۞ video;

[timestones]

[Watching a few million possible outcomes is pretty tiring, so when Stephen's face comes into view on the feed he can probably be forgiven for looking like he could do with a nap, but regardless of this he seems quite awake and alert. Wired, maybe.

The backdrop is a park not too far from the government housing in Maurtia Falls and Stephen has evidently plopped himself down on the lower base of a war monument with his back against the die. The customary grumpy rain has apparently rolled on through at some point and while his cloak kindly thought to shield Stephen from most of it, he's still... a little damp. Not that it seems to bother him too much.]

All right, let's get the preamble out the way, shall we?

Hello. I'm Doctor Stephen Strange and we've obviously got a big problem here.

So, I spent some time going over the possible outcomes of the end of this week and... Let's say depending on your outlook on things, the glass is either half full or the glass is entirely broken into lots of tiny unrecongisable pieces.

What we have is effectively a spectrum of possible outcomes, which include not only risks to this dimension, but also many more via a kind of cross-dimensional ricocheting effect.

[His face momentarily looks a little graver as he shakes his head.]

Some of the worse scenarios even have the potential for wide scale damage to the future of the multiverse as a whole. It's not great, kids.

The not-so-awful news is that there are ways to mitigate and even entirely avoid the damage done to the multiverse and to other parallel dimensions.

The bad news is that even in the comparatively better scenarios, this universe will not remain entirely unchanged or come out entirely unscathered, but in the context of those scenarios, we do save countless external lives in other dimensions.

The worst news is, yes, the ritual some of you have been looking into leads toward some of the least bad scenarios.

[His jaw tightens along with a small, resigned shrug.]

I wish I had brighter insight to share, but sometimes happy endings are hard to come by. This is the best I can give you.

[Leaning in to turn off the feed, something occurs to him very suddenly.]

Oh, and one more thing. Kylo Ren--[He gives the camera a slightly squint-eyed look]--we need to have a little word.

[Just before Stephen turns off the feed, the camera catches the sight of what looks like someone dropping a handful of change into Stephen's lap. The feed catches a glimpse of the sorcerer's momentarily unimpressed lineface, then cuts off.]



[ooc: There's a lot of network stuff out there, so please do me a solid and if there's something specific that's happened on the network in the past in relation to upcoming event (directly or tangentially) that you want Stephen to directly pick up, please drop me a link to the thread/s here.

Also if for shits and giggles you want to suggest one of a few million possible outcomes for Stephen to have seen, again, drop me a comment on via the link above. This is mostly just for fun flavour and... suffering? :>

Thanking u!]

Video - Private to Friends

[helpdesk_hero]

[He looks tired, but really, who among them doesn't these days. But he's tired, he's in a small room in his government housing, and really, David needs something to look forward to, so here he is, sans his glasses, talking. Which is, of course, because the glasses are in front of him on a shelf, a perfect little camera.]

Hey guys. It's definitely been a bit of a month, hasn't it? And we're at this point where we're somewhere between the light at the end of the tunnel, and the world falling out from under us. Which, I think anyone can say, probably isn't a great way to live. We're all trying to do our best here too, either to find solutions, or to keep the people around us sane, or to just be optimistic enough to make it through each day.

[A sigh, and he reaches up to rub at the bridge of his nose. Almost like he's saying it's been harder for him than he'd dare admit.]

I know I feel sort of useless in all of this, but I have faith. Faith in the imPorts. Faith in the survival goals of humans, faith in all of us. And so, as part of that faith, as part of my believing in us and everyone, I'm already planning for our celebration. It's going to be a bit further out but...

Come on, wouldn't celebrating on American Thanksgiving not be appropriate? I say we get together, we have a big meal, and we be thankful to be still standing. Anyone in with me?

[He smiles, or tries to put some serious effort behind the smile.]

I'd need people to help pitch in for cost, I'd need people to volunteer spaces to cook, I'd need people to help with cooking itself. If we get big enough maybe we rent a hall or something and we cook together.

So? What say you all? Believe we're going to live and survive and have a truly amazing Thanksgiving feast? I promise, I make really good food. And I think I can talk a few people into helping. One of them already knows who he is.

Say yes, because frankly? I could really use a party after all of this passes.



[Two minutes later he's back with more video]

Also, tell me what sorts of Thanksgiving staples your family had, okay? I wanna make a list.


[OOC: Basically, if you have CR with David, you're CC'd into this. He's got too many friends to actually list everyone.]

Video

[by_candlelight]

[ There is a very tired Ruby. She's wearing an apron over some ratty clothes, and also looks a little confused. She's in her assigned housing in DeChima, and it would be correct to assume this is being recorded in the kitchen. ]

Are turkeys a symbol of the apocalypse? I can't find anything on it any search engine. I'm not even sure it's a turkey, but there are a lot of decorations of the bird all over the place. Any time I ask someone offline about it they laugh and walk away. ... Okay, one person looked uncomfortable and walked away, but no one is being helpful and I have more important things to occupy my mind, but this is taking up a large portion of my thinking room, and it's stupid

[ She finally takes a breath, then turns the recording off. ]