Snowblind IC Inbox

[termineur]

"Uh, hi there. I'm probably out stomping through snow right now, so...leave a message?"

[Text, audio and video formats available. Feel free to contact him for any reason.]

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[termineur]

[ There's a pause, but he thinks he understands. ]

Your anomaly. You had one too.

I killed mine. Didn't even hesitate.

[ A low, mournful noise emanates from him, sounding more like a fog horn than anything else. He'll keep from trying to sigh in the future. ]

I was lucky. She said so. But I didn't change back.

[bywolves]

Had one too. [ His voice dulls. ] Killed.

She was - she. [ He doesn't have the word wife so he can't tell Sylar who she was or why it hurts him so badly to think about it. ] I hesitate.

Dying didn't change back. Her, I. [ He's sorry, Sylar, he knows this is frustrating to try and translate. ]

[termineur]

[ It's okay, Royce. Having something to puzzle out is making him feel more like himself than anything else could the past couple of days. ]

Her. Not your daughter? [ God, he hopes not. Who else could it be? ] Family? Friend? Wife? Sister?

Mine was a victim. I already hurt her. Before.

[bywolves]

[ The thought of it being his daughter wrenches something in him that he didn't know was possible. The fact that it was Gwen broke something in him, but if it'd been his daughter he's not sure he could've brought himself to do it. Royce wheezes in a pained breath. ]

Wife. [ His mind gets fuzzy as his emotions spike. ] Killed her. Before. Didn't. Didn't want killed, before. Victim.

[ It wasn't directly his fault, the first time, but he blames himself. ]

[termineur]

[ Without a face or even inflection, it's hard to give an impression of sympathy. So he actually has to say it. ]

Sorry. Royce, sorry. You didn't want to kill her. Not this time either. I'm sure.

They weren't them. They were broken.

[bywolves]

Not this time. [ He's relieved that Sylar got it. The cloak trembles where it's balled up in the corner, and there's the sound of knives being dragged along a wood floor. ]

Broken. They, I. [ This is said much more softly. And then, a normal volume: ] Weren't them. Killed them. Didn't want to.

[termineur]

Yeah. I know. [ It's all he can say about it, really. ]

If we're stuck like this. I'll find you. Where are you now?

[ And after another pause: ] Do you need words?

[bywolves]

Yeah. Need words. [ Thank Maribor Sylar picked up on it. He knows where he is, he just can't form the directions as speech. ] Where are you now words.

[termineur]

Okay. Places.

[ The list is odd, especially in the monotone way it's said. But it's easier for Sylar to talk this way, too, so he's hardly going to complain. ]

Entrance. Downtown. Residential Area. Chapel. Police station. Hospital. South. East. North. West. Pharmacy. School. Andromeda's house. Hsiaoke Pass. Gate. Tunnel. Ice Caves. Grocery store. Town hall.

[ The words slow to a stop. Hopefully that was enough to answer the question- he's having a tough time remembering any other landmarks. ]

[bywolves]

[ He puts it together slowly. It's enough - not exactly, but general. ] I was west school. Southwest of school. North, tunnels. Residential.

[termineur]

[ West of the school? He really hasn't been there, so it takes a moment before he remembers what exactly is over there. ]

Funeral home. I'm heading west. Southeast of the chapel.

[ And now that that's sorted, he's casting about for more to talk about. He doesn't want to be alone in this. His figure looms over the tablet until it's entirely black. ]

I'll tell you more words.

[bywolves]

[ It's okay, Royce doesn't want to be alone either, especially after everything that has happened. He's curled up in a corner of a furnitureless house with his tablet, he doesn't have anything else to do. ]

Broken. [ Royce mumbles. ] I'm heading south too. Friend. [ As in, Alfie is down there and he needs his buddy. ] Friend downtown. [ But... ] Find I. Tunnels you, I.

[termineur]

Yeah. I'm heading there anyway. We'll get you back. To Alfie.

