redshiftrp | 01 | video

[ Multiple takes? Are amazing. But she's been trying to do without them for everything, so this camera angle will just have to be a bit... askew. ]

Maps, I know them! Well. Ocean maps. And... rivers? Mostly ocean maps. Is.

Is that helpful?

These maps don't look like they're of oceans but a lot of the same skills probably apply.

[ He's actually pretty sure they are of this planet - the Anchor, the outside, but he doesn't want to say that before he's sure. ]

Would you mind coming by the library some time to take a look? See if we can make out anything useful?

I could... try?

[ Voice uncertain: it hadn't been what she intended to offer. Or fail to offer. She meant to actually offer but the thought of what could happen if she moved off the bed-

It's not a good day in her brain, apparently. ]

Um. Could. Could you maybe show them on the screen? Maybe I could help a little from here.

[ Ben feels a flash of curiosity - is something keeping her from moving in general, or does she not want to be around him in particular? Maybe she'd heard rumors about him or his powers. That's the explanation his mind jumps to, but he doesn't question her request at all to confirm or deny. ]

Sure. I'll- just hang on.

[ And then he is fussing, setting the device to rest on a bookshelf at an angle with the camera facing out so he can then lift up one of the old maps, carefully. Only half Ben's face is visible on the screen beside it, along with the full map that he is holding as still as he can. ]

You need me to zoom in anywhere?

[ Annie? Would be mortified to find out that her own awkwardness, her own attempts to mitigate her brain, would make anyone think that she thought badly of them. But he doesn't question her and so - for now - she doesn't know. ]

Um, just.... hang on.

[ She leans closer, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully as she looks over the screen. At first, her glance is random, trying to take in too much at once.

Then she settles into a pattern, taking in all the lines and markings. ]

Can, um. Can you zoom in going across the map slowly? Horizontal?

Sure.

[ Ben takes a moment to adjust, clearly just eyeballing it to figure out how to make the map take up the full screen. Once he's got it as close as it'll go without getting out of focus, he moves it from side to side. His face is no longer visible but he still speaks as he's moving it. ]

If you've got any idea what some of these markings mean... I've been really curious. We know so little about this place and the people who were here before us. And I guessed these had to be important because they were kept in such a safe place, tucked away. People don't go to that much trouble to hide something that's nothing, you know?

[ This is still fucking awkward, but damnit, she is bored. ]

Where are you?

[ Well, that doesn't sound quite right. ]

I mean, all the books. How do I get to the books behind you?

[ Ben's life is so damn weird he barely even knows what awkwardness is anymore. He doesn't recognize her just by voice yet, but the username is a dead (no pun intended) giveaway. ]

Has no one showed you the library yet? You should get down here. What are you looking for? Mysteries? Sci-fi romance? Biographies?

[ Please not biographies, that is the most boring option possible...

Ben texts her a map of the Anchor with a little dot over the location of the library, because it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to explain with words how she can get there if she wants. ]

[ If Ben is willing to pretend that they didn't have a deeply personal and agonizing conversation and then avoid one another for a month, she is absolutely going to go along with it. She's even going to not poke at it to figure out if they were actually avoiding one another, or if she's just been avoiding him. Healthiest thing ever? Probably not. She's still gonna do it. ]

No biographies. Something entertaining. Fiction. No mysteries-- too much like work. That's... not going to help me get out of my head.

[ Anything that makes her think of her old life is the wrong kind of distraction. It'll put her in one of those staticky feedback loops that she has no idea how to break herself out of. Exhaustion can't continue to be her only coping mechanism. ]

[ When she specifies no biographies, Ben can't help smiling. A woman of refined taste. ]

Gotcha. Well, books are just about the best way to get out of your head I know of, and I can definitely recommend some good escapist fiction.

[ Ben has been following her lead, since their last meeting. That had been his offer that he was around if she needed, but... apparently what she needed was to not actually talk to him. Which is fine, no hard feelings. He gets that his mere existence, not to mention his family connections and how their paths had crossed, probably brings up a lot of confusing and bad stuff for her. ]

Can you tell me a few of your favorites, other things you've read you liked? It'll help me narrow it down.

