Didn't expect that.

Cricket Marston. “I know he looks more like that slutty fairy best friend guy in the Romeo and Juliet with guns, but he actually is pretty smart.”

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

[poppy-morris]

Poppy considered the idea for a moment. “I wouldn’t hate that. But I think that’s sort of unrealistic.” Their two interactions consisted of first aid and letting him get to second base in the dark. It didn’t exactly scream romantic gesture as the next logical step, but she wasn’t really an expert there.

Jesus Christ. Poppy was way too tired for this. “No!” she protested. Normally she wouldn’t care about that kind of assumption, but recent events had Poppy looking at Viola in a new light. What could she tell Cricket though? She couldn’t break doctor patient confidentiality. Or best bud confidentiality. “Something happened recently and there’s like a 2% chance it was her. I can’t say more than that but just like… trust me. I would be fucking shocked if I was wrong.”

It took Poppy an embarrassingly long time to realise who he was talking about when he referred to her. She tried her best to stay out of anything relating to the two of them. But even if she didn’t, she had a very different view of Lou than Cricket did.

“I’m not sure that we’re that far into irrational territory yet,” she told him. “Weird shit is happening constantly. The fact that we’re even in this situation is bizarre as fuck. We’re all aware of that. Would be fucked up if a power cut was what we decided to lose our minds over. What with the endless list of bullshit. Dead and missing kids, tree prison, no animals, no other people. I’ll happily whack people over the head with that if they start being stupid.” She was not talking about Lou there. Never Lou. More like the whole of their new society. “I don’t remember. I think I was high when I read that.”

[cricketmarston]

Unrealistic. "The straights generally are." Cricket said solemnly. "Is he straight? Or just Texan?" It could be so hard to tell.

He took a half step back, confused at Poppy's strong support for Viola. "You are not beating the fucking the fire rumors, Poppet. But as I said, I support you regardless." Reassurance completed, he leaned against the counter, his mind whirring like Del's hard drive after a particularly involved bout of coding. "Who else then? It couldn't have been about Sprout, right?" He didn't want to worry Poppy, but it was better to bring it up now when they could try to reason it through.

He tried to accept Poppy's attempt at reassurance. He really tried. "That is somehow both optimistic and very cynical of you." He was oddly touched, but not for long. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm wary. The reminder that most things are weird may not always save the weirdos. Frequently it doesn't."

Cricket's eyebrows rose. He hadn't thought that anyone would have a worst experience of that book than him. But a high would likely do it.

[taliesinmauk]

That was it. Taliesin was done with the two-headed monster for the day. Maybe the week. Or month. Or the entire time they had to spend in this prison. He had too much going on, too much to worry about, to play mind games. He made his way toward the door. “I’ll talk to Niamh. I might tell you what I find out.”

As he stepped by Cricket, he moved forward, backing him up against the wall, letting the usual habitual post-high huskiness fall away as he grabbed the front of Cricket’s shirt, his voice dark and deep. “Because the mystery valedictorian you were all fucking whispering about all the time? It’s me. I can do your chemistry homework. Your English homework. And given enough time and a manual, I’m pretty sure I can figure out how you fucked up the fucking electrical grid because I’ve worked in fucking construction since I was 14. You have one use. I have twelve.”

“And if you ever talk about Lou again, you won’t even have that. I promise I can be just as scary as Tony. And I’m way smarter. Do not fuck with me.” Then he released him and exited the room to find Niamh.

@rorarosen

[rorarosen]

Aurora’s eyes narrowed. Taliesin might give them information. They couldn’t trust him. She had hoped they would get the raw footage and could draw their own conclusions. Gleaning information from Taliesin was akin to trusting People magazine’s idea of what a research article said. "We’ll have to find another point of comparison,” she whispered to Cricket.

She tried to look supportive as Cricket repeated what she had just said. He was so excited to be in a relationship and she found it unnerving. She didn’t know that he had this side to him and it was a strange one to experience in such a foreign environment.

Then he had to make things weirder by dragging Heli into things. “I wouldn’t say that not wanting to fuck Heli means anything about anyone’s sexuality. I don’t want to fuck her.” The very idea gave her hives. She couldn’t blame Niamh on that front.

She’d almost forgotten that Taliesin was in the room until his outburst. His set of claims were dubious. Was the real Taliesin actually valedictorian? Debatable. Did it behoove this group to make them question their own notions of intelligence? Absolutely. She was still pondering it when Taliesin pushed Cricket. Violence was the tool of troglodytes. She didn’t respect it. But she didn’t want it aimed at her, so she waited until he was out of the room before she spoke.

“You failed that test spectacularly. I’m impressed.”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket nodded in wordless agreement. He'd been dismayed when Aurora said she was working with Taliesin in the first place. It was no small relief to see her letting go.

"You are a delightful exception, Rora." He lowered his voice. Taliesin didn't deserve to hear this. "You're just into the meaner, older version."

"Wow." Cricket said, catching his breath as he adjusted his collar back into place, his face flushed. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Taliesin move that fast. Or do... that.

"I thought that was about to go in a different direction." It wasn't like similar interactions hadn't gone that way before for him. (Closeted boys were fun that way.) It was more than slightly unhealthy. Which also made it hot.

But then he shook his head. There were far hotter experiences. And 99% of them were Del.

He turned to Aurora, his voice flat. "Thank you. I only live to please you." Then he cocked his head. "Do you really think he's valedictorian? I was sure Christian had just made a dummy profile to troll us. And what do we do with that?" He nodded at the phone on the table in disgust.

@rorarosen

[taliesinmauk]

Taliesin suspected that there was more to Aurora’s suggestion of only wanting to talk to Cricket, but he was too wrapped up in watching the video Aurora had air dropped to him fading in front of his eyes. He was barely listening to Cricket and Aurora murmuring to each other until he heard the name.

