outer_divide | [Video | Monday afternoon, Week 43]

[There's a mildly disgruntled and somewhat determined-looking senshi on the screen today. Haruka's just come from a very interesting meeting, and she is determined to make sure everyone knows about it.]

Yo. People from the end of the world time, with the shrinking everything and... everything. I met Roland today. I know it was him, even if he denied it. He called me "miss" and he didn't want to talk to me. He called himself "David Birne" and says he works for the council here in Bellona. And then someone followed me, after I spoke to him.

[She shifts a little, looking aside with a scowl, then admits:]

I sometimes get flashes of things, feelings, when I am around someone dangerous, or when there's something I need to know to help someone. Most times it is only a feeling, but visions sometimes, too. And I had one, of that place in the future, when I shook his hand. It left my whole arm numb.

[She makes a flexing motion with the hand in question, still feeling some pins and needles in it as sensation slowly comes back. Looking back at the camera again, she settles back into a determined expression.]

There is something wrong here. Whether he is involved in bringing this future about or he is just hiding something about it, I think we should find out. You-tachi back at the city, see if you can learn anything about him? I will try here, before we leave, once I track down Zevran.

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[Bones' famously steady hands shook for a good long moment after processing Haruka's message, and it's taken him another one to get control of himself anouth to reply. He's still a hell of a lot paler than he'd ever admit to as he turns up on the video feed, his eyes wide and staring intently across the digital divide.]

Whatever or whoever got to me, it wanted him dead. Watch yourself, Tenoh, if he was a target then you might be one now.

I'd be irritated if you died. Try and avoid it.

[Aw, Bones, do you care? You care, don't you? Haruka isn't sure whether to be amused or touched at the warning, but she does smile a bit at him. Even if it's a kind of bemused smirk.]

It will take a lot to keep me down, Doctor. I have already died twice since I came here. But I will be careful.

Resurrection machines are no excuse to be reckless, young lady.

[Bones is letting a touch of humour into his pronouncement, amplified by the beetling of his eyebrows at her, but there's seriousness still lingering beneath.]

I recognized Roland as one of the people who'd died of the plague, back in the old timeline. I have no idea if that helps or if it just muddies the waters even more.

[She sits up straighter, at that. This! This is potentially useful! Whoever he is, he's done better for himself, this time around.]

You knew him? Did he not come back, then, the way I have and others have? What do you remember about him, from the other timeline?

I knew him as much as I knew any of the poor bastards coughing and dying. Recognized a face, had an inkling of a name, no time for much more than that.

[Some memory of that particular dark and frustrating time shades Bones' expression.]

I didn't see him until we fell ahead in time, so I had no reason to assume he was anything other than another local, dying like the other thousands I couldn't cure in time.

That makes sense....

[Though she can't help but be disappointed and frustrated, her own self. She needs more info.]

At least we know who he was. No on important. I guess he did better this time around.

The question remains... how did he get to this time around? He was dead, and not just in the plague but in the future. Murdered.

[Bones saw to that. His expression shutters and his shoulders hunch like a hermit crab retreating into its shell.]

So if he's just a local who's done better in this timeline, how'd he get here?

Oh, I do not think he is a local. I think he is of the ship, as we are. He was in the future-- how else would he have gotten there? Unless he lives forever, and he simply lived that long.

[Which she highly doubts.]

Not impossible... but not damned likely.

[He died under Bones' hand just like any other mortal would. The doctor's expression remains just as closed off as he continues to mull over his experience with mind control.]

So then we have someone who came from the Ship, was living in the Old City pre-timeslip to die from the plague, but he would've had to have turned up before any of the rest of us woke up. Especially given that now he's apparently in good with Bellona's leadership.

He is a council member, so... he must have been here a long time. I am going to try and find things out here, what I can about him. Any looking you and the others can do there will be a help. I need to make certain he isn't going to turn on us.

I doubt much record of him's going to turn up in the hospital, but I'll keep an eye out. And you stay safe while you're out there.

[He glowers, as if hoping to stare down any malevolent forces gathering around Haruka with a look.]

[Haruka smirks a bit at him, then flips him a joking, American-style salute.]

Hai, sempai. I will see you in a week, when the caravan returns.

[Video | Monday afternoon, Week 43]

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