Well...

[ She considers this for a bit. ]

I used to like science fiction quite a lot. Somehow I have the feeling that it will have lost a lot of its charm after seeing this place.

You'll never know until you try.

[ That is alarming, though. The pessimistic tone, and all that implies about how well Patch has been doing off on her own in the time since they last spoke. Maybe letting her isolate herself hadn't been a good idea after all. ]

And this place isn't all that bad. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the first few weeks, but it's not like a lot of the other places people have told me about, where there's wars and people getting experimented on and all kinds of shit. We're here, and alive. I think that's pretty charming. Even if it comes with some lockdowns and powerouts and stuff.

[ Patch makes a considering sound in the back of her throat. He's trying. Still... her problem isn't that the stories won't be good. ]

It's just-- not science fiction any more. It's fact, it's life. I liked having a complete escape from reality.

[ Except this is reality now. Strange planets and aliens and futuristic science. It's her new fact. ]

[ Ben thinks there's probably some sci-fi books that are different enough that they might work as escapism, but it's not worth pushing. Still, no pushback from her on not thinking this place is so bad, so... worrying. ]

Okay, fair. What about urban fantasy? Maybe that'll be more your thing, now. Or you could try historical stuff. Pirates and court intrigue and all that.

[ Patch perks up a little bit, though Ben won't be able to see it. Maybe it changes her voice just a little bit. Maybe it doesn't. These phones are pretty weird, after all. ]

Is there something down there about pirates?

[ Now they're getting somewhere! ]

I am sure I saw at least a couple pirated-related books, hang tight.

[ A good ten minutes later: ]

Alright looks like your options are: pirate romance novel - looks trashy and fun - or pirate quest - think this one's got a kraken in it - or something a little more Moby-Dick-like and nitty gritty about kinds of knots, maybe a bit more dense but more historically accurate and possibly rewarding. That can be a kind of escape, too; reading something written in a completely different time.

Have you ever read one of those bodice rippers? Completely unrealistic, and not in the good way. Besides, questionable consent seems to be a pretty common theme and it's-- not for me.

[ She won't actually say that it's fucked up. Even if she feels that it is. It's fiction, and judging the actions of fictional characters against the standards of the real world seems kind of useless, in the long term. Still not her thing, though. ]

I think I'll take the kraken and the doorstop. Hopefully one of them will stick.

They're not all as bad as you're making it sound, but they're not really my preferred genre either.

[ Ben loves a good romance novel now and then, but he's obviously not about to say that NOW. ]

Good choice. You should let me know if either of them are good. I could use a little escapism, too.

[ If she had thought for a moment he was the type, she would have kept that opinion to herself. And maybe she's just been exposed to the wrong ones, but the type of smutty novella that the Tías pass around between their little group, reading in the shade of a tree at the park or in someone's back yard while the younger kids play around them, somehow being watched like hawks even though every woman has her nose buried in a book, those have never been her taste. All the drama of kidnappings and mistaken identities and a no being worn down into a yes. Why can't it just be yes?

She's letting her mind wander to keep from being present in the conversation. She needs to not do that. ]

I will report back. If you just... set them aside someplace for me? I'll try to get down there tonight.

[ That's it. That's all she really needs to say. The conversation is over. And yet... ]

Do you-- I mean, I know we stopped talking about it. I probably shouldn't even-- Never mind.

[ Grown-ass adult over here. God, she sucks at this when it's her own life. Like, to a staggering degree. ]

I can do that.

[ He thinks that will be the end of the conversation, too. Because Patch has showed no interest in talking to him further, despite his offer to listen if she ever needed to. And Ben gets that, and respects it.

So it's a surprise when she keeps going. And that surprise becomes worry when she starts to ask something, cuts herself off, criticizes herself, and tells him to ignore the whole thing. He is for sure not going to do that now. ]

Do I what?

[ But that isn't enough, he thinks, and tries some light coaxing, mingled with encouragement. Maybe it will be easier for her like this - not in person, but with some distance and the filter of a network between them. ]

I told you you could talk to me if you needed to, about anything. I meant it. That wasn't an offer with an expiration date.

