Important Questions [Text, Open]

[bravelyplucked]

Date: September 2
Characters: A number sans any other identification that is totally Torin

---

[...well. He's had that number rattling around in his head off and on for how long, and now he decides to make use of it? Torin is quite possibly late to the party. But he does, however, have a very important first question to ask of people after he's scribbled the number down on his notebook while having a morning cup of coffee in his office and after he's processed a bit of what's going on here.]

So what's your favorite dinosaur?

Comments

[dragoonrouge]

[The answer is almost immediate as the voice of a young woman eminates from his notebook.]

Aquilops.

[bravelyplucked]

[Oh, hey, voice. That's...weird and unusual coming from his notepad. Torin's not sure if he wants to talk or not over this thing, and so the response still comes out written in handwriting that's obviously from an older individual.]

That's an excellent choice! Why that one in particular?

[Text]

[iamnotgod]

I was always fond of the Brachiosauridae. Daanosaurus zhangi if I must pick an individual species.

[This response is written right back - though it's clearly not Torin's handwriting.]

[Written]

[lovedramamoron]

Plesiosaurs.

[dragoonrouge]

[Sadie is undeterred by Torin's lack of speaking.]

I think it's interesting how evolution and ecological niches can create species dwarfism in various different species and what it says about the environments they lived in.

[Text]

[bravelyplucked]

[He's pretty delighted by the magically appearing handwriting; it's quite the novelty.]

Ah, Brachiosauridae are mine, too! Though I am quite partial to Brachiosaurus torinus.

[Look, you discover a species, you're going to be partial to that species, even if the name you suggested for it in jest actually stuck.]

[Written]

[bravelyplucked]

Not quite true dinosaurs, but close enough for our purposes. Why do you like them?

[bravelyplucked]

Well said! They're rather interesting little things. And they're often forgotten in the face of more well-known dinosaurs.

Re: [Text]

[iamnotgod]

I shouldn't be surprised, and yet somehow I am. ;)

[And yes, he does write out the emote.]

In any case, I believe we've met before. Though, has anyone caught you up to speed on what this Network seems capable of?

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Sam can't decide if it'd be worse if Ray or Torin were the one behind this. His two local dinosaur fans. Shit. Maybe he'll be lucky and it isn't either one. (Yeah, he's never lucky. He's the one with half his family in this thing.)

Instead of answering the question, he texts back,]

Who is this?

[Voice]

[dreamtamer]

[This answer comes from a young boy's voice.]

Can I pick all of them?

[Text]

[bravelyplucked]

Have we met? It's difficult to keep track of people when you don't have faces to go with them.

And I must confess I'm still getting the hang of this, though I do prefer a notepad to the computer. It's much simpler, and I don't think the notepad will develop any strange toolbars or pop-up ads.

[bravelyplucked]

Who is this? I thought it was polite to answer a question before asking a question.

[Look, that's an older man's handwriting.]

[Voice]

[bravelyplucked]

[You know what? Torin hadn't been expecting kids here, and he can't resist that sort of enthusiasm. There's a laugh out of him.]

I don't see why not.

[His voice may or may not sound familiar depending on how many old dinosaur videos Thom's seen. Torin's done a few more recent specials in addition to his TV series from the 90s.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Shit that does kinda look like Torin's handwriting.]

Sam Stone. And I have a feeling you've already asked me this question.

[Text sent specifically to Torin's Number.]

[iamnotgod]

As a matter of fact, yes.

[The next response is on a different line, courtesy of Walter writing down the provided Number himself.]

This is Walter Weekes, and frankly I share your preference. Though, the Network doesn't function as malware, if that's of any reassurance to you. I ran all the relevant scans, or tried to.

[bravelyplucked]

Oh, I definitely have, on more than one occasion.

[Well, shit.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Yeah.]

Okay where are you? I'm coming to you. We need to talk and I'm not doing it here.

[keeping on keeping on with that private text]

[bravelyplucked]

This is Torin Byrd. I can't say I was expecting to find someone I knew on this thing.

It's good that you've checked it out--this is well outside my realm of expertise.

[bravelyplucked]

I'm actually at my office--I'll grab you a cup of coffee.

text => action

[scarsolderthanyou]

Be there in half an hour.

[And he is. He's gotten enough used to the stupid eyesight thing to drive safely, at least. And his steering wheel only has a couple little dents in it (he did break a pinky accidentally, in the process, but he's had worse). He heads through the building towards Torin's office.]

[privatat text~]

[iamnotgod]

You'll likely start recognizing more people the longer this goes on; perhaps not coworkers, but people you've seen around Mossgate or in Moss Manor.

I wish this was outside of mine; my access started last June, after the aurora. I'd thought I was hallucinating.

[bravelyplucked]

[Torin--and coffee--will be waiting. The door to his office is propped open, and the office is easy to find, marked by a bulletin board outside that's Torin's way of bragging on his students. Every inch of it is covered in dinosaur news or articles of some sort or another, and all of the people behind it? They're old students.

As far as Torin himself goes, he's shifted from using the notepad to get on the network to pecking away at his keyboard. There's still work to be done, after all.]

[forever private text]

[bravelyplucked]

The number's been rattling around in my head from time to time for just about as long as I can remember...though it's only when I'm here, the more that I think about it. I only just tried writing it down for the first time today.

Re: [forever private text]

[iamnotgod]

If the Number itself is only active in Mossgate, then that explains how those with Numbers can come from so many different places.

[He'd been thinking it, but it's good that someone else is phrasing it quite that way.]

Anything you put into this Network cannot be seen by those without a Number - at worst, they'll assuming you're doing something less improbable than speaking or listening to a notebook, of all things.

Important things first: the Network has a functional range of exactly six miles out in all directions from the mouth of Moss River; going outside of that would remove all clear memories of anything you experience directly relating to your Number or your interactions with someone else who has one. If you leave the Boundary regularly, the loss is less debilitating.

However, knowledge of the Network and Numbers can be passed outside that Boundary.