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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@godsend, audio

[termineur]

[ He'd been getting used to actually having a solid form again, himself. It was only a couple days, but it felt like an eternity. He'd wanted to check in on some people, but he hadn't bounced back enough to do so yet. Hearing one of those people on the other end was enough to make him chuckle. Good. ]

It's Gabriel.

You're back to normal too, I'm assuming? [ Since it didn't sound like knives were trying to speak anymore. ] I didn't end up hurting you, did I?

[bywolves]

Gabriel. [ Royce repeats, keeping that in his head. ] I'm back to normal.

And no. Not worse than anybody else. [ Royce sighs. ] Got into a few fights. I assume you did as well.

[termineur]

Less than you'd think. I didn't really find any lights, and didn't feel like I had to hurt those that didn't have them.

[ The entire thing was intensely disturbing. He lets out a heavy, nervous breath. ]

What do you think's going to happen? All of that had to mean something.

[ Were they turning into anomalies? ]

[bywolves]

I have no idea what's going to happen. [ He's afraid of it, though. And he hates being afraid. ] We were anomalies.

They must be chasing us for our lights. The ones we've seen before this, out in the snow.

[termineur]

...yeah. I think they were.

And we were. Anomalies. I felt like I'd lost all sense of myself, like the only way I'd know who I was- well, it was those lights.

[ He did not like where this was going. ]

Was that what you felt like, too?

[bywolves]

Yeah. [ Royce is not a fan. ] That's exactly how it felt. Like they'd taken... my soul, or whatever it is that you think is you. Gathering lights didn't make it any better.

[termineur]

Well, this is downright horrifying. [ He says it blandly, but the undertone of terror in his voice makes it less of a joke than he'd like. ]

I think we just got a preview of what's going to happen to everyone if we don't make it all the way out of this town. Our 'data' disappears, and the nanites rewrite our bodies into the echoes left behind.

[bywolves]

[ Royce closes his eyes. Goes quiet, for a while, because of all the No that he's dealing with. ]

And then we're here until the next round arrives. Even past that.

[termineur]

...yeah.

[ He's quiet too, for awhile. Until he groans in disgust. ]

We can't let that happen.

[bywolves]

Trust me, you and I are not the only ones who would prefer not to be monsters for eternity. [ A beat. ] Well. Anomalies.

[ Royce is pretty sure he's already a monster in some metaphorical form. ]

[termineur]

[ Sylar chuckles bitterly at the correction. ]

Yeah. Some of us would like to go back to being your standard monsters, without threat of being mindless, too.

I'd feel better if I could at least know how this happened. We're still running through this damned maze- we can't fix this until we can reach some sort of controls.

[ And they were rapidly running out of time. He'd never felt it as much as he did now. ]

[bywolves]

Mm. Signs point to the answers being east. For all of us who can't make it to that side of town, it's a long wait. On top of the fact that I've never liked leaving my fate to other people.

[ Royce could make it there. But he's reasonably sure Alfie isn't incredibly great at climbing, and he doesn't know if he wants to risk that. ]

[termineur]

And yet we have to. We don't have a choice- none of us can make it across town quickly enough.

[ He doesn't like it either. ]

I'm in the Industrial Area now. Maybe we'll get lucky and actually find something that will get us out of here, but- I wouldn't bet on it. Probably gonna be another stupid puzzle. If we're lucky, it won't have eyes all over it.

[bywolves]

This place is puzzles upon puzzles. [ Royce says, annoyed. ] Wrong solution after wrong solution.

[ There's a pause, and then Royce sighs, heavily. ] Keep me updated, will you? The only other people I know of that are there is House's group, and him and his brainwashed flock of simpleminded children are not worth my time.

[termineur]

...simpleminded children? [ He sounds a little amused. ] I'm only aware of Ecks.

But sure, I'll let you know what's going on over here, once we figure out where we need to be. I'm going to guess the power plant, eventually. Let's hope for some kind of progress, huh?

[ Apparently hanging around Al for so long has started to seem some determined optimism into him. ]

[bywolves]

Her. The angel. [ He waves his hand idly. He also counts Stephanie and Zach, though neither of them are there and only one of them is still alive. ]

I don't hope for things. The rest of you all have it covered, I'm guessing. [ All this optimism gives him a stomach ache!! ] I'll check in again soon.

[termineur]

[ Castiel's with them? Oh right, he was traveling with her. Sylar lets out a small grunt of acknowledgement and realizes he'd better start paying more attention to the network again. Eventually. After all this existential dread fades a little. ]

Yeah, I guess we do. Talk to you soon.