An Announcement. [Network - Audio Only]

[iamnotgod]

Date: January 2nd
Characters: Walter Weekes, via some still-unwritten Number

---

[There'd been several seconds' worth of internal debate, whether to put this on the Network at large, send it to everyone's known Number individually to make it less public, or even to mention it at all.

Walter's voice is clear, but it's obvious there's effort behind that. He sounds... resigned, exhausted, generally unhappy.]

Has anyone else tried to contact Jim? My own attempts have been... unsuccessful. Including through his Number.

[He'd checked at Jim's workplace, too, but the only answers there were annoyingly vague. Either the man'd gone ghosted, or he was out of the country.

And Walter can't shake the thought that he could have had something to with it, as irrational as it might come across. (At least Jim won't have to remember dying, anymore, unless until he comes back.)

What a way to begin the New Year, huh?]

Comments

Still Audio

[iamnotgod]

He hasn't used the Network much, I'll admit-

[Mostly, Jim commented on other people's posts.]

But I'd gone to his place earlier, to meet up with him, and there didn't look to have been a struggle or the like.

[There's the smallest of pauses between 'to' and 'meet', as if Walter has something else in mind to say only to change it last-second.

He brings out his notebook alongside his laptop, writing down Sam Stone's Number - properly this time, not just using the main channel - to send Jim's address.]

[audio]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam gets it written down somewhere not-network-y.]

Want to meet me there?

Re: [audio]

[iamnotgod]

[His breath holds. One instant, then the next-]

I can, though we might get called out for loitering.

[There's not much energy behind the words, though.]

[audio]

[scarsolderthanyou]

We won't be loitering, we'll be prowling. Much better, right?

[There's a hint of a grin in his voice, though it doesn't last into the next comment.]

I can be there in half an hour. You free, or you need to wait a little?

[audio]->[Action]

[iamnotgod]

Mmm.

[That noncommittal noise is probably answer enough as it is!]

I'm free-

[And again he cuts off abruptly, double-meaning striking him and making him flinch.]

I'll be there when you are.

[Action]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam's big old car rolls up near to the address Walter gave him, and parks a little ways down the block. Sam walks the rest of the way, taking advantage of the cold to wrap half his face up in scarf and hat rather than bothering with make-up for his gray skin. He can even smell through the scarf if he needs to, though if the smells are faint he'll pull it down. Later.

He looks around, taking in the neighborhood and looking for Walter.]

Re: [Action]

[iamnotgod]

[It's... very much a place, not that many details can be seen from the gate, which is where Walter's waiting.

He doesn't announce his presence, though he does make himself try for eye contact.]

Think you can pick anything up from here, or...?

sorry that took so long, lost the notif somehow D:

[scarsolderthanyou]

Nice place.

[Same doesn't really sound like he thinks it's that nice. Too... post-modern-ish for him, really. But it is big and fancy, he supposes.]

Let me walk past the place a time or two, see what I can smell.

[And he does sidle on down the sidewalk, mouth open just a little, since he seems to smell things better that way. It's kind of weird.]

/pats

[iamnotgod]

[Walter nods, absently.]

Go ahead.

[He's taken in somewhat - Stone's technique reminds him oddly of a snake's, or a cat's - but mostly he goes back to being silent, leaning on a post instead of the gate itself.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Coming back to where Walter is waiting, Sam frowns.]

He's not home. His smell is there, but not fresh. And I don't smell anyone else-- I think he left of his own accord. What car does he drive? Is it here?

[He can't track cars, sadly.]

He hasn't gotten Sadie's message by this point.

[iamnotgod]

[Walter shakes his head.]

No sign of the car.

[They hadn't really driven or ridden in the same vehicle since that first 'date', anyway.]

makes sense

[scarsolderthanyou]

Then he might have gone outside the boundary. Forgot about all this. Didn't bring a cell phone, or else doesn't recognize the number on it anymore so isn't picking up.

[He looks and sounds apologetic.]

[iamnotgod]

Just that, then...

[He sighs, suppressing a few more thoughts of Is someone after him? Was it an emergency? Why do so few people care-]

Thank you, Mr. Stone, for the help.

[Not 'Sam'. Not at this time.]

Clarification, really.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sorry, kiddo.

[He gives Walter's shoulder a sympathetic pat.]

I could try to give him a call, if you like. He knew me before all this shit started, though he might be surprised to hear from me.

[iamnotgod]

[Walter takes a deep breath at the pat, then another.]

That- that would be nice.

Don't think it'd be fair to mention me, though; I only knew him while he was here...

[Since the night all this Numbers business started, more accurately.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

We'll see how it goes.

[Sam heads back to his car, where he left his cell phone.]

I'll at least leave him a message even if he doesn't pick up. He ought to still have my number-- I gave him lessons, once, in flying.

[iamnotgod]

[Normally, he'd love to ask questions about that - how it went, whether flying in America was anything like piloting in Britain, and other such inquiries.

There's something in him resisting even taking part in those lines, though.]

He may be a while in replying, even then.

[If it had been his family, focusing on much else might well have been out of the question for a good while, Echo-induced abilities aside.]

I- thanks. Again.

[He doesn't yet make to follow Stone.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Hey, it's not like I've got anything better to do.

[He does flash the kid a sympathetic sort of smile over his shoulder, though.]

This shit is messing with all of us in its own ways.

[iamnotgod]

[All he can do at the moment is nod to that.]

I suppose we're to see ourselves home, now.

[He looks away.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Unless you need company.

[He's offering, if Walter wants it.]

[iamnotgod]

I- I should, yes.

[At least he can admit it.]

But I need to check on something first.

[Because Stone's response on the Network can't still be the only one... can it?]

[scarsolderthanyou]

You go for a little walk, then, and I'll wait here at the car. I can take you somewhere for ice cream or whatever the kids these days like doing.

[He's only about half-teasing there.]

[iamnotgod]

[Walter briefly freezes.]

I- you don't need to do that.

[But he doesn't say no, or exactly turn the offer down outright... He's not very certain that Stone is teasing, is the problem.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Doesn't mean I won't do it if it looks like you could use it.

[He shrugs, as if it's no big deal. (It's not, really, but.)]

I'm retired. I don't have a lot else to do, so it's no trouble.

[iamnotgod]

Oh.

I'm-

[Hesitance, guilt, embarrassment and anxiety - they're all still evident on his face and elsewhere, to some extent.]

not hungry, precisely.

[And he Does Not want to get drunk as an alternative; blackouts may not even be possible for him anymore, setting aside that he's never had any to begin with.]