[Text] | June 30, Testing

[scarsolderthanyou]

June 30

[Whatever someone else was expecting to see on their mirror, computer screen, notebook, or whatever other flat surface they were looking at, instead they get to see someone making an intentional attempt at this contacting-other-people-through-numbers thing. Sam has seen both of the last two message sets and conversations come through, worked out vaguely what happened, and while he didn't reply then, he's seeing if it can be done on purpose now. By him.

There's a string of numbers to open the "connection" and then some spiky but very readable handwriting:]

Hello. This is Sam Stone. Is this thing working? Or am I writing to myself?

[He's somewhere between feeling like an idiot, feeling like he's losing his mind, and apprehensive that this is some kind of government experiment gone wrong and that the local black suits are going to barge in any minute. At least if someone answers, he won't be the only one arrested for using some new weird technology.]

Comments

[Text]

[iamnotgod]

Yes, it's working.

[Walter's writing this from his computer, rather than on paper, but text feels... better, for him. More apt.

And, in a manner that was not lost on him, faster.]

Though at least looking like you're writing to yourself is a good idea.

[Text until we say otherwise!] :)

[scarsolderthanyou]

I'm the only one here. There isn't anyone to look over my shoulder. Who is this?

[Text until we say otherwise!] \o/

[iamnotgod]

[Well, that was fast.]

I was speaking on general principle, there.

[There's a nearly imperceptible hesitance, then:]

This is Walter. Walter Weekes. And you?

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Somebody wasn't reading, up there.]

Sam Stone. I'll be careful about other people if I ever do this in public. I don't think I will probably do this in public, though.

You're that kid from the fireworks show, right?

[Text] Muse is laughing at me. |D I deserve that.

[iamnotgod]

[One of the downsides of reading at high speed, perhaps - that 'oh shit, I typed something I didn't need to' feeling, only worse.

And he would protest being called a 'kid', but Stone IS in his seventies. Not the smartest tack to take.]

Yes. I feel as if I should apologize for how I acted, then; I know I was

[Another, near-imperceptible hesitance.]

strange.

[But then, he hadn't been the only one, had he?]

it's cool XD I miss shit like that ALL the time

[scarsolderthanyou]

I wasn't a lot better I'm just more used to acting normal when I'm not.

Does that mean you got a weird feeling from the lights too?

[He still hasn't quite let go of the idea that his brain might finally be failing him and he's imagining all this, but for now, he's engaging.]

Trait-sharing dance! \o\ |o| /o/

[iamnotgod]

Yes. Hollowness, and a heartbeat.

Or something like one, anyway.

[That had been harder to realize, in the immediate aftermath, but looking back there HAD been a feeling like one.]

[Text]

[dragoonrouge]

Hello.

[The text is somewhat italicised, scruffy, and small, Sadie is currently in class and is scribbling in pencil in the corner of her notebook]

I'm Sadie

[Text forever probably!]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Nice to met your handwriting, Sadie.

[It's about on the same level as his: mostly legible but only mostly.]

Welcome to whatever weird thing this is.

[Almost certainly]

[dragoonrouge]

Nice to meet you too.

[Her writing gets interrupted by the edge of an electron shell diagram encroaching into it before she continues]

Weird is what this is, although at least it isn't voices coming out this time.

[scarsolderthanyou]

I wouldn't do that to you all. Not on purpose, anyway. That seems like it would be a lot more startling, and likely to interrupt if you're busy.

[dragoonrouge]

That's kind of you, the last time this happened, the others got me in trouble with the Librarian.

If you're on here then you saw the Aurora right?

[scarsolderthanyou]

I think everyone saw the aurora. My daughter and grandchildren did, too, but they don't seem to be sending out random messages like this. I don't know why we're doing it and everyone else isn't.

[Text unless said otherwise] \o7

[darkmagiciangirl]

Oh, hello! It's working!

[The writing is a mixture of cursive and print - rather utilitarian, optimized for writing quickly.

She was writing on a dry erase board with a fine tip marker.]

Chihiro Sano here! Good to meet you! :)

[Off to the side a database diagram starts to form as she continues her work. She doesn't realize it is also being transmitted.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam is about to fix that.]

I can see your doodles. What are those?

[darkmagiciangirl]

[Drawing stops abruptly and is quickly erased, her writing is hurried - as if embarrassed.]

Sorry - planning a database before implementing it - didn't realize you could see it!

[scarsolderthanyou]

It might be that anything on the same surface that you're writing this on gets sent over. Might want to transfer your conversations to paper or something, unless you don't mind sharing your database with the rest of whatever this is.

[darkmagiciangirl]

I've already moved my planning to a notebook - good to know that drawings can be sent easily! :)

[A pause.]

Clearly you know how to make this work - what have you found out?

[scarsolderthanyou]

This was my first experiment and I really expected it to not work, so I don't think I know any more than you do.

Have you seen and heard the other things that have gone on here since the lights after the fireworks? I think we're all just fumbling around.

[Text!]

[tobodlygo]

Ah. Another one!

Welcome, I guess :)

[His writing is neat and fast, a quick looping of ballpoint pen amidst technical drawings and aerodynamic equations.]

This is James Kirk, How are those Old Pilot bones of yours, Stone?

[This RAF brat knows a good lot of the aviation lot in Mossgate, it's not hard to believe he knows about Sam, somehow!]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Oh right, this kid. If Kirk is a fan of aviation, Sam may or may not have even taken him up in his plane once or twice, honestly.]

Confused, tired, and now annoyed because I have to deal with the likes of you, kid.

[How do you make a text look like a joke? Oh, right. The sideways smiley face that his grandkids always use. He adds that, even if he's doing it in handwriting, not phone or computer text.]

:)

[tobodlygo]

Well I can at least match you for the 'Confused and Tired' bit, but let's be honest here, I'm a Delight ;)

[Kirk responds in handwritten emoticon style, just he finds it endearing]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Okay. Nice to know your ego is still intact.

So you got that weird feeling at the aurora, too, I guess? Any other time before that, or was that the first one?

[tobodlygo]

No that one was the first for me. You too, hmm?

I had a -
[He's not sure wether or not to diclose the exact nature of the memory, of what he's entirely sure was his own death.]

A memory that wasn't mine, I think.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Second, actually. First one happened a couple weeks ago. No memory, but a bracelet thing, like a couple of dragons wrapped up together. It's weird.

Is that what it was? A memory? Couldn't be one of mine. I was flying.

Before you ask, not in my plane. More like I had wings.