meadowlark | @stephen.strange | via morningstar network, a couple of days after cassius' post

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@stephen.strange | via morningstar network, a couple of days after cassius' post

[ It isn't real. That's a fact upon a fact: none of it is real, but this even less so.

Usually, knowledge matters. It had for a while here too. Taken him from staggering frantically down part-collapsed tunnels over obstacles whose names he didn't know, calls giving way to bellows, in search first of life and then just of obstacles whose names he did know— to sitting quietly, raking thick air into his lungs, body too beleaguered to be good for more than waiting for the day to end.

And eventually he'd slept. And the day did end. And when he woke and turned on his flashlight to gear himself up for greeting the millions who ought now to be staggering back down into the tunnels, fresh from their reset - he'd found them exactly where he'd left them.

This will not be ending soon. This will not be over until somebody makes it so. But his thoughts won't be gathered into shape. The wall at his back is still hot from the blast. The air is cloying. His skin sloughs under his touch.

The quiet is too heavy. He needs the reminder. ]

Talk to me
Please

[ ooc: for those in the sim, none of the things described in the above brackets will be visible to anyone but him, but Stephen will have been seen by some about half a day before this post searching haphazardly around the tunnels, calling both in general and then specifically for people, then staring very intently with varying expressions of grim hopelessness at patches of nothing, and eventually giving that up for sitting very quietly on the ground in a tunnel somewhere. He's non-responsive to attempts to interact with him throughout and wouldn't previously have been replying to any attempts to contact him via the network either.

Feel free to assume your character has spotted him or been aggressively bumped into by him or heard about him being Weird, or on the flipside to have no idea he's been acting like he's having a really bad trip. ]

Threaded | Flat

Hey.
I thought about a new special for the bar.

Are you alright?

I'm here.

[Kyna is down for a distraction too, so—]

i can't believe you haven't fired tim yet

stephen strange as in
sorcerer prime or whatever?

[ it's a plea that Tomoe is not— altogether unfamiliar with, in sentiment. and though he lacks empathy, and feels no particular concern for a stranger, all this situation requires is boredom enough to engage. he doesn't even need to care about the outcome. low effort, low stakes. ]

I've been thinking about reading human literature.
Any recommendations?

Feeling lonely?

Mister, you have no idea how GOOD the food is in New Beijing. Even now, it's arguably the best food in the world - bar none. Not even your own bar, ha! There may be a surplus of vegetable-based foods, and I might be missing a good pork broth, but when you add a spicy sauce to cucumber you really cannot go wrong. The CRONCH is simply divine. Did you know "CRONCH" was a "meme" in ages past? Or, ages future-past, in my case. Anyways, I'm thinking we should include some nice, spicy meals at the bar. I only sing there, so if I need to submit my ideas in a formal manner, I'll

ughhhhhhhh

do paperwork. But, only because it's you. You should feel treasured!!!

you hanging in there, man?
I think somebody got wise to the whole shtick
I gotta be honest, shit's starting to feel a little off

Would you like to know what the rest of us are seeing around you
or talk about something completely unrelated

Did you do this on purpose?

[ mistrust is the word of the day for those on supply runs, so after waking up only to die of traumatic blood loss from an incomplete brain surgery that she'd never signed up for a second time, she's wondering if judas hadn't already converted some of them by the time these plans developed.

and it must have been the plans. she can't assume anything else might have led to the change. ]

hi gramps how u holding up

[ ah. this is a tone he knows.

but, lan wangji is no conversationalist. he is no bright and engaging thing. ]

I am listening.

[ he pauses. not entirely as he has asked, sure, but: ]

I have no time limit.

[ sometimes this is the best someone like him can do. ]

not rly how a booty call starts out there boss man

ur outta practice

lucky 4 u im an accommodating guy ;D

Would you like to engage in a discussion of morality?

Where are you?

[Before replying, Clarke read what she could. What he's experiencing is something she's familiar with—that she's lived through herself.

The last thing Stephen should be right now is alone.

At least he knew to reach out. It's smart. A sign of some stability.]

[alarm bells going off because phase two is giving her some strong thisavrou flashbacks anyway]

I'm here. What happened?

oh hey. how are u doing??

[ Lottie is not in the simulation because she wanted to try to expand her brand to Neo Tokyo. That didn't really work and now she can't get back into New Amsterdam. Her engagement is way down!! What a spiral.

Also another weird thing seems to be happening to the other kidnapped people but she hasn't really been paying attention to that, because, see above. ]

[ Wash doesn't know what specifically is wrong, but doesn't have to. He recognizes his boss' name and the fact that even from those four words he must be extremely distressed, and answers. With the first thing he can think of. ]

Here or do you need company?

Threaded | Flat

@ren.amamiya

@tifa.lockhart

@hafid.alghul

@kyna.medina

@bartholomew.peanut

@tomoe.mikage

@gabriel.reyes

@xuanyu.mo

@robert.plant