[ Well, shit. If he's just going to lay it out like that. ]

What makes you so sure that no one else was coming for your brother?

[ Direct. Direct is good. ]

[ Oh we're just going right to this, huh? Well... no time like the present. And in a way it's easier to do this remotely, for Ben's sake anyway. He just hopes it is helpful to Patch. ]

I know my family. I know how they react to situations. I know Klaus. He's an addict.
Has been since we were kids. When he disappears, no one goes looking anymore. They just assume he doesn't want to be found, and usually, that was true.

Edited 2019-09-07 00:47 (UTC)

[ It's been eating at her, and with Ben's reply, she's actually really glad that she asked. Not realizing he was gone, that's not something she'd considered. She knows how she is with her family. If one of her siblings ever went missing, there would be no doubt immediately. The people who vanish without anyone noticing, in her professional experience, they're usually those who are totally and completely disconnected from the people around them. That's not the impression she got from the Hargreeves siblings, so the idea that they wouldn't go looking...

The reality is still sad, but it's better. ]

I'm a little ashamed to admit that that wasn't how I'd been picturing the situation. Thank you. I feel better.

Shepard here. I know maps, and I know a few languages at least to get by in. Uh, not human ones, though. Alien.

Want me to swing by?

That's perfect. I don't recognize any of the languages in here so alien is better probably.

Please do!

[ She almost makes a joke about Prothean, but he's not her crew or even probably from her time, so she holds it back.

But if her ability to understand Prothean comes in useful, she'll be very surprised. ]

Hey, if those classes turn out useful, so much the better! Can you text me the directions?

[ Yeah no way Ben would have gotten that joke, smart move.

Ben sends the directions down to the library, wondering if he should brace himself to meet someone who is not human (but who referenced humans language because Ben is speaking one and she could see from the video that he is one). If she's an alien should he ask what she is? Is there ANY way of phrasing that question that doesn't come off as bigoted or weird or nosy or all three? ]

What alien languages did you study?

[ Might as well text while she is on her way and see what information he can get in advance... ]

Asari lingua franca, Turian ditto - although clarification there. I can understand most of it without the translator, and I can read it, but I can't replicate the sounds. Wrong vocal chords. Not that that'd matter with a map. Can read Salarian.

[ No point in even trying to understand it without the universal translator implant, honestly. They just speak too damn fast for her. ]

Batarian, a couple dialects. I can recognize a few others on sight. Enough to say what they are and call for back up.

[ Okay, that... doesn't really give him much of a clue if the person he's talking to is human or not and he has never heard of any of those languages but Ben just decides to be prepared for whatever will happen. ]

I'm not gonna lie to you, I've never heard of any of those. Humans aren't in contact with any aliens where I'm from. Maybe we'll hit the jackpot, maybe not...

Yeah, I guess I need to stop assuming everyone's from my time.

[ It's ruefully said, a statement packed with numerous impossibilities. Time-travel? Really?. ]

2157 is when we ran into the turians, or the turians ran into us. Depends on how you view it. But we've all adapted since then. Honestly, if we run into any of those languages, it either means that people never got back. Or they did, but it's all classified.

[ Cheerful thought, either way.

It's on that note that she walks into the library area, a tall, sturdy woman in dark blue fatigues and combat boots, walking the easy gait of someone prepared to keep this up for hours.

Very human. At least, very human-seeming.

She lifts her hand as she comes in. ]

Hey.

Edited 2019-08-13 08:46 (UTC)

[ The library itself is, well... it's less grimy than it was when Ben and Peter had first unearthed the door. The thick layer of dust is gone and a few of the lights have been prepared so it isn't completely dim in there. But the amount of disorder, and the half-done cleaning, makes it clear this place is a work in progress.

On one of the low tables, Ben has laid out the maps and journals and books they had found hidden away in a sealed box. They are a little more intact than many of the books on the shelves, but they don't look new by any means. Ben is sitting by them, halfway through a paperback which he shuts when she walks in. ]

Hey, thanks for coming, um...?