He stared at Cricket, almost unbelieving that someone who was supposedly this smart could be this stupid. “What the fuck did you just say?”

He nearly leapt across the table, but he managed to pull himself inward at the very last moment, to contain the coiled power of his fists to his sides. He’d wanted to hit Tony for the last three days. Wanted to ask him if he could pick on someone his own size, pick him up, and throw him into Finn like a sack of unmixed concrete. But he couldn’t do that. He’d promised Viola. He’d promised his sister. He’d promised Lou. He’d promised himself. But if anything would make Lou reconsider her ban on revenge in favor of safety… Tony didn’t give a shit about Cricket. So there was no risk aside from Taliesin’s own swiftly sliding principles. Bad things were happening to good people, and Cricket was already a bad person.

But Cricket had already pushed past the threat like some kind of bizarre British Bugs Bunny. Taliesin was forced to slow down enough to realize that he was right. Niamh did film everything. She had the best evidence they could get to find a pattern. And this way he could be away from Cricket and Aurora as soon as possible.

@rorarosen

[rorarosen]

"Sure you were.” Aurora rolled her eyes. They were in the middle of some fucked up simulation where people were wearing masks of their friends and all Cricket cared about was friend!Del and their extra curricular activities. Barf. He was probably going to get some bioengineered STI that whatever scientists involved in this were planning to unleash on horny idiots throughout the world.

She looked between Cricket and Taliesin as he overreacted to something she cared very little about. She felt like both of them were losing focus. “I also said old videos. Are anyone’s old videos acting up? We need to know if it’s the technology or the environment.” The Niamh information could be useful, but she hoped she wasn’t the one that would have to catalogue it or… talk to Niamh.

“She’s as good a variable as we’re going to get since she has things from the present and the past. But I doubt she’s very logical or altruistic.” The real one wasn’t. “You’re going to have to incentivize it for her.” Aurora turned to Cricket, “I don’t think Del would let use your body to get information here.”

[cricketmarston]

What did Cricket just say? It had sort of, kind of just... slipped out, as such thoughts often did when he was trying to solve a problem. But as he watched Taliesin bristle, he finally heard it. For some fucked up reason he heard the admonishment in his father's voice. Kid, you're gonna get hit again.

So he rushed on letting his mind whir with options as he concurred with Aurora. "Niamh had Wes pointing his camera every which way on Tuesday. If it's about where we are, those recordings should have deteriorated. If it's all recordings, then her little video diaries from before this will be gone too."

Rora was making several good points though. The Woolfes were nothing if not selfish. He didn't exactly blush at Aurora's solution but he tried to remind himself that she hadn't really internalized this 'Cricket is off limits to everyone else for the first time in his life' thing. "Firstly, I would need to get clearance from Del for that. Second, I suspect Niamh may be sex averse." He considered, thinking back before adding to Aurora. "Possibly your team, dearest, but she turned down Heli at one point."

Finally, he remembered Taliesin was there. "But none of this is actually our problem, correct? It's your duty to find these things out and bring them back to the smart people like a good little search engine."

@taliesinmauk

[taliesinmauk]

The gears of Taliesin’s mind were already spinning as Aurora explained the full extent of the hallucinations. “Makes sense.” He said before clarifying. “As much as it can, I mean.”

He was still trying to understand what was going on when Cricket turned the phone to him. He could see it now, the slight sway of the trees that extended on forever, only for the image to descend into static. “Okay. Okay.” He repeated the word about twelve more times, stuck on it, just like the horizon was stuck on the trees.

He reached forward, scrubbing the video once again. In slow motion, even more moments of snow and static seemed to appear. But the trees were there. Clear as day. And infinite.

“How… How is it doing that? Can you air drop that to me? If it deteriorates when you send it…” He didn’t finish the thought, because they all knew it. They were fucked. Well. Somehow even more fucked than before.

@rorarosen

[rorarosen]

"I’m not straining the electrical grid when it keeps messing up.” She cleared her throat, “And you’re the only person I’m interested in talking to lately.” He wasn’t looking at her or she would have glared pointedly. Communication via cellphone was practically useless when you couldn’t trust your contact list. And they were trapped, if she needed to find Cricket, she would. The town wasn’t that big.

Aurora reclaimed her phone. Although it had clearly been switched at the same time the friends had taken everything. This was just some other test they were being forced to run. “I don’t think it will do any good, but…” she airdropped the file to Taliesin.

While he was busy looking at, Aurora nudged Cricket with her foot. “How much recording have you done since we’ve been here and do you know if your older videos have also been messed with or has something happened to them?” He could deny reality as much as he wanted, but this dome or cage or whatever you wanted to call it was clearly messing with them for sport. The sooner they focused on the real problem, the sooner they could return to their actual lives where Britt was waiting for her… them. Waiting for them.

[cricketmarston]

Cricket hadn't been this thrown since... well, last night, really. The incidents were coming closer and closer together. The radio tower was nothing but a memory now. Del's half eaten house was a nightmare. Why had he expected anything to obey the laws of physics? The only hope he had for reliability right now was people. And only certain people. It tore him up to think that Aurora wasn't one of them.

He didn't bother to ask to look at Taliesin's phone. There was no rhyme or reason to this. He was done trying. Maybe Aurora was right. Not about the mess she'd made. Just this.

He let Aurora reason with him, examining his own phone as he considered her question. "I haven't really recorded anything here. I've been busy."

He'd only ever had one reason to use his phone to make any kind of video, and Del wasn't into that. He went through a rolodex of people in his mind, comparing preferences. Heli and Trip, but she'd been so loud about things changing that he didn't know what applied anymore. Adam, yes, but he'd been such a brat lately (and not the fun kind) that Cricket doubted anything had happened. He suspected Morgan was too classy for that now. Which left... "Is Lourdes still into sexting?"

