week 4

[airlockedmods]

[Four weeks in the Starfield Penitentiary and seven people have lost their lives to Blaze Dudely's cruel game. At some point the robots cleaned up the mess left behind and by Sunday the involved rooms (including the fridge) are all clean and free of blood. In fact there's no sign left of any of the deaths that have happened on the ship so far by at least the next day. The only physical signs that people are gone are the empty beds.

On Sunday morning, you may find that you're recovering a a few other things as well - both strange dreams and some new items.

In addition, there's a new set of doors at the end of the corridor, in the space between the infirmary and the exercise yard. Looks like you've got a new wing to explore.]



Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( ooc: Don't forget to turn in your AC for Week 3, submit your memory regains, and put in your benefactor threads! ))

Comments

[pr159]

That's right. We protect our prime dimension by destroying the fractured offshoots.

[empathiser]

The "prime dimension"?

[So it was... completely serious. The whole thing about destroying dimensions. And he makes it sound casual, like something he does while getting his morning coffee.]

[pr159]

The true timeline from which the others deviate.

[ It's not nearly as easy as that, but he has done it hundreds of times. You can't help but be casual about something by that point. ]

[empathiser]

[It's not like he can judge. He's fairly casual about dead bodies, after all.]

Who decided what the true timeline was?

[Out of interest.]

[pr159]

The same "great" spirits who are responsible for the existence of the fractured dimensions in the first place.

[ Maybe not directly, but everything comes back to Chronos and Maxwell being dicks, honestly. ]

The Land of Canaan can only exist in the prime dimension.

[ All the others have to remain tragically devoid of sky fetuses. ]

[empathiser]

I'm... not exactly well versed in [magical greater spirits bullshit] more mystical explanations here. You're saying something - things - create other worlds, decide they don't like those other worlds, get someone else to destroy them and... all that delves into dimension theory and religious metaphors?

[pr159]

...Not exactly.

[ Which he's going to choose to blame on Will's capacity for comprehension rather than on his own vague and shitty explanation. But okay, he'll elaborate, and he'll sound like he's reciting this from a lecture he's heard a million times. ]

Two millennia ago, the Primordial Spirits disagreed over whether humanity could control spyrix technology, so they decided to test their ability to resist the temptation of ultimate power. Descendants of a certain bloodline were granted a great power that, with overuse, had the side effect of turning the user into a divergence catalyst and creating a fractured dimension. If someone can reach the Great Spirit Origin before the millionth catalyst appears, he'll grant them any wish they want, and humanity will pass the test.

Of course, since no one could resist a promise like that, that family has been fighting ever since, and fractured dimensions have continued to multiply. And the only way to destroy a fractured dimension is to use that same power that causes their creation in the first place.

So. That's the gist of it.

[ Or, put more succinctly, "spirits are assholes". ]

I'm not expecting you to remember any of that.

[empathiser]

[No, no. It was definitely your shitty explanation, Rideaux.]

Good, because it's pretty detached from anything you'd find where I'm from.

So it's a mix of... what, magic and scientific technology combined sparking a test of worth from higher powers?

[... Surprise, surprise, it sounds like most religious stories. But combined for the modern age, in this case?]

And you're involved with this process of destroying off-shoot worlds created by this desire for that one wish. That sounds like an unique job description.

[pr159]

I wouldn't call it "magic", but I suppose it's something along those lines.

[ Well, it's sure not a story in this instance; they've all had the great delight of dealing with Chronos in person. ]

Not that unique. There is a whole department for it, after all -- not that we discuss its work publicly.

[ Or even with the other departments below the 30th floor... but he sure is spilling everything to a random uninvolved person now. ]

[empathiser]

Considering we don't have magic at all where I'm from, you can just call it that. It'd be easier for me to process it.

[At least he's never had to deal with gods. Just... people who like to act like them and challenge the idea of them.]

A business for destroying worlds. Now there's something I didn't think I'd hear about.

[pr159]

The point is to protect our own world, don't forget.