[ Only at that moment does he realize he hadn't actually asked her name earlier. Oops. ]

Shepard, Commander Shepard of the-

[ She stops herself, sharply, and her mouth briefly flattens. ]

Formerly of the SSV Normandy. It's a long story. So, Shepard's fine. And you're...? Sorry, I forgot to ask your name earlier.

Commander, as in military...?

[ He's also got just about no clue what the SSV is. A ship? A base? A habitation, or nation even? This is the trouble with meeting people from different times, different worlds. Gotta explain all those pesky acronyms it's so easy to forget about. ]

Ben Hargreeves. Formerly of Earth, 2019.

[ She'd mentioned the year she was from, might as well provide that information for himself, too. And then he gives a little wave, because standing up to shake her hand would seem weird and over-formal and awkward. Maybe waving is awkward, too. He's still working on this normal social interaction and small-talk thing. ]

I've got all the stuff here if you wouldn't mind taking a look...

[The boy on the screen looks a lot... calmer than the first time he appeared on the network. The black veins that were littering his skin don't look as pronounced, either. He's propped back against a wall, the phone held on the top of his knee.]

I didn't do interpreting, so much as making maps, once upon a time. Could take a look... if I ever get released from this chrome prison I've been stuck in.

You're the kid that's quarantined, right?

[ Ben had seen... a very little bit of that video. He'd done just enough snooping and lurking to see it wasn't a problem he was going to be able to fix and then he'd just... kept himself to himself. Maybe not the kindest choice but he's got other priorities right now. ]

I could try to take pictures and send them to you.

[ And then, after a beat, he adds: ]

You got anything to read in there? Help pass the time?

My reputation's preceded me, I see. [He smirks.] Yeah, that's me.

Yeah, that'd be great. I could give it a shot, anyway.

[He shakes his head, lips pursed a little as he waves the device in his hand around a bit, which makes the video blurry for a moment before he stops again.] Nah. Just got this little talk box, s'all.

Not like people are gossiping. I just saw a little bit of the video. Didn't actually catch your name in there. Mine's Ben, by the way.

[ He mentions the gossip in particular in case Newt is worried he's the subject of a lot of discussion that he doesn't know about, and it isn't like that at all. ]

If I brought a few books up there, is there a way to get them in to you? Or.. if that's out, you could pick a book and I could take pictures of all the pages and send them.

[ Yes that will be extremely time consuming but they've all got rather a lot of time here and Ben sympathizes here in particular. How many times had he begged Klaus to flip through books for him. Books he couldn't touch, when he was incorporeal and bored out of his mind. So if he can help lighten the tedium for this kid... of course he's going to offer. ]

Yeah, I guess everyone did, huh? [He shrugs a little. Nothing to be done about it now.] Newt, nice to meet ya.

Uh-- yeah, I mean, no need for you to go through that trouble, mate. There's a little opening where the robot things've slipped me food of questionable origins, but I'm sure if it's not too thick, a book could fit through.

Pretty much, yeah. [ What? He isn't going to lie. The video had been... perturbing, and very public, and everyone here is a little jittery and so he doesn't doubt just about everyone Newt meets is going to be aware of it. No point in pretending otherwise. ] Hey, Newt. Ben here.

[ He is glad to hear that the extra trouble won't be necessary; just because he'd been willing to do it doesn't mean he'd wanted to. ]

Not too thick, got it. What kind of books do you like? Or do you have any specific requests? I can at least take a look.

Figured. [He smiles a bit.] Hey, Ben.

Uh- I dunno... something....happy? [That may be the vaguest request ever, but he really doesn't know.] Didn't really have books where I was before.

[ Ben is already thinking maybe some YA or a classic adventure novel since Newt looked really young in his video, though it's hard to say whether he's an actual baby or just has one of those faces. ]

How do you feel about classics? There's a copy of Treasure Island here.

[ When Newt mentions there weren't books, Ben's gotta ask: ]

How come?

I dunno. I know I've read things, but I don't know what. Memories got erased, awhile ago. All the procedural stuff is there, but, specific things, personal memories-- [He waves one hand vaguely.] Don't have any of those. Sounds like it could be fun, though?