But then he breezed past Taliesin's reaction as he realized... "Fuck. Niamh! Niamh Woolfe shoved a camera in our faces at the election meeting. All she does is film herself!"

@taliesinmauk

[rothmia]

Mia perked up immediately, as if he’d taken their twinkling skyscape and made it the Northern Lights instead. Colors lighting up the entire sky with a brilliance that couldn’t be contained.

She hadn’t meant to laugh, but it slipped out. “I don’t think that’s a bad quality. There are too many people here who…” she paused, trying to hold onto her train before it left the station without her, “They have a life, right, but like, they aren’t captivated by it. They think if they do important things right now and hold it all in, there will be time for fun and games and everything else later.” It wasn’t true. The present was all you got and if you spent too much time on the future, you didn’t even have the present. “But that’s bullshit. We’re here right now, why should we act like we aren’t?” She stiffened slightly, “Sorry, this probably wasn’t the time to have a manifesto or whatever. I just, I think impulsivity is beautiful and more people should give into it sometimes.”

Mia squeezed his hand softly in her own, looking down at it to try and memorize some part of it. There were pieces of his knuckles in her sketch book. Short impressions of the lines around them. Small notes on the length of his fingernails and beds. Studies conjured solely from memories. But she was getting lost before things started and she tried harder to listen.

He had hurt her. It sucked. She wasn’t eloquent enough to come up with something better. It really sucked. And yet, he was here in a cloud of maribou and he looked like how looking at Van Gogh made you feel, slightly disoriented and in awe of the universe.

“I appreciate the….” Well, it technically wasn’t an apology but it was close enough, “The sentiment. I think, for now, it’s better for me to let go of that hurt and hold onto you. If you don’t mind, that is, because you’re also freaking hot.” She echoed his laugh, “And I want to choose to be happy right now. And you make me happy.” He almost always did.

[cricketmarston]

"Impulsivity is one my absolute favorite traits. But you know that." Cricket and Mia were textbook mutual enablers. They never got to fully bad behavior. Maybe just thoroughly ill advised. Like hand/body painting her parents' living room because it was about to get painted anyway. No harm done. The Roths weren't Khoo level of offensively rich but it all kind of flattened out for Cricket at a certain point. Plus, Mia looked absolutely stunning with paint on her face.

She was looking at him like... well, like she'd forgotten he didn't deserve it. How much did he need to protest to be a good person? To be worthy of her? He'd warned her, hadn't he? It was all he could offer. The future wasn't promised. Especially when his own impulsivity was involved.

But it was like she said. He made her happy. Or at least he tried. And maybe that was enough. She'd said it was enough. He had no reason not to trust her. Even if he couldn't trust himself. That was the nice thing about Mia. He knew that eventually, no matter what, she would be alright. Clouds always changed color. The sun always rose.

"I would like nothing more than to make you happy." He reached out, cupping her cheek in a way that felt so beautifully, painfully familiar. A memory from before he fucked up. But Mia was a dreamer. If anyone could bend reality into strange and beautiful shapes, it was her. "And I have some ideas." He let his hand slide through her fingers and down to the fabric of the dress that also wasn't worthy of her. He leaned close, whispering in her ear, his voice low but lilting, his accent thick because he was happy. "Why don't you start by looking at the stars?"

[king-a]

Adrian huffed a laugh. He’d never heard someone call anyone a git before, but he was sure it was fitting. He nodded, scratching at a pretend itch on the back of his head. “Yeah, she is. And yeah. I’m glad they have each other.” He knew Oscar would be looking out for Matty. They’d had to grow up too fast too. It fucking killed Adrian that he didn’t have them with him, but at least they weren’t alone. That would have killed him more.

He almost started talking about how he had planned to care for his brothers once he turned 18. How that day had come and gone and he couldn’t even talk to them. But something stopped him. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Cricket would get it. Adrian had a feeling he would. It was more that he didn’t know if he could handle being that seen when it came to this right now. It was too raw.

Adrian gave Cricket a smile, one of his wide toothy ones. And it was real too. “Back at you,” he said, shoveling another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

[cricketmarston]

Cricket let out a long breath. There wasn't much he could say to that aside from agreeing. "Yeah. We'll figure it out."

Cricket was so fucking proud of himself. He'd really interacted with a wildly attractive stranger in what in any other context would have been a potentially sexually charged situation and instead they'd talked about... emotional stuff. Well. At least that was a different kind of zero to sixty.

He gave Adrian an encouraging nod and got working on another serving of breakfast. He was killing it at this community ties thing. Fucking nailing it.

And then it was a full fifteen seconds before he heard Trip saying "heh" in his head.

(end)

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

[poppy-morris]

“Cricket please,” she said, appealing to a part of him that did not exist. She knew better too. “Maybe I will,” she shrugged. “I don’t care. I haven’t talked to him since. He hasn’t text me or anything so… he doesn’t have my number. I don’t think. Does he? There wasn’t really time to give it to him. Between the wall and Lola. No I don’t think he has it.” The fact that she was saying any of this out loud was proof of how exhausted she was. “I need more coffee.”

Oh. Very awkward question actually, Cricket. Considering she was currently treating the girl known for her love of fire for a serious concussion. She couldn’t have done this. Not in her state. She was barely up for being a menace with Ruby, let alone a menace to their new society. She was a hard one to crack but she didn’t think Viola would repay her by trying to kill her sister, accidentally or otherwise. “I don’t know. Nobody really comes to mind. I’m sure they’re out there though.”

