redshiftrp | video; @unknown

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video; @unknown

[ The communicator bobs, turns, points at the floor. There’s muttering from a voice some of Anchor’s residents will recognize. When the camera rights itself, it’s a close-up of Creepy Joe’s face, the eye that was formerly sealed shut now open and writhing with tiny flower-like tentacles. His other is steady, crazed blue.

His mouth is still twisted, his lips still curving upward on the ruined side of his face, not quite hiding teeth too long and sharp for a human mouth. There’s movement behind and between his teeth, though it’s hard to see what it is until he opens his mouth--more tentacles, tiny flailing things growing from the insides of his cheeks, the roof of his mouth, his tongue. They make him lisp hoarsely as he talks.]

Don’t go down. Don’t do it. You’ll open the way to worse things, worse things, worse.

[ He glances behind him, and in spite of the close angle, some at Anchor might also recognize where he is. In his little hole in the wall, where he was recording the actions of Anchor’s new residents. ]

Trust me. I came back, didn’t I? I came back to help.

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[ Aw Peter. It's the thought that counts.

He shivers uneasily. ]

Should move. Shouldn't stay here, if people know.

[ Some of the tentacles protruding from his eye swirl around each other and untangle themselves again. ]

I'll wait. No one else?

Some of us know, yeah. You were diverting a lot of power to your cave, it was kind of hard to miss. It should be fine, though, I'm coming by myself. Be there in a few minutes.

[And since he has his webs and is too cool to take the stairs, Peter ends up at the opening of the tunnel in just a few minutes and calls into it.]

Joe? It's Peter, can I come in?

YES. [ The shouted reply mostly hides the scuffling sounds in the cave. Peter will find him stuffing cables into corners one-handed and picking bits of garbage off the floor to pile next to the cave's mouth.

He stops when Peter walks in. ]

H... Hello.

[There's something weirdly charming about this Eldritch horror of a man cleaning up his spooky spy cave for guests. He really can't help but smile.]

Hey, man, good to see you. Sorry if I got here a little too fast.

Good...?

[ For a moment he looks like he’s waiting to hear a punchline. ]

Good... to see you. Too. [ He sounds like he’s experimenting with the words. ] Last time— I wasn’t right last time. The storm, the storm was in my head.

[Finally, someone more awkward than Peter. It's a new year's miracle!]

That's something I wanted to ask you about, actually. How long have you been hanging around Anchor, and has being shielded from the storm helped your whole... situation at all? You seem uh... A little more clear headed, I guess is a good way to phrase it.

Edited 2020-01-03 03:41 (UTC)

How long... [ He rocks back and forth for a moment, trying to puzzle it out. ] Since the big storm, the one that covered the dome.

[ Because what are months, weeks, or days??

He crouches with his back to the far wall, not coming near Peter, even if he doesn't seem quite as wary as before. ]

I was alone for so long, so long. [ He scrubs his hand through his hair. ] Didn't... want to come back. It was all dead. All empty. Ruined. They ruined everything.

[ Right, no, focus, he has to focus. Peter said he was more clear headed, so that's what he's going to be. ] Remembered. How to... talk, how to think. Watching you all.

Right, right. I remember that.

[That's a good enough time frame for Peter, he can work it out from there.]

For what it's worth, I'm glad you came back. I will say, though, it really scared me when I found out we were being spied on. How did you manage to bug our rooms without any of us noticing? Or had the cameras and stuff just been there the whole time?

Edited 2020-01-03 04:57 (UTC)

Bugged them all, when things started... Before things got really bad. Had to know. Had to know what the others were doing, had to know so I could protect... pro.... [ He rocks back and forth again for a moment. ] Turned them on again as people came.

Okay, so this was before we all showed up. That-- that's... okay. I feel a little better about that.

[Knowing that this stuff wasn't installed to spy on them specifically wasn't really comforting, but it feels less threatening in a way.]

Can... can I ask who you were trying to protect? Not just yourself, I'm assuming.

