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[potentialman]

[ Megumi's connection to the Murmur is crisp, cool, and terse; he avoids projecting anything more than he needs to, when he can help it.

And in this moment, he's taken the time to get his thoughts straight and make sure he can help it as much as humanly possible, because this month is shaping up to be a ride, and he's possibly spent a little too much energy dragging Hosts into the bowels of the abyss with his magic today. It's left him a little bit twitchy and he's noticed that there's a painful but pleasant afterglow after every spell.

And wow, does he not trust that at all. He's trying to button his feelings up extra tight right now. ]

Hey. I assume at least some of you have also been wondering about the status of the mainland.

...this is an island, for the record. If anyone hadn't already heard about that.

Noah, Aventurine, and I went to check on the bridges on the northeast side -- starting from Triborough and working north from there. There were four bridges in that area...past tense. All four have been destroyed, and from how thorough the job was, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't deliberate.

If anyone is in a better position to check on the others, I'd be interested to hear what you find, but I'm guessing it's more of the same.

[ Pause. That was the easy part, but of course there's more. Why wouldn't it be worse? ]

...so at least initially, I'd assume there was an attempt to isolate Manhattan. But I have doubts as to whether it actually did any good. We tried to get a look at the other side while we were at it.

[ And here he projects the memory, to save the trouble of explanation. There's a view, filtered through Aventurine's binoculars, of thousands of Hosts standing along the shore, gazing towards Manhattan, unmoving.

Yyyyyep. ]

However far it's spread...I think we're at the epicenter.

Comments

[dethangel]

Wowee...

[Toki's voice is soft, fascinated. All of that seems like, well, some kind of problem! You kind of need bridges if you're on an island, unless you have a helicopter or a plane or something, and he hasn't seen any of those. Maybe they could build a boat?

But the view of the shore... well, that's a particularly striking sight.]

It's like the fans... but nobody's headbanging or moshing or anything. It's kinda fuckin' creepy.

[potentialman]

Yeah.

I'm not sure what they're waiting for...but I assume it goes with everything else getting worse lately.

[dethangel]

What if they wanna come over here... but they can't swim???

[Is he glad that they're frozen out there and he's out here...]

What if you threw something at them...

[sculptedash]

[Something about the image of all the hosts stirs something in Ash. When she connects she’s in a bit of a trance and mumbling.]

I finally understand now I do I understand but will you let me keep my human fear will you let me yes being scared makes you human-

[And then there’s a sudden breath as she snaps back into reality.]

…Do you remember that vision I mentioned before?

So I might have saw a plane on fire in that- through the eyes of like a bunch of people.

It was a commercial plane- The first bridge was an accident.

The rest of them… I still remember the blasts. The rest of them were intentional. They’re all gone.

[potentialman]

[ Well, fuck. ]

Did that seem like it happened as soon as the outbreak began, or later? Or could you get a sense of time from it at all?

[ Because god knows enough of reality feels disconnected to make things tricky to judge. ]

[clockgears]

[ It's just one bit of bad news after one bit of bad news lately, isn't it? Ozpin takes the time to really consider the vision that Megumi shares before commenting. ]

Given their behavior, I think we can conclude that the creatures in the underground didn't give up on pursuing Ash and I due to emerging onto the surface being harmful to them in some way.

[ Which, you know. That's pretty worrying. ]

It's interesting that they don't attempt to simply swim across.

[ Maybe they're not so mindless as to be incapable of risk assessment after all. ]

[potentialman]

Which raises the question of what the issue with the surface is.

[ And why the ones off-island don't seem to have a problem with it. ]

[aeviternitas]

[ The Forsaken rarely keeps his mask on. Particularly with his emotions and newfound abilities going awry, connecting himself to the network of thoughts, feelings, and memories that appears to connect the rest of the denizens of this Manhattan seems a liability at best.

When Megumi's outreach finds him, the answer is not so much the suppression of emotion as it is a vacuous emptiness where one might expect something to be. There is only the Forsaken's voice, quiet, dispassionate. ]

Let us hope the weather warms soon, lest the waters freeze solid enough they might pass.

[potentialman]

[ Places his thoughts hadn't even gone yet, hello there.

...eeeeuuugh. ]

I don't know if New York normally gets cold enough for -- [ He stops. Actually, scratch that. ] ...no, it doesn't really matter how cold it normally gets, considering the snow has been hanging in midair somehow.

[shatteredlenses]

[There have been a lot of things that Ignis has been glad he hasn't been able to see since he arrived here. While he's always thought none of them could be as bad as seeing the look on the Chancellor's face as he loomed over Noctis' unconscious form, this? This is about as close as it can come without doing so.

He's so caught up in trying to process that image that he doesn't even realize he's projecting back across the Murmur.]

They're all worshiping, like the ones here would be if they didn't have us to chase.

[Does that really mean they are the only normal people left on this whole world? If they can still be called that with all the changes happening to them, that is.]

[potentialman]

Like the ones here want to make us do.

[ And with what Ash and Aventurine have already shared about that...

