reverienet | video; un: H. Gurszky

Entry tags:

video; un: H. Gurszky

[ The video feed shows Erik in his newly-gifted civilian clothes, a red plaid flannel shirt over a white t-shirt and jeans. His expression is guarded. ]

Fellow residents. There is a video that has been shared with me that I want to make public knowledge. I do not know who sent this to me, or why. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the video, as it seems to show an event that happened before any of us arrived, as I do not recognize either of the people who appear in it. I will warn you, this video is disturbing.

[ The video switches to the one that had been forwarded to Erik.

A young man in the Reverie Terminal jumpsuit, his expression very stressed, standing at one of the consoles in one of the corridors. Behind him, the wall has been opened, its wiring revealed. An open toolbox and a screwdriver next to it stand by the panel on the ground. “—need immediate help,” he’s saying, voice panicked. The reason for the panic? Probably the fact that behind him, another man (middle-aged going by his features), is halfway into the ground and sinking further, as though the ground has turned to liquid. He’s scrambling, shouting (“Get me out of here!”) — and then he’s sinking further down to the neck and the shouting turns to choking.

“It’s this place.” That’s the young man again. “It’s killing us, fuck!”

And then the panel from the ground, the toolbox and the screwdriver all go flying. The panel hits the older man in the neck, his eyes roll back. The screwdriver hits the young man. Impales him, the tip of it coming out of his front. He makes a gurgling noise, reaching for something — and the message cuts off.

The video then goes back to Erik in the present. ]

I know a number of us have experienced strange things since arriving. Hallucinations, wires embedded in the skin, and the like. I think it would be in our collective best interest to start cataloguing these incidents with as much detail as possible, as well as recording information as to what happened to our predecessors, such as this. The more knowledge we are able to accumulate, the better our chances of finding a way to leave.

To that end, please fill out this form with any information on strange events that you are willing to share.

(OOC: I just threw this spreadsheet together, so I don't know if it's organized all that well. I've made an OOC post so we can hash out details if anybody has suggestions to improve it. Also feel free to treat this post as a mingle, and toss out whatever wild theories you'd like. Just keep the form dedicated to actual data, please.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Keep my jock clean. Got it.

[ he gives a mock salute to show just how much he's gotten it, oh yes. but, running water and soap are pretty nice. even an envoy likes the simple things. ]

Lack of atmosphere would be a problem.

[ a big one. ]

Got anyone that can hold their breaths for a long, long time?

And your hands, if you don't mind. They'll be in contact with more things, after all.

[ He doesn't quite roll his eyes, but he gets close. ]

There are a few androids around, from what I understand. [ He doesn't entirely trust them, but that has more to do with the fact that the majority of his experience with robots has been fighting the twenty foot tall, designed to wipe out your entire race kind. Not what any of them are actually doing. ] And Apollo did a spacewalk without a spacesuit not long ago.

Some of the people here are quite gifted.

[ His tone is carefully neutral. ]

Lucky them.

[ if he can help it, he's not going to mention his own abilities. it's refreshing to not be known and recognized everywhere he walks because of what and who he is. he hadn't been able to walk anywhere after bancroft pulled him out of the fucking ice and made him infamous. ]

All those gifts and no one's made any progress.

[ didn't seem quite right, did it? ]

Must not be as good as they all thought they were.

Indeed.

[ Erik drawls. He's also been keeping his abilities under wraps. Although his reasoning had more to do with people generally wanting to kill him when they recognized him.

C'est la vie. ]

We've only been here a few weeks. Right now we are suffering most from a lack of information. There are very few enhanced abilities that will get us that. Even a telepath can't read the mind of somebody who's not here.

[ Ah. There it is. The familiar sting of loss. If he hadn't left Westchester, would Charles be here now? Perhaps it's better that he had been half a world away, and Charles spared whatever this is. ]

Telepaths?

