ᵐᵒᵈᵉˡ ⁰¹ ⁽ᵗᵉˣᵗ⁾

[littlebisque]

[Two weeks. Two weeks she's been here, every day more stressful than the last. Natalie depends on logic, it's her only anchor in a twisted-up, confusing world - but there's not enough of it here. Powers that shouldn't exist, technology that shouldn't exist, machines that the government put inside her. A job that's loud and chaotic, where she's sent arbitrarily from one random item to the next, fast, fast, fast, never letting her stop, and the machine blares angrily at her if she's even two seconds late. She can't stand it, but she's terrified of what might happen if she tries to quit.

And that's not even to mention the bizarre images and voices vibrating in her head - (that last one's the network, of course, but it's hard to tell how much of it is real, if any, and it deeply unsettles her). She's been trying to ignore it, but it's easy to activate, and there's no end to it.

She's had enough.]

I can't do this

Please let me go home

["Post." And the thought slips away into the ether.

She doesn't expect a reply, not really.]

Comments

[illuminescent]

You can.

Do you need help?

[littlebisque]

[A pause that's on the long side.]

I don't know. Maybe

Nothing makes any sense

Is this really happening?

[illuminescent]

Yes, I fear it likely is.

What can I do to make this better?

[littlebisque]

Besides letting me go home?

[illuminescent]

Yes. I cannot do that.

[littlebisque]

[Another pause.]

My job. I can't do it. I- I know where everything is! I could do it if there wasn't a time limit. But if you're one second late, you get reprimanded. It's not fair.

text

[helladoomed]

nobody can send you home

you're as stuck here as the rest of us

sorry

[littlebisque]

[Chloe Price: master of reassuring :')]

But why? Nobody will tell me why! There's got to be a reason!

[helladoomed]

[She is 1000% reassuring.]

nobody knows why. most people think it's completely fuckin random

people just get lucky

or unlucky

[littlebisque]

... Yeah. The wrong place at the wrong time.

[which is. literally where they are.]

[helladoomed]

pretty much

or the right time

some people are better off here

[littlebisque]

Better? [She can't even imagine that.]

[ voice ]

[hostage]

[Jesse has the sort of deep, rough voice that can sound strangely soothing when he's speaking in a gentle tone, which he utilizes now:]

Hey. I know it's scary to be in a different world, but you're okay. And you'll be home before you know it and you won't remember any of this. It won't even be like a bad dream. It'll be nothing.

[littlebisque]

[It's soothing, yeah... but it also helps that he's saying what she wants to hear.]

So I was right. It is just a nightmare.

[hostage]

Yeah. You just have to pull through 'til you get sent back. Lucky we're all here to help each other, right?

[littlebisque]

"We"...

You mean... imPorts?

[hostage]

Yeah.

Private; Text

[restingstitchface]

[Too many people speaking by voice, in person. Too much distraction. Too much noise. Better to privately approach through her preferred method of communication, he thinks. She's lost her stability, lost the people she associates with, and this new world was shaking her up enough to force her into adopting some very bad habits.]

Hello. Can I ask you a question?

[Maybe that's all he has to say? Maybe it's enough?]

Private; Text

[littlebisque]

[If it was video, this reply would just be the tiniest of shrugs.]

I guess

Perma both of those tbh

[restingstitchface]

You seek your return home because this world is illogical. Powers and technology. The noise. Nothing about it makes sense. Is that right?

[littlebisque]

[A pause. She's mentioned some of that, but not all.]

Yeah. That's it exactly.

How did you know?

[restingstitchface]

I've been alerted by your conversations. I suppose you don't know that, unless they're locked like what I've done here, they're open to the public?

[A nervous, twitching thing likes her privacy and quiet, right?]

text;

[fuckinstoplights]

I feel the same as this.

Has anyone told you how to get home?

[littlebisque]

No. Everybody says there's no way

[Pause. Except for that one thing Jesse said...]

But all you have to do is wake up, I think.

[fuckinstoplights]

That's what they told me, too.

... Wake up?