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[shuckit]

Hey. [ yep, that's thomas's great start. it's sort of awkard and stunted, and he clears his throat after. small talk isn't really his thing, and he knows he's talking to A LOT of people, not just one or two. it sets his nerves a little on edge. but there was a purpose to this message, and he tries to get to it quickly. ] We woke up in a lab when these shanks stole us in here, right? That wasn't just me?

[ he remembers it clearly enough. it wasn't easy to see much of it, but thomas knows a lab when he sees it. there's a frown at the corner of his lips, and you can see the street side of Heropa passing by behind him. ]

They gave us these shuck tattoos, yeah, but what else? You guys that didn't have powers before; how do you think they put them in us? You don't just grow stuff like telepathy overnight. [ maybe you do. thomas doesn't really know how he and teresa had been able to talk to each other through their minds, but it doesn't seem like something you should be growing overnight, without a sudden incident with radioactive material or whatever other cliche applies. either way, he's had enough peoples' hands in his head, the thought that more was done to him that he doesn't know about makes his skin crawl. ]

How do we know that's all they did?

[ once you've got your hands on something, people like this? with this kind of power? thomas isn't used to them just doing the bare minimum and getting out. there's a sickened sort of twist in his expression, and his eyes slide away, glancing in some shop windows he passes, before looking back to the screen. ]

Anyway, they didn't leave a manual either. Are there supposed to be classes or training or textbooks to read to figure this klunk out, or just everyone on their own?

[ which seems irresponsible, but he'd sort of rather figure it out himself than have the soldiers he was greeted by teach him. he's about to hang up before he adds on - ]

I'm Thomas, by the way. Not Stiles. [ lookin at you Beacon Hills kids, as he adds one this last part with an exasperated kind of flatness. ] So don't try to kill me.

[ seriously, he doesn't know you people or your weird multipersonalitied clone of him, but you all seem kind of crazy and he's not down with that. ]

[[ ooc; also it'd be super cool if you guys could fill out thomas's telepathy permissions over there for me. thanks a ton! ]]

Comments

video;

[ex_galvanist88]

[ Whale holds up a hand to the camera. It is sparking, as in sparks are occasionally flying out from his hand. He looks utterly annoyed by this. Stupid government giving him a stupid power that he doesn't even want in the first place. ]

If you find a manual, make a copy of it for me. I'm in the same boat. [ a pause, and then he adds in ] Also, glad to know that I'm not the only one who looks uncomfortably like someone else.

video;

[shuckit]

[ well that's not reassuring in the least. thomas's expression is saying just about the same. ]

They make a habit out of this here? [ that is freaking unsettling. he doesn't want people screwing around with his dna. about that sparking, though... ] If I do find one, I don't think my volume's gonna be the same as yours... I don't spark.

video

[aggressiveapathy]

Mm. The porter went on an anti-government spree this time. I knew this one'd like Halloween.

Hi.

video

[shuckit]

More anti-getting kidnapped and operated on against my will.

Hi.

video;

[workout]

[ ok but. ]

Why would we try to kill you?

[ Severely weirded out, here, but he makes a valiant attempt to not sound suspicious. There are a few reasons that would prompt the guy to open with "don't kill me", and none of them are particularly good. ]

video;

[shuckit]

[ reasons, Scott. ]

Because of whatever took Stiles' face and locked Lydia in a hallway.

[ which was her name, right? He'd gotten sort of a clusterfuck of horror from looking into her mind, but that was the name, wasn't it? Either way, the run in with stiles had been the 'you belong in hell' tussle in the middle of the sidewalk, and the argument with Lydia hadn't gone much better soooooo. Yeah. He promises he's not here to murder everyone. ]

text

[lyingheart]

That's the Porter Lab, and yes. That's where you first come to once you've been through the Porter.

Which is the answer to your question on the hows - it's not well understood, and it's not been repeatable with anyone native to this world that we know of. Coming through the Porter initially, and at times later, after being sent back, alters our abilities beyond what we knew... or limits. I've heard of cases such as those as well.

Either way, your file has the most information any one of us has. Other than that, you're best seeking people with similar powers to learn how to use your own, or finding those you can trust to practice with and endure the trial and error method of learning.

[shuckit]

So it's, what, a device? Do they ever let us look at the Porter up close? Have any of the people brought through it been in the lab to watch it happen?

Is there any kind of listing for who's got what powers?

action.

[gluestick]

[So apparently it's impossible to avoid the government mandated ride to your new place, so Newt decided to tag along, since he was planning on taking Thomas to his residence instead. Lucky for them they'd housed him only a few doors down, so it worked to their advantage to just take the lift.

Newt's been pointedly avoiding talking about the memories Thomas is missing, at least until they're in the privacy of his home. He just hopes his roommates are out working or at school, so he can have this moment with Thomas alone. He knows what he has to say won't go over well, especially certain details.

He listens to Thomas talk into his communicator idly, picking at a fray on his pants while he mulls over Thomas' questions. All similar questions to what he had.]

Government doesn't tell us a shuck thing about what they've done to us. All they told you when you first got here, that's the extent of what they've got to say. They just expect us to believe 'em, like that isn't the stupidest idea in the world.

[A pause, and he gives Thomas a wary sideways glance.] Who is this Stiles guy you're talkin' about? You really look that similar that someone would mistake you?

[shuckit]

[ thomas's attention is split between newt and the cell phone in his hand, typing and talking away at intervals. weird, that he knows what this is and how to use it, but has no memory of ever holding one before. same with the car they'd been in, with the traffic lights they'd stopped at. just all too bizarre. ] And everyone just goes along with that? They don't blink at the brand we got or the fact we can't go back where we came from?

