IC Inbox (v1.0)

[jumpthegun]

You've reached Dr. John Watson. Please leave a message.

Comments

[devoutish]

I'll have to sort things out with these new developments, first.

[jumpthegun]

Mm... Really hoping the static won't last. It's... not good.

[He means it more than just physically.]

[devoutish]

Worse outside?

[jumpthegun]

A lot worse. It doesn't look like there's anything outside at night sometimes when you look out the windows. It's inside, too. Not as bad, but it's here. Worst is at night.

[Which lends credence, he hopes, to the notion that Bucky mistook him as an anomaly.]

[devoutish]

We'll stay inside as much as we can, then. Supply runs on hold for now.

[jumpthegun]

Okay. I think Ecks was heading over to Kesara's tunnel, at least. So they'll probably be able to get something. I asked her to bring food for everyone, and she said she would.

[devoutish]

You trust her with that sort of thing?

[jumpthegun]

House is in the pass. She'll help him, if no one else.

[devoutish]

I don't distrust her intentions, but she hasn't got much sense.

[jumpthegun]

I think she can manage getting food to people. She's the one who figured out how to copy the Shadownet on her own, Alfie.

[devoutish]

Mm. You know her better than I do, I suppose.

[He's not totally convinced, but.]

[jumpthegun]

Yeah. [That's probably the best he can hope for in terms of Alfie acquiescing on the issue.]

There is one other thing... not sure if Tifa might've mentioned it to you already. Her app worked. It led us to Jia Xú's body, the nurse practitioner I met when we were having all those dreams and who specialized in NIMA.

We found an SD card of the last thing she wrote and a video recording of her... murder. Whenever you get your sight back, you can watch it - no sound. But it's horrible. She gouged some bloke's eyes out trying to get him off of her.

Made a post about it in the link I'm sending here.

[He sends along the link.]

[devoutish]

Do you think it's gonna be a useful clue?

[Because he wouldn't put it past Watson to care solely on the basis of "she was someone I met who then died".]

[jumpthegun]

[Wow, okay. That's... absolutely true, but John thinks it's useful!]

I think so, yeah. It's giving us more context for what happened. The fact the NIMA system went down before and people didn't die suddenly and horribly is telling, too. Means the plague that happened before that we've heard about is separate from what incident drove people underground.

[devoutish]

Good.

Where was the card, the SD card? Inside a furniture cushion?

[jumpthegun]

[That gets a long pause.]

It was in the hand of a corpse inside a little room in the hospital that the murderer had bricked up. We had to punch our way in. Quark was the only one small enough to get through.

He said the body he found was still breathing, but stopped after handing over the SD card. I think... I think it was probably Jia.

[devoutish]

Did you take photographs? Video?

[jumpthegun]

I've got a vid of the cat paw prints on the wall, but a lot of it is... really static-y. That's the day it started up. We couldn't get any light into the room, though, not even when Quark was in there and trying to shine his tablet light. It was like the darkness was just eating everything up.

[devoutish]

Poor kid. Sounds like he did good though, eh? A hero to us all.

[jumpthegun]

He was incredibly brave. We tied some things to make a rope to pull him out if things got bad, but he soldiered right on. We wouldn't have been able to get this without him here. I just know this place is going to be hell on all these kids if we get out and they remember any of it.

[devoutish]

Better if they don't.

[jumpthegun]

Yeah. [There's not really much to disagree with there. Although, he hasn't forgotten the argument about making that sort of decision for other people that he and Alfie had gotten into about Fiona. This doesn't seem like the time to bring that up, though.

John breaks into another small coughing fit.]

Listen, mate, this is hell on my throat. I'd stay up talking to you all night, but... any chance some of the others have responded to you?

[devoutish]

Yeah, mate, go on.

[Alfie waves him off.]

Get some rest.

[jumpthegun]

You too, Alfie. I know it probably feels like you've slept enough, but keep your strength up.

I'm glad you're alive. Night.

[devoutish]

Yeah. Good night, John.

[And he hangs up.]