@parker — text.

[webshoots]

I haven't met everyone, so for those of you I haven't met: hey, my name's Peter, wish circumstances were better etc, and I'm going to admit I don't really do this a lot, so you'll have to bear with me.

I know we've just had a meeting to discuss how we can be more prepared in the future and how we can try and limit repeats of the Lighthouse expedition and the party, but that was before Robin and the Doc shared with the class what they know about the World Eaters. New and old, we're all roughly on the same page as far as that's concerned.

Saying it'll be worth putting our heads together at some point to work out how we're going to deal with that threat is an understatement, but... It'll be worth it. Apparently the quickest way to send us all on a one-way trip to definitively not existing is by not working together, and I'll be honest and admit I'm pretty keen on avoiding that.

(That doesn't mean now, for the record, but we've got a time limit and this doesn't look like it's one of those situations where you can cram all night with a jugful of coffee and hope for the best at 8am, day off.)

(And while we're here, can we all agree that murder is bad? Yes? Great.)

I haven't had the (questionable) luck of coming across anyone from my version of Earth here, but we can basically sum it up with: stuff happens. Invading aliens, not-so-invading aliens, pod people, body snatchers, you name it, it's probably happened. I don't want to assume that's the case for everyone here, but I've spoken to enough of you that I feel pretty comfortable going out on a limb and saying that most of us have had experiences that kind of stretch the definition of 'normal'.

Which also means we've got enough experience between us all to make some kind of headway.

(That's the long way of saying "okay, so", by the way.)

There's been a lot of encouragement about exploring Beacon and pulling together whatever we find into something cohesive to be able to figure out a survival plan, and that's great but it's not without its risks.

In life, I had a tech company. At the moment, I've just got it on my tablet, but I've been messing around with something I came up with back home. Think of it like GPS, but with fewer (read: no) satellites.

Radius isn't unlimited and it's not totally foolproof, but if anyone's heading out into the forest and they've got any concerns or reservations about ending up separated from whoever they're with, or unable to find their way back to town, let me know.

Comments

[quotability]

i'm not sure it's a good idea yet
but i'd like to go see what's out there

[webshoots]

Right. Settle in first, learn the lay of the land...
Are you settling in okay? (I'm using a loose definition of 'okay').

[quotability]

i found a place to stay and the library, so yeah
i'm settling in okay

[ you know ]

same definition as yours

[webshoots]

Well, that's something at least.

If you've got any questions or if you need a hand, feel free to get in touch.

[quotability]

i have a lot of questions
but i don't think anyone here has the answers

but thank you

[webshoots]

Yeah, the ratio of questions : answers is skewed pretty heavily against answers, sorry.
Robin and the Doc have some, but it's hit-and-miss.

[quotability]

it's all right
honestly, i'm already used to that, i think

[ in as far as anyone can be used to it. 6+ months of more questions than answers about new ham have definitely prepared him for more questions than answers here ]

[webshoots]

You think?

I'm not sure that's something anyone should be saying they're used to.

[quotability]

it's been that way for a while now

[ in principle, grizz agrees — but there's only so much existential dread and so many questions anyone can feel and have for extended periods of time, he figures ]

[webshoots]

That’s actually not making it sound any better.

[ like, u ok, dude? ]

[quotability]

[ not really, no ]

i was in a weird
parallel universe maybe-purgatory replica of my home town before all this

it wasn't great

[webshoots]

That’s both incredibly unfortunate and weirdly similar, so I don’t want to sound insensitive by asking this, but: do you know how you got there?

[ please don’t say you died, grizz. ]

[quotability]

[ he didn't die ]

a school bus dropped us off

[webshoots]

I’m going to admit that I was prepared to accept a lot of answers there but that wasn’t one of them.

[ u wot m8 ]

[quotability]

okay so
there was a weird smell
then there was a graffiti of the writing on the wall
you know the one from the bible? you've been weighed in the balance and found wanting

all the kids between 16 and 18 were send on a school trip, but the road was blocked, so the busses turned around and dropped us back off at home, only it was a replica of our home completely cut off from everything else, no adults or younger children

no satellites or internet or hospitals or supplies except for what was still in the supermarkets and homes

[webshoots]

[ peter eyes quentin appraisingly for a moment — quentin looks to be a few years younger than him, but for all intents and purposes, sure, they are a similar age. still, there's a difference between old and ancient and wow, thanks for not calling him the latter. ] That's comforting, thanks.

[ I didn't really plan beyond—. okay. there's a loose plan there, and it doesn't sound like it's something quentin's going to rush headfirst into, which gives time for a more solid plan to come to fruition beyond 'tag! you're it' because as it stands, it sounds like a loose idea of something to do that could get results, but is just as, if not more likely, to get someone hurt if they tagged the wrong spirit. ]

Preferably, no, but if it came down to it and I was doing something else? Sure. [ a beat and a quirk of his lips, ] But just to be clear, there's nothing on my tablet that I need to hide, so the only thing I'd lose is a convenient method of communication, and— [ he waves a hand dismissively. ] Let's be honest: if it gets to the point where you, we, whoever has to leave my tablet behind, I think there's slightly larger things at stake than whether or not I'm going to be able to check my messages at two am. [ pause; concession. ] —Pockets should be fine.

[moderatelymaladjusted]

Oh, I didn't-- I wasn't going to look over anything on your tablet or anything like that, I just. It was just that everyone seem like they want to keep everything close to their chest? Tablets included, so I was just checking to make sure. It's not--

[Small frustrated noise, because hardly any of the things he wanted to ask about is coming out right, and he's really just sitting in the dirt, asking a stranger for favors when he's got nothing to offer in return except what ever results he might, and that's a very shaky might, get.]

I wasn't planning on leaving it behind, I was just-- surprised. I guess. I-- I have no idea what I'm actually doing here, but there's not enough information anywhere here to learn anything. It's all just-- it's just a lot of talk and no one is doing anything, but if we knew, if we could figure out where they go? If they go anywhere at all? Maybe that would help. Like, maybe that could be the next clue.

[pearlstrings]

And your specialization in cyber security? Tracking devices seem more in the vein of monitored activity and information gathering than something like theft prevention.

[webshoots]

Is this a job interview?

I’ll be honest: the original design for the trackers is unrelated to any of that. I wasn’t popular as a teenager, not all of my personal belongings stayed in my locker.

[ fe... asible, maybe? ]

[webshoots]

That manages to be creepy and really oddly specific.

I don't know if I should be welcoming you to Beacon, or giving you my condolences.

[webshoots]

Generally, or do you mean information? [ not that the difference entirely matters — the sentiment raises an issue with trust that, at least amongst themselves, would be better avoided if they want to avoid being reset.

but then quentin makes a noise and whilst peter's not entirely sure what it's directed at, it manages to be a vocalisation of a feeling he can very, very much appreciate. he's been here three months and they're not really any closer to having a solid idea about what's going than they were when they first arrived — sure, they'd discovered bits and pieces, nuggets of information and way more creepy buildings than peter realistically wanted to see in his lifetime (un-lifetime?), but the majority of anything that seemed like it was worth something, came from doc ingram, or from robin, and—

—there's the question of how much of that can be taken at face value. ] —But okay. [ he doesn't bother to point out that he hadn't meant that he'd expect quentin to leave it behind deliberately ] I don't want to sound condescending and I'm sure you already know this, but things like this, they take time. Trust doesn't occur overnight; it's not ideal, but it is what it is. [ a beat. ] You know I'm on the same page as you, right? I wouldn't be here if I wasn't.

[quotability]

it was creepy
is, for everyone still there

i'd prefer still being alive

[ he'd prefer still being there to help explore, to help get started on farming the land, to make sure no one starves to death

with allie and him both here, who will do that? who will make sure it happens? ]

[webshoots]

I know this won't necessarily help, but FWIW the official line is only that we're dead. Memories aren't infallible, so the more we find out about this place, the better equipped we're going to be to figure out what comes after it.

Maybe that means going home.

[ most people would prefer to be alive grizz. ]

[moderatelymaladjusted]

What?

[Since just trying to wing this, and hope to all hell that the words would just come to him from come magical place inside his own head. Or, like, divine intervention. Isn't working. At all. Quentin takes a moment, staring down at the ground and his own hands, twisting together and worrying the edge of his sleeve.

After a few moments of nothing but quiet and they're breathing, and maybe the distant sound of insects buzzing around. None of the city sounds he'd been living with for years and missed like he'd miss breathing for that first year in Fillory, no people walking around talking too loudly, sharing pieces of their lives with everyone around because talking quietly on the phone was just not a thing in New York. No loitering and no other lives brushing up against everyone elses. Not here.

Heaving a sigh, he looks up and tilts his head.]

I was suggesting the we all, uhm, trust each other like that? Trust is more than just sharing all our deep, dark secrets with strangers. But, we should be able to trust that all of us, every single one, wants to beat this. I don't even care if you just want to go back and be alive? If the others just want to solve this because it-- because it might be the only way to get that? Who ever did this, made a mistake and I'm willing to-- to do anything, to burn this place to the ground to make them take it back. I'd trust you to help me get that? Shouldn't everyone?

[pearlstrings]

A job interview seems a bit superfluous given the circumstances. Curiosity might be a better explanation.

Though calling them unrelated might be a stretch. You're talking about a highschool interest in monitoring things on the tail end of mentioning a career in cyber security.

In any case, this GPS of yours. Where does the data transmit to? To how many points?