Poppy frowned. “Okay. I mean I know things are a shit show right now but I think fairies are a stretch.” She could see that he wasn’t taking this lightly though, so she softened a little. “This is really fucking with you isn’t it?” Poppy asked. “Are you worried they’re going to blame you for it?”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket watched Poppy work through the state of her not-relationship with the new kid in town with a thoroughly bemused look on his face. "Sounds like you've got some feelers to put out. Unless you hope that he'll just show up on your doorstep with flowers." He had a feeling that may be exactly what she was hoping, but she clearly wasn't up to talking about that yet. So he double fisted, pouring her coffee and tea respectively.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "No one? Not even exploding mailbox girl?" He watched her closely, considering. "Did you like... fuck her or something? Not that I blame you. A certain degree of... unpredictability can be very hot. Within reason." He adjusted his posture, as if he could twist away from the question itself. "Mayyyybe. Quite frankly, I wouldn't put it past, well, her." He sipped the tea. He knew he was talking about Poppy's queen bee, but all of this did have him spooked. Perhaps he needed Poppy to tell him it was bullshit. "If it's a fire, it becomes my fault. Doesn't matter if I intended it or not. Everything I do is to piss her off, you see. She blamed me for not paying enough attention to her, and now, clearly, all I do is pay attention to her. Inescapable logic." He rolled his eyes. "Imagine being that self-centered." He said, with about ten percent of the self awareness he'd need to pull that line off.

"Meanwhile, of course, they'll blame me for all of their tech not working because they don't actually understand how it works and then I end up in some Lord of the Flies situation." He paused. "Is that what happens in that book? I read about twenty pages. They started beating up on the kid with the glasses and I was done."

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

[king-a]

Adrian smiled at Del’s compliment. He didn’t bother telling them he didn’t feel good. But he was relieved he didn’t look too fucked up. It would make things easier for him.

“Sheeeesh.” Adrian whistled when Cricket pulled up, taking a second to admire the car. “Wassup?” he said as he slid in the back.

He chuckled, amused at the idea that he had any conscious role in making his vitals better. “Thanks. I’m okay. I’ll let you know if that changes,” he told Del so they wouldn’t worry. “This ride is fucking fire.” He ran his hand over the smooth leather appreciatively.

“I can’t remember what happened before I passed out,” he told Cricket. “Going to see if there’s security footage that can fill the gaps.”

[delilahseraven]

Del grinned at Adrian’s enthusiastic joy. They’d had a feeling that Cricket’s car selection might life his spirits. It was nice to see that her instincts had been correct.

They turned her attention to Cricket, who looked more relaxed than she would have imagined. Last night had been difficult in myriad ways. There wouldn’t have been an issue if it took him time to readjust and find a new equilibrium. As always, however, he’d found interest in the present. She wished they shared his ability to do that.

“I texted Morgan.” She added. “We should limit who sees this.” Discretion was something that Cricket was more than familiar with. She knew he’d be able to handle this as they both figured out how the security system worked and what they’d need to do to get in. “You’ll be helping me like with the hotel system.”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket preened only slightly at Adrian's impression of the car. "This old thing? If you like it, after this you can keep it. Reg wouldn't know how to maintain it anyway." He managed to keep himself from saying 'doesn't deserve it.' He deserved a cookie. "And before you go worrying about private property and all that, we're in a new world. If he asks about it, you just play dumb, say I lent it to you and didn't say where it had come from, and I'll take care of it." He managed to swallow his own grin. He would very much enjoy taking care of it. he was scripting the monologue in his head already.

What Adrian was saying about not remembering was deeply concerning to Cricket as someone who used to get fucked up on occasion, but he had to trust that Del would guide Adrian through any unpleasantness.

So he forced his tone to be brighter than it was. "Well, if anyone can figure out how that place's surveillance system works, it's us. Have no fear."

He switched literal and figurative gears as they sped toward the roller rink. "Now, some of these systems work on batteries so they're more secure, easier to not take the whole thing down by cutting the power. I think that's what we need to hope for. More information that way and no risk of footage getting overwritten because the external hard drive wasn't responding. Where were you when you fell?"

@king-a

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[delilahseraven]

“Doesn’t have to.” Were it not inappropriate, Del would almost laugh. So many things that were currently happened defied reason. The stars had moved. They were surrounded by old growth trees that had popped up over night. A girl had died from a venomous snake bite. But there was something beautiful and fitting in Cricket being able to handle all of that. It was the electricity that broke his brain.

They tugged softly at his hand. “We’ll figure it out later.” There was chance that they wouldn’t but she wasn’t ready to create that possibility for him. He needed certainty. She aimed to provide that in the car for him, give him something real and tangible that still made sense.

She kissed the underside of his jaw. “No issues.” Her hand found the contours of his face. He was so alarmed. They did her best to smooth out the wrinkles of his forehead. “You’re never unnecessary to me.”

Losing him for a brief period of time had been like wandering around without her lungs. No matter how hard they tried to breathe, there was nothing to take in the air. They’d been suffocating until he’d smiled at her again. There was not a universe where that wasn’t true. “You are everything to me. Electricity isn’t.”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket knew Del couldn't promise they'd figure it out later. No one could. That was one of the reasons he'd chosen engineering over science. Engineering was applying established science to a purpose. Great mysteries were not something you could engineer your way out of. That was experimenting. Which was fun. On several counts. But you needed to establish a reliable baseline to engineer responsibly (which he could do, believe it or not.) There was no baseline here, only Del's wide eyes and soft lips. That would have to be enough.

He smiled at her touch, even as he forced himself to say what he was thinking. "I don't mind being unnecessary to you. It makes me feel... like you chose this." He pressed his forehead to hers, fingers entwining. "Which, in full acknowledgment of my massive ego, is comforting to me."

