video | un: cresta

[treadswater]

[ Not seen: how long this video has taken to make. There's been multiple attempts. Annie doesn't have the best experience with screens, or broadcasting, or with making announcements to strangers. And at least for her past appearances as a victor, she'd been able to have some wickedly sharp eyeliner. Here, her bare face is feeling very bare.

(She's taken the time to braid her hair. It's all she can do. It's made her feel a little better.) ]

So. Um. Hi.

[ Then she stops because her voice was a tiny squeak and she's not doing this again, this is ridiculous. She could ask Finnick to do this, but she can do it. She can. ]

Hi. So, uh. I'm Annie. Finnick and I, we're from District Four. Panem? Panem. But no one else has, or, or um, seems to have heard of it. So.

Where's everyone from?

Comments

text; @aa

[livingdeadgirl]

hi Annie! my name is Ami
I'm from Recolle!
technically there's supposed to be an accent over the e but I don't feel like looking it up
I can't say I have heard of Panem either unfortunately
where is that?

[treadswater]

hi Ami!

[ That little exclamation mark had been debated, and debated, and debated.

Then included. ]

Panem is where north america was. Does that explanation make sense? Where is Recolle?

[livingdeadgirl]

umm well Recolle is in north america
which last I checked was a continent that still existed currently
so I am a little confused!
could you elaborate please on what happened to it?

[treadswater]

Most of the continent is still here but there were terrible wars and the sea rose as the weather changed. So Panem was formed by the survivors.

[livingdeadgirl]

y i k e s
yeah I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened for us
what year was it?

[treadswater]

I don't think this will be useful but:

It is 75 ADD, or After The Dark Days. And I think everything started going terrible a few centuries before that but I actually don't really know.

[ Panem: Not Actually Great On Teaching History. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

[ CAN'T IMAGINE WHY ]

hmm yeah for me it was 2018 AD
(with AD standing for Anno Domini, not After Death which is a common misconception)
I'm not sure how that would translate into Dark Days

[treadswater]

After Death sounds kind of creepy I am glad that it's not that.

& honestly I don't know either. So I guess you are from before me? I don't know if that makes sense either.

[livingdeadgirl]

that would be my guess yeah
either that or its an alternate timeline?
or both perhaps
I don't know how we would figure that out for sure though
and it's sort of immaterial isn't it?
we're here now

[treadswater]

Well.





We all kind of bring our district - our home or where we came from - with us, don't we? And it's pretty confusing turning up a place where no one knows what you are talking about and you don't know what they are talking about.

Can you explain what an alternate timeline is?

[livingdeadgirl]

oh right! sorry
it's sort of a scifi concept but everything here is scifi so I figured it's plausible
but basically
a timeline is just a sequence of all the events that happen in reality
or reality as we know it anyway!
whereas an alternate timeline is sort of a "what if" scenario
for instance, what if I had eaten toast for breakfast instead of eggs?
what if I had asked the cute boy out instead of being shy?
and then you extrapolate the ensuing events based on whatever thing happens differently
if that makes sense

[treadswater]

[ And that has just opened up a whole can of worms, as they say. A barrel of them, even. An entire transport ship's hold full of of them. ]

A) What is 'scifi'? And how do you say it?

B) Oh. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not. Do we share these 'realities' with other people? Like if I did one thing and my husband does something else that he didn't do in my memory?

[livingdeadgirl]

[ Fortunately, Ami is quite patient and enjoys telling stories and/or doling out exposition! I mean heck she's already explained airplanes to a cowboy. ]

A) scifi is short for "science fiction"
it's pronounced with long I's, both syllables rhyme with "dye"
anyway it is a genre of fiction that (generally) speculates about the future
technologies that don't exist yet, unproven science theories, etc.

B) yeah a timeline refers to all events that happened everywhere
even the ones you did not experience personally

[treadswater]

A) Okay I can see that. That sounds very interesting and forbidden in my country.

Are there any scifi stories here in all the books?

B) Okay. That must get awfully cluttered though. And how localized are the alterations to reality? It sounds very extravagant to have a whole reality devoted to breakfast choices.

[livingdeadgirl]

A) there might be!
I haven't been over the library with a fine toothed comb or anything
but there's quite a lot in there so chances are good!
a lot of times you'll know it's scifi when the cover art involves stars, planets, and/or spaceships
or weird looking guns, there are also a lot of those

[ she's not really sure how to ask about the "forbidden in my country" thing though soooo back burner! ]

B) well like I said this is all speculative
so anything I say about it should not be taken as fact
the details can vary dramatically depending on the story!
I think generally though
the idea is that there's an infinite number of these realities
and therefore it's not extravagant at all,
because there is no limit to how many of them there can be

[treadswater]

A spaceship? A ship that can sail above the sky? What do they look like? Are they real?

