maskormenace | Entry #001 (Joint post)

[ On the screen there is a boy. He is brown-haired, hazel-eyed, and wearing a pair of wire-framed glasses. He’s also wearing a garishly orange polo shirt, against the advisement of the other boy beside him. The glasses-wearer is Gansey, and he comes with a friendly, very-nearly-cheerful, smile. ]

Good morning. My apologies, if I’m interrupting any of you. I’m Gansey. [ He points beside him, to the dusty-haired, sepia-toned boy with his nose in a book. ] This is my friend, Adam Parrish. [ The book moves down an inch, Adam’s mouth twisted in displeasure. ] I said I’d sit here, not that I’d join in.

[ Gansey pauses mid-flow, concentration suddenly shifted to Adam. ]

Saying hello is not joining in. I’m being polite, why can’t we be polite?

I’ve said hello to people. [ Glancing to the device in Gansey’s hands and then up to his friend’s face again. ] Multiple people! If I’d have realised we were putting on a show I’d have swapped places with Lynch. What’s wrong with texting?

[ Gansey’s head does a minute little shake. ] No one wants to read this amount of text. Just bear with me, all right?

[ Adam pauses for a moment and then let’s himself think about how much they need to ask, what they’ve already discussed. He has a point. ] Okay, fine. [ A sigh. ] Carry on.

[ And so Gansey does, attention back on the lens. ]

We’re new here, although I’ve met a fair few of you already. I thought it was time for formal introductions. We’ll have seen some of you at school. We’re going to Xavier’s. If you’re a student there, let us know. We’d like to meet you. I also have a few questions. Don’t feel you have to be a student to answer them - I’m looking for any takers.

[ He pauses to put something small and leafy into his mouth, and shifts his posture. Looking mildly more comfortable, he continues. During this time Adam closes his book and twists a little where he’s sat to watch the epic reveal of Studious Gansey to the masses. It’s his favourite part. ]

What I’m after is knowledge. I’m painfully bereft of it here. It’s very disconcerting to know that the history of a place is entirely different from all I’ve learned. I need to catch up.

But most of all, more than anything else, I’m interested in that Porter. I’ll be honest with you; as fascinating as it is here, I was in the middle of something I wasn’t ready to leave, and I need to get back to it.

[ He pauses, thoughtful, wondering how to go on. His thumb runs across his lower lip, an unconscious signature of his thought process, of gears turning in his head. There’s an energy about Gansey even though he’s sitting still. This is important, and he wants to phrase it properly, but there’s also a great deal he needs to say. ]

None of my theories are good enough, strong enough, to explain what that machine does. Is it drawing energy that comes from a natural source, like a ley line? Does it have its own source of power? How does it decide which of us it brings here, and why does it give us powers? I’m not just talking about how we’re all supposed to be heroes. That’s a human answer to a question that may have nothing to do with humanity at all. If you have theories, I’d like them. No matter how outlandish you think they seem.

[ He’s serious. Every investigation has a beginning. Every search starts out with false leads. He will pull at every thread until he finds the right one; that’s what he does. Gansey has always been good at finding things. This is a problem, but it’s not one he’ll let go. He’s only just beginning. ]

I’ve already spoken to a few of you. I’ve heard tell about a being calling herself Lachesis, and I’ve heard there was another world, before this one, that some of you were stranded in. She brought you here, and apparently, she talked to you. I’ve also heard she hasn’t talked since. If any of you know more about this, I’d like to hear from you. I’d also like to hear from anyone who has studied the Porter as it is now - or anyone who’d like to, because I promise you, it will be a study of mine.

[ His fingers tap idly against his knee. That thoughtful expression is still there, still not done, but somehow it’s gotten lost in itself. So he looks to Adam, who drives a clear path through that chaos better than anyone Gansey has ever known. ]

Adam?

[ Adam looks up startled, as if he’d been too caught up in Gansey doing his thing to remember that he was part of it. He frowns and then leans a little closer towards him to be seen. ] We get it, we’re new. But you can trust us. We just want to understand. If we can do that then we might be able to help. [ Superhero Adam Parrish. He looks uncomfortable. Pleading with the masses is awful. He sends a furtive look to Gansey once more and picks up his book again.

Gansey, meanwhile, is watching him with a smile that’s altogether different than the one he’d given the camera.]

And, that’s why you’re in the video. [ Gansey nods, flashing his eyes back to the device again. ] Thank you all for your time.

[ End feed. ]

(( ooc: Gansey is black; Adam is green. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's probably the same one.

Possibly- but some imPorts come from worlds without magic as well. And if so, how were they able to turn it off before?