"I can be an elegant replacement for several electrical devices, it's true." Cricket had the restraint to only raise an eyebrow rather than waggle them. "But there's only one of me, and I'm taken." He liked the way that word sounded, in an odd way. It made one feel wanted.

"These people lack imagination. That, they have already proven. If we take away their miraculously still working devices, we will soon find ourselves in the Land of the Lotus Eaters or Thunderdome. Or both. Though a little birdie told me we're also out of drugs. The fun kind, I should say."

He kicked the door to the power station more than a little petulantly as they exited into the night, still bathed by the glow from the windows above the station door. "This would be far easier if it were only us here. But communities need to be... tied. Maintained." It pained him a little, but it helped that even Del was acknowledging the flaws in this whole caring-about-other-people setup.

[taliesinmauk]

Taliesin chose to address the violence first. “That was where that black eye came from?” He knew he was walking into a remark about him noticing, but he wanted to show that he believed them. “You’re saying you had independent, separate hallucinations and they resulted in physical violence. Because of what you thought you were seeing or because of the fallout?”

He took the phone from Cricket, trying to control his expectations. The human mind was a tricky little organ. The kind that saw plesiosaurs in lakes and believed it would win the lottery just because it could. But despite everything he tried, it had still let him down.

“Cricket. I hate to say it.” Feared to say it, really. “But there’s nothing there. Well, not nothing. But not a lot.” He squinted, bringing his eyes far too close to the screen. He could see what looked like the ghosts of shapes but the quality of the video itself didn’t match the high end camera he expected from an Alessi. There was no sound, which was strange, because he could see the slightest hint of movement in the shadows of the shapes. Even the color seemed washed out, both overexposed and fuzzy. He carefully slid the phone back across the table like it was a bomb. “Do you have it as well, Aurora? Maybe it was just damaged in the transfer and the cloud is less reliable than we thought?” Fuck. He really didn’t want to call Tony to ask for the original.

@rorarosen

[rorarosen]

Aurora chewed on what Cricket said. Airdrop used bluetooth and wi-fi in a proprietary system. That meant some sort of wireless connection was still operating, wherever they were had a satellite. It had to. It did not, however, have the same capabilities as the satellites they were familiar with. If they could send something to space, what would they be able to find? It was most likely impossible, but she was curious.

She squeezed Cricket’s hand softly as he made his crack about Tony. It had been an especially difficult time, but they couldn’t hide from the facts. That was all they had in this strange place. Cold hard facts.

Taliesin’s questions was difficult to answer accurately. "Both would probably be more accurate. The hallucinogens made things more tense for all of us. It triggered a flight, fight, freeze, or fawn response in us. And violence was used to help break the hold of the hallucinogen.” Saying it aloud made her realize that it was perhaps not the best solution to their problems at the time. She’d been at a loss, but it most likely would have worn off with a little more time. That was something to note for later, should they do any more experiments with it.

Aurora was squinting so hard she was going to get a headache. She’d never heard of degraded footage being an issue with airdrops. There could be a glitch in it, but she would expect that to show up differently. She’d had no need to look at the video, so she hadn’t. The idea of handing her phone over to a friend put her on edge, but what choice did she have?

“I suppose.” She pulled it out of her bag and scrolled back to the video. “This is my version of it. I haven’t watched the footage.” She had much bigger concerns to worry about.

[cricketmarston]

"It was only a matter of time with Tony and me." Cricket said, deadpan. "You can put that on the record. He won't contradict me." He'd tried to control himself around Tony Alessi for a long time, waiting, for some reason, for someone else to stick up for him. He'd now realized (finally) that it wasn't going to happen. Not with Trip. Certainly not with Reg. "But Rora's right. Hitting each other turned our heads off and on again. If that's a reference you can understand."

Cricket watched, preening, as Taliesin examined the phone. At least he could enjoy the look of surprise on a pretty boy's face. But it was not to be. "What?" He nearly leapt across the table to take the phone back, scrolling through quickly.

Well fuck. Mauk was right. He leaned in to look over Aurora's shoulder. She had to turn the damn thing on before they could look at anything. "Now I know why you're taking even longer to reply to me than usual." He teased, uncharacteristically needing to overcome the awkwardness. Maybe he just needed to hold onto something.

Her footage was better, somehow. Not great. Static interrupted it every now and then like one of those ancient VHS tapes. But you could make out the trees. He turned the phone toward Taliesin to show him. "See?"

@taliesinmauk

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

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[poppy-morris]

Poppy rolled her eyes in amusement. He hadn’t changed all that much during their friendship hiatus. It was comforting.

“Stopppp oh my god.” Poppy was actually blushing. It was mortifying. She covered her cheeks with her hands, willing herself to get it together. He was just a guy! There was literally no reason for her to be having this kind of reaction. “We’ll see. I might not see him again. I did practically run away from him last night to rescue the rat.”

Cricket had a point, even if she didn’t love it. Lola wasn’t one to give away credit for her own accomplishments. “That… would make more sense.” She didn’t love it. If that were true, they’d still left her sister in danger. Out of one life threatening situation and into another. They were lucky Rowan had found her when she did. “Would love to know who did it. I have words.”

“What?” Poppy frowned. “How is that even possible?” Cricket knew infinitely more about that realm than Poppy did, but even she knew that shouldn’t have been able to happen. “Could someone have been messing with you somehow?”

[cricketmarston]

"You will." Cricket said, somehow feeling like he still knew her and he very much knew the type. "Always leave them wanting more. That's the rule. And he's a cowboy right? I think there's a joke about lassoing in here, but I'm too British to get it."

