un: stanford | voice

[cryptograms]

Greetings, Trench! This is Stanford Pines speaking. Many of you I met in Deerington, and others I only met after arriving in Trench.

For those of you I haven't met: I worked as a researcher of all things paranormal and anomalous in my home dimension, and after I arrived in Deerington I used my experience in that field to research and catalogue the events, creatures, history, and metaphysical inner workings of Deerington, the Dream, and its residents.

Now, I wasn't the only person gathering this information. Several other individuals compiled their own documents on the same subjects and made them available to all of Deerington. Several of the authors vanished, however, and the distribution of their works depended on other Sleepers already having their own copies to share.

Which brings me to a proposal I have for the entire town.

[ There's the brief sound of shuffling paper before Ford continues. ]

Assuming no such other project is underway I'd like to begin keeping a publicly accessible archive of information gathered by Sleepers, particularly as it pertains to the Sleepers as a whole, as well as the nature and history of this dimension.

So, I'm looking both for individuals willing to contribute their own research, as well as any ideas as to where this archive could be housed. We may be able to requisition our own wing within the School of Mutter's Archaic Archives, but it may be preferable to select a more neutral location, outside of the immediate influence of any of the Patron Pthumerians.

[ Ford pauses for a moment, clears his throat, and continues. ]

Thank you all for hearing me out. And if you ever encounter anything especially weird, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Comments

[cryptograms]

Excellent! I had considered the safe houses, but I didn't want to assume.

[ This is a rare moment of consideration from him, Mako. Treasure it. ]

So long as you don't mind the safe houses having regular, non-emergency traffic I think it would be an excellent location. At the very least we could place some copies there.

I'd be happy to take your notes, as well! I have the others that were written in Deerington but I don't believe I ever received a copy of yours.

[arclightning]

[ What a polite and thoughtful thing which Mako thinks is just completely normal and standard. ]

They started as emergency bunkers but I guess they're really more like community centers at this point. They're just there to make sure everyone has enough to eat and a roof over their heads no matter what. If that extends to everyone also having information to get through, that makes sense.

Mine aren't a guide or anything like Peter's. Just observations and patterns.

I, uh.

[ A slow, heavy sort of pause in which there is both breath and also a lot of silence while Mako makes himself say her name. ]

I have the most recently-updated copy of Chloe Price's notes, if you don't have that.

[cryptograms]

[ Ah. Even someone as lacking in social mores as Ford can read between the lines on that one. ]

I'd appreciate that. I have some of her early notes, but I never received her final update.

[arclightning]

I've been keeping it edited in case notes here do the same thing they did in the dream.

[ It's so much easier to talk about the things she left behind, the facts of her existence, than it is about Chloe herself. Mako hates sometimes that he talks like she's dead. She'd hate that, probably. ]

Anything else you'd need for an archive like this? What kind of space are we talking?

[cryptograms]

[ Thinking about the people that left or didn't make it here is always a melancholic time. Building this sort of archive is just going to make that melancholy worse, Ford thinks, but... it's necessary.

Thus, it's more comfortable to talk business than dwell on people that aren't here anymore. ]

Nothing very large, I would think - something the size of a small bedroom or even a large closet would be sufficient for the time being. A small section within the existing safe houses should be plenty, though I'd like to have a location dedicated exclusively to the archive outside of the safe houses.

[arclightning]

So you want... two archives? Would they be backups of each other? How are you gonna maintain that?

[ It sounds like paperwork and Mako just managed to get a job that only involves paperwork he created. ]