ic contact//CURRENT

[darkov]

[INSERT DEFAULT INBOX VOICE MESSAGE/EMAIL GREETING HERE]
email: ENABLED (will go unanswered)
text: ENABLED (high probability these will go unanswered)
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latest status update 3/6/2018

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Delivery | December 25

[consulinchief]

[Merry Christmas, Martin! On Christmas, Roland will have a wrapped present delivered to his favorite gremlin. There's a note on the box which reads:

To: Martin
Merry Christmas
From: Roland

Inside, Martin will discover the biggest, softest, fluffiest oversized sweater Roland could find.]

video

[measuringdicks]

Have you ever snuck out of your house to watch a movie before? ‘Cause if you have, this is going to go a lot easier.

[By “this”, he means: sneaking Martin out of the house for movie-watching purposes without letting Andy or her old man see either Martin or Richie.]

If you haven’t, consider this an education!

[darkov]

[whoa. video call?? this is extremely rare.

in that...this is the first video call he's gotten before.

Martin gawks at Richie's face on the screen for a beat before even processing the words.]

Uh, I...I've seen a movie before. [blink. squint.] What's the sneaking part for, though?

[measuringdicks]

Everybody's seen movies before. [A pause, during which he remembers just how many people he knows who haven't, actually.] Almost everybody. [And he nibbles at his ice cream cone. He's sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, his bike leaning against the side of it.]

The sneaking part is part of being a kid! You sneak out of the house without telling your parents you're going to a movie or a party or whatever, [or to just go hang out with your best friends,] and then you sneak back and they don't have to know you ever went anywhere.

[Another pause.]

I guess you could tell them, 'cause Andy's pretty cool. Just don't tell 'em the movie's not for kids. [It's a shitty R-rated comedy, in fact.]

[darkov]

Oh.

[the sneaking part is the important part, apparently?

except...he'd gotten in a lot of trouble for some of the sneaking out he'd done before. that really wasn't the crux of the problem, of course, but it was part of why he'd gotten attacked by a zombie dog.

all this is being processed and that faraway martin.exe look he gets lingers for a beat more before he blinks out of it.]

So...it's just going out to watch something. Right? [no zombie dogs.]

[measuringdicks]

[The sneaking part is the most important part. At least in Richie's opinion, but then Richie has been sneaking out of his house since he was ten.]

Yeah, duh. And eat popcorn too, but that's built in. [He waves a hand.] Anyway, all those Heartless motherfuckers are gone now, [thank you Roxas for telling Richie just what those were called,] and shit's calm for once. Who knows when the next big disaster's gonna fuck shit up again? That's why you have to seize the opportunity whenever it comes around.

[darkov]

[as far as Martin can tell, this logic is very, very sound.

also, he doesn't want to annoy him with a million questions or doubts -- that's not very good friending, is it?]

A-alright. I can go with you.

[measuringdicks]

Fuck yeah! [Pumping his fist into the air. Time to make a Battle Plan.] When do your parents go to sleep? Wait, shit, does Andy need sleep?

[She's not a vampire, but it occurs to Richie that he really doesn't know much else about how Andy's immortality works. For all he knows she doesn't need sleep.]

[darkov]

Uh, she, she sleeps, yes. At night. They both do...

[you know, like normal people.

which they totally are.]

I mean. It's just...me and Nico here right now, so, since they're at work?

[measuringdicks]

Hey, even better. [Richie mentally adjusts just how much of his money he'll be blowing on this educational trip, adding another person into the mix. Well, shit, they'll have to get the regular-sized bucket of popcorn.] We could go right now and then get you back here before they even notice you left.

Who's this Nico guy anyway?

video; memoryshare

[codeofiron]

[The diner is a small, narrow place - the kitchen is exposed, running behind the bar, and a row of booths lining the opposite wall provide the only other seating. The concrete walls are unpainted, broken up only by a few posters and framed photographs. Still, the room is warm. Afternoon sunlight streams in from the open windows next to the booths, there's sizzling as a man in an apron with a puff of light brown hair cooks something on the griddle, and a radio is quietly playing from somewhere.

There are four people here other than the cook, seeming more like friends hanging out than customers (an accurate impression). In one booth, two men in their late teens or maybe early twenties are playing cards. A younger teen, his braided hair under a backwards baseball cap, sits on a stool, his arms folded on the counter and head resting on top of them. And in the back, leaning against the frame of a door which must lead to a back room, is Brandon. Sporting a brown vest over a black tank top and a particularly shaggy haircut, he can't yet be twenty himself. He's watching the card game with clear amusement.]