[ He may not really give a shit about most of the things in that world, but he'll do whatever it takes to keep his place in it. ]

We're hardly doing this for the fun of it.

[ Well, sometimes he does, but. Not nearly so much as he used to when he and Julius were still competing against each other on the same missions. ]

Anyway, Spirius may have been formed for the purpose of stopping this mess the spirits created, but it's still the world's foremost developer of technology -- medical devices, telecommunications, you name it. So let's not undersell it.

[empathiser]

But the other worlds and the people living there are just collateral damage.

["True" world or not, for the people living there that world must be their "true" world.]

Medical devices, telecommunications, but no commercial air travel and no cars. Your world is... kinda odd.

[pr159]

Well, it is what it is.

[ To both of those remarks. ]

But enough about my world. What's... [ looks over at that license plate again because he sure doesn't remember what it said now ] ...B-1327-1?

[empathiser]

[There's an obvious attempt to change the conversation if he ever saw one. Still, the license plate is pretty vague for anyone who doesn't know what it means.]

It's a number I wore for a few months. Difficult to forget something when you saw it everyday.

[pr159]

[ Look, he may act like his world is superior to everyone else's, but there are enough things he resents about it that he's not going to go out of his way to defend it, aside from specifics that are personally relevant to him. Honestly, at this point, he's almost a little jealous of some of these other worlds, where they don't have some bullshit spirits fucking with everyone. ]

You wore it? What, on your "special investigator" badge or something?

[ He smirks. ]

Or is this not actually your first stint in prison?

[ I mean, if he really was aiding and abetting serial killers... ]

[empathiser]

[There's enough bullshit from people, so Will'd agree on that. He'll stick to worrying about what serial killers can do of their own volition, without spirits and magic added to the mix.

He just kinda leans back and stares at Rideaux. Fine.]

It was on my inmate suit, yes. When I was set up to take the fall for a series of murders by that serial killer mentioned in my profile.

Lucky me, he couldn't help himself and killed someone else while my trial was happening. Kinda difficult to convince people you're putting the Chesapeake Ripper on trial when another body shows up with his design all over it.

[Beverly had said she was going to help him. He just wished she'd managed without becoming Hannibal's victim along the way.]

[pr159]

[ Raises eyebrows... Huh. That sounds like something out of a weekly crime drama. ]

Well, that's a juicier response than I was expecting, not going to lie. How did that end up, aside from your presumed acquittal?

[empathiser]

[Will shrugs.]

Your profile says your destroy worlds and we just had a long chat about it. I'd say that's juicier than my case.

... That's a very vague question. How did what end up? Aside from, yes, my acquittal and public announcement I wasn't a serial killer. [Nice of them.]

[pr159]

I mean, did the right one end up behind bars?

[ You don't just end a Law & Order episode without resolving the actual crime, Will. ]

And if so, was it after that you broke him out? Or did that happen prior to the killing spree in question?

[ Because either one of those is pretty bad. ]

[empathiser]

I don't know. I knew who it was, but getting other people to believe that was the tricky part.

[ Will Graham does what he wants!!! ]

Until all these dreams started happening, the last I'd seen of him was him leaving to go on the run. I was a bit busy bleeding out on the floor at the time to ask where he was planning on going.

[He can't talk about Abigail. It's still too raw for him to talk about Abigail.]

[pr159]

Ah... I see.

[ The amusement in his expression fades a bit once the subject of those dreams comes up, and he smooths his hair on one side a little absently before smiling (or "smiling", as usual) again. ]

Well, do let me know if you remember. It would be a shame to be left on a cliffhanger forever.

[empathiser]

[Interesting.]

We'll see. It's not like I'm a novel for your entertainment.

[pr159]

You were in here alone making license plates. Do you really have that many better things to do with your time?

[ Shrugs. ]

Anyway, I'll make it even and share something in return.

[empathiser]

You tell me. You're in the same situation.

[ BIGGER SHRUG. ]

Alright. I'll hold you to that.