03 video.

[gluestick]

[ The video clicks on to show Newt, but he doesn't really seem focused on the device at all. Staring past it, eyes clouded with... something. The feed jerks around sporadically from shaking hands, and Newt looks filthy on screen, like he's been in one too many fights that he may not have won, covered in dirt and grime, blood and wounds.

After a minute of this, his eyes snap to the screen, clearing with recognition, remembering what he'd turned it on for in the first place. ]

Sorry, I- I'm... not well. I've got the Flare and it's getting worse. [ A deep breath, and he's dragging a trembling hand through his hair. ]

I think I'm contagious, and that means you're all infected unless... there's people called Munies- [ his expression sours at the term ] Immunes, shanks that don't get sick with it. Don't know if they exist here, you're better off going to a hospital, getting tested for disease or somethin'.

Just- for God's sake, don't bloody breathe on anyone until you do or we'll all be dead.


[ private to housemates & castmates ]

I'm not coming back. Don't look for me this time, it's better this way.

[ ooc| this is newt's announcement for the flaring up plot! commence mass hysteria and crank outbreaks and all that fun stuff

eta: here is a catch-all log for plot shenanigans, if you so desire! ]

Comments

[gluestick]

No! That's the exact kind of mindset that's left the population of my world crippled. It'll keep spreading, it's not going to just go away, you can't live like this.

[darwinatrix]

The exits are sealed. The wind is blowing out to sea, ensuring that the airborne germs go with it. The Porter is shut down. The healthy will be behind walls.

It's fatal, isn't it? Within a matter of weeks, the city will be safe again. Not an ideal solution, but if our research can't find a cure in time, it's the only damn one we've got.

You want me to just expose the uninfected to this disease of yours?

[gluestick]

You can't be sure it's gonna be weeks. Just cause I lost my bloody head that quickly doesn't mean every shank does. I've had Cranks tell me it takes months to get to where I'm at, sometimes longer. And there's no buggin' way to know when you're gonna drop dead from it, how are you even gonna know it's safe to go out?

[darwinatrix]

I'll say again: You want me to just expose the healthy to the disease?

We're working on a cure. Until we find one, the people I can save, stay saved.

If we can't find one... then we move to worst-case-scenario plans. Remove the gangrenous limb.

[gluestick]

If you can't find one, the whole world's gonna be overrun with this. It'll be a repeat of exactly what happened with my world, and I can't accept that. Quarantine the bloody sick, so they aren't spreading it further than it already is. You let them roam free and you've just sealed this planet's fate.

[darwinatrix]

What makes you think I'll let them roam free, boy? Look at the roads out of Heropa. You'll find barricades and soldiers with guns.

The whole city is a quarantine for the sick. The walls are to keep the uninfected safe.

If we can't find a cure, the city burns to the ground.

[gluestick]

You gonna block the Porters off too? The bloody sky? You can't seal the city off, not really. And if spreads, what are you gonna do? Burn every buggin' city it shows up in?

[darwinatrix]

The Porters have been disabled. We'll be controlling the wind to blow out to sea.

If needs be, yes. You said it yourself. There's no cure. And we have no way of knowing how far the infection has already spread thanks to your negligence. It would be nigh impossible to round up all of the infected in order to properly quarantine them at this point. It only takes one to get out and keep spreading it.

We save those we know to be healthy. Keep everyone else in the city. Turn everything to ash if it fails.

[gluestick]

You're talking about mass murder of innocent people! Are you bloody insane!? Yeah, it's my fault they're infected, but I'm not just gonna let you kill a bunch of people that have done nothing wrong! Just... fix it!

Find a cure!

[ He knows how futile it is to beg for that, but he cannot cope with being the reason three cities might burn to the ground. ]

[darwinatrix]

We're working on it, brat. But if one can't be found, I'll do what I have to to stop it from spreading to the rest of the world. A handful of lives is a small price to pay to stop a worldwide pandemic.

[gluestick]

We're not talking a handful, you complete whacker! You're talking complete cities of people! I won't let you do that.

[ He has no idea how he'd even stop it, but he refuses to let that be the way this ends. ]

[darwinatrix]

Shut that mouth of yours, you little whelp; it's talking nonsense. [She practically growls, her gaze frigid.]

You think I want to turn whole cities to dust? You think that's my first plan? We're working on a cure now. We've turned Heropa into a quarantine and shut off all venues of transit. If the line holds, it'll end here.

But if it fails, I will not risk this whole planet falling to your pandemic. I will do what I have to to save the lives of billions. And not you, nor anyone else, will stop me from doing what must be done.

[gluestick]

It shouldn't be a plan at all! What about the people that might've gotten it and already left? You can't know for sure! I won't let you use that option!

[ Newt is shaking at this point. He just can't get his temper back under control, can't stop screaming into the device with a crazed look. So he does the only thing he can think of to do to get himself to stop, which is to cut the connection. He throws the communicator a second later, and it's a wonder it still works for how many time he's cracked it against a tree today. ]