maskormenace | [video]

Entry tags:

[video]

[This network post may intermittently find its any onto any imPort's comm device... but it might not necessarily appear to everyone, and it might not still be there the next time you look. Video plays: a flickering, distorted image of an individual in a mask. The voice is heavily disguised by some kind of vocoder, not that it seems necessary— with all this fluctuating interference, it's hard to pick out more than a few words at a time...]

---it wORk? ----- [schhhhhhhhrrkkk, crackle, pop. the screen goes blank. there's a long, sonorous tone, and we're back.] ---inuUm. I hAVe to t--- ----- whERe to fiND----

[And the feed cuts. For now at least the message can be replayed... or responded to.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Uh, hello? You okay there?

[ After a pause - ]

Okay, this freaking anybody else out or...?

Edited 2021-02-16 14:51 (UTC)

[shhhhhrrrrlllkk. pop. the video feed whines back into existence.]

-----yOU are. Lis------areFUllY, you c------

[there's a low whine of interference as the feed cuts out. Ooof. then, after a pause long enough to suggest that's all Twice is getting, a final flicker burst:]

----eT's cLEarer---- wHEN YOu staND togethEr, br---- MOrE naNIte strON------ connEC--

( Live from the Porter, ladies and gents: )

Gonna need you to repeat that, your signal's cutting out. Who is this?

[ Tony receives a very loud, very sudden spike of noise. Thrumming around him and through his head the Porter seems to keen with urgency— that floating sense of need or distress he's been picking up on intensifying sharply, then levelling off. The machine pulls heavily on its faltering resources.

When the feed resumes, much of the interference is gone. For now, at least.
The flickering distortions that remain appear to be a deliberate strategy, like the use of the vocoder. Whoever this is doesn't want their identity revealed.]

It dOESNn't mAtter whO. tHE MEssaGe is wHAT maTTerS. You'RE a sMArt gUy, STarK, HaVE yoU neVEr sEen a tV sHOw aboUt tRAveLinG in tIMe? TrUSt mE, yOu WAnt To aVOId getTinG CAughT iN thIs pREdeSTINatiON pARAdoX.

thEY'll cALL mE ouROboroS. whICh I nEVer reALLy goT? yoU'Re tHE oNes eATiNG yoURseLveS.

( Ow ow, that kinda smarts a bit, ow... Look, he can't exactly soothe it with a hug here so, patting the nearest bit of Porter and projecting an air of calm back through that technopathic link, ) C'mon, baby, it's all right...

Listen, 'Boros, the Porter's drained of juice and if she goes, the rest of us imPorts go, too. Skip the vaguely threatening stuff and tell us something useful.

Edited 2021-02-18 05:39 (UTC)

[ It's possible Tony's just kinda... lost it, a little. It's also possible the Porter responds to his reassurance with a little reflected calm of its own, processes spooling softly. Who's to say? ]

yoU're thiNKing strAIGht. miGHt wanNA stOp THat. shE's nOt drAINed thE MUltiVERsaL weLL dRy oR anYThinG, hAS shE? SHe cAN't reCHArgE whILe YOu'rE------

[ a pause for a correction, perhaps? ]

------wE'rE asKIng hER tO do tHE imPoSSiblE.

( Maybe he has, but something in him can't just offer nothing when someone- or something, in this case -is in distress. Machines have feelings too, sometimes.

Lightly crabby here: )

How can we help her recharge? I don't suppose you know where we can get our hands on any continuum.

( That is what High Chancellor Stark called it, right? )

evERYonE knOWs whERe tO FINd conTINuuM.

[ And on cue, Tony's device chirps with a notification. someone has sent him a digital map, scattered with a few dozen pins. Each corresponds to a physical location on Earth, not all of them within the borders of the United States. Each pin is titled with a reference code and links to a news article... all of which refer to various historical discoveries of Continuum when tapped. Briefly scanning these, Tony is able to read headlines such as

"19930504-12.9: SCIENTISTS CONFIRM UNIDENTIFIED ELEMENT IN METEORITE IS LIKELY IMPORTED"
"19891126-38.4: CONTINUUM: COULD THIS UNEARTHLY ELEMENT EXPLAIN THE CURSE OF THE PHAROAH?" ]

iF ONLy wE haD a TImE maCHIne.

[ Meanwhile, another person on Team Tony And Co. Trying To Figure Shit Out And Get This Hot Mess Under At Least Somewhat Control chiming in. First to Twice: ]

No, no that's definitely disconcerting as hell and is freaking me out too.

[ And then addressing the disconcerting as hell voice: ]

And where are you?

[Hearing the voice of from off-screen, "Ouroboros" leans in slightly, as if hoping to catch sight of the speaker. The deliberately featureless face tilts a fraction.]

WheN?

