3AM 3/15, mirrornet; warning for mention of self-mutilation

[shuckit]

[[ ooc; in case you haven't heard about mirrornet yet, it's basically just a secure network for imports alone to access. if your character is an import, they have access to reading and responding to this post. ty! ]]

hey. been busy a while. sorry.

[ coming back to himself with technology stitched into his skin, and the memories of possibly murdering a lot of people has been trying for him. he did a lot of retracing steps, trying to stay out of sight as he did. looking into hospital reports, news coverage. it took him a while, but he wanted to be absolutely certain he hadn't taken any lives. the wounds on palms, and his fingers, are still healing. he feels the sting every time his fingers move to type, and it's been driving him nuts lately. if he ever finds this guy, jaswinder singh, he's going to be at high risk of thomas turning him into a vegetable. maybe not exactly on purpose, but he hasn't had great self control at times. ]

wanted to put my info in on the hornet memories stuff. if anyone saw me in heropa last month... sorry.

[ he pauses for a long moment, not sure about what to say after that. really, there's nothing. there isn't an excuse for it, other than the fact it happened. that he couldn't resist it, and people were hurt because of him. ] sorry.

shank that screwed around with my brain was jaswinder singh. guy's shucked in the head. i got a few things from him you guys ought to know. some has to do with quisma.

1: it was from jaswinder's point of view, like all of them. there was blood and everything was dizzy and unfocused. he was sewing something into his skin, on his finger. razor blade and needle and thread. he was talking to himself, and said: "Crude. But these are desperate times. Stop the imPorts, save the world -- fate will forgive me doing her work."

2: he says "What did you say?" someone walks towards him, looking freaked out, hands raised. they say: "It was a very old tabloid article, though I can't say I would be surprised if it were true..." jaswinder: "Salvatore Quisma?" they all look at each other, seem like they're realizing something. singh says: "If Salvatore Quisma really did frame other officials, who's to say an imPort with that kind of power won't do it to another innocent person?"

3: jaswinder's pissed at someone nearby. he hisses: "Tell Alford to shut up about the Vanir already. He's confused. He doesn't know the first thing about what we're doing here, or what they--" he shakes his head, keeps going. "Someone's bound to get the wrong idea. We must walk separate paths. I will stamp out the misinformation in our swarm if it's the last thing I do."

that's it. i don't know how much we can really trust from a slinthead like this, but... i don't know. we need to figure out who the hell quisma really is before we try setting him loose. holiday needs to be helped, either way, but we need to be ready for what that might leave us with.

anyone else who got something on quisma out of this, i'd appreciate you chiming in.

thanks.

[ after a moment, a second message is sent ]

welcome to the world, to this round of greenies, i guess. if you haven't seen it yet, go look at kate's faq. it'll answer some questions for you.

private video to teresa;

[ thomas looks pretty worn, and in a deep, unfun kind of thought. he pauses for a moment, lips parted but not speaking yet. considering what he's saying. ]

Hey. You mind if I come by?

Comments

[kinesia]

[ It was strange, seeing Thomas as something that was so clearly not Thomas. He had never been a killer before, had never wanted to be. Grey hadn't fully understood what had changed, not at the time. He still doesn't.

But at least this sounds more like the Thomas he knows. ]

you feel better ?

[shuckit]

yeah. it's gone.

[ what gave jaswinder the window into his head. it's dealt with, and thomas has taken all the intel about it he can. this is him expunging the last part of it and trying to get some actual rest now, hopefully. ]

sorry you had to go through it.

[ seeing him be that kind of messed up. ]

[kinesia]

you went through it

[ Not him. He'd only seen the change, and worried at it. And been afraid for Thomas.

Which he still is, to an extent. ]

did you fix your hands ?

text

[rathercommon]

It's weird. Three memories every time, it seems like. I wonder why.

text

[shuckit]

i was thinking about that too. i don't know. are they all the same length? they're memories so perspective might skew time, still.

[notasaviour]

Thanks for the welcome. I don't think I've seen that FAQ yet, though. Know where I can find it?

[shuckit]

sure. it's here. kind of long, but it goes over pretty much everything you need.

voice

[oddthings]

[Cole can't pick up anything over text (and his empathy is weakened over the network anyway) but isn't this one of the people who spoke to him?]

I don't understand.

voice

[shuckit]

[ hearing this guy and remembering his issues with the phones, thomas is switching to voice, to make it easier. ]

Something happened last month before you guys came in. Some people had Hornet members take over their heads and go around shucking things up. A bunch of us got memories from them, though, in the connection.

[andaway]

Quisma was blaming innocent people? That definitely doesn't sound good.

How are you feeling?

[shuckit]

officials - government officials? they were talking about that article too, i think. maybe not. but it said quisma and holiday weren't buddies like he'd told me before, so what's he actually doing with holiday?

i'm okay. not trying to kill people anymore. you?

text

[bindsthedead]

So Quisma may not have been completely honest with you. I can't say I'm surprised.

text

[shuckit]

it's hard to read him, when you're looking to mind-reading someone when you're inside someone else's head. i ought to try again.

TEXT.

[selfimage]

WB. A pleasure to see you amongst yourself again, Thomas.

Quite an interesting set you were stuck with. Yet a dingy prize for the cost.

[shuckit]

a pleasure to be amongst myself again.

yeah, guy was a freaking trip. hopefully we can figure something out with this stuff, though.

private;

[munies]

I don't mind.

[ it's not exactly a rushed sentence, but the fact that she answered it first before saying anything else is probably telling enough ]

I have some information, too. Nothing specific to Quisma, though.

private;

[shuckit]

Thanks. I'll be over soon.

[ he smiles slightly, and appreciates the rushedness of it, really. ]

Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out.

[ and he'll be showing up about ten minutes later, just want time it takes him to walk down the block. a knock comes at her door. ]

text.

[selfequipped]

Hey, Thomas.

Guess that explains the tone of that one article that Narga threw around. Tabloid, huh?

text.

[shuckit]

guess so. so where's this leave us? aside from with a lot more questions.

text. private.

[gluestick]

probably a stupid bloody question but you know none of that was your fault, right? it wasn't you.

text. private.

[shuckit]

yeah. i know. thanks, newt.

[ this is a lie. like most catastrophic things, thomas looks at this as a failure on his part, that risked a lot of lives. but he's not going to make an argument about it. ]

[wonk]

quismas stuck in holidays brain or smth right

maybe stick a shutdown switch in whatever we put him in after we get him out?

[shuckit]

that's the story. we haven't even found a way to actually get him out yet, let alone make customizations to it.

[pyms]

The information I got is from a Wendy Chen: Quisma was involved with a man named Joshua Kirby. Wendy herself is in a relationship with your hijacker and Ronnie King might have an answer as to who murdered Quisma. Wendy has a memory of Singh going to question him.

[shuckit]

chen's in a relationship with singh? gross. dude's a total freak.

you know where we can reach those guys? or who had kirby and king?