It doesn't bear thinking about. But good luck trying not to. ]

[omertosa]

[Texas's mental presence is much more restless right now than she would typically expect it to be, but there's still a coolness in her attempts to maintain a detached distance from the others lingering about in the space of the Murmur. Keeping each other apprised of what they discover is important, however.

Particularly when it comes to sharing bad news like this.]

So we're stuck.

[The words are quiet and dispassionate, but there's an edge of concern to them that can easily be felt.]

There's clearly something up with this place, but even if we could leave, this doesn't exactly inspire confidence in there being somewhere safer out there.

[Not with such a huge number of Hosts lingering out there like that.]

[potentialman]

Yeah. If the military had it together enough to take out the bridges and try to stop it, then I'd assume they would've moved against that mob if they were still capable of it.

[ They were obviously counting the loss of the lives in Manhattan as an acceptable loss. No reason the ones outside it wouldn't also be. ]

I think this has to be across the continent at the least. Entire world, very possibly.

[hexrot]

[ it's always "fuck" with this place. any time jayce wishes for rest, stimulation or something to keep his mind on instead of the bone deep hunger, he's left with harrowing news after news. fantastic! perfect. so listening to this and getting a front row seat to what was beyond the island, jayce briefly signs off to grab at some papers and just bounce some theories off the walls until viktor comes back.

after a considerable amount of time, he returns with a revalation drawn on a impossible amount of charting and equations utilizing a rune drawing of sorts. it probably makes little to no sense to many, but it's still a visible shot of work through pages pinned to the wall of his current hang out, if one would like to take a look at his musings. ]

Then there's no need to look outward for a way back, [ jayce holds his head throughout to stave off the heaviness and dull ache. ] only inward. To the focal point.

[potentialman]

[ Yeah, those scribblings...are all Greek to Megumi, though he can recognize and appreciate that there's effort going into this. ]

I'd guess the focal point is underground. And we've seen how well that went.

[merged]

[ There is sudden, hysterical laughter. It lasts less than thirty seconds, but it's more than enough to give an idea of what this additional news does to her. Her connection immediately grows ice cold as if she's built up a barrier to keep some of her terror under. ]

The more we find out, the more I think we're well and truly fucked.

[potentialman]

I can't argue with that.

[ He's a cynic, but he's also one who's been trying to have enough respect for everyone's hopes to not say it out loud. ]

[closetdweller]

... That explains why I hear water in every direction.

[Urushihara said, his demeanor and tone focused and on the point. He had been afraid that they were locked in, but having proof was a strange comfort.

It was certainty in a place where there was little.]

I can try to get some altitude to get a look. Not sure how high I can get, but I can try.

[potentialman]

Can you do it stealthily?

[ Anything that might bring them additional information seems worthwhile, in Megumi's mind -- as long as it's not going to pose a huge risk. Most of the Hosts they've seen have been terrestrial, but...most of them haven't really been looking up, either. ]

[pointedlook]

Jesus fucking Christ.

[ In a minute, he'll regain his composure and thank Megumi for sharing the information, as well as helping to obtain it. But. He needs that minute. ]

[potentialman]

[ Yyyyyup, pretty much. ]

[vocalistyodels]

So we got an audience to this fucking spectacle.

[It's starting to feel like they're all animals in a cage. Though eventually they'd start turning on one another. Who knows when that'll start happening here.]

Hazarding a guess if we found any boats they'd be unusable too, cause someone seems to want us here... or someones didn't want something to leave this place.

[potentialman]

I haven't heard anyone mention seeing boats, usable or not. But I'd guess you're right about that one.

[ Might be worth confirming, he supposes, but it depends how far out of anyone's way and how much risk is involved, because his hopes are not high. ]

[untilldeath]

[Till has gotten a little better at using the murmur. Especially since it's his only way to communicate without a pad of paper right now. The presence of a warm fire is possibly accompanied by him, as well as a bit of uncertainty as he speaks, as though unfamiliar with it all.]

It's kinda weird... I haven't noticed any spaceships or flying crafts along with the ground vehicles.

[He doesn't really know what plausibly could have existed on Earth before... whatever it is happened to this place.]

But if we were able to get something flying, it might help us safely expand our search. If it's possible to find something working in all this junk.

. . . I dunno if anyone has found anything working to begin with, though. I guess it would take a lot of know-how to fix.

[potentialman]

Aircraft definitely exist at this point in time, but I don't think there are airports on this island, and that'd be the most logical place to find something. And they run on fuel. I'm not sure if we'd be able to find that without too much trouble or not.

[ Till sounds like he's not familiar with this time and place, but after meeting people like Noah and Ivan, that just...doesn't even stand out to Megumi anymore. Apparently they've got all types here! Best thing he can do is make himself useful as one of the people who does know this place...sort of. In the abstract. ]

As weird as it sounds, I think our best bet for aerial recon is ourselves. It sounds like at least a couple people are sprouting wings.

[ Prefacing it with "this sounds weird" sure doesn't make saying it feel any less weird. ]