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From:

[It's a message that arrives a little after 10pm, on the evening of the excursion to the beach. The last tender will have already made its way back to the ship.

Jade was not on it.]

To notify you accordingly; if you've need to seek me out for the next few hours, I'm afraid I shall be unavailable to contact for most of this evening. I'll let you know when this changes, ideally sooner rather than later. Or, alternatively, I'll likely be found in my cabin of residence around 6:00 the next morning.

Either way, you'll have my report when I return. I apologize.

From:

fonomena

[Clarke Griffin had visited Jade's quarters this morning--about half an hour ago, more precisely. In the end, too, it was an entirely different affair compared to the last confrontation they'd collectively had in that same room. That conversation is over now, but the contents had been....

Hm.

--At least it's impossible for anyone else to know just how many times Jade typed and retyped this message, on the verge of not sending anything at all. But finally...]

Natsuno Yuuki. Are you somewhat acquainted with him, Tear?

From:

qliphoths

I am.

I can't say I know him well, though.

[ but he'd seemed like a nice boy, and his regenerative abilities had been
something of a curiosity to her. ]

Why do you ask?

From:

fonomena

[The answer is about in line with what Jade had expected, with the rough context he's collected so far. He hasn't been constantly stalking Tear's interactions with others on the ship or anything, ~~just a glance from afar on occasion here and there,~~ but the crowd of teens that had rightfully all but assaulted him upon his return from the mission last month had evidently all been notified by Tear in some form, and Natsuno was among them. Only very casual acquaintances, then...

In some ways that makes this easier. ...And in other ways it's simultaneously also a bit more difficult, like this. Which is a weird feeling all around, though feelings in general are something Jade's trying not to pursue at the moment.]

As I'm sure you've noted by this point, he and I share living quarters presently. [Since Natsuno was likely right there watching impassively in the backdrop, upon accompanying Jade back to the room, as Clarke and Tear had immediately set upon Jade with fury as well that one night in 109--] However, there has been no sign of him since yesterday. We accompanied each other to the information meeting held in the library, that morning...but afterwards we parted ways, and that was the last I saw of him.

I don't suppose you've run into him at any point in the last several hours yourself, have you?

Edited Date: 2022-10-06 08:50 pm (UTC)

From:

qliphoths

[ her first thought is to wonder if natsuno is simply avoiding the colonel,
perhaps due to lingering resentment -- but the notion is quelled quickly. he didn't
seem the type to play those kinds of games, or to hold a grudge like that. especially
if they'd gone to an information meeting together.

so it likely isn't due to an emotional response, nor perhaps anything related to jade.
from the way the colonel's messages read, it seems as though such behaviour is definitely
out of place. ]

I haven't.

Where does he usually spend his time when not in the cabin?

[ the colonel has probably checked them already ,but ... ]

I'll keep an eye out for him, and will report back if I see him.

From:

fonomena

A good question. I don't exactly tend to follow him about noting his haunts most days. I believe he goes to that arcade place fairly often, though...and he's always bringing books back with him to our room, from the library.

He's generally quite taciturn, probably prefers hanging about in places with lesser amounts of foot traffic as well. So he can keep to himself.

A report would be appreciated, if you do. I'll be searching as well soon, I think. Although

[Hm. Hmmm. It still...felt odd, writing that whole first bit. Seeing Tear's response, too. Conducting themselves, as if there's still a possibility that either of them will find anything. That Natsuno isn't most likely to be...

...

There's a bit of a delay, before:]

On occasion, disappearances do occur among the passengers on this ship.

It shouldn't be discounted, I suppose, that this may very well be another of those cases...

From:

qliphoths

Yes.

I recall being told about this once before.

[ about how people would just disappear from the ship, and that it wasn't a mistake
nor a successful escape attempt. if she recalls correctly, it had been explained to her at
length by mister summer. ]

Does he normally come back to the cabin every single night?

I've seen people sleeping in the library sometimes, or in other places.

(no subject)

From:

fonomena - Date: 2022-10-14 04:20 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

qouththeraven

[Written in blood on the cabin's door:]

From:

qliphoths

[ to a passerby it would seem as though tear stood frozen, just staring at her door.
it would probably seem out of place, until they saw the letters written there: blood still
slightly fresh, glistening.

of course whoever did this would go and mention luke...

she inhales shakily as she reaches in her pocket for her device, snapping a picture of the words
to send over to jade. she'll definitely have to talk to him about this. he'd been
here longer than she had, after all: so he'd probably be a better judge about whether
this was a prank or something done by some a ghost -- perhaps even by the captain.

once done, she opens her cabin door and searches for a rag.
there's no point in leaving the message there for long, is there?

aside from the general creepiness, it was just gross. ]

From:

crushed_pearls

Things have been going fucking insane. Absolutely batshit goddamn insane. Erin has clung to the bits of her routine that she can because if she can't maintain some sense of normalcy she's going to lose it. The standing appointment in the morning with SecUnit. Fight club on Tuesdays. Dreaming with Ruby now (left in Erin's cabin with a pleasant dream going, safe from herself; Erin's heart flutters with pride at her good work there).