Sorry, that's supposed to be A).

B) Oh I see. I think, anyway. Do these timelines converge again? Like ripples on water? Or are they separate forever?

[livingdeadgirl]

its alright I knew what you meant! :D

A) yes they are real!
and yes they do fly above the sky
there are a lot of different kinds and they all look different
I don't think my meager artistic skills would be much help in that department sadly
but if you find an encyclopedia or a book about space
look up things like the apollo program and the space shuttle!
they will for sure have pictures
you could also look under astronauts/cosmonauts
as that is what space sailors are called

B) again that one depends on the story
I could see it going either way I guess
they could be separate forever even if some of them are virtually indistinguishable
or they could converge again after breakfast, such that the rest of the day goes exactly the same
since what to have for breakfast is kind of an insignificant decision in the big scheme of things
then again where do you draw the line?
in some cases it could have a very big impact
like if you're allergic to eggs, that breakfast choice could ruin your whole day!

[treadswater]

okay good.


A) That sounds amazing. The ocean must be so beautiful from that far up. I will try to look for those books.

B) So if we link it back to where we come from, we might come from different realities that are set off from a different choice someone made?

And I guess logically those different ripples can build on top of each other? Is that right?

[livingdeadgirl]

A) it is! theyve taken all sorts of pictures of earth from space too
its really neat
obviously national boundaries don't show up like they would on a map
so all you can see is one big earth
full of humans who really are not all that different from each other
in the ways that matter :)

B) sorry I'm not sure what you mean
are you talking about like
traveling back and forth between alternate timelines?

[treadswater]

A) A big earth full of people? That sounds nice. We don't have that anymore where I am from. When I am from? It's confusing.

But seeing the ocean and the clouds, wow that'd be nice.

B) No, but we'll get back to that. It's like I take a run in the morning, I can go north or south. I choose south and come to another crossroad where I could go east or west. Then if I chose east, I might meet a friend, or if I chose west I might see a bird. But if I'd chosen north, then the latter choices wouldn't be available. Is that how it works?

[livingdeadgirl]

A) because of the wars?

B) yes that sounds about right
each choice builds on the ones before it
as well as everyone elses choices
in this way the timelines branch and diverge

video; un: shuckitall

[sobloodyinspired]

[The boy that's on the screen is propped against a stack of mismatched sizes of wood. He looks to be somewhere in his late teens at best, hair all a mess with little beads of sweat forming across his brow.]

Not sure exactly... I woke up in a place not too different from this about three years ago with no memories besides my name. I don't reckon you've heard of the Glades, have you?

[There's a beat before he adds, with a small smile: ]

I'm Newt, by the way.

[treadswater]

[ She blinks at the screen: he'd looked sick in his last video. Sick enough, panicky enough, she'd sent Finnick to investigate. But he's better now. Or seems it.

There's a cautious smile.]

Hi, Newt. Um, the Glades? N-no.

It sounds like an area. I mean. Of course it sounds like an area. I mean...

[ Deep breaths. ]

It's not a name I know exactly, but it's the kinda name that could be anywhere? So that's not helpful. But, but, uh, no memories? That's-



Awful.

[sobloodyinspired]

Yeah, it's pretty generic, I know. But it was all we could do to have something to call it.

[He nods a bit.] Yeah, it was. I think... [He buffs a soft breath and shakes his head a bit. He assumes she saw it, he assumes everyone saw .] I think how I showed up there...is part of why I reacted the way did, being locked up the way I was. In the Glades, we showed up in a desk lift box, with nothing but the clothes ok our backs and our names. It was a lot... but after the initial awful of it, three years into it... it became routine. We made a community. They sent us supplies once a month and we made what we needed.

[treadswater]

[ Well. That's...

She frowns at him, scrunching up her nose. Sympathy and understanding vanish into pure confusion.]








Why would they do that?

[sobloodyinspired]

For science. [There's a tilt toward a joke in his voice, except there's no mirth to it at all.] We didn't know til so much later... but... yeah. We were an experiment.

[treadswater]

Science?

[ She's lost. She's so lost. That doesn't sound like any experiment she's every heard of. And what would the control group be? A group of people with their memories? But at least an experiment isn't supposed to be entertaining, which had been confusing her about the timespan.

And how should she even respond? ]

Oh. I. That, um. That...

That sounds tough. Are, are, are, uh, are you- Do you know why?

[sobloodyinspired]

Yeah, that's a word for it. [He smiles a little. She's so jittery, he wonders if it's him, maybe she saw his first little introduction. He couldn't blame anyone for being nervous after that. He'd gone back and watched it, since he's gotten more clear-headed and... it was a lot, honestly. Worse than he remembered it feeling at the time.] They were... supposed to be coming up with a cure for a virus called The Flare. I don't think they actually cared about any of us, though. We were just...disposable pieces on a game board.

