[Voice] un: 008

[hachitaro]

[The omni clicks on, audio already playing. It sounds tinny, like it's coming from a small speaker. It's slightly muffled, like there's someone blocking the sound a bit.]

[One of the voices on the audio is definitely Taro. The other voice is an almost croaking one, a little difficult to make out.]


---
"Right, so that's what you say I did. You're the one coming after me."

'You've crossed us for the last time, Watanabe. You might have been a big shot once, but not anymore. Now you're just scum.'

Taro huffs a little, almost laughing. "Are you kidding me? You're coming after me because I know things. Because I'm going to tell other people. Because you lot are just going to keep summoning -"

'Enough. You've said enough. Say your prayers. Any god of your choosing, doesn't matter.'

He laughs and there's a shuffling sound. "Fuck you. I don't need to pray to anyone."

There's the click of what sound like nails on a wooden floor, and then a loud squawk. The sounds of some kind of scuffle are audible, and Taro's heavy breathing. There's a gutteral cry of pain that dies down as the sound of the other person(?) gets up and starts walking away. Click... click... click... and then it's silent.
---


[There's the sound of a button of some kind being pushed and a sigh. Taro grunts in frustration for a moment and doesn't say anything for a few moments. There's a shuffling sound, and then a pause. ... Huh.]

Uh, hey Trench. Didn't see you there. Or... hear you? Anyway... huh. I... uh. Do you think those zealot guys are going to leave us alone? Kinda dangerous for someone like me to walk out at night. It's kind of frustrating, y'know?

Anyway... I'm still learning about this place. What's... uh. A good area to hang out at where there's not that many monsters? Kind of a noncombatant here.

Talk to you later. Taro out.

Comments

voice | un: sds

[fogsong]

[ oh. Sharon does not like the sound of any of that if but when Taro next speaks he doesn’t bring up what just played.

Hmm. ]

I hear they back off once they’re done with their bullshit harvest. [ a good time to learn to carry a gun, Taro!!! ]

So. [ she trails the word a little ] Wanna talk about the person who was threatening you or should I just pretend I didn’t hear that?

[hachitaro]

Oh, good. I hope they get fucking nothing from whatever they're trying to grow.

[He's silent for a full ten seconds after she says that, the only sound being a sharp inhale of breath.]

... No wonder it was on. Omnis are still messing up. You... uh. You heard that, huh...

Yeah, I'd... prefer you didn't... damn it...

... Everyone heard it, huh.

[fogsong]

We're the harvest, Taro. [ it's an easy thing to misunderstand, though. ]

Everyone heard it. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. It didn't sound... good. [ it's obviously not something that's happened recently here in Trench, almost sounded like a tape of some kind, but it was hard to tell over omni ]

[hachitaro]

Yeah, but it's gotta be for some purpose. That's what I mean.

[He's silent for a little bit before he turns on a filter.]

[Private]

No. It wasn't. I'm surprised the tape showed up here at all.

... It was an assassin. His boss didn't like what I knew.

private

[fogsong]

They think it helps the Tower and Trench continue as they are.

A fucking assassin? For real? What... [ hmm. she often tries to be careful how much she asks about people's past. it's none of her business even if she likes to be nosy but... ] What happened? Did you manage to get away?

[hachitaro]

Great.

[He pauses to laugh briefly, a little pained. He can't help it, it's just... funny. And his response to trauma is to laugh and make jokes anyway...]

... Did it sound like I got away?

[fogsong]

[ oh.

oh.

she's quiet for a good long moment and then: ] Fuck. [ a pause and then: ] Shit.

I'm sorry.

[hachitaro]

Not your fault. Not your circus, not your monkeys.

... Worst part was how slow it was and how fucking useless I felt. Couldn't move.

[fogsong]

[ it doesn't feel right to ask him invasive questions right now even though a part of her wants to. if he wants to go into details, that's up to him. instead, she'll let him know she does understand. ]

I, uh... I know what that's like. Not dying, but I came close once. It was slow, and awful, and felt like it would never end. No way to escape. Trapped. I was sure I would die. I was supposed to die.

[hachitaro]

... I don't think there's a time where we're 'supposed to' die or not. Fate's bullshit.

[Even if anyone has worlds where gods are real, they're assholes.]

... You shouldn't have had to go through that, though. You're... I mean you're not a minor, but barely.

[fogsong]

[ give her a second as she switches this to private ]

It was less... fate and more about the fact that an ordinary person would've died from it. It would've been better if I'd died from it, honestly. [ that seems harsh but... she's honest ] I was 9 when it happened, actually. I was burned alive.

And no one should have to go through that kind of shit. Not you, not me, but life's a bitch.

[hachitaro]

[Thankfully he hasn't switched it back to public.]

You were - what?

[There's a growl in his voice and he has to take a few moments to take some deep breaths.]

.... Hope you got back at the assholes who did it.

[fogsong]

It took a very long time but, yeah, I did. I took everything from them. [ their children. their homes. their sense of safety. even hope. she swallowed it all and then tainted the very land their town was built upon so no person could ever live there again. ]

I didn't tell you that to upset you, I told you to... [ she pauses like she's chewing on the words ] I don't know, let you know that you're not alone, I guess.

voice | un: graham crackers

[possessum]

( Peter hasn't been looking at the feed much, these days. Being checked out from things isn't particularly rare, not for him, but lately.... things are worse than usual. He hardly feels like a person at all anymore.

