Video: UN - Runeseeker (Misfire, CW: See below)

[onerthes]

[The feed kicks on by accident. The visual is choppy, and it's pretty obvious that the omni is being used as a flashlight in the distance. There's some floating mushrooms not far away, and it kind of looks like someone had been harvesting them for whatever reason. In the gloom, the image flashes a sort of ghostly pale from the bone moon overhead, and the whole thing has a shaky quality, almost like the hand that was gripping it wasn't entirely steady.]

No... no no no no no NO!

[The voice is obviously Vira-Lorr's. There's an unmistakable quality of distress in her voice, but is it fear, is it anguish or is it anger? It's really hard to tell from the way she screams. The camera angle shifts and it flutters, shaking as the light pours out to illuminate the trees nearby. A flash. Something moved. Or did it? It looked like the smallest hint of darkness shifting. Maybe an ankle disappearing behind a set of trees. The camera didn't have time to get a proper view, not before it began jerkily running to the cascading sound of crushing autumn leaves.]

Come back! PLEASE!

[The camera feed waved back and forth, searching behind the tree. Trying to find something. Anything. But no, nobody was there.]

I'm sorry... I didn't... want this.

[The feed cuts.]

(OOC: Fair warning. Talk of harm that came to a child is almost certain in this thread if a character asks her what she thought she saw. Emotional Distress and Hallucinations are also possible. Also, coming neaar her physically risks encountering Floater Mushrooms that can cause paralysis, which she's currently harvesting, but action tags are fine.)

Comments

un: GoldenFlowers, voice

[the_obedient_servant]

It's her, isn't it? Julia Sodder.

[onerthes]

[Wait, what the... where was? She flipped around to see who had spoken. Chara wasn't here. Where were... was this on?]

She was here! I swear. I saw her. She was right here, Chara... damnit, where did she go?

[the_obedient_servant]

We will find her again. And then you can apologize to her properly.

Even if she's not real, it doesn't mean she's not there, that she's not listening.

[onerthes]

I... [She deflated slightly, one hand on a tree. She wasn't here right now. She'd been here. Where was she?]

Thank you. Yes, we need to find her. I want to do more than apologize. She deserved better.

[the_obedient_servant]

I want to meet her properly.

[They hum.]

It's important to note... Mother Superior is still here, and I was told by Mr Shiro that she was killed. Ramona is still here, thousands of years later, writhing in eternal agony and madness. Julia's father is still here, I believe. And Cynthia.

Julia Sodder might be dead. That does not mean she is not here.

[onerthes]

She was... a nice girl, under all the pain.

[Vira-Lorr might have been one of the only people who actually thought that.]

It's... it's possible. She might be here in some other form than alive, if all else is here. It might be the guilt of one of her relatives. It's just... so hard to see her. I want to apologize for how all of it ended.

[the_obedient_servant]

You'll get the chance. Stay determined, Vira-Lorr.

[They smile. It's the closest thing to hope they have, and even they don't know if it's a white lie.]

I was listening to the people who knew me when I was alive long before they knew that I could hear them. [For all the bitterness that caused. The way their name was transformed into an excuse - a cause for the misery that rained down on their family. Their father murdered six children like them and did it all in their name and Chara couldn't even say anything.]

[onerthes]

I won't give up on her. I refuse to. I... I know why many of us did, but I won't.

[In this case? Probably not a lie, but not always well informed in Vira-Lorr's case.]

... you were? [She sagged a little, sighing.] It's... It's probably from my own mind this time then. But, I won't give up. There is still hope for her. I believe that.

[the_obedient_servant]

...Did Julia want to live?

Do you think she'd still want to live?

Voice; un: hottopicgoth

[survivalthroughhate]

......You saw her, didn't you?

[Maul doesn't even need to say Julia's name. It's all in the tone of his voice.]

[onerthes]

I swear it was her. It had to be her. She was HERE!

[She was beside herself, even as she realized that the feed was unexpectedly on like this. It was the fact that she could have sworn she'd seen Julia again. That wasn't possible, right?]

cw: dissociation from reality

[survivalthroughhate]

I keep thinking I see her out of the corner of my eye or hear her laughing, but when I get closer, it's like she disappears again. As if she goes around a corner or in a door and is no longer there.