[It's difficult to tell for certain with all this filter and costuming, but it's tempting to believe there's a hint of exasperation under the vocoder scrambling. Weariness, perhaps. Frustration.]

wHEre am I whEn? loOK. wAnDA. iT's cOMpliCaTEd, anD it doEsn'T MAttEr. I dON't mAtteR. tHerE'S A meSSagE to dELIveR, anD iT tuRNs oUt iT's oN me. tHe guY WitH thE gOOdS. rIGHt plACe RIghT tiME.

jUSt LIke yOU, rIGHt THeRE bY tHE pORtEr, RIGht nOw.

A message literally printed on you, or a responsibility is on you?

[ English, why? She's too Slavic for this language. ]

Either way, that sounds like it puts you in the category of 'matters' — unless you have no mass, don't take up space in the sense of volume.

[ nerd jokes for the win in times of wtf-ery and problems? sure. dealing with concern via humor is one strategy. ]

[ The disconcerting sound that follows might, horribly, be what a laugh sounds like through the vocoder. ]

YOu knOW, i DIdn'T--- thOUgHT i'D haVE tO fAKe iT, bUT yoU goT ME. aLL iN THe tiMinG, I GUeSS. hAD to BE thERe.

[ buuuut back to the matter at hand. ]

mASS, MAttEr. vERy neWToNiAn. yOU knOW REaliTY dOESn't wORK LikE thAT, MAybE moRE thaN ANyonE. buT iT's a BIt oF botH. resPONsibILity prINTeD oN Me. anD yOU toO, nOw.

Reality has been a pain in my ass these last few months, but yeah, sure, I might know a couple things about it being magic and all.

[ She'd still say mostly that it's a pain in the ass, to be honest. ]

But, whatever, not the point. Obviously, we've been dealing with time...weirdness.. here lately, and the porter is getting drained; you said you were called 'ouroboros'. Actually, you said, 'they'll call you' ouroboros to Tony, which — and I really hope this is my not-native-English-speaking-self overanalyzing this language and being way off base — sounds like you're talking about a future event that hasn't happened here yet or an event that has happened in the past that we haven't, I don't know, found, yet. Which begs the questions, who's this 'they' regardless, and this responsibility is just a question of getting the porter back to being steady?

theY wiLL, WE Will, THeY DId, we DiD. juST PERspecTiVE, reALLy. wE'Re haVINg THis coNVERsatION nOW, liKE thIS, beCAUsE iT haPPenEd LIkE thiS.

thaT's WHy wE haVE to bE caREFul. sHE's STRainED enouGH AS iT Is, keEPinG eveRYTHinG poSSIblE.

And here I thought the last near-apocalypse here was a mess. Any chance you want to share that future-telling perspective ability with the class, maybe spit out a fancy stone that manipulates time? [ Is she teasing an unknown source? Yes a little. ]

[The moment she'd seen it she'd rushed down towards the bunker underneath the manor. The comms equipment was ridiculously primitive by her standards, but the technicians were the finest money could buy, and who knew - perhaps they'd get something. She pointed at one of them.]

Get the analogue backups running - they might pick up details the digital equipment works. Try to track the signal down, tell me whatever you can about it.

[Likely a futile request, but, well. Even the longest of chances had to be tried. And a masked, vocoder-changed face was...familiar. It was the longest of long shots, but it had to be tried...word from the old universe?]

[She took a breath, ready to begin, and finally responded, the technicians around her poised in readiness.]

This is Director Ysanne Isard. Recognition signal... [She paused, cursing herself. What month would it be, in equivalence? Did it matter? She pushed the thought away.]

Recognition signals available. Please identify, your signal is very weak. Do you require assistance. Respond, please.

[ There's a great deal of interference at first, a wobbling, skittering image and the usual set of clicks and whines, unintelligible snippets of speech. What does seem unusual is the persistence of the signal— or possibly the persistence of the operator, doggedly attempting to make contact. That, and the odd sense that the quality of the broadcast seems to improve slightly the harder Isard concentrates on the task of picking out individual words...]

-----hEAR y---- Dir-----oR, I hE------

[And then, as Team Right At The Porter successfully make contact, there's a significant bump up in quality. The signal is still weak, faltering and dropping occasionally, but...]

----oU heAR mE noW. wE reQUirE ASsisTAncE, diRECtoR, aND i w---- -----iVe iT tO yoU. heLP Me helP YOu HElp mE. ---------of uS.

[All of which she should notice, but in the moment it doesn't even occur to her, her natural suspicions dulled by possibility. She concentrates on the words, eyes closing for a moment.]

[Who is 'we?']

I hear you. Tell me what assistance you require. How can we - I - help you?

[Did they mean 'give it to you?' If so, what?]

[ It certainly seems like the more imPorts attempt to catch the signal, the more it cleans up even for those not right at the Porter itself. Convenient! Isard's technicians report they have successfully recorded all transmission data, though just how stable those recordings are remains to be seen. ]

---------nSEquenCEs. aLL of yOU. yoU HavE a chOIce to mA---------- ----- in tWo. thE pORTer neEdS mORe POweR THan yOU can giVe iT frOM whEN YOu a------ ---ver go bACk.