But there are a few hours here and there that he does take a little glimpse at what's going on, mindlessly scrolling the feed, barely processing anything that's being said. Sometimes something stands out to him, though. And when that odd audio clicks on, something that sounds like an old recording or something, Peter finds himself listening. What plays out is.... strange, unsettling. He's frowning quietly, heart starting to flutter uncomfortably fast and hard as he listens to the exchange. He doesn't like this; something's... bad and wrong and he wants to stop listening, but he doesn't.

Then there are sounds of pain, and Peter's heart freezes instead. He sits there in silence, just staring at his own bedroom wall, when the audio clicks on again, this time with a more clear voice. But one that's definitely recognisable from the recording that played out before.

Peter doesn't say anything for a few long moments. It feels like... he wasn't supposed to hear whatever that was. When he speaks, his voice is tired and a little hoarse, like he hasn't been using it much. )

The School of Mutter's safe. There's a library there. Lots of... quiet places.

( He's pausing, uncomfortable, unsure. )

I think something played before this. Did you... mean for it to?

[hachitaro]

That's good. I mean, I'm not really a book kind of person? But libraries tend to be safe places to hang out.

[He's silent for a bit before he speaks again.]

No. Damn omnis are still on the fritz. I don't... know how much people heard.

[possessum]

Yeah, it's good for just kind of... getting away when you need someplace quiet. Though it's kind of spooky in there. ( A pause, and the softest hint of a smile leaks through in his voice. ) I guess most shit around here's that way, though.

( Is there anywhere in Trench that doesn't have some element of eeriness to it? But that little lightness wavers away again, and Peter's quiet, unsure how much he should reveal. He knows what it's like to have something shared publicly that you never meant for it to. )

I uh. It sounded like there was some kind of... fight, maybe? You and... someone else. ( ....It sounded bad. )

How long ago did it happen?

[Private]

[hachitaro]

[Aaaand he's slapping a Private filter on this.]

It... yeah. Though it's not much of a fight when one of the people involved isn't much of a fighter.

And... uh. Right before I got here.

(private from here on!)

[possessum]

( Welp. That is... extremely telling. Peter's been in this place for a while — and the place before, the Dream — and some things have become painfully obvious over time. Most people, maybe not all, but a lot, arrive in these places right after....something horrible. An injury. A death. Some kind of... change in existence.

For him, too. And now he knows more about it. About his own... changing, his own ending. He wasn't "Peter", anymore. He's still not sure what to do with that knowledge. It feels tight and stagnant in his throat, like something that he can't swallow down.

He doesn't want to directly ask, and it's weird to. )

You died?

( That tightness in his throat makes his voice come out strained. )

[hachitaro]

[He sighs a little bit. He'd rather lie and say 'nah, I'm fine' but... well. The tape is pretty obvious.]

I... uh. Yeah. Pretty sure. I mean, I feel pretty alive right now, but...

[possessum]

Damn. ( Peter sighs out the word like an exhale of pent-up breath. )

Me too, I think. However it is, I might as well be considered dead, anyway.

( "Permanently taken over by a demon" is practically the same thing, right? )

Sorry, dude. It sucks. I mean, even if we're still alive here, knowing you uh... aren't back home? I'm still not sure how to unpack that shit.

[hachitaro]

['Might as well be' isn't actually, but he's not going to point that out right now. No sense in getting into an argument over something so stupid.]

I don't know, either. It sucks. There was still a lot of shit I had to do. People I left behind.

[possessum]

( Truthfully, Peter's downplaying it a little, or maybe a lot. It sure felt like dying when he fell too far and hit the ground. At least, he knows now that he fell down and something else got back up. Maybe technically his body didn't die, because the thing needed it to walk around in, but his mind...

He can't talk too much about it like that, because it's still too heavy and weird and he doesn't know what to do with any of it. Maybe soon. For now, it's someone else's ending he focuses on, even if that hurts too.

Though he doesn't want to press too hard, ask too much. This whole reveal was an accident, after all. He hesitates on the other end of the Omni, and then, softly— )

Your family? ( A beat. ) You don't have to talk about any of this if you don't want to, though. But I'll listen if you do.

( It's important, here. Listening to each other; he's learned that too well. )

[hachitaro]

[He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to talk about it too much, can't talk about it too much. He can't break the veil of secrecy that's over the Underground lest word get out and people get hurt.]

[Even though some of the people there are starting to build enough power to hurt others...]

Family? ... No. Not anymore.

[Maybe their descendants, somewhere... but he can't contact them. They had no way of knowing what happened to him after he left. And showing up now would be breaking the silence on the nonhuman world... so he can't.]

A friend. Who probably is going to be the one to find me. If not... well. I guess I made the tape for nothing. Hopefully this isn't the only copy.

[possessum]

( It's another sinking feeling in Peter's chest. 'Not anymore.' He doesn't have to be told directly what the other means by that; the implication's made clear enough, and it's... relatable to him, too. Painfully relatable. He's freshly been reminded of it, and of the... ways in which his family were all killed.

Peter listens in silence with a knot in his throat, willing himself through it as much as he can. He can't afford to fall apart on some poor stranger on the network. The guy's got enough on his own plate, clearly. )

Do you think your friend will be able to... find the people who did this to you? Will they understand who it is?

( That voice on the recording was pretty distinctive; it still sends an odd chill down Peter's spine to think about. )

[hachitaro]

... I think so. They'll know who sent him. It... uh. Didn't make the cut on the omni feed, apparently.

[He's not sure if she'll be able to get to him, but... it's worth a try. What's the worst that could happen?]

[... Actually, some pretty bad stuff. So maybe no thinking about 'the worst' right now.]

She's smart. She's fast. I just... don't know if she's got the power to go head to head with them.