[ well, that was a bit of a thing. there were plenty of kooks who proclaimed to be able to read minds back on earth but it had been just a bunch of drugged up wannabes who wanted to make a quick buck before disappearing. ]

Actual telepaths or the ones that are gonna tell me my lucky numbers and what days of the week are gonna be the kindest to me?

[ actual telepaths were one of those things, if they existed, that he'd want to stay a ways away from. and he thinks the feeling would be mutual considering how utterly cracked his head is these days. ]

I'm almost hoping it's the former. Not real keen on someone getting inside my head when I don't allow it.

It's just an example. As far as I know there are no telepaths on the station. So far, the powers that I've personally witnessed have been the man who can fly in space without a space suit, and another who can manipulate water. There was also another on the network claiming to be some kind of half-vampire, but I'm not sure what that means or if it's even true. He seemed quite young.

[ And the young are prone to self-aggrandizement. ]

I think your chances are probably equal that they could be legitimate or a charlatan. But a legitimate one could be helpful in finding out if there are others on the station or if we're alone.

What a delightful mix of people I've found myself stuck with.

[ at least it wasn't the same run of the mill shit he'd gotten used to seeing on earth. ctac wasn't running around, trying to show everyone who'd pay attention that they had the biggest dicks and shooting anyone who wasn't impressed. there weren't meths throwing dinner parties and lording their money over everyone (that he'd seen) and no wannabes trying to emulate a group that was long dead.

it would have been a utopia if he'd been able to leave. ]

Would you trust a legitimate telepath? Sure yeah, they could help find out what the fuck's up with this place but you think that's gonna stop them from trying to dip into your head and see what sorts of pieces they can move around?

Not me. Not gonna happen.

[ better just to keep the existence of a telepath a secret from him so he doesn't do something that, well, he wouldn't regret it but it would probably get him into some shit and he's never liked the smell of shit all that much. ]

And we are stuck with you, as well.

[ His tone is even, though his expression is nonplussed. Most of the people Erik has met, save his fellow mutants, have seemed nice enough. At least at first. But the more he talks to them, the more they let their true colors show. Like now. ]

Depends on the telepath. Though I wouldn't worry too much. People are, by and large, remarkably dull. I think if one could read minds the novelty would wear off rather quickly.

[ Charles and Jean were always more interested in keeping the thoughts of others out. Emma didn't seem bothered by such things, but she was also utterly devoid of empathy so maybe it wasn't an issue for her.

She was a remarkable woman. Erik found himself missing her, now. ]

Yeah, but I'm a bundle of fun!

[ he punctuates that statement with a wry smirk. his type of fun probably didn't line up with many others but he thought he knew how to have a good time. didn't matter that there was typically bloodshed involved. a guy had to have his pleasures in life. ]

But, your words are noted. Still don't want anyone poking around in there.

[ though, there is a part of him that's curious about what they'd read him as and if the cortical stack would cause any issues. if anything, he'd give whatever telepath who thought they were cute and tried to read his mind a lot to digest. ]

Who wants someone to know about all the porn they think about, right?

[ he's just putting you on, erik. he only thinks about that every so often but he bets you think about it sometimes too, erik. ]

Sounds like you have some experience with telepaths though. Personal experience. Anyone who claimed to be able to do that where I'm from got labeled as a crank or a druggie.

I can honestly say I spend very little time thinking about pornography. But perhaps your personal history is a little less colorful.

[ Dude's done a few laps around the block, what can I say? ]

There's nobody where you're from who simply has a good imagination? Personally I don't want to hear most of the thoughts that people actually give voice to. Telepathy would be a curse.

[ Yes, he's evading. He's not going to make it easy, ok. ]

I've just had a lot of time to think. And sometimes, you just have to think about porn. A man has to have some kind of entertainment in his life.

[ ignore the fact that there was no thinking when his stack was shelved in some company's lab while he served out his sentence. the beautiful thing about no one knowing where he comes from is that he can lie. ]

Plenty of people with good imaginations. They just tend to be on drugs and those good imaginations are a precursor to them trying to claw your fucking eyes out. Personally, I wish they'd just write that shit down.

