video; @unknown

[redshiftnpc]

[ 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.

Comments

video;

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Okay, gross?

But she answers in kind only because she knows damn well that he already knows what she looks like.]

Last I could tell, you came back to fucking perv on us you creep. What are you doing that's so goddamn helpful?

[redshiftnpc]

[ He blinks his one good eye rapidly, clearly startled. ]

Perv on? I didn't. I don't. It wasn't for that.

text; @onni

[scowlish]

[Well, this is...bothersome. Worrying. The tentacles everywhere looks really familiar i a very bad way.]

What happened to your face?

[redshiftnpc]

I don't remember. Time. Time happened to everyone.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Yeah right. Don't know what the hell kind of place you come from where watching people through hidden cameras they don't know about isn't creepy as fuck. [Julie isn't buying it.]

But go on, fucking change my mind.

[redshiftnpc]

I know who came. I know who left. When they disappeared. I watched. I kept track. Looking for the patterns, the patterns, I was too stupid to look last time.

video;

[writtendestiny]

[Poison has a lot of questions. She doesn't look too taken aback by his appearance - she has seen many things worse - but she had needed to steady herself before answering and even as she speaks she can feel her heart pounding.]

... Who are you?

[scowlish]

It looks like something from home.

[redshiftnpc]

I'm Joseph. [ He tries to make his voice gentler, though it's hard to tell. ] I'm Joe.

[redshiftnpc]

We all bring pieces of home with. We all do it, meaning to or not.

[audio | @SCARAMOUCHE]

[numerouno]

Things even worse than you, babe?

[writtendestiny]

Joseph. [She echoes it back, keeping her attention on his 'good' eye. It would be more difficult if she was really standing in front of him, but...]

I'm Poison. [Maybe he knows that already?] I... recognise that room you're in.

[scowlish]

Are you saying you have the Rash?

[audio]

[redshiftnpc]

[ If only Scaramouche could see the confusion on Joe's face as he tries to figure out if that's flirtation or not. ]

I'm... here to help. I'm helping you.

[redshiftnpc]

Rash?

[ A pause. ]

No. Not like that.

[scowlish]

You're sure about that?

[redshiftnpc]

Yes, Poison! Poison and Peter, I know you both, together and separate. [ He rubs his face, the twisted side, and the little tentacles grab at his fingers before he pulls his hand away. ]

Not a... perv. That's not why, you just don't understand.

[redshiftnpc]

I don't know.

Hasn't gone away.

Rashes go away.

[scowlish]

How long has your face been that way?

[redshiftnpc]

So long.

It fights me.

[scowlish]

[Hmm, he wouldn't be coherent if he had the Rash for that long.]

Fights you? In your mind or your body?

[writtendestiny]

[She frowns, unsure of which one of those statements to tackle first. Instinct drives her one way while common sense takes her the other, and she takes a deep breath.]

What do you mean when you say you know me?

[redshiftnpc]

I've seen you. I've watched you. I've protected you, all of you.

[redshiftnpc]

Both. The body, because there's a mind there, a mind behind it, one that won't talk to me.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[SQUINT.]

Yeah, yeah we know about your goddamn watching. Why didn't you just ask, huh?