[Her brow furrowed. What did it mean? It could never go back? Or they couldn't? What would that mean if it were either? She can feel a headache coming on - this is too many questions without enough information.]

Not enough power? How do we get it more power? And who are you?

----rGET mE. The messENgeR Is iRRElevANt. wE haVE AN inpuT / ouTPut imbaLAncE. thE porTEr----- ---nERGy, usEs ConTiNnuum fOR procESSinG anD SToraGe. thAT POwer KEepS yO---- ----ecOMeS yoUr POwer. imPOrt POWeR. yOUr choICe. inCREasE inpUT, DEcREA--- ---R aDD morE prOCE------exTRa batTERy.

SImplE loGISTicS. yOu KNow whICh iS eAsiESt.

[A messenger? That much she focuses on. Her initial enthusiasm is fading, rapidly. It is clearly not a message from home, long shot that such was. And, a question for later would be why she feels a note of relief about that.]

[But it is still a potentially glittering opportunity. Or a trap. She cannot rule out the possibility. But either way, she is compelled to pull at the string...]

Who are you the messenger for?

And tell me what you need me to do.

[ When it comes to time travel, opportunity very easily becomes a trap— and whoever, whatever, whenever Ouroboros is, they seem very aware of how a causality loop is a noose that only draws tighter the more anyone insists on tugging at it... ]

iF yoU NEeD scHRödiNGer'S caT t---- ---LIve, iT'S BEsT noT----- ----PEn THe bOX. wE neeD yOU tO plAY yOUR pARt a------ --LWAyS dO. yOU haVE thE mESSagE. coNSIdeR thE bAToN paSSEd.

[She remains silent for a long moment, leaned forward, considering the message. Opportunity versus risk, opportunity versus risk, opportunity versus risk...]

Message received and understood. Send any further instructions you have.

[It may be a trap. But she's been in those before. And she straightens, the air of command falling back over her like an old friend. Most of the people who have tried to trap her have ended up dead. She will outlast this, too, she swears it. She mutes the audio, for all the good that might potentially will do.]

Mobilize the ready teams. Stark will have his fingers in this, and his allies will move quickly. Bring the door out of storage, we may need it.

[She speaks to nobody in particular. She knows she need not do so. She will be obeyed.]

And have Special Projects report in. We're going to need to accelerate...everything.

[ Despite her confusion, or maybe because of it, Yenh wants a piece of this. ]

You looking for something?

[ Is "Ouroboros" pleased? The figure leans in. ]

yOU arE. ---------ANna gO FOr a rIDe?

I am? [ She tilts her head, mystified. Of course she is, but that could mean anything from ways to fix this world's problems, to her missing friends, to the limited edition Valentine's Sugar Bomb cereal she began stockpiling from clearance racks. ]

I could go riding with you. But where to, and why?

-----a CONtinUum hUNt. i GIve thE clUEs, y-----

[ the feed cuts for a second, then resumes as if nothing happened. ]

-oUNd liKE fUN?

[ Full knowing that cryptic figures offering cryptic clues inevitably leads to trouble, the answer comes easily. ]

Count me in!

----ntiNUUm iS dePLetED bY youR TIme. bUT we cAN Go bacK. fiND IT iN THe pasT, BRinG iT tO thE FUture. yoU c----- ---vEL alONe, sO fiND soMEonE TO wAt------ ----R bacK. a FRieNd OR twO.

[ She's all ears and old reflexes to do any odd thing a stranger tells her to do. ]

So—what we need requires traveling back in time with companions, and... when you said continuum hunt, what are you referring to? What am I looking for?

[ Strangers with resources, apparently! Yenh's device chirps with a notification: someone has sent her a digital map, scattered with a few dozen pins. Each corresponds to a physical location on Earth, not all of them within the borders of the United States. Each pin is titled with a reference code and links to a news article... all of which refer to various discoveries of Continuum when tapped. Briefly scanning these, Yenh is able to read headlines such as

"19930504-12.9: SCIENTISTS CONFIRM UNIDENTIFIED ELEMENT IN METEORITE IS LIKELY IMPORTED"
"19891126-38.4: CONTINUUM: COULD THIS UNEARTHLY ELEMENT EXPLAIN THE CURSE OF THE PHAROAH?" ]

lOOKs LIke a SHInY roCK iF IT hASN't bEEn prOCEsseD, mOStLY. -----W yOU KnoW whERE iT wiLL bE FOUnD, yOU caN geT THEre FIrs----

[ Yenh's eyes widen as she taps around the map and catches the headlines. Tracking down important shiny rocks is her calling, if you set aside the whole "Warrior of Light" thing. She could kiss this masked stranger for restoring normalcy to her life, but she possesses barely enough self-awareness not to announce that. ]

Very thorough! I can work with this. What shall I do, once I find them?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[video]

voice; threadjackable

some indiscriminate amount of time later...

threadjack;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[ voice ] » also 100% open to threadjacks

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject