network } audio; un: panoptes

[sisterswitch]

Hey, everyone - Jack here. Or, I guess some of you might know me as “that evil lying bitch from Dualis who only cares about herself.”

[ahem, that’d be jane. not that jack’s still holding a grudge or anything.]

Anyway, the important thing here is that Navi asked me to pass on a message to the group, which is that they’ve picked up on a passenger who is in a great deal of distress but too far away to get a clear link of communication. In other words, one of our merry little band is missing and having an aggressively bad time way out in the woods.

So, consider this a roll call. Time is meaningless out here in the void, so nobody knows if it’s 10 o’clock, but do you know where your partner is? Who’s missing, and who wants to go rescue them from the big bad scary possibly haunted forest?

Comments

[betterhavemammoney]

Hey, I could be!

Hold on. Don't move, I'm comin' with!

[adaptiveimmunities]

...Okay.

You have fifteen minutes to get here or I'm going to wander off in to the creepy woods by myself.

[betterhavemammoney]

Not without me you ain't! I'm on my way!

[He's going to dash into the woods full speed. On the bright side, it shouldn't take him long to find Shaun.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun sets a timer on his little phone-thing and leans against a tree, waiting. He's not lying. As soon as the timer goes off, he's gone.]

action

[betterhavemammoney]

[Luckily, Mammon is nothing if not fast. He's able to loop through the forest around the town quickly and find Shaun, scooting to a halt in front of him and panting.]

Don't even think -- about sellin' those pictures without me! [It takes him a moment to recover his breath.]

Hey, why're you little?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun blinks up at him. As an adult, he'd be concerned about this turn of affairs. As kid, he just shrugs it off. The world is wide and weird.]

...Huh. Dunno. Am I not supposed to be?

[betterhavemammoney]

You weren't before. Didja get cursed? Was it the creepy thing?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Small Shaun gives him a deeply skeptical look.]

Magic isn't real. There's no such thing as curses.

[betterhavemammoney]

What? Yes it is. My brothers do magic all the time! Even humans do it!

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun eyes him.] You're weird.

[betterhavemammoney]

Am not! You're weird.

[adaptiveimmunities]

And you're arguing with an eight year old. [Shaun raises an eyebrow at him like 'which of us is weird?'] Come on. Let's go find the spooky stuff.

[betterhavemammoney]

You're not eight, you're just little. Unless you were eight the whole time.

[adaptiveimmunities]

[He shrugs. It all feels a little hazy right now.] I don't think I was. I don't know why I am now. I think I should be more freaked out about that.

[But why be a creeped out by a little age regression when you can go on an actual factual monster hunt? He starts moving deeper into the woods.]

[betterhavemammoney]

[Mammon follows after, not willing to let that possible payday walk away.]

You're DEFINITELY cursed. This is exactly the sort of curse Belphie would put on a human.

[adaptiveimmunities]

First of all, that seems like an asshole move.

Second: who's Belphie?

[He's peering into the woods, hoping to see... well, he's not sure. He'd been a little fuzzy on the crrpy details, but he wants a picture of it, whatever it is. He keeps his phone ready.]

[betterhavemammoney]

It is. Curses are supposed to suck.

[Mammon's not really sure what they're looking for either, so he's not looking. He's mostly hoping they'll stumble across whatever this creepy thing is.]

Belphie's my little brother. He'd think this curse is great.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Huh. I have a sister. She'd say this curse is bullshit.

[It's clear he's taking a kid's pleasure in saying swear words without anyone telling him not to. His phone screen starts to flicker, and he frowns a little.]

That's not supposed to happen.

[betterhavemammoney]

That's what I say when I get cursed!

[Hey, knock yourself out, Shaun! Far be it from the demon to stop you doing something naughty.]

Battery dyin'?

[adaptiveimmunities]

No. [His tone is annoyed as he shows the phone to Mammon.] Look. The battery indicator is mostly full. It should be fine.

[He shivers a little, without really noticing it. It's not really cold, but he got a shiver down his spine. It's probably nothing.]

[betterhavemammoney]

Guess we have to use mine! That means I get all the picture money!

[He pulls his own device out, glee quickly turning to frustration as its screen flickers too.]

Mine ain't workin' either. What gives?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun gives him a look with bright, shining eyes.]

Maybe it's the spooky thing.

[He immediately picks a direction and starts walking deeper into the deep dark woods.]

[betterhavemammoney]

Hey hey hey stop! Where ya goin'?

[He dashes forward, grabbing at the collar of Shaun's shirt to slow him down.]

We can't get a picture of it like this! What's the point in going?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun turns to look at him like 'excuse you sir, take your hand of my shirt.']

To see the monster? Duh? Don't you want to see it? 'Cause I do.

[betterhavemammoney]

What's the point in seeing it if we can't sell the pics, huh? Don't you get it?

[He huffs and poses not unlike a kid around Shaun's apparent age.]