text; shakily handwritten on one of those hotel notepads with a leaky pen

[moreweaponsthanyou]

first thing first, what's the date and time?

SECOND: THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: IF YOU SEE AN ODD LOOKING MACHINE WITH A STRANGE GLOWING SYMBOL AND LOTS OF INVITING BUTTONS DO NOT GIVE IN TO THE URGE TO TOUCH SAID MACHINE. IT WILL BE TRAUMATIZING.

so much trauma. and near death by drowning.

BEFORE I FORGET SOMEONE NEEDS TO CALL THE COPS; THERE'S A DEAD BODY IN THE POOL. damnit i think i recognize that face too. it's the guy who was screaming about cultists getting him a couple days ago.

thunder corp owes me a new phone, pretty sure mine is dead. ALSO BY DROWNING.

Comments

[senseandcecilbility]

[Joining the "Jovan is dead?" crowd.]

Are you sure it is him?

[Jovan, he would have come back to you, pal, really. All he needed to do was deliver Mrs. Bonbright safely home and then...

Jovan, why couldn't you pretend to be friends with the cultists for five seconds?]

...That- He was merely doing his best to save that nice lady!

[moreweaponsthanyou]

I didn't want to get too close to the dead body but...he really does look like that guy who made the panicky post about cultists a few days ago.

...I don't know what he was doing to end up like this, okay!

[senseandcecilbility]

He did nothing wrong!

[Cecil is...upset. Genuinely upset, in a way he didn't realize he could be.]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

I'm not saying he did. I have no clue what the hell the guy's been up to!

[Usually Fil will be more emphatic about this but he's had a bad day.]

[senseandcecilbility]

[It is all right. Cecil is not very empathic on a normal day either.]

What are you doing near the cultists anyway?

[He was completely focused on the Jovan being dead part, so the mysterious machine and attractive buttons warnings kind of went over his head.]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

I WASN'T. DIDN'T YOU READ THE REST OF MY POST?

I was in Locke okay, nowhere near insane cultists. Then I touched this stupid machine, ended up in NOWHERE for like...at least a day, then I ended up with a dead body beside me!

[senseandcecilbility]

That is not how people travel!

[Oh no, his worst fears have come true! Locke City is invading!]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

That's not how I want to travel either! It was an ACCIDENT! ACCIDENT!

[senseandcecilbility]

P-please, do not shout. Where are you exactly? Can you identify any street names or landmarks? I can pick you up.

[Before the loud Locke City citizen joins Jovan, that is.]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

I'm writing not shouting. Can't really shout with pen and paper.

And you don't need to worry, I'm at a hotel, that one that's friendly for Numbered people to stay at. So I'm fine.

[senseandcecilbility]

[Still shouting!]

Mrs. Bonbright's establishment. She was kidnapped by cultists the other day.

[moreweaponsthanyou]

[I am not!]

Uh uh. Okay, I'm definitely heading back to Locke ASAP.

[senseandcecilbility]

[ :/]

It is not my wish to frighten tourists, and I am quite aware the situation in Locke City is not particularly better. However, I cannot help but think that everyone is safer at their own homes.

That said...would you mind if I asked where this machine is?

[moreweaponsthanyou]

[>.>]

I'm going to hide in my own room for a few days.

The machine? In Locke in a coffee shop.

[senseandcecilbility]

That is a good plan.

What about...this side?

[moreweaponsthanyou]

Bottom of a pool at hotel xxx.

[senseandcecilbility]

Thank you.

[ He is calling the police and telling them there is a body at hotel xxx. Poor Jovan.]

I believe that will scare off the tourists too.

[moreweaponsthanyou]

[The FBI is probably there already but it's a good thought. Poor Jovan indeed.]

Or some people will take it as an excuse to visit.

[senseandcecilbility]

[He met the FBI! They had guns and can be truly scary.]

Why do I have the impression they would be the wrong kind of tourists?

[moreweaponsthanyou]

[The one Fil knows is on the network and polite and civil. He more inclined to trust him than the police.]

Probably because people who come to gawk at a death scene IS probably not the sort you want hanging around.

[senseandcecilbility]

That is quite true. I would enjoy getting my normal life back.

[Or as normal as life can be in Vegas.]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

Sorry but the fact that you're actually on this network itself means that your chances of getting anything 'normal' is really very very low. [This is without adding the fact in that Cecil lives in Vegas.]

[senseandcecilbility]

[This is the exact truth he doesn't want to hear.]

There is...There is always hope, I think.

[And yet such hope becomes weaker and weaker every day.]

[moreweaponsthanyou]

I hope you're able to keep that optimism.