Drawing power from an outside source doesn't preclude that there could be a switch on this end. It's still a machine - or it was, from what I saw. Just because you turn something off doesn't mean you've pulled the plug.

[ The worlds without magic, though. That's a difficult one. ]

Perhaps it doesn't only draw power from place. Maybe people have an impact, as well. There's more than one kind of energy, and we don't know which type it seeks. It may not have the same limits we do.

Or perhaps porting us through is its version of air or coolant being pushed through a machine to make sure it doesn't overheat- there may not be anything it's looking for, just that it can push us through. We really have no way of knowing if our being ported in was deliberate, or simply a side effect of something else.

Yes.

[ There's a shift in his voice, some change where energy because thoughtfulness, pensiveness. ]

Yes, that's also true. We may not be the objective at all, and we'd have no way to know.

Not unless we were able to communicate, somehow, with the intelligence behind it. With Lachesis, herself.

And that's the root of the problem- she's not talking, and I'm not sure what we could do that would compel her to speak?

Or perhaps the silence is a message in its own way.

Or perhaps it means that she's waiting for us. It's not as if anyone's gotten close enough to try, is it?

Instead of compelling, we could just try asking. As a first step.

People have tried- the porter scientists certainly have. And I think several imPorts were given the chance some time before my arrival. As far as I know, nothing came of it.

Were they? I didn't know that. All I knew was that it was forbidden, now.

[ A pause. If her ears are good, she might pick up the sound of pen scratching on paper. ]

This is exactly what I need. Or part of it, anyway. I need a timeline of when things happened, how they happened. Who was involved, if they're still here. How do you know all of this?

I don't know who was involved, but- I pay attention, I read old network posts. And one of the varieties of magic I use requires an excellent memory.

And if you look around enough, some people have archived what they know.

[And she sends him another link.]

Edited 2015-09-22 01:10 (UTC)

So the other sisters are involved. Clotho and Atropos.

You're a wealth of information, Sabriel. Christ, I'm an absolute fool. I didn't see the Roman link. The three cities.

Who put this together? Do you know?

Or were- there's been little sign of them in this world. Perhaps that's for the best.

Although there are still questions- more of them than answers, I think.

His name's Thomas. I think he's still around, but I haven't spoken with him in a while.

I'll see if I can, then. Thank you.

[ A little pause, thoughtful. ]

You are still searching for these answers, aren't you? How long have you been looking?

Since shortly after I arrived. The incident with the Hornets provided considerable incentive.

Edited 2015-09-22 03:24 (UTC)

[ A pause. ]

Hornets.

As in, the stinging insect?

Or a load of domestic terrorists who hated imPorts and wanted to make sure everyone else did to.

I see. Interesting name.

What precisely did they do?

Before I arrived? Bombed a monorail, and gave some imPorts delusions about who they were. That was apparently a test for what they did later.

Shortly after I arrived, they set large parts of Heropa on fire, destroying a bridge and the imPort prison.

Then they engaged in a bit of kidnapping and theft- and used some kind of virus to take control of some imPorts nanites- the idea was to rewrite their minds to be copies of some members of the Hornets.

While it wasn't entirely successful- they didn't lose their identities completely- those affected did everything they could to sabotage the reputation of imPorts, and show everyone what a threat we were, how unfair it was that the government was giving resources to us instead of their own citizens. Some of them went on a rampage, and one of them tried to destroy the Porter- unsuccessfully- but Moira Nomos was among those killed in the attack.

[ This is getting worse and worse. Why is everyone obsessed with Communists when this sort of thing has been going on? He didn’t see a single mention of this group at the swear-in. ]

So they were a terrorist group, essentially, focused on imports. I can’t believe this is the first I’ve heard of them.

What has happened since then, is the group still in existence? Are they still a threat? It’s incredible to me that they could have been so active, and yet all anyone wants to talk about is Russia.

What did native people think about them? I hope they weren’t widely supported.

You haven't heard of them because they've been defunct for months. After what they tried to pull, imPorts banded together to stop them- the vast majority of them are imprisoned, and with their resources and infrastructure gone, the handful who weren't are just trying to stay out of jail.

Their actions caused a lot of harm to people native this world- stopping them actually made imPorts rather popular, for a time.

Well then, that's some good news. I'm glad to hear it. I'd say it's a shame that popularity didn't last, but from what I've heard, that's not particularly unreasonable.

[ When imports are responsible for deadly attacks, they can't really be expected to be flavour of the month. That sort of activity doesn't help anyone. ]

Entry #001 (Joint post)

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