Audio

[outer_npcs]

[It's a little after midnight on Tuesday night when a voice - familiar to some, though not heard since the timelines had splintered - whispers across the network, sounding immeasurably sad.]

Eyes shut, eyes open.

He sees you.

Comments

Audio

[bruiserprincess]

Well. That isn't creepy or anything.

Audio

[outer_npcs]

Fear is wise.

Re: Audio

[bruiserprincess]

Well. You just told me some creep is apparently always watching.

Audio

[outer_npcs]

Anyone can watch. He sees.

Re: Audio

[bruiserprincess]

[Okay, she sees where this is going. Maybe.]

What does he see that other people don't?

[outer_npcs]

Everything. Secrets and thoughts you don't think you're having.

[bruiserprincess]

So he's a telepath?

[That's not so different]

With really bad manners?

[outer_npcs]

A poor designation. A candle is hardly the sun.

[bruiserprincess]

So... more than just a telepath.

But I got the bad manners right?

[outer_npcs]

He tracks in filth. Marks everywhere.

[It's a bit disapproving, a bit warning.]

[Video | Encrypted still, since Tony never turned that off]

[kazeninaru]

You!

[The expression on her face is surprised and immeasurably relieved. Even though the Oracle can't see it. Her voice is both, as well.]

You are alive! I looked for you! Where are you? How long have you been back?

[The warning is not precisely disregarded, since the "he" she's talking about could be... a particular "he"... but it's coming second to her own questions at the moment.]

((ETA: in case the Oracle can tell, Haruka is hurt, she got hurt in the ambush that I'm tagging into next...))

[Audio]

[outer_npcs]

Long enough. The world bleeds.

[There is a brief pause.]

Your concern should be for yourself. You are not yet safe.

[Video]

[kazeninaru]

[The relief gives way again to seriousness, as it probably should, and a little wince as Haruka shifts a little in her seat on the convoy. They're halfway home, but still have a little ways until she can get decent treatment. (Mun thinks).]

Hai... I know. I found Roland, and there is something wrong. Is he the "he" you mean?

[outer_npcs]

[There's a pause, as though the question puzzles her.]

Names? Names are irrelevant. They change with the season.

[kazeninaru]

[Right. Dealing with the one who is impossible to understand. She'd forgotten about that, a little. Haruka tries again.]

... that man from the future, who was on the ship with us when we all were trying to kill each other. When you, ah. Died. Is he a danger?

[outer_npcs]

Future?

[The old woman sounds puzzled. To one such as her, there's little difference between the future, the present, and the past.]

He loathes Salvation. Too much lost. We should all lose with him.

[Whether she means Roland or some other, nebulous "he" is open to interpretation.]

[kazeninaru]

[Haruka can only assume at this point that she means the same he she does. If that turns out to be wrong, well... oh well.]

That might explain why he is connected with the end of things, somehow. And why he looked so angry for that brief moment, at me.

[outer_npcs]

We are all bound to the end. Ended. Echoes of the lost.

[kazeninaru]

[This is tricky. Haruka may be well aware that everyone is bound to the end, but she wants to know about that persn, in particular.]

Ah. I meant. The end of time. When the guardian of time had... died. Do you remember what you said to me then?

[outer_npcs]

A metaphor. The end has come and gone.

[kazeninaru]

Hai, yes, I know it's a metaphor, but...

[Haruka has never been all that patient, and she kind of hurts right now. So she huffs and gives up. For now.]

Never mind. You are all right. And I'm not in that city anymore, right now. We are on our way home.

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

[Mulan heard stories of the Oracle, but she herself never met or saw the person. This voice is strange to her...what it's saying, even more so.]

Who is this? What do you want?

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

Her voice.

[This appears to be the answer to both questions - or at least, there's no more forthcoming, at least without prompting.]

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

[She grows more wary, sharp, figuring she's either speaking to a madwoman or a prophet of some kind.]

And who would be 'she'?

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

Salvation.

[There's certainty in the woman's voice. This is not merely a nebulous concept.]

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

Salvation. [She repeats, carefully - more to herself, since it's not a question and she's not expecting an answer. And so then, who is the 'he'? The one that sees us?

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

He is Judas. Eldest and second-born.

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

[Not getting that reference, she's unsure whether or not to take it literally.]

Why is he watching?

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

He is the enemy of Salvation.

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

I see. [Not really.] And why are you telling us this?

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

He is the enemy of Salvation. [There's puzzlement there, as though the explanation should be obvious.]

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

And perhaps that means something, to someone who is not me. Forgive me, but I fail to understand your significance.

[voice]

[outer_npcs]

You ought to study your history.

[There's mild disapproval there. Young people.]

Speak to the boys from the stars, or the wasteland girl. They glimpsed her true shape oh, so long ago.

[voice]

[girlworthfighting]

It isn't my history.

And there are a lot of people around here who those descriptions could apply to.