Music, with Tear.

Erin is, as is the custom, the first one to arrive. She drags out the binders of sheet music (Tear's had to write these, as Erin can neither write nor read them; she learns songs by ear), sets out the tea she's brought for their throats (along with an obscene amount of honey, for Erin's hummingbird-ass metabolism), and paces the stage in long, easy strides. It's hard not to feel excited, hard not to feel so very ready. Tear and April were the first two people Erin opened up to about music and their reactions, though both positive, were both so...so different.

She really needs to -

(What are we trying to realize here, Peters? We're in our head)

"Shut up," Erin mutters to herself. She really needs to ask Tear if it would be okay for Erin to learn her hymns. The youngblood hadn't seemed too put off by having them mimicked back at her, but Erin's never quite worked that in since...

Without really thinking about it, Erin starts singing the snatches of Tear's hymns she'd heard that first night.

From:

qliphoths

so far, so good. this month had been hectic, and it was getting tiring
having to constantly pretend to be someone as drab and dreary as tear.
as far as 'torn' was concerned, the girl was a total grandma: gloomy
and overly-modest, traditional and quiet. it was so strange to have to
try and act like this.

although a dear friend of hers was somewhat similar.

just as she'd been doing since the moment she'd possessed tear, torn
has to follow through with the other girl's motions: following her schedule,
seeing all of tear's friends like a good little ghost.

it just so happens that this was a meeting the ghost has been dreading.

singing wasn't really her forte.

she draws a breath to steady herself when she hears those snatches of music
come drifting down the hall, and she pushes the door open with a little hesitance.
in the emptiness of the theatre, the hymns sound kind of creepy to her.

" Hi, Erin! " she tries to sound cheerful as she makes her way towards the
stage.

" I can see you've been practicing. You sound great! How have you been this week? "

From:

crushed_pearls

Erin turns her head when she hears Tear and blushes faintly; she hadn't meant to be overheard. God she sounds - cheerful? That's new.

"Worse than yours from the sound of it," Erin admits. "A friend's husband got possessed and he's been..." she shies away from the correct word. "...Being, with people, under false pretenses. And I'm not sure what'll happen to me if I'm the one to hunt him down for it. I want him dead but maybe...I dunno. Maybe that's someone else's hunt."

This is supposed to be music time though, isn't it?

(We're really in our head, Peters)

Why does she call herself that when Erin asks everyone else not to?

"I've been trying to - okay, please don't be upset if I've misunderstood the significance here." Erin spreads her hands in the traditional gesture of Making Peace (See All The Weapons I'm Not Holding). "But...ever since that first night I've been really curious about your hymns, and I was wondering if maybe I could learn them. I don't expect to be able to use them like you do, Tear, to work magic and wonder. But...they're beautiful."

From:

From:

crushed_pearls - Date: 2022-10-23 04:25 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

neverleave

[He and Tear aren't exactly close, but they share a friend and as of October, a much more sinister connection. Natsuno's certain she heard a report from Jade and saw the phone correspondences between the shades possessing her and Natsuno.]

Hey.
How are you holding up?

From:

qliphoths

[ truthfully? not especially well, although she's trying not to let
that be known. when she sees her phone light up she can't help but he surprised
that natsuno reaches out to her first.

what a kind boy. ]

I'm alright. What about you?
I take it you've seen the history of correspondences on your phone
by now?

[ awful doesn't even begin to cut it... even if most of it was their
ghosts making fun of the other passengers and plotting things. ]

From:

neverleave

Not great.
But that's to be expected.

And yeah, I've read everything. Bunch of freaks.

From:

qliphoths

[ seeing them be described that way makes her smile; he's right to insult them. ]

Did you read the part about Rita?

[ she isn't yet sure of the nature of their relationship, but ...
rita was at least his friend. so she doesn't pull any punches in asking about it. ]

Have you spoken with her yet?

From:

crushed_pearls

Erin, not done on her morning gift giving spree after Eddie, leaves and returns with something bundled in a towel. This she sets on Tear's table before opening the bundle to reveal a carving of a singing mockingbird perched delicately on a branch.

"It's a mockingbird," Erin says softly. "They learn the cries and songs of other beasts and make their own music from it, and teach it to their children. Mockingbirds remember the voices of creatures long dead, whom all others have forgotten. Merry Christmas, Tear."