He got up to search for the kettle, pleased to find it in the exact same place it had been when they were children. He supposed when there were so many people in the house, no one wanted to reorganize the kitchen. "Same. Trouble is, jock Roy Cohn had many, many, many enemies. So I propose we start with a simpler question." He filled the kettle and set it on the stove, waiting for the water to boil as he place two tea bags into mugs. It was a compulsion he'd learned from his mother. "Who, besides me," He gave her a preemptive look. "...has a history or interest in arson?"

"It's not possible. That's the bloody problem. It's too big a system for anyone to mess with it on that scale, even me." Though that didn't stop certain people from accusing. "It would require multiple people, with technical knowledge that only I or to a small extent Utley would have. And I sincerely doubt he could explain it to anybody well enough for them to coordinate. Which means I'm left with like... fairies. And not my favorite kind."

[niamhwoolfe]

Niamh gaped at him. That was so fucking rude. Being mistaken for her ice queen of a big sister was bad enough, but Nuala too? How did he not know who she was? She was fucking famous. “Wrong on both counts. I’m Niamh, but I think you know that.” God she hoped he knew that and was just doing it to be a bitch.

Niamh’s nostrils flared in anger. “Are you seriously threatening to damage my property in front of Community Maintenance?” she asked, her voice rising in pitch. “I’ve just been told by the other half of CM that you will have to sit through talks with me so we can understand each other. Does that sound like fun? Worth breaking the only camera I have?”

“You don’t have to be so rude. We were asking permission. You or Del, who we were actually asking because we think they have a valuable point of view, could have just said no.” She folded her arms and glared over at him.

@wilywes

[wilywes]

“Try it.” This wasn’t even his camera, and yet…

Wes didn’t often think of himself as a guy with an axe to grind, but one syllable from Cricket in that tone might fashion him into a master armorer in two seconds flat.

“Seriously? You can’t even tell them apart?” Cricket was on strike eighty-seven by now. Coach would’ve demanded he hang it up. “Niamh’s got her own show for fuck’s sake.”

His unwanted commentary was probably setting him up for a firing from Niamh, Wes reasoned, but some unprofessional behavior would make all his work almost worth it.

“You should’ve left things at ‘no comment’,” Wes added, more calmly now as his gaze slid sideways. Was Del upset? He couldn’t tell. Returning his attention to Cricket in his own tone of forced politeness, Wes prompted, “Would you like to try that one again?”

@cricketmarston

[cricketmarston]

"God. You're right. I'm so sorry, Viola." Cricket said pointedly. "Wait." He feigned a form of confusion and regret he'd never actually experienced. (He always knew exactly what he was regretting.) "Ruby? No. You're not nearly brave enough for that." He paused one more very vicious time. "Darling, I have far too many people to give a shit about already. You'll have to get in the back of the line behind the gremlins Wesley chooses to surround himself with. Because you have about as much chance as they do." Beauty was truly wasted on the asinine.

The Community Maintenance mention gave him pause, but only just. He didn't want to create more work for Del. Not with everything else that was happening. In any other context, he would have said 'we understand each other perfectly well. Which is why I want to break your camera.' But the stakes were a bit different now. He looked to Del, who was holding it together, but barely. "We'll go with no comment, then. Does that meet with your approval, cameraman?"

@niamhwoolfe

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

Phase: Day Twelve

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Phase: Day Twelve

[king-a]

“Happy to be of service.” He grinned at them, grateful for the lighter topic.

“Okay, thanks,” Adrian said, waiting until she was out of the room before he started moving. He went slow, careful in case anything decided to crap out once he got up. He felt like shit but honestly, he felt like he should feel worse. Normally if he passed out he’d have some kind of injury from how he landed, but he didn’t, so that was weird. One time it had happened outside, he passed out on his foster family’s decking. He’d hit his head so hard the grooves in the wood had marked his scalp for weeks. But that didn’t seem to be an issue for him right now.

Adrian’s stomach hurt and his head ached. But if that was it, he was lucky. Adrian got up and walked to the little bathroom off his room. Perks about nobody else being in hospital meant he got a private room and bathroom. It was nice.

He washed his face, rinsed himself off where he could without having to have a full shower. Adrian found his hoodie back in the room draped over a chair. He pulled that back on, slipped his shoes on and grabbed the bottle of water Raleigh had given him.

He made his way out to the hall. “Ready when you are roomie.”

[delilahseraven]

Del sent one more text to Morgan to make sure that she could make it to the rink. Coordination had never been her strong suit. She spent so much time with the same people that they developed their own rhythms and the need for explanation ebbed away. It was strange to work with people outside of that rhythm, but she was rising to the challenge.

“You look good.” They said, appreciating that Adrian looked more alive than he had before. It was reassuring to see him walking around. He showed surprisingly little cognitive issues after having such a large setback. She was impressed.

She heard the purr of a sports car outside. “That’s him.” Del moved towards the door, holding it open for Adrian. After he’d safely passed, they bounded towards the car. She went to the driver’s side and tapped for Cricket to open the window. When he did, she kissed him. Before he could deepen it, they pulled back and headed to the passenger side.

“Are you still feeling okay,” she asked Adrian, before clarifying for Cricket, “His vitals are better.”

@cricketmarston

[cricketmarston]

Cricket hadn't bothered to tell Reg that he'd taken the Maserati. He'd needed a backseat for Adrian and the Aston didn't have one, and as he'd said (thought? Eh it didn't matter.) during their little summit, he knew better how to take care of the children so he got to keep them.

The kiss was all too brief, but he knew he needed to be patient. Del was working. They were in public. All inconveniences he hadn't bothered to care about until recently. Community ties were a cruel mistress, even for a concubine.

"Well done, mate." Cricket said, as if Adrian had willed his vital signs to behave. For all he knew, he had. The life sciences were strange. "So do I get to know what we're doing at the rink or are we pranking Jacks? I'm up for whatever." He hoped it was clear that he was joking. Mostly.