Jolice. [The boy at the counter sighs.] How much longer is it going to be?

[The cook laughs, flipping a burger.] It hasn't even been five minutes, Kenny.

Well, I'm hungry. [Kenny points out reasonably.]

[At the table, the blond leans back in his seat and pushes a stack of torn bits of paper, doing the job of chips, forward.] I raise.

[The young man wearing a white suit jacket sighs theatrically as he sets his hand down on the table.] Fold.

[The blond, evidently both taken aback and not very good at poker, lets out a] Huh?

[Suit jacket smiles, leaning forward to rest his chin on a hand.] You still can't bluff, Nathan. Besides, my hand was terrible. Right, Brandon? [He doesn't even bother looking over his shoulder to confirm that Brandon was watching.

Brandon, smiling, nods. The blond crosses his arms with a hmph.

Over at the counter, Kenny has straightened up, grinning, as he's watched Jolice assemble a cheeseburger.] Aha! Thanks, Jolice!

[And, after a fuzzy moment of red-tinged static, that's it.]

[darkov]

[Martin has no idea why Brandon would send him something like this. he doesn't know this diner. he doesn't know these people. the voice -- there's a voice in the mix that might be Brandon? but he's not sure. he's not heard that tone before.

all these strangers...

he has to call.]

...Brandon? Why did you show me this...?

[codeofiron]

[A call from Martin? That's unexpected.]

...Show you what?

[darkov]

[a long pause.]

...Um. [was he wrong??] I, I don't know. [he must've been wrong.] Some...some video. [of course he's wrong; it's Brandon!] Something about a, uh...Nathan? Jolene? I think? Sorry. It might not have been you...

[codeofiron]

...Jolice.

[Kenny, Nathan, and Jolice. Another memory sent out to people without him knowing, or being able to track it. He wouldn't have wanted to bother Martin.]

From my world.

[darkov]

[yes, that name sounds right. he'd play the video back, but that'd probably hang up on Brandon. boy, he's not good at this phone-thing.

...actually...]

Do you want to come over? And see it?

[codeofiron]

[He hesitates, for a moment. He doesn't want to put too much on Martin.

(Brandon doesn't even have a picture of them, here.)]

...Is that okay?

[darkov]

[without missing a beat:] Yessir. [beat.] I mean...they're your thoughts to begin with, right?

[codeofiron]

[Well, yes, but-] I don't want to bother you.

Voicemail, backdated to the 16th

[silvallyant]

Martin!

[Gladion's voice is worried, anxious, concerned as he says the boy's name. What in the name of Arceus HAPPENED? What was that he was sent?]

Martin, are you okay? What was that video? [he pauses, taking a breath] Call me back when you can.

[darkov]

[give him a bit -- returning calls is a new thing for him.]

Hel-hello? This is Martin. What's...sorry, what's going on?

[silvallyant]

[He's relieved once Martin calls back and immediately picks up the phone. He takes a breath before answering.]

There was this video that was sent, I think it was a memory of something, since everyone is seeming to get them. W--what happened there?

[darkov]

[...]

I...I don't know. I didn't see it. What was it?

video (download); 3/14

[deadthing]

[—Bare branches. Frost-covered earth. Following a slow-moving creek through the woods with a group of other teens.

As they walk downhill, leaves unfurl along the branches until they're surrounded by thick greenery. Seasons shifting from winter to summer like one of those time-lapse videos - only everything else is still happening at a normal pace. There's a constant shushing and rustling in the background as the wind blows through the trees.

They turn left at a huge sycamore. Noah lags behind the others. He knows where they are now. Where they must be going. What they're going to find.

There's a clearing up ahead and he doesn't want to step into it and they've all gone ahead of him now. He makes himself keep going, just a little farther, and through a gap in the trees it comes into view: A once-shiny red Mustang, dulled by layers of pollen and dead leaves, a twisted sapling growing out from underneath. His old car. It's been sitting here since the day he was murdered. Just like his bones, left out to be picked apart.

He only looks at it a moment and then he can't, he can't, he can't. He's turning and then he's in the bushes, bent double, dry-heaving. Someone - Blue - says his name but he barely hears her—]

[///end playback]

New Years card

[monster_san]

[Marty gets this in his mailbox on January 1st:]


Welcome to a new spring