[ he glances up from the phone, lips tight, and pockets the thing for the moment while he peers curiously around the living space. thomas had been pretty much ready to run when the ride to his "house" was insisted on, but newt coming with had been assurance enough that he'd actually gotten into the car. thomas had pretty aggressively shot question after question at the driver and ran into several he just got blank smiles and redirected conversation for. he's happy to be out of the car now, and after a short glance at the residence he was assigned, they'd been moving on to newt's. ]

The shank could be my clone. Maybe he is. [ the idea certainly seems valid. or thomas is his clone. which... isn't fun to think about. ] We're not the only ones. There was some other that was running around with our face too, where he came from. Stiles said he killed a lot of people.

video + text

[kinesia]

[ Grey doesn't know how to work this thing. He'd started fiddling with it as soon as he heard Thomas' voice, and now eventually he has the video up. He lifts his hand, as if it's possible to wave over video, and then fiddles around again until a keyboard pops up. He wishes he could just write, directly. Guess who's never typed before. ]

thomas

what did they do to you ?

[shuckit]

[ g-grey... of all the conversations on this post that he's being grumpy and serious in, this is not even one of them. hard to be when he's watching someone with the disposition of a curious, excitable, scruffy puppy trying to figure out technology. there's a small wave back, more like a couple fingers in a short salute, and the corner of his lips pull, wanting to smile, but he doesn't want to interrupt him while he's figuring out typing. he gets it eventually. a+, man. ]

Same they did to the rest of us. You don't remember waking up in the lab?

[ex_question191]

[ haha, wow, thomas, that clarification is offensive. ]

Look, I don't think anyone's gonna try and kill you.

video; private

[shuckit]

[ yeahwell, wording is not something he's great at, okay. people were listening, he panicked. either way, just gonna side-step that and get to another point he was meaning to ask, because thomas's curiosity is about ten times stronger a force than his concern for personal well-being. also, his concept of tact sucks. and switching it to private because apparently this is A Thing. ]

I met Lydia. It told her you were dying. [ 'it' being whatever had Stiles' face. ] Where did it come from?

[ video ]

[hostage]

Hey Not-Stiles, I'm Jesse. Looks like everybody's got the first thing covered, so lemme tell you about the second thing. I work an imPort-run school that specializes in teaching kids how to use their powers along with the regular school stuff, and it's free. You could even move into the dorms if you don't feel safe in government housing.

Now - who'd you say's trying to kill you?

[ video ]

[shuckit]

Thomas. [ not exactly said sharply but, yeah. he's got a thing about his name being used, and as much is said in the flat look that's given with it. moving on, thomas nods at the offer, mulling it over for a second. the concept of being in a regular school after... everything... is just bizarre. but that ought to be normal, right? ] What kinda regular school stuff?

[ more kneejerk than anything else, thomas is giving the 'would you like the whole list' look, before it clicks back into place that he isn't home anymore. or whatever you'd call where he was. he shakes his head ] No one. Someone just thought I was something else that shouldn't be here. Don't worry about it.

video

[huntergames]

Are you his twin?

[ Why would they kill him?? She is officially Concerned™. ]

video

[shuckit]

I don't think so? [ question??? seriously, he knows absolutely nothing. about anything. but he's not his secret evil demon half that murders people and that's the main point he wanted to get across. ]

video

[orchestrate]

I see that it's been suggested already, but seeking training is a great way to go. No one starts out good with their abilities, everything takes training.

Telepathy, is that yours?

video

[shuckit]

Yeah, figured that. Telepathy's the main one, yeah. Know anything about it?

video }

[lurings]

Wow. [ bam! have the wide eyes of this girl. they are, to quote stiles, intensely blue. and v confuse. anyway, she's sitting in her room so he can see her messy bed behind her and a cat taking up all the bed like a princess. ] You two really look alike.

[ yep. SHES A SMART ONE, FOLKS. ]

video }

[shuckit]

[ there's a wry, tight, and mostly sarcastic half-smile that he gives. ]

Noticed that, huh?

[askedtobe]

How else do you think telepaths are created?

[ No but really. It's a totally legit question. ]

[shuckit]

Born with it?

video.

[heralding]

Our powers are given to us by the Porter, or that's the government's theory on the matter.

[While Lightning received that information in a confidential manner, she doesn't think it's useful to keep it to themselves.]

What we do know is that a being named Lachesis has taken over the Porter, and when that occurs, we are granted powers. The government believes it is radiation, but I have my doubts on the matter. They don't know for certain.

But things were done to you. The tattoo is evidence of nanites that have been injected into your system to help ensure your ... survival. [With this part, there's a clear amount of cynicism in her tone.]

video.

[shuckit]

[ thomas's attention is suddenly all over this comment. everyone else has sort of been giving him things he already knew or assumed. this is new.]

Lachesis, do we know anything more than the name and the fact it causes powers? Where it came from or what it is?

[ and okay, wow, paranoia amped up x574842934789321 with the reveal of nanites in his system. he knows his world didn't have nanites, but he knew the theory about them - mechanisms in the blood stream to alter bodily processes. it's not okay. it's not anywhere near okay. ] Is that public knowledge? How'd you learn that - about the nanites?

video.

[glowsferatu]

[ mothershucking. ]

I take it you're Dorothy.

[ minho and newt both mentioned a thomas, and this one talks in the same inexplicable way. he should have been a corn processor with all this shucking he seems to intend. ]

video.

[shuckit]

[ uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ]

Not... last time I checked? What?