[ and you were avoiding his question, erik. naughty naughty. ]

[ What did Erik think about during his time in solitary? A lot of things. Regrets, plans for vengeance, mentally playing chess against himself. When his thoughts did stray to the more prurient it was still his own experiences that captured his musings.

But he doesn't want to rub that in. ]

Unless they're imagining pornography, apparently. The only creative outlet available. What year are you from again?

[ And going to continue avoiding it! ]

[ your avoidance was noted, erik. noted and forgotten for the moment but he wasn't going to just let it go. he'd be bringing it back up in the future. ]

2384.

[ he was an old, old man, erik. but, he knew he didn't look it and that was one of those small, stupid benefits of sleeves. you got old but you could fix that. ]

Ever been to that time?

[ he doubted it. ]

[ Erik doesn't exactly look his age, either. But the difference is only a decade or so and caused by fourth-wall casting reasons. So we won't get into that. ]

No. That's just over four hundred years in the future from when I was taken from Earth. What a glowing vision of the future of humanity you've painted. Such a shame I won't live to see it.

[ This is the future they keep trying to ensure by slaughtering mutantkind. Incredible. ]

Yeah, I've heard that no one here's discovered stack tech. Too bad for you.

[ not that kovacs necessarily wants to live forever. he doesn't want to die just yet but he's not going to pull a fucking bancroft and aim for immortality. soon enough, he was going to get tired of this world and just crush his own fucking stack. ]

If you did, you could live long enough to catch up to me. Maybe you'd run one of the hotels that no one stays at anymore.

[ kovacs could see it. he had a poe like type of demeanor minus the shotgun accessory. ]

[ What Kovacs has said about his future is hardly any sort of advertisement. Running a hotel for nobody sounds deadly dull. ]

As fulfilling as such a line of work undoubtedly is, I find myself quite satisfied with my more primitive existence.

Boring.

[ not that kovacs wants to be on this station, having this conversation since it means he's wasting time in getting his fucking pardon but the word primitive just automatically means boring in his opinion. ]

You make yourself sound like some sad, lonely man.

[ maybe he was???? ]

Hopefully this shit bucket changes that.

Ah, yes, instead of actually doing anything I could be dozing through a thrilling life of managing a failing hotel and drugging myself into a stupor. You are a travel agent's dream, Kovacs.

[ The assessment is something of an astonishment, as everything Kovacs has described of his world sounds like the most pointless, alienating existence imaginable. ]

You think being here is the solution and not the cause? Everybody I know is back home. A place you know nothing about because you've shown a complete lack of curiosity about anything other than your own, limited, experience. Which again, isn't surprising, considering what you've freely offered in a way that you seem to think is bragging about what your lifestyle is like. I'm not sad. I'm bored.

Never said the hotel was failing.

[ the other part was kind of right but poe's raven was mostly empty but well stocked anyway. poe was getting his money from somewhere. kovacs had just never cared to ask. ]

Well, join the fucking club.

[ boredom: party of two! ]

I don't need to be curious about your home because I'm not fucking there, am I? No, I'm here and I do think this is a solution. Someone dumped us all here for a reason. They're trying to solve something and we're the slave labor to get it done.

[ seemed pretty obvious to him. ]

Hotels tend to do better when people stay there.

[ He shakes his head a little. ]

So you couple your total ignorance with a complete lack of curiosity and think that this somehow gives you insight to other people's states of mind? Exceptional.

It's also possible that this is the result of a malfunctioning automated system. That there is no purpose to us being here at all. We don't really know enough to come to any conclusions at this point.

Hotels in my time are a little different.

[ kovacs isn't sure how poe keeps himself afloat but he does. must have something going on on the back end to get the money or maybe there's no fucking rent or whatever. he hadn't cared enough to ask. ]

We know enough to say it's fucked and if we're not careful, we're gonna be fucked too.

[ come on, they could agree on that, right? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video; un: H. Gurszky

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject