[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]

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. ]

[healspec]

[giving Alex kind of a suspicious/uncertain look]

[he can't really answer that in a general sense because the types are wildly varied, so...]

Why?

[amberhearted]

[ ravi he has fangs and he is asking about vampires why do you think

he avoids eye contact. ]

I think I might be turning into one?

[healspec]

[excuse me that's impossible?]

Ah...?

[slightly turns his head away, eyeing Alex]

[not buying it, yo]

Because of the fangs...?

[amberhearted]

I turned into a bat. In one of the memories.

[ lord help him if ravi laughs ]

[healspec]

[no laugh, but there is an eyebrow-arch]

[he can't really put any stock in the veracity of these fake memories. try again when he's got a few more incidences of his own. for now that means 'it happened in a fake memory' is about as compelling as evidence as 'i dreamed it']

So you think that means it actually happened?

[he is trying not to sound too outright 'you're crazy' but it is at the very least clear that he's not on board]

[amberhearted]

It felt like it happened.

[ like those trippy ass dreams that feel so real you're not really sure what happened and what didn't -- except he's so sure it actually happened and it's only his mind saying 'hold up, son, i KNOW this didn't happen' that confuses him.

MIXED SIGNALS. ]

Nevermind. I guess you'll... see eventually...

[ ok, now he's realized the full implication of ravi being a part of the network.

abloo. ]

[visionarykitten]

[And with the best timing of cats, there comes scratch at the back porch door and a meow that Gomez has learned to pitch in just such a way as to be heard through most of the apartment.

He's back, and he wants in!]

[healspec]

[silence.]

[and staring.]

[he is still handling all this on a pretty surface level, because otherwise he would not be able to cope, like, at all. So he is just quietly disbelieving the depths of this rabbit hole and feeling like Alex is crazy or delusional for buying into it all, while ignoring his own niggling sense that it's all actually well and truly legit.]

[The meow and scratch makes him jump (payback??). He looks at the door. Then at Alex, accusatory] What was he doing outside?

[ugh never mind. Without waiting for an answer, he gets up to let the kitten inside.]

[amberhearted]

[ he makes to get up, but ravi beats him, so he settles back on the edge of the couch, leaning forward as he watches ravi let gomez in. ]

Hey, Gogo. Vin's one of us now.

[ and then he glances at ravi. ] I let him out 'cause he wants to. Feels wrong to keep him inside when he can talk...

[visionarykitten]

[Okay, that's not what Gomez expected. He stops when Alex starts going on about talking, looking quickly from one human type person to the other. He licks his nose a couple times nervously, sitting down just inside the door.

All he says, for now, is:]

Um.

[He's a little shy around people he knows, okay?]