[Text | Computer]

[healspec]

[Ravi is attempting to do an internet search on the numbers through his browser, but the combined address/search bar means it logs him in to the network like a URL as soon as he hits enter.]

[He goes still and stares at it for a moment. This is not what he expected.]

[He spends a minute skimming back through posts, trying to get an idea of what this even is. It looks kind of like a reddit? Double-checks the URL, it's still that string of numbers without even an http:// in front. He opens google in a new tab and searches the number directly. The results page shows every result as a link to an individual post on the same network. ]

[Staring again.]

[Back to the first tab. More skimming.]

[Hmm.]

[Well it looks like posting is anonymous, so...]


This can't really be the internet.

There's not enough cat pictures.

Comments

[amberhearted]

[ he doesn't look up. ]

What?

[healspec]

[sliiiightly guilty shoulder hunching & glancing away]

Do you remember a few nights ago, when you passed out on the couch again?

[amberhearted]

Sure. [ not really. ]

[healspec]

That. But it's in a different place.

[amberhearted]

[ sorry, alex is still pining after someone he's never met, so he's slow on the uptake. he glances at ravi, brows furrowed. ]

What? ... In an old house?

[healspec]

[he doesn't remember the house too well actually, his memories are pretty sensory-focused. It's the spatial positioning, the earthen floor and the pelts Alex was sleeping on, and what he was saying. the broader area around all that is vague.]

I think so?

[amberhearted]

[ he takes a moment to consider that, to line it up against what he 'knows' so far. ]

I told you -- in the memory -- not to come. That's why you got mad at me -- because I was living inside the city, but hadn't told you.

[healspec]

Ah. [Not sure what to say to that. He doesn't have enough information to line it up with his own single out-of-place memory]

[there's more coming, right? that has been the implication thus far. Alex listed off several things.]

[it's not a comforting thought.]

And no one knows anything, yes? About what this means or why it happens.

[amberhearted]

Well... [ another sigh. he rubs his neck again. ]

That 'Sage' guy said we're supposed to defend the earth from alien invaders, but then he up and died, and I dunno how much of that was the truth. Some kid got murdered because he told the police about these numbers. The fucks who did it mentioned an invasion, too, so...

[ that absolutely does not answer his question at all, gj alex ]

[healspec]

[No it doesn't!!]

[and just makes it all harder to believe, tbh.]

That's ridiculous. [he sounds offended. he is not sure what, specifically, he is offended BY. the whole concept of all of this, maybe. or the fact that he's being asked to believe it.]

[the numbers and the network, okay sure he can kind of accept that. strange memories, why not. no physical changes to him yet, so that doesn't even seem like a real thing.]

[but ALIENS? too far.]

[amberhearted]

Look, I'm not arguing with you on that, but something is going on. We got kids with ice powers and telepathic explosions and -- oh. Gogo can talk, by the way.

[ gomez is currently out. GUESS WHAT RAVI, for the past several weeks every time alex said gomez 'escaped', he was lying. he held open the door for him. ]

[healspec]

What.

[his head whips around to face Alex. it's not even disbelief, just a dull kind of accusation]

[this? he also does not believe this. even though he saw (what looked like) Gomez on that linked post, and several people have mentioned talking cats, he does not buy it because he has not seen it happen in front of him.]

[cats don't talk. gomez does not talk. don't be crazy alex.]

[amberhearted]

Yeah. [ he's flipping open his ipad and going down the network archives to find a gomez post. ]

He figured out my passcode and showed up on here one day while I was on shift. Fucking weird as hell, man. [ but he chuckles at the memory. ]

Here. [ he leans into ravi and puts the ipad between them, showing him gomez's first post. ]

[healspec]

[staring]

[yes that is gomez. talking. english words.]

[nope that is faked. somehow. alex is fucking with him because that can't be real, Gomez can't actually talk, cats don't understand human languages.]

That's a big secret to keep.

[there is perhaps the slightest hint of growing horror in his voice there.]

[amberhearted]

I know. Believe me, I wanted to tell you.

[ but the potential danger... not only for the network, but for ravi himself. what if knowing put him in danger? what if seeing gomez talk, but not the numbers, made ravi think he was losing it?

... what if ravi thought he was losing it right now?

alex looks at him. ]

Do you think you're crazy?

[healspec]

Ah? [looking up from the ipad to Alex. there is a little bit of deer-in-headlights to his expression]

Crazy? Me?

[pause for a second or two. he is not actually considering it, he's just letting his brain catch up to the question.]

I won't dismiss the possibility.

[amberhearted]

Dismiss it. You're not.

[ it is v important to alex that he relays this clearly and ravi believes it. he's glad that ravi isn't suffering from ptsd, but even still, he doesn't want this invader business to jump start something that might be dormant.]

[healspec]

[sorry, Ravi still does not quite believe it.]

[he is, however, in a tentative space between believing none of this is real and humouring the possibility that it is.]

If you say so.

[amberhearted]

I do say so.

[healspec]

[He acknowledges that with a grunt that pretty clearly expresses the 'not quite buyin it' that he's feeling.]

So if I find Gomez with your iPad again, I shouldn't take it away.

[because that um is a thing he has been doing]

[amberhearted]

Oh no, yeah, don't take it away. He's free to use it whenever.

[ and he actually had the foresight to disable inapp purchases. ]

Ssssso... What's your take on vampires?

[healspec]

[wow that is just. the weirdest idea. nope, he is not going to deal with it, it is still not a real thing until he sees it.]

[if you say the cat's allowed to use your ipad, alex, then whatevs]

How do you mean?

[amberhearted]

Your opinion of them. If they were, say for instance, real.

[healspec]

Ah...? [he is not connecting this question with fangs + quicker recovery. You know why? because turning into a vampire is unbelievable.]

That depends on the type of vampire, I guess...?

[amberhearted]

Type?

[ fuck, he has to worry about type? well, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. he doesn't want those claws that other self-proclaimed vampire dude has. ]

On all of them. [ whatever types Ravi is thinking of. ]