[treadswater]

[ Annie is silent for a long, long moment, chewing on her bottom lip as she visibly debates on how to reply. Then: ]






Yeah, I know somethin' about that. Not for a cure of anything, but. Games and pieces.

[sobloodyinspired]

Not the kinna thing you hope ta find ya've got in common with people, is it? [He sighs softly.] Sucks you've got experience like that.

[treadswater]

It means people understand. Or, understand a bit more.

[sobloodyinspired]

Camaraderie's good an' all, I s'pose. But... [He shrugs a little.] Wouldn't wish anyone knowin' what it's like to live like that, yanno?

text: private; un:Odair65

[fishermansweater]

District Thirteen, last time I checked.

[ Yes, he’s texting his wife when he could just talk to her, but it’s intended as a supportive gesture.

Finnick knows how long this vid took her to make. He’s the propo star, not her. ]

[treadswater]

District Thirteen huh? What's the weather like?

[fishermansweater]

Not as nice as in Four, last I checked.

[ Not that any of them saw much of what the weather was like. There'd been a few trips outside, when Katniss took him up with her, or when they'd been filming, but the rest of their time was spent underground where there was no sign of what the weather would have been like.

But it would have been better in Four. ]

[treadswater]

Nowhere is as nice as Four.

[ She misses home so much. ]

[fishermansweater]

[ He does, too. Not that he'd been really paying attention to much around him for the first weeks he'd been in District Thirteen. But he's used to sunlight and water, and he knows exactly what Annie means.

After all, he'd chosen to go to District Thirteen. She hadn't. ]

But the nicest person from District Four is here.

So here's pretty good.

@KaballsDeep | Video

[kaballin]

[It's video but the only thing visible on the screen is Kabal's gloved hands right now. He has the phone propped up against something as he works on the canister attached to his respirator, a variety of tools strewn across a battered metal table.]

New York. Where's District Four? Also I'm pretty sure Panem is an airline.

[treadswater]

Um.

District Four is on the southern coast, around the Gulf. And, uh. What.

What's an airline?

[kaballin]

For airplanes?

Southern coast. That sounds Texas-y. Got a former co-worker from there. He's a jackass, and you don't sound like a jackass.

Not yet anyway.

[treadswater]

Oh, well, I try not to?

I think I've heard that name. Texas. But what's an airplane? Is it...






Is it like a hovercraft?

[kaballin]

Sorta but about ten thousand feet higher in the air. Assuming by hovercraft you mean those little speeder things like in Star Wars.

[Sure she doesn't know what a plane is, she's definitely seen Star Wars.]

For travelling really far in the sky.

But I'm getting the sense we're not really from the same place.

[treadswater]

Our hovercraft can get pretty high up there. I don't know about ten thousand feet, but if you're standing on the deck of a boat and the Peacekeepers are flyin' out, they look awfully small for a while.

[ She's silent for a moment, and then smiles all crooked and a little daring. ]

No, I don't think we are. But, but there's nothing wrong with being curious, right?

[ There's plenty that's wrong with being curious, back in Panem. But fuck them. ]

[kaballin]

Peacekeepers? Like the police?

[Internal debate if he should throw out the whole 'used to be a cop' thing to see if she'll squirm. But he decides against it. Not like it matters here.]

Guess not. The more you know, and all that.

[He pulls the canister he's working on off the table and reattaches it to his belt. The screen shows nothing but the wall for a moment, until there's a haze of purplish smoke that vanishes almost immediately and Kabal actually grabs the phone.

He's wearing the half mask, so his eyes are visible, but the most noticeable feature, even with the giant sharp teeth on the mask, is that every inch of visible skin is covered in burn scars.]

I'm Kabal by the way.

video | un: finn

[bythehand]

[ It's not all bad, checking in on the network now and again. Right now it's mostly just in case certain friends of his have magically stopped being vanished from the face of the city, but he's not inclined to stop at that.

Thing is, he can relate to people who seem unsure about. Well. Relating to people. And nothing in the past couple of years has been able to put off the instinct to reach out towards what he can empathize with. ]

I'm Finn. [ Common sense usernames unite. ] I was in a place called Hadriel before this. Riverview before that. Back home, I was, uh.

[ Uhhhhhh ]

Not really sure where I'm from, back home. Traveled a lot. Off-planet. Can't say I heard anything about a Panem, either. Sorry.

[treadswater]

[ He's said some magic words, it seems, because Annie's expression turns from cautiously polite to an actually delighted smile. ]

Off-planet? And travel? That sounds fun. What are the stars like up there?