@king-a

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Twelve

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[poppy-morris]

“It is. I love doing that.” She’d felt like she had to be on good behaviour lately, what with her new job and all. Poppy hadn’t pissed anyone off in almost two weeks. A new record. “I miss doing that.”

She’d been about to answer his first question when he started buffering. “Cowboy,” she confirmed, unable to hide her smile. Poppy refused to think about kissing him though, about the way her stomach had swooped in response to literally just his words. That had been one of the hottest experiences she’d ever had and nobody had taken any clothes off. She couldn’t make sense of it.

“She saw it on her way to the party. She kept saying she saw God.” Poppy shook her head. “Either someone helped her and didn’t care enough to make sure she was okay, or she managed to drag herself out and doesn’t remember.”

That got Poppy’s attention. She realised she should probably find being friends with Lou and Cricket at the same time more difficult than she did. But the lines were clear for her. “Obviously,” she said. “Like I’d ever tell you not to tell me. Puh-lease.”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket smirked. "Well, stick with me, Popsicle, and we'll have you back on the pissed off pony in no time." He tended to have that effect. One of his many, many talents.

He leaned back, watching her. He'd been too young when they were friends back then but he knew enough to recognize the pattern. "You have it bad, don't you? Like more than the accent or the soulful dark eyes bad. And from just a makeout? That must be some tongue. Love that for you."

"She saw God on the way to the party or--" He sighed as Poppy clarified. "All due respect to Lola..." He gave Poppy a quick look that indicated that that meant no respect was due at all. "But I think she'd take the credit for saving herself if she'd done so, even if she only suspected she'd done it. Is it perhaps more likely that our mysterious rescuer didn't stick around because they themselves set the fire?" He didn't really want to tell Poppy how he knew it, but it had been made very clear to him by the authorities that most arsonists were very averse to causing casualties. But intent didn't matter, did it?

Her confirmation was a bit of a riddle but he was feeling gossipy so he'd take it. "There was nothing wrong with the grid. The whole time, all the readings, the fluctuations, everything says it should have been working. But it wasn't. And right when I'd given up it just turned back on again. Like some great cosmic joke." He was keeping it light. He had to. The alternative was too terrifying.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[delilahseraven]

“Please don’t,” Del laughed. They enjoyed this new dimension to their relationship. Discussions of stamina and playful teasing wasn’t entirely foreign to her, but this didn’t fit her schemas in the same way because it was Cricket. Everything was different with him.

They moved delicately towards the ground as Cricket continued to work. Her knees were starting to ache from standing in the same place for so long. The floor was cool underneath her. There was something eerie about sitting in a mostly dark building. It highlighted the absurdity of the situation. Outside of horror movies, this wasn’t a particularly common experience.

His frustration was building in the climb of his shoulders and the small huffs he made as he worked. They could feel the stress emanating from him. Her arms longed to hold him but it wasn’t wise right now. They didn’t want to disrupt his work or cause some sort of issue with the mechanics. It wasn’t her area of expertise, she was much more of a theoretical person than practical.

She perked up as he spoke to them. “Okay.” They smiled warmly at him, wanting him to know that they weren’t opposed at all. “I think that could be fun.” She didn’t know if it would be a good idea to tell him none of this was his fault or not. In the past, she’d offer him food. She didn’t have any with her today.

But she felt the hum underneath her. The buzz of static electricity and the resounding noise that meant something had happened. She swallowed a laugh at his ire. It was very cruel timing of the universe but he was just so adorable when he was this angry. She couldn’t help it.

Del climbed to her feet unsteadily. Keeping his instructions in mind, she inched closer to him as slowly as possible. They kissed the underside of his chin. “Let’s go to the car.”

[cricketmarston]

What if he just broke the grid permanently, took a wrench to every circuit, tore every wire, destroyed every piece of copper or steel he could find? Would that be enough to make this nightmare stop? Would Aurora's little imaginary engineers suddenly decide to put everything back? Would they forget it all? The violence and the anxiety, the pain, the fear, the need? Would Del forget that they loved him? Would he forget how to love her without fearing that he'd tear her in two?

"I need to-- It doesn't make sense. I don't understand--" But then they were touching him. Kissing him. Speaking the only language she knew he fully understood.

He paused, living in hope as he looked at her. "You promise? No community tie issues? We might... We might never know, Del. If I don't check... I..." He swallowed. "But what could have changed, right? It was supposed to be working. Now it is. I'm unnecessary."

[drewrogersqb]

“What we owe each other.” Drew repeated, as if that made it more clear. He told himself to slow down and think it through like an essay question, the way Del’d taught him. “You owe it to people to not kick–” He sighed. Slower. Slower. He focused on Wes. “Misspeaking happens to everyone. This is bigger than that. If the only thing keeping you from being mean to people is the threat of punishment, that isn’t something I’d be super proud of and I think saying that in this situation could leave you on the outs with the community real quick but that’s just a feeling, you know?” He didn’t hit that word “feeling” too hard. He may not have even realized he said it at all. And yet it had stuck in his brain. There was nothing wrong with feelings. Except when they made you feel out of control and desperately in need of a time machine.

Drew leaned back, doing his best to swallow his first reaction to the mention of the Fern situation. “I totally understand wanting more choice, and I hope that anyone who feels that way feels comfortable seeking a nomination themselves.” (Look at him go, Del. Drilling the terminology with Bronte actually worked.) “But right now, seems like people want someone to shot call who’s done it before. That’s fine.” God knows he wanted someone to shot call. He just didn’t feel super great about the coach options.