Um... because leisurely reading isn't something I've known for as long as I can remember? No books in the Glades and if there were any through any of the other places I've been since the lot of us left the Maze, I didn't have time to scope them out between all the nearly dying I was doing for the last... I dunno, handful of weeks, two months? Time was harder to keep once we got on the move.

[ Well damn, Ben definitely wasn't expecting an explanation that was a whole amnesia thing. But he takes it in stride. Weird shit is just the norm for him, lately. Actually, always. ]

I'm sorry to hear that. Do you mind if I ask - are you trying to get your memories back, or are you just kind of accepting the clean slate?

[ He really doesn't mean to be rude and nosy, but he can't help wondering... ]

Not really sure what any of those places are, but sure sounds like a pretty hectic life.

[ He's so curious but he already asked one intrusive question and he's trying not to be a total jerk, here. ]

Had an opportunity to, from the same arseholes that took 'em in the first place... Chose not to get 'em back, actually. Was already infected and... I knew I wouldn't live long from that point. No point suffering more than I already would just remembering my parents and the like, y'know?

[The justification had made sense at the time, at least. Now... well, he's not completely sure about it.]

It was really simple for the first three years I was there, and then this bloke came up in the Box and... [There's a soft huff of a noise that's somewhere between derisive and amused.] Everything changed.

[ So his memories hadn't just been erased, in some accident or fluke or space disease Ben's never heard of. This is something that was done to him. He feels an immediate pang of sympathy, even though it's not something he's been through, himself. Whatever the context, that had to be shitty and exploitative. There's just no excuse. ]

That logic makes sense to me.

[ But... here Newt is. Still alive. Which means he probably is going to have to adjust that kind of thinking. Ben's come at that from the other side. All the things he had stopped himself from wishing for, because he would never have them, because he was dead... well, a lot of them are possible, now. He doesn't know how to deal with that. ]

So would you get them back now, if you could? Or... does the same reasoning apply?

[ He is separated from his parents and whatever else it was he might have forgotten. Might just make himself miss them. ]

That's how it goes in my experience. You get lulled into a routine and then all at once, everything goes to shit all at the same time.

[ Then, because he can't help it. ]

They've got very ominous names for things in your world, you know. The Box, the Glades, the Maze...

I dunno. Maybe? I'm definitely way more alive than I should be now, and presumably I'm here for...some arbitrary amount of time... And it's not like I'd remember anything if I went back, because if I do, I just go back to...being dead? [This conversation is so weird, he's sorry, Ben.] I guess if I could have it, I'd take it now. It's sort of different here, I guess, yeah.

Right? It's awful.

Oh, well. Yeah, I guess. It's a lot to explain, but I can, if you really want to hear about it? But I mean, it was a bunch of teenagers trying to make a community, sort of? [That's still not right. Whatever.] The Box was really just a one-way lift. Or, at least, we couldn't do anything with it from our side. Someone-- we didn't know who for years, but now we know it was observers from WICKED-- would send up supplies sometimes, and after the first group of us, a new boy would come in the lift sometimes too. But... [he shakes his head.] Like I said, it's a lot and it's probably confusing if you weren't part of it, but I'd talk about it in detail sometime if you want. Or now. Whatever.

If it's any help, I'm way more alive than I should be, too. You're not the only one here who got rescued from something they thought was inescapable.

[ No he is not going to elaborate on that any further. He offered enough info for Newt to know he's not alone, but Ben is a bit tired of talking about being dead. Most days, he doesn't mind. Today isn't one of them. ]

I'd like to hear more about it, when that sometime comes around. And til then, I'll find some good books to keep you from losing your marbles in there.

[ Particularly he'd like to know who the hell 'WICKED' are, but this really does seem like a conversation best had in person, where if Newt says something that makes no sense Ben can stop him in that moment and ask for clarification. ]

Bloody weird thing to have in common with someone, that. [But he doesn't seem particularly inclined in talking any further on that point, either, as it turns out.]

Sure thing. [He nods a bit and smiles.] I appreciate it, mate.

01 | video | @lazarus

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audio | un: det.patch

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UN: r.shepard | audio

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a delayed response; video

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