[Maul wonders if he's going crazy again. Hearing his master's voice and thinking he was there was one of the many things that had happened as he slowly lost his mind over a period of years.]

[onerthes]

Ngh. She's appearing for you too? I could swear, it has to be her, but it can't be. Is it...

[She gripped her forehead and closed her eyes.]

Is it remotely possible... are we experiencing the grief of one of her cousins? Their own shame?

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul’s voice sounds tight and wound up but there’s also something tired in his voice, the sound of sorrow he’s been feeling for over a year now.]

Anything is possible. She was always their scapegoat, the way to blame everything that went wrong with their people. Perhaps they finally have seen how unfair they treated her.

[onerthes]

It almost feels like too much to ask. But not all of them were so negatively disposed to her. [A pause and then a sigh.] If it's remorse about her, this is not the Doorway's vision. Quite certain of that much.

But... perhaps the Tower... I don't know their relation.

[survivalthroughhate]

Their minds are very different from ours, so it's possible their emotions about her are completely incomprehensible to us.

[The minds of most sentient creatures were already complex and difficult to understand. Add into the mix the idea of pseudo-gods that saw physical forms as being completely malleable, time as not being linear, and reality as something to be made into what they wanted and it meant their emotional state was completely unknown to the Sleepers.]

[onerthes]

I think the half-breeds might be able to understand a mortal's way of thinking of things. Or they might have been able once. But now?

...

It's really and truly hard to say what they think of all this, or what regret looks like for them. Cynthia was unique in her humanity and that is gone now.

video; un: ushiromiya

[entreats]

.. Vira?

[ With the way Ange says it, it's more like she's trying to pull the other's attention than anything else. After all, Vira-Lorr sounded so distressed in that message that Ange isn't even sure whether she's paying attention to the Omni at all. Maybe she didn't even realise it was broadcasting this.

And while Ange didn't really see anything in the video itself, she kind of figures what must have happened here.

She already heard about it from others too, after all. People who say they saw-- ]

Are you okay?

[onerthes]

[There was a yelp, a shocked sound as she whipped around. It took a second for her to realize she was alone. Her omni was on. Frowning, she shook her head.]

She was here. I saw her. She was here, Ange. I could have... I should have... we have to help her!

[entreats]

[ So it really is what she thought it was. It's just like with Shiro.

And though Ange is pretty sure that Vira-Lorr will tell her the exact same thing that Shiro did, she can't help but say this first all the same. She has to at least try. ]

Maybe it's not her. [ Because Vira-Lorr sounds so sure - like she definitely thinks it's Julia, no matter what. ] Why would she be here now? After all this time? It makes no sense.

[onerthes]

I don't know. It's possible that she's the manifestation of one of their guilts, or my own. It's possible she's a ghost of herself.

I don't know and that concerns me.

[entreats]

It could be dangerous.

[ A little more direct this time - perhaps the thing Ange intended to say all along, the implication already hidden in her words from a moment ago, now given voice.

After all, it'd be one thing to hallucinate her. Annoying, but technically harmless. But in this place-- ]

Things here are never so simple or innocent, after all. Maybe whatever is causing this would know some people would try to follow her.

[ Maybe that's why it targets people who would. Vira right here - and Shiro, too. ]

[onerthes]

Well... if it IS her, then she's always been dangerous. We both know that. However much she might have understood we wanted to help at times, she could be immediately dangerous to follow or aid.

[She raked her hand through her hair.]

but if she was here, she's gone. That's the problem. I don't think there's anything I could do even if I intend to. I can't find her right now.

[entreats]

[ Ange grows quiet, seeming to think about all of this, before she speaks up again with: ]

Well, you certainly don't seem to be the only one trying to track her down. [ Vira-Lorr isn't even the first person who's mentioned Julia to her, after all.

And while Ange isn't as invested in the girl, she knows that a lot of the other people who experienced Deerington are. ]

Maybe you could team up with some of the others to figure it out together. [ A beat, and then she adds: ] As long as you don't let it get too out of hand.

[ In case it just an illusion designed to drive a few specific people crazy. ]

[onerthes]

[She coughed.]

If it's truly her, she will make herself known at some point. But I may do some searching as well, though I won't risk going further alone. Too dangerous, with the mushrooms starting to reappear.