From:

fonomena

[Things have been pretty quiet ever since the labyrinth, huh? No new horrors to contend with, no new violent developments in general. A collective air of exhaustion seems to hang over the ship in entirety for most of the month...and so a night like this one's really not going to be much different from all the other ones recently, surely. Nice and quiet, as the hour ticks past midnight. A few insomniacs wandering around here and there. Clear skies, like always...and the moon shining down on the deck, like always...and--

Oh, wait a minute. Over there, off to one side. Is that...somebody familiar, by the rail? Seems he's carrying something rather person-sized and sack-shaped.

Seems he's hefting it over a shoulder, and getting ready to drop it into the ocean????]

Edited Date: 2023-05-21 10:23 pm (UTC)

From:

qliphoths

[ her steps falter at the odd scene, a figure in the distance leaned
against the railing. normally she would assume it was someone simply
staring at the moon, someone gathering their thoughts ...

if it weren't for the body they held over their shoulder.

in the pale light of the moon, tear can still recognize the colonel:
the cut of his uniform, the lines of his tall frame. it was a figure she
feels she'd recognize everywhere, after travelling together so long --
fighting, carrying out operations, even in the dead of night. ]

Colonel! Are you ... throwing someone overboard?

[ there's an unmistakable note of surprise to her voice ... along
with intrigue. while she doesn't condone needless violence, she trusts jade.
perhaps something happened? maybe he needed to defend himself...? but why
bother to hide the body when they'd just regenerate anyway?

she makes her way over to investigate, wondering just what could have
happened. ]

From:

fonomena

[Honestly, he should have noticed someone coming over sooner. It's quiet enough that the approaching clack of Tear's heels on the deck could have been plenty audible, even over the waves below. But, it would seem, there's quite a lot on Jade's mind at this particular moment. Enough so--

--That when Tear speaks up he actually starts in place, nearly dropping the thing over his shoulder anyhow. Automatic reflex has him grabbing at it as he turns around; some kind of brown and fuzzy texture is visible in the gloom. ...Spots? Something almost like rabbit ears, flopping back??

Jade, realizing who it is approaching, promptly steps away from the rail...and also, promptly, tries to fold the bulky object under one of his arms instead. Which would look a lot as if he were trying to hide something, if he were ever the sort of person to do such a thing. But he's not! Totally!! As they both know...!!!

(Holding it under his arm like that does lend it physics that don't actually seem to be a human body's, at least. More like some kind of large article of clothing, maybe....)]

Oh--Tear. It's rather late. I thought I'd take a walk to-- [Hold on. The automatic excuse grinds to an abrupt halt, as her question's actually sinking in now, and he blinks.] --hmm? Throwing someone overboard?

[JADE HOW ELSE DID YOU THINK THIS WOULD LOOK.............]

From:

qliphoths

[ something of an awkward feeling overcomes her to see the colonel
slip up like this, and she almost feels a little bad for startling him
if it wasn't for the way he shifts to conceal the 'body'. she was definitely
wrong about all of this.

her eyes grow wide at the decidedly fuzzy texture of it, at the way it
has ears which flop from being moved around. If she didn't know
any better ... it almost looked like -- ]

Y-yes ... I thought you were about to dispose of someone.

[ to anyone else, the calmness with which she says that may be
disturbing. but tear wasn't exactly bothered by murder: not for as long
as the colonel had known her, anyway. ]

What is that? It looks like some kind of clothing?
Why would you be throwing it overboard?

[ was it a blanket? a giant plush toy?? she comes forwards, trying to
get a better look at it, gloved fingertips hesitantly extending. ]

From:

fonomena

[The nonchalant way in which Tear floats the prospect of a body disposal sure probably would be discomfiting to anyone else...but as far as Jade's concerned it's actually a bit of a relief? You know, in the sense that apparently this monstrosity under his arm looks enough like a corpse from a distance that anybody else spotting him would probably be a lot more aghast about the idea...

It's quite a sensible reaction from Tear, though. As expected, from one soldier friend to another. They both know they wouldn't be murdering anyone particularly frivolously, and sometimes in life dead bodies Happen and they need putting Somewhere--

Okay, but anyway, setting aside these very normal corpse-disposal sensibilities. Jade stares a bit at Tear for a moment just long enough to be a bit awkward...before his posture sags very slightly, accompanied by a very put-upon sigh.]

...Honestly. It'd really be rather less embarrassing if I actually were disposing of someone... [He's only like, 60% exaggerating here, too....but Jade also already knows that answer alone's not going to be enough. Even if it's another beat of hesitation, before he finally relents enough to very gingerly unfold the object from under his arm and offer it to her like a radioactive thing.

It's...yeah, it's a onesie. An adult-sized rappig-themed onesie, complete with a hood with the ears. (Oh, seems there's a bit of heft inside of it too, like there's other objects in there??)]

I was informed of a package in the sundries shop, so I'd stopped in to pick it up earlier. ...And that was inside it. [And surely this already sufficiently explains why Jade's now on the verge of chucking it overboard here, right???]

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