week one, day one.

[potentialman]

[ Good day, Manhattan. Did you have fun at the Ren Faire? Did you absolutely hate the Ren Faire?

Here's a guy who doesn't actually care either way, he's just here to give you his notes before the test. ]

Hello. Hopefully everyone had the chance to get the basic rundown about Sleep during the dream, but I have a few things that may also prove useful.

We call this psychic network the Murmur. It's pretty versatile and you're not limited to sending messages as speech or text. Images, feelings, and memories are all fair game. It's also possible to revisit old conversations if you know how to find them -- either because you were there at the time, or if someone else helps you find them.

If you think of all of this as a tangle of threads, it's just a matter of grabbing the one you want and tracing it back. So, if you can get ahold of this one and follow it -- I've been keeping track of the main points of what we've learned about this place, and anything that might help us get to the bottom of it. Some of it is background information or things that we haven't pieced together yet, but some of it should help you get your bearings.

Most importantly: the city map.

Dr. Bashir has a clinic set up at Columbia University, if you need medical attention. We can also help you with a place to crash or help getting supplied. We're towards the north end of the island, though, so if you've found yourself further south, others may be in a better position to help you.



That aside, I have a couple of questions for those of us who were already here. Before the latest dream, when the voids were appearing around the city -- I picked something up from the Murmur. A memory. I think it was how Two got trapped before we got here.

Did anyone else get something like that?

Second -- Agent Choi told me that the Murmur seems to have been created out of One's desire for connection. No specifics on who he wants connection with, or if it's just a general wish, but I know some people have talked to One before, so any insight on that would be appreciated.

I think that's all I have for now. As always, I'd be grateful for anything new you all can tell me.

Comments

[retaliatings]

Thank you for the information, I believe it might be beneficial if we could work out why we were picked. There must be some common denominator between us all.

[ he refuses to think their being here is pure Whimsy of some entity ]

[potentialman]

I can't discount the possibility of a commonality, but we seem to be a pretty varied bunch. It may take some serious digging.

[retaliatings]

Perhaps a wider sample is required. Or it may be something no one is willing to openly admit.

[dedicate]

If you don't mind me chiming in, these things tend to be less about characteristics and more about what you do before it happens. Like a trigger or a condition for that specific phenomenon to show up.

[ counting to ten and walking backwards down the stairs to enter 'another world', or coming across a strange supermarket because you were looking for a place to buy eggs in the middle of the night. there usually is a reason why you end up there, but it doesn't necessarily have to do with who you are as a person. ]

So if anybody remembers what they were up to before they showed up here, that's probably what you'd want to look into.

[potentialman]

Well, I was bleeding out on a street corner in Shibuya, but a decent number of people back when this began told me they definitely weren't in the middle of a near-death experience.

[potentialman]

If it's something along those lines, I have a hard time thinking of a way to narrow it down that doesn't just amount to swinging wildly in the dark.

[dedicate]

Oof. Glad that's not the case anymore?

[ they NEED to call interuniversal child services on this place. there has to be a thing like that, right? ]

But I didn't say it'd be easy to figure it out. Even things you did as far back as a month could have to do with it, accumulating bad vibes or interacting with a cursed object and things along those lines. It could also be more mental.

[longwillows]

[Her message is preceded by a laugh. An ojou-sama laugh, to put it simply. Ohoho~]

Our cute little curator, at it again! Thank you for your hard work, as always.

Not something I learned from the void incidents, but I have some information that will probably be of interest.

[Well, at least she seems in better spirits than the last time she had something important to contribute to the archive...]

[potentialman]

Bad vibes and cursed objects are half our curriculum. [ Narrowing that one down will be...a feat. ]

...but. You say if "anybody" remembers what they were up to, before they got here. Are you implying that you don't?

[potentialman]

[ He's just going to carefully sidestep the accusation of being cute. ]

What is it?

[ Definitely got his ears figuratively perking, though. Kalmiya always brings the goods. God bless you extroverts who have no issues picking the NPCs' brains... ♥ ]

[dedicate]

Nope.

[ his memory is better than the average person's, but wouldn't most people forget what they'd done three or four months ago before going to bed? ]

Let's take things one step at a time though. It has to be something we all share in common, doesn't it? I'm sure not everybody was picking up cursed objects; I was looking for someone, and you know, I think that's something you could have done too.

[ before, or even during the whole bleeding out thing. ]

So, before you came here, was there anything you really wanted?

[ the answer feels like it would be obvious, but let him not make assumptions here. ]

[longwillows]

[He has cute studious younger brother energy and he cannot escape it. Sorry Megs.]

I spoke to Two about One. [Pause.] I spoke, that is. I sat at a theater so he could use the letters on the marquee to answer me, so you'll pardon me not sharing my memory of the conversation.

[Translation: she absolutely does not remember exactly how Two said and spelled things, which would make the marquee useless to a spectator of her memory,,,]

He told me quite a few things of interest. Starting with the big one:

Our abilities as Vessels don't come from Sleep. They come from One. Ours and the other number folk; he's the source of all this power.

[potentialman]

...mostly I wanted everyone to get out of that incident in one piece.

[ And, if he's honest, he himself doesn't place as highly on his ranking of "people who need to get out of this" than most of the others, but he's not about to drop that one with a good reason. ]

[potentialman]

[ Sort of a mental thumbs up to her skipping the memory and sticking to the paraphrase...all those weird quirks of communicating in this place sure are fun sometimes, huh.

But oh. Oh. ]

...all of it? [ Daaaaamn. ] So we've been thinking of this backwards, haven't we?

[dedicate]

Hmm...

[ what a selfless, reckless kid. ]

Hopefully, they did.

That's the best guess I can come up with for now. Since I found the person I was looking for, it's possible that there's a 'wish granting' element to it, like a monkey's paw. Or maybe it just picks up on desire. If you get a better guess though, let's compare notes~ I'll need an entry method when I get back.

[ guy who still thinks he's getting out of here voice. ]

[longwillows]

[The thoughtful ringing of a small bell, and a vague, blurred impression of Maria's publicized dissection.] Well, I'm not certain about the animals or aberrations. But all of ours, yes.

Two said he didn't entirely understand the process, but it seemed as though Sleep is necessary to it because she's the one who distributes the power. So...we're a bit like those funny little electronic toys. One is a load of batteries. And Sleep is the one who puts a battery in us. Ta-da, mages and monsters!

[Thanks for teaching her so much about non-magical power sources, apocalypse town.]

[potentialman]

I'll keep an ear open. Though I think we might be looking at a whole additional survey to see if people's experiences would support that one.

[ He and Lortel are gonna make this network so sick of them... ]

[regulate]

How did you fare yourself during the last dream? I do hope it treated you somewhat well.

[potentialman]

That'd fit with what we already know about Sleep needing One's power to reach further, then. But what makes her intervention necessary? Is it that he can't distribute power, or just that he won't?

[trashblaze]

[ Oh!! Megumi!! While he's right there— ]

Meggy, do you happen to have… mints or lemon candies… I'll trade some of my other candies for them.

[potentialman]

There were a few close scrapes. I think I fared better than plenty of people did, though.

[ He did not get vaporized, so really, he has a lot less to complain about than he could. ]

Did you get through it okay?

[potentialman]

I don't know about mints. I'm pretty sure I've got a few lemon ones around, though.

[sorte]

Why are Offerings more vulnerable to Sleep's influence if that's the case?

[sorte]

It's connection with anyone.

[trashblaze]

[ Nooo. He needs the mints BADLY. But lemon is a good alternative… ]

I'll take a couple… Are you okay trading them for some milk-flavored candies? There are coffee-flavored ones, too. I might have other fruit flavors, but I need to check.