savetheearth | [ phone audio ]

They killed him!!

[ Some time after the rather unfortunate message by Paul is cut off, it's this that pierces the network as a reaction, full of fury and horror and who knows what else from the utterly distraught Kallie who happened to witness it. Her voice is slightly echoing in a way that suggests she's still in her bathroom, but as for any visual, it's been days since she had the foresight to cover both cameras on her phone. Regardless, her tone should be more than enough to spell out her feelings on the matter...

Or in other words, spell out that she's right in the middle of being mired in sheer panic. Her breathing is rough and audible, but for a moment more it seems like her initial outburst is going to be the worst of what she has to say... up until her anger seems to focus again, voice rising even louder than before- ]

You!! Captain whatever!! What do you have to say for yourself?!

[ Nonsensical, perhaps, but her lashing out is more than furious enough to emphasize her point- with a distinct smash of something breaking before she continues. ]

Are you happy now?!

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[ Kallie is beyond overwhelmed by this point, and naturally the accusations in return do little to soothe that. Her phone clatters to the ground as he screams at her, her hands clamping to her ears as the sound fills her tiny tiled bathroom. ]

Shut up... shut up...!

[ It would have been murmured if it wasn't also so loud, even if it's also nowhere near the shouting from just a minute earlier. Her logic has failed her, given way to the paranoia crowding in so insistently the last few days since this started. It doesn't make sense, but she's latched onto the idea that the man who set off her internal alarms before has to responsible as well-- no matter how upset he sounds too. ]

I know you're with them.

[ Oh, he's just getting started. This is only the beginning. He can sense that retreat in her tone, the fear, the cowering and he hones in on it like the fiercest of beasts, like he's back on the battlefield and she's just another target to be shot down.

And for all he knows, she is. No was to be trusted. No one.

The sneer in his tone is practically audible. ]

Think I orchestrated this mess, do you? Think it was all some lie I crafted for the fun of it? Because I'm wearing this uniform, I'm in on it? Let me tell you something. You're nothing. I could make you into less than nothing without even trying, so don't you dare— [ hissing ] —don't you dare pin this on me for being so weak. You managed that all on your own, girl. You didn't save him anymore than I did. You didn't save him and I told you we were in the same boat and you didn't listen. Going to keep running? I bet you'd try. I bet you'd try and run straight into a fucking wall and wind up just like him.

[ Something like a laugh escapes him, but it's deranged. Quieter. Still. Like a snake in the grass waiting to lunge and expose its fangs. ]

Because there's nowhere to run. Not for any of us. Not at all.

[ Fear was something present here alright, a natural symptom of the clashing uneasiness that's seized Kallie since her life abruptly began spiraling out of control, thrown into high gear by the young man's death. Normal people don't receive numbers in their head and gain the ability to speak with other people using whatever is within reach... they can't just point at whatever's pissing them off and cause lightning to strike!

If they find her, find out what she can do, she'll be shot down, just like that guy-- that kid who she doesn't even know the name of.

But.

This is different. He's pushing and agitating her even further, yet the pressure his words are putting on her... they don't scare her, per se. But...

She doesn't answer, eyes closed and hands still pressed over her ears, but her jaw clenches, a new sort of irritation running up her spine and filling her chest. ]

[ Casval seethes through his teeth, but the underlying screech in his tone dies down. Satisfied, if only for the moment, in her seeming surrender. ]

See. That's what I thought. All attitude and condescension and then you have to face reality like I did and look where you get. [ If he's aware of the hypocrisy of saying this, it doesn't deter him from continuing to press. From continuing to scrape away at any layers he can tear off. ] Curled up by your lonesome, trying to hide, but you can't.

Go on and keep pissing and moaning about it. Boohoo.

Tears aren't enough to fix any of this and I hope you bloody drown in them same as the rest of us.

[ She wants to get away, pulling her knees up closer to her body and pressing her face against them. Run and hide, just like he says. Futile. Pathetic. She continues tensing as his words keep biting into her.

And then that feeling pulses through her again, and for just a second, as she straightens and puts out her hands to steady herself, it feels like there's something beneath - or in - one of them. She glances down blearily, but there's nothing there on the floor beside her- nothing but two white feathers seeming to shine in the semi-darkness.

What does that mean? The logic of the matter pulls at her even in the midst of her upset. ]

What is wrong with you?

[ Her voice is still shaking but isn't hysterical anymore, stressed but dark with loathing. It doesn't matter if her initial accusation of this man doesn't hold up to sense... his words are acidic and wrong and, in that moment, she realizes that even if he hasn't turned on the lot of them already, he's going to eventually- ]

How do we know you won't go to them, selling us out to save your own hide? [ After all, he's already said it, just now: "I could make you less than nothing--" ] You're not from here, why don't you just get out?

[ Loathing. A feeling he knows well, and even better now, consumed with it as he is as a result of that... that whatever which had invaded his mind, his presence, his sanity. The shift in her tone to a stinging bite gets him to reel from surprise. Most prey, once subdued, didn't fight back, so having fire flung in his face burns. He sounds appropriately rattled by it, once he gathers himself enough to respond. ]

I... it wouldn't do me any good. [ Casval isn't brave. He never was, not after that day. Now is when his cowardliness shines through. ] I'm stuck like the lot of you.

[ Paralyzed. Too afraid to move. Confined by the memories that aren't his. He refuses to believe they're his. He shudders, hoarsely sputtering along. ]

Y-you're not the only one feeling betrayed, you know. So don't go pitying yourself too much. It's pathetic.

[ By now her head is really hurting - from dehydration, most likely, but this encounter isn't helping. It's only her phone lying haphazardly on the floor, but she turns away from him anyway... and scoffs at his words. No, she doesn't believe for a second that he can't just take the option of leaving. Nobody's thought to prove a range for the network as far as she knows, but considering everyone seems to be from or near Locke City, surely it must exist... ]

I'm not running away.

[ She's quieter still, but bolstered by a weird sense of determination as her disdain hardens. Calling her pathetic? This time it only bounces off her anger, unimportant against the full certainty she's holding now that this man is irretrievably dangerous. ]

Stay away from me. [ And, stronger: ] Stay away from the kids.

[ phone audio ]

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