[ He huddles in on himself, rocking back and forth in silence for nearly a minute. ]

Little girl. My little girl. I don't remember her name.

[Creepy Joe backstory: UNLOCKED.

Well, a little. Aaand this brings Peter to the reason he'd wanted to meet with Joe in the first place. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the photo that he'd found in this spooky spy cave the last time he'd been down here, glances at it for a moment before crossing the room, crouching in front of Joe, and offering the photo to him.]

Is this her?

[ He takes the photo with reverence, passing his thumb over the little girl's face like he can stroke her cheek through the image. ]

Yes. Thought... I lost this. Keep trying to throw it away, keep trying to forget that man. Not him, I'm not him any more. But I can't. I can't.

Sorry. When we were down here, I just grabbed whatever I could that looked like evidence.

[He's glad to be able to give it back, though, even if Joe can't seem to decide how he feels about having it.]

I think you should keep it. This, [he reaches over, taps the photo gently,] is always gonna be a part of you, no matter how much you've changed.

It's... fine. You brought it back. I... threw it away again. Before it disappeared. Thought this time I'd thrown it somewhere I couldn't remember.

[ He studies the photo, seemingly unsure how to reply to Peter's suggestion.

Eventually, he tucks it away in the pocket of his pants, pressing his hand over the pocket like that will protect the battered picture. ]

Don't know how to be him any more. [ He lifts his hand, pressing it against the ruined half of his face, pushing against his temple, then against the teeth that show between his lips. ] Gonna kill me. The thing inside.

There has to be some way to get that out of you, right? Being out of the storm already seems to be helping, we just need to figure out what else we can do.

[There's probably nothing, but Peter's one of those optimists.]

[ Joe shakes his head, apparently not bothered. ]

Been dying for a long time. Gonna be dying a lot longer. [ He lifts his hand to his temple again, then shifts it to cover his eye. ] Wouldn't be so bad... living again.

Would you let us try to help you?

[He gets that Joe seems to have accepted his fate, but uuuuuuuuh Peter hasn't, soooo.]

[ He studies Peter with his good eye, hand still covering the mess of his other. ]

You. [ He lets his hand drop, slowly. ] I'll let you. The others-- [ A noise deep in his throat, one that doesn't sound entirely human. ] Don't trust them.

[He nods, suddenly kind of internally freaking out because he doesn't even know the first place to start with helping Joe, but he'll figure something out.]

I'll do my best. If you don't trust them though, why are you trying to help? Not that I'm complaining, I appreciate it. Just wondering.

[ He... had not thought about that. It shows in the startled look he gives Peter. ]

I... because... [ He rubs his forehead. ] ...Because....

[ Now he just looks mystified. ] Because I wanted to help. Everyone. I wanted to help.

[ Joe casts a wary glance at the entrance to his little cave. ] But. They'll run me off. If I get close. If I come out. Take Anchor away again.

[ He rubs his head again, this time more fiercely. ] But I wanted to help.

Because it's the right thing to do, I get it.

[Doing a good thing for the sake of doing a good thing. Peter can totally get behind that, even if Joe's approach to the whole thing was a little sketchy.]

Listen, nobody's gonna run you off, nobody's going to send you back outside. I'll make sure that doesn't happen.

[ He goes quiet for a long moment. The fingers of his ruined hand twitch, start moving with the fluid, horrible grace of the tentacles in his eye.

He grabs the wrist of that hand, squeezing until his fingers still. ]

Scared.

[Peter watches, silent until Joe speaks again.]

I know you are. We're all scared. We're up against things we don't understand, and, y'know, people get scared of things that they can't explain sometimes. Right now, people don't understand you yet, but I really think the best thing for all of us would be to work together. I'm gonna try to help you get them to understand you, okay? We'll all figure this out together.

Edited 2020-01-03 17:36 (UTC)

[ He rocks back and forth a little. ]

One of you said... the others would hurt me. Take me apart.

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