phaseshifter | IC Contact

No, not since the anomaly resembling her killed me. But that was quite some time ago. Not too long after she died, I think.

[ She's sounding as calm as usual, despite the current circumstances. Atta girl. ]

The things currently following us have taken... different forms. Assuming that's why you were asking.

That's why I was asking. [ Confirmed. Royce sounds awful, in comparison. His voice is raw and he sounds like he hasn't slept in a while, so at least one of them is collected. ] I'm wondering why we're seeing her. She didn't come from either of our worlds.

[ Ours being Alfie and Royce, of course. ]

Well - if it's anything like the last time, I'm working under the assumption that they're feeding from our memories somehow. Likely through the nanomachines. Robert Miller suggested that kind of thing could happen when he tried to explain how the creature in the morgue could look like me - wings included - when Beckett had never seen--

[ There's a tiny, vaguely embarrassed pause. RAMBLING. AGAIN. AT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT COMPUTER. ]

--Sorry, not important. I'm just saying that this particular anomaly - the one that looks like Fiona - could just be taking its form from more recent memories instead of ones from back home. Not that weird, right?

Is it following Alfie? Or you?

[ The answer seems obvious, but... ]

[ It's interesting, though! Royce doesn't completely understand because he doesn't have any idea of how technology works at all, but he appreciates the explanation anyway. ]

No, not that weird. In comparison to everything else. Didn't know nanomachines could do that. [ He clears his throat. ] I'd assume Solomons. Didn't exactly get along with Fiona and the other one is from my world.

Well, there's lots we can only guess about the nanomachines and their workings, since nobody here ever tells us jack sh-- anything. Anyhow, um, that does sound pretty conclusively like the Fiona-thing is Alfie's.

[ Which he's probably not taking well at all, is he. At least it isn't Emily, but still. Ouch.

Not that Royce sounds like he's taking this well, either. If she frames this as advice for Alfie, maybe she can help them both?? ]

If he's bugging out, remind him that it's not really her. Not if this is like last time. The anomalies are just stealing familiar shapes, that's all. If that wasn't the case, having our memories deleted couldn't really have deleted the anomalies with them. Right?

[ It probably would've killed both of them if it'd been Emily. There's a long pause from Royce's end. He's very, very sleep deprived. ]

I know it's not her. [ Or - wait, shit. Angel wasn't talking about Royce bugging out. He thinks about correcting himself, but doesn't bother. Another pause. ] The last time?

I - um, sorry. Were you not here when this happened before? We all got an anomaly following us that looked like someone we knew, and they only disappeared after our memories were altered. Kinda hecked up.

You may want to... Iunno. Write things down about the person following you. Or talk about them. Just in case the solution this time is something similar.

No, I wasn't here. [ Ahhh, he does not like the idea of his memories being altered. Especially not of Gwen. He panics, though he does enough to keep it out of his voice. ] Tell me more. What was altered? You obviously recognize that they were altered. How?

I don't know what exactly was altered. Someone else figured out what happened - I... don't remember who, suitably enough. It's been a while.

Whatever the alteration was, it can't have been that important. Maybe not even connected to the person who followed me at all...? This is kinda hard to think about.

[ Another pause, and then a little more tense: ] So it didn't take away the memory of the person.

No. Her name was Gaige. A vault hunter. Gifted in matters of robotics. Originally from Eden-5, outcast after accidentally causing the death of a fellow student at her school. Came to Pandora at the age of eighteen.

[ She's reciting that more to reassure herself that she still knows it more than anything. She remembers Gaige. She remember's Gaige's history, her appearance, and her travels with other vault hunters. Nothing seems to be missing? ]

But it still pays to be ready for the worst. This time the anomalies are - they couldn't speak last time. Maybe more drastic adjustments to our memories will be needed?

[ THAT'S NOT HELPING, ANGEL ]

They're speaking, this time. Are they asking you for something? [ Just confirming as he barely holds down the internal shrieking from becoming external. ]

Yes. But regular anomalies have made it known that they're looking for something within us before. It's just the way they're expressing it that's new.

[ Read: "HOLY SHIT THEM TALKING OUT LOUD IS SUPER FUCKED UP AND I WOULD LIKE IT TO STOP." ]

All the more reason to keep them at arm's length, I suppose. In case more motivation was necessary.

They want the lights. That's what I wanted, when I was a monster.

They've gotten hold of people before. What's stopping them from taking the lights? I was able to do it. Why can't they?

Iunno. I don't have many theories about what the lights even represent, honestly. Some of the others have lost them and they still seem fine, right? Not soulless zombies or anything. So people can still be people after losing their lights, but anomalies seem to think they can't become people without one...?

[ The shrug is pretty much audible. ]

The first anomaly I ever encountered killed someone and then kinda spoke inside my head. It was repeatedly asking where the thing it was looking for was, so maybe they can't see the lights the way we could when we were monsters?

Could be a slow process. You lose your light and over time you become an anomaly. Maybe the lights are all that's keeping us from turning into them permanently.

Doesn't explain getting turned into them recently, though. [ Sigh. ] Too many pieces and not enough slots to put them in.

IC Contact - Snowblind

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