warped_replica (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
warped_replica) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
saveourearth2018-07-13 09:37 pm
warped_replica) wrote in saveourearth2018-07-13 09:37 pm
Secrets Revealed [Log]
Date:End of June
[Ever since the night of the celebration that had captured so much attention when the aurora appeared despite the Earth being inappropriately tilted along its axis for such a phenomenon, Benjiro had been preoccupied by the familiar experience. The number that had returned had burned itself into his mind. He jotted it down on post-it notes or briefly in search engine lines before being respectively crumpled or deleted. He figured his neurons must have misfired, conjuring the number and causing the odd cluster of temporary symptoms that had long passed. Surely, his brain had latched onto the random numerical sequence as significant secondary to the anxiety brought on by the incident. Writing it then, would give him a way to express it harmlessly.
That only worked for a few days.
While writing on his tablet at lunch, he scrawled the number out in some empty space. Before he could turn the stylus over to erase it, something else followed without his input. Messages began appearing. He shut the case cover without powering down. Later that night, when everything was calm and he was certainly alone, he opened it to examine once more. The text was gone...until he wrote the number again. With the return of the text, he started to drag and move it around, revealing more. What had seemed entirely random came with names and clues connecting those names - and beyond even that, audio played. Once he had combed through what he could find, he tried to screenshot the text so he might access it from his photos without entering the number only for nothing to show when he checked the images on the device and again at his computer.
Reliably, the words would appear with the use of that number, but he couldn't seem to capture it electronically.
Since then, he has checked every evening with the number to monitor, reviewing whatever new occurrences he could find through it. More names...one that came with a surname. One that was undeniably familiar as some of the voices in the audio had been. As the first names had been in the first entry he found.
Nearly two weeks since the aurora, late in the afternoon, he stands at the doorway of the office belonging to Professor Jacob Petty with a paper notebook held tightly in both hands. School was over, and technically, these were not his office hours. That alone made the teenager more uneasy as he stared at the floor leaning with his back to the wall and his bag hanging from one shoulder. He has been doing his best to keep focused on everything, especially classes, but by now, his preoccupation with the strange connection has begun to show physically after skipping more sleep than usual.]
[Ever since the night of the celebration that had captured so much attention when the aurora appeared despite the Earth being inappropriately tilted along its axis for such a phenomenon, Benjiro had been preoccupied by the familiar experience. The number that had returned had burned itself into his mind. He jotted it down on post-it notes or briefly in search engine lines before being respectively crumpled or deleted. He figured his neurons must have misfired, conjuring the number and causing the odd cluster of temporary symptoms that had long passed. Surely, his brain had latched onto the random numerical sequence as significant secondary to the anxiety brought on by the incident. Writing it then, would give him a way to express it harmlessly.
That only worked for a few days.
While writing on his tablet at lunch, he scrawled the number out in some empty space. Before he could turn the stylus over to erase it, something else followed without his input. Messages began appearing. He shut the case cover without powering down. Later that night, when everything was calm and he was certainly alone, he opened it to examine once more. The text was gone...until he wrote the number again. With the return of the text, he started to drag and move it around, revealing more. What had seemed entirely random came with names and clues connecting those names - and beyond even that, audio played. Once he had combed through what he could find, he tried to screenshot the text so he might access it from his photos without entering the number only for nothing to show when he checked the images on the device and again at his computer.
Reliably, the words would appear with the use of that number, but he couldn't seem to capture it electronically.
Since then, he has checked every evening with the number to monitor, reviewing whatever new occurrences he could find through it. More names...one that came with a surname. One that was undeniably familiar as some of the voices in the audio had been. As the first names had been in the first entry he found.
Nearly two weeks since the aurora, late in the afternoon, he stands at the doorway of the office belonging to Professor Jacob Petty with a paper notebook held tightly in both hands. School was over, and technically, these were not his office hours. That alone made the teenager more uneasy as he stared at the floor leaning with his back to the wall and his bag hanging from one shoulder. He has been doing his best to keep focused on everything, especially classes, but by now, his preoccupation with the strange connection has begun to show physically after skipping more sleep than usual.]
no subject
[In other words, he's not been that tempted to try.]
And you've got that in one. Insomnia on the one hand - but on the other, when I do sleep, I still feel rested.
[Which may just be a personal quirk, rather than Echo-related.]
Yes, actually, though that may be because I expect to, rather than any loss of energy.
[In other words, boredom.]
no subject
[There’s a guilty tip forward of his head and an apologetic frown even with his logic given. In retrospect, it may be better to avoid it if there’s a chance his change would in fact respond similarly to anxiety.]
It’s not unheard of for a healthy adult to need only 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night without experiencing negative consequences.
[Human standards may not apply here, of course.]
It might be worth looking at how many trials of a small task you can endure with the focus on quantity at some point.
[Still looking through the notebook from Walter, he’ll pause a moment to offer his own notebook to his friend. It contains a copy of messages to date on the network, as well as a mess of short hand thoughts and reasoning.]
I’ve had that hollow feeling twice, but I don’t know what changes I’ve experienced other than dizziness and disruption in my gait that went away.
no subject
Depends on who you ask, or at least as to whether it should be legal.
[Ben's next point, however, gets a wry smile out of him.]
Something we've both relied on, I think - though you're still young for that.
[Seriously; you are still growing, Ben!
Then he nods.]
Of course.
[Trial runs; the new 'compiling!' time waster!
Walter takes the notebook with careful hands, flipping through page by page. Very good work; he nods his approval.]
Not sure what to look for, then?
no subject
I make up for it on weekends. [He sleeps in Sunday mornings. Though, another inch or two in height would be great...]
[Completing his own scan of Walter’s notebook as Walter puruses his own, he’ll close it to hand back to his friend.]
It’s low priority for me. If the changes aren’t overt, I should probably focus on more pressing questions.
[That and he isn’t sure he wants to find out.]
no subject
That doesn't ensure the changes won't become overt later - or that you won't need them.
But they aren't the most immediate concern, I'll agree.
[He gestures for Ben to pull up a chair.]
So for now, let's brainstorm. Stream-of-consciousness style, if that's alright with you?
no subject
Right.
[At the motion to take a seat, he'll move to pick up a nearby chair and set it down closer to where Walter may settle. Sliding his bag to the floor next to the chair, he sits down with effort taken to sit up as he puts his full focus into the moment.]
That's fine. Go ahead.