“I hope I’m busy.” he said, press conference smile on again. “Because this stuff takes work. All good things do.” He nodded to Wes, glad for the offer of help but not wanting to make any signs of approval without getting it reviewed first.

@niamhwoolfe

[niamhwoolfe]

“Okay I get it now. I just think maybe there’s a bit of overestimating how much some people are going to care about that. That’s all.” Niamh couldn’t see it working out. There were a lot of selfish mother fuckers here in this town right now. But she didn’t want to crush community man’s spirit any more than necessary. She looked directly into the camera lens, channeling her mom’s teacher authoratitve energy. “They should though. They should all care.”

“Okay.” Niamh turned to Wes. She had a feeling they’d squeezed all the juice out. There’d only be pulp if they kept going, and he looked kinda tired. “You did great Andrew,” Niamh said, giving him a wink and a thumbs up. “I hope the community thing goes well.”

Niamh spotted her next target immediately and began almost skipping in their direction. “Follow!” she yelled to Wes, not turning to make sure he did. She knew he would.

“Hi!” she gave Del her brightest smile. “We were wondering if you would like to be interviewed for a documentary I’m making on our little apocalypse. Would it be okay if we–” Her smile fell a little when someone rudely blocked her off. “Excuse me, you’re in my way.”

@wilywes

[wilywes]

Drew had given this a lot of thought. It sounded optimistic. It sounded hopeful. This town needed people in charge with positive outlooks. They needed people like Drew and Fern. Wes wanted to attach these ideas to his wrist like a watch. We can do better, he thought, ignoring Niamh and trying it on for size. We can, we can, we can…

“It’ll go well,” Wes assured Drew, adjusting the camera again. “Thanks for your time.”

The smile for his friend slid off his face as Niamh’s voice lashed back at him like a whip. How did Wes always find himself at the beck and call of the Woolfe girls? It was nuts.

With a grunt of annoyance, he followed. He trailed after Niamh, growing all the more sour when her intended target was soon hidden behind someone else’s stupid face.

“Rolling,” Wes said pointedly, trying to move the camera past Cricket to Del.

@cricketmarston

[cricketmarston]

Several things made Cricket murderous. Poorly manufactured motherboards. Republicans. Lou's little clique. Demands on his time. Lou's little jock and Fiona's little sister were checking several boxes right now. And that was without Del fighting tears against his shoulder. He folded them close to him, probably looking more butch than he ever actually preferred to look.

"No comment, thanks Fio--" He paused, full 'library is open' haughtiness on display. "Oh. Sorry. You're the little one, aren't you?" That would hopefully be enough to leave her sputtering. A 3 for 1 insult. "Wesley. Get that thing out of my face or even I won't be able to repair it. Or. Rather, I will only be able to at great effort and I don't particularly want to." He really should have let Rowan teach him how to do a shoulder check when she offered.

@niamhwoolfe

[taliesinmauk]

Surprisingly, Taliesin had been smart about this. As predicted, something much closer to the full picture existed somewhere between Cricket and Aurora. He wasn’t going to say he wasn’t concerned about what happened after Britt’s death. It wasn’t okay and it meant something, but it wasn’t going to answer the most pressing questions. But he let Aurora get it out. And recorded too, which could be important later. Perhaps he didn’t want to get too far into it because ‘Grief made a monster of me’ hit a little too close to home. So he just nodded to her thanks. “Of course.”

Cricket’s tale was far less simple and far more relevant. “I believe you. I believe you.” He could tell Cricket needed that for some reason. All his blustering, his assholery, it wasn’t enough to keep him from needing Tal’s approval. Lou would have a field day.

Tal sat for what felt like a long while, processing, mulling the details over. He’d meant to take notes but the whole thing was so strange he’d only had it in him to listen. Then he realized. “Was it curved?” He leaned forward. “Cricket. Was the horizon curved. Where’s the video now?”

@rorarosen

[rorarosen]

Taliesin was very locked into details that hadn’t mattered much to them at the time. They were dealing with something so much bigger. Who were these people? Did they know this area well? Were there mysteries here that no one had uncovered?

She wasn’t sure how to feel about any of it. His questions had stimulated her mind away from sadness and towards the cold comfort of reason. This was easier to talk about.

Aurora put her hand on Cricket’s arm to stop him from speaking. "Whatever observations we have from this point forward won’t be accurate. This wasn’t the natural phenomenon of mist moving through an area. It was some sort of…hallucinogen. That’s why we wanted you to go into the woods and see if this is a replicable experience or if it was designed for our biochemistry.”

The advances in biochemicals in the past decade had been staggering. For all she knew, the whole purpose of this experience was to test a wide variety of them. “We saw very traumatic things individually. It turned violent.” She had stopped it, but not nearly fast enough. “We managed to escape and came home.”

[cricketmarston]

Cricket was, despite all reports to the contrary, quite capable of shutting up. There were few who could make him do it and only under certain circumstances but self preservation was a pretty effective circumstance. "What Rora said."

But Taliesin was very much focusing on the wrong thing. Cricket pulled his phone from his pocket. He held out his hand for Taliesin to hand over his own. "Don't get me started on the fact that I could airdrop this to my phone from Tony's when there's no actual cloud for things to go to." It was a roundabout way of acknowledging the power strangeness. He wasn't going to get into last night unless he was asked (and even then, he'd considered pleading the Fifth. Lovely little American invention that.) "There you go. Look for any curves you want." He slid the phone back across the desk distastefully.

He really would have preferred that Aurora left the violence out of it, but she also didn't have a full picture of things. He sighed breezily. "What's a mild fist fight between nowhere-near friends?" Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to acknowledge his role in it but he had landed a hit on Tony Alessi and that was something Aurora's other new masculine adjacent friend couldn't do. (He wasn't bitter. He wasn't.)

@taliesinmauk