[ That being said, he can tell some missing words already. ]

Me. Mine. Fixed. We'll be fixed. I'll find a solution. Somehow. And. More. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

[ As he speaks, the tablet rises off the ground. He's floating over the snow, and the tablet seems to be floating along after him. ]

House. Building. Snow. Cold. Warm. Pain. Slice. Anomaly. Monster. Real. Fake. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Brown. Black. White. Purple. Orange. Audio. Text. Tablet. Turn. On. Off. Voice.

perma-audio

[thewarningafter]

That's assuming your thought processes don't immediately become erratic when the treatment suddenly stops. The exact word Eve used was chaotic.

It's worth asking, at least. If the system's capable of making these kinds of adjustments to brain chemistry it had better be capable of providing a readout.

[bywolves]

[ So many words. Royce makes a humming sort of sound, pleased. He knows he won't be able to keep them, because he lost everything that Karkat and Alfie gave him before, but being able to pick from a variety makes him feel a little more in control.

His monster brain is fuzzy, but he'll take the little good things. ]

Alfie fixed. [ Royce says, his cloak form rippling. ] Wake up anomaly. Worried stuck like this. Worried I not words. Alfie kill.

Didn't fixed. [ But Alfie tried. A beat, and quietly: ] Words do not stuck.

[termineur]

The words don't stick?

[ Well, damn. He didn't catch all of what Royce is trying to get across, but he's going to try. ]

Alfie killed you. To try and save you. But you woke up that way. It didn't fix it.

And your words left. Death price? I'll give you words. Whenever you want.

[termineur]

Erratic's better than targeted, as far as I'm concerned. It's better if there's a chance I won't go right after someone. And hey, if I'm stable enough for a short time, I can probably make the structural changes myself.

I'm not doubting that the system can take those readings. I just figure Admin won't want to fork 'em over. John would have a better chance of getting them out of her, but he doesn't want anything to do with this.

[bywolves]

Words don't stick. [ Yeah. As for the rest of it, Sylar's got about the gist of it. He hums in agreement. And appreciation. He's glad for the words - he wishes he could request them. ] That.

[ The cloak digs its knife fingers into the floor, almost kneading at it. Frustrated, almost upset: ] Dying didn't stick.

[termineur]

No. It didn't.

It's a system error. The nanites. [ It's hard to remember that, but he's been doing his best to keep it in his head. ] Everyone has to get better. At once. Or not at all. Dying doesn't help. Sorry.

[ And that was a lot of talking in this form. He pauses for way too long before he speaks again. ]

What words do you want? I'll branch off from you. Temporary is fine. I can give them again.

@LELRIC; audio; morning 246

[armoured]

[It's not long after everything returns to normal that he's calling Sylar, the older man being Al's primary concern after what happened.]

Hey, I'm-- everything's okay again, are you?

[thewarningafter]

...You're telling me you can change the structure of your own brain.

[Whut. Stephen is curious, alarmed, and a little jealous.]

I'll at least give it a shot, get as much information as I can. I'm not gonna lie, this makes me nervous as hell. I'm prepared to sponsor you, but you have to understand that if we do this you're consenting without knowing all the facts.

[termineur]

[ Al gets to him only a minute before Sylar would've called over himself. It's a relief to hear that Al came out of this too. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine now. Everything seems back to normal and I'm not missing anything. You're- how's your death loss? I'm still heading towards you.

@Spoiler ; audio ; morning 245

[spoileralert]

Hey. I thought you'd want to know, I... got my light back.

[termineur]

Yep. [ He sounds smug. He can hear that jealousy- even if it's just a little bit. ]
That's how I copy special abilities from other people. I have an adaptive ability. There's another guy back home that could do the same thing, but he doesn't understand the process behind it at all.

Thanks. And of course I don't know all the facts- welcome to snowhell, right? But it's the best option I've got right now, so let's give it a try. I'll put in the request.

[ He would get distracted from that with the split tunnels and not put in the request until after they all turned into monsters and back. For all he's pushing for this, he's still not too excited to do it. But it will get done eventually. ]

If there's anything I can help you with, let me know. Anytime. I appreciate this.

[armoured]

I think it went away at about the same time we all turned back to normal, maybe it had something to do with the way it got sorted?

[Or it was just a coincidence, one of the two.]

Where are you now?