007. Text // shoot here and the world gets smaller

[manufactured]

This month certainly has been interesting so far, hasn't it. Joanne - I know you're not going to reply, dear heart, but you might want to place a moratorium on calling things "exciting" for the next short while, seeing as apparently it just curses the entire situation.

Though perhaps I'm biased in some way; after all, my body doesn't exactly play nicely with fire anymore.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not one for bolstering one's spirit; either you'll find your own fortitude in times like this or you won't, and bluntly put the direction you choose to take is of very little consequence to me. However, that isn't to say that it doesn't hold my interest; whether you've run screaming into the flames or avoided them, my question is one of progress. Not physical, as I have no doubt that we'll receive updates on whether what we're doing is truly enough or not – but rather internal.

Consider it a question of morale, I suppose. How we're holding up, how things are looking for the days to come. Whether we all hate ourselves a little less, if that's the sort of thing you have to report.

If nothing else, it seems an acceptable concern to have at the moment.

[...That is literally the most stilted "how is everyone doing, hope you're all having a happy crisis and not literally dying in a fire" that has ever been written, but you know what, it's going to have to work for now.]

Comments

[standalonehuman]

Shit. Let me say thank you for going out and doing anything with this much fire around, then. I appreciate how hard that is.

So. I found one of those silver doors, kind of like we saw in November, to lead us to the places we could take the souls of the dead. But this time, what was behind it was different. In my case, it was an abandoned futuristic city. Towering skyscrapers and shiny metal, all abandoned to time. It was more sad than anything else.

[manufactured]

Consider it appreciated.

And that sounds rather depressing, honestly. Any indication on how or why the people that presumably lived there before were no longer doing so...?

[standalonehuman]

Not a thing. The bridge to get us there kept breaking, hard to tell if it was intentionally a trap, or just the ravages of time. It meant that everything was really quiet. The kind of quiet that you just never hear. That alone was the biggest sign of something terrible.

It still felt like someone was watching us, maybe. As we got into the city, it started shifting and turning into a maze. A left over security measure, was my impression.

[manufactured]

As someone whose memories involve making things as difficult as possible for any intruders that may have happened upon the places he was close to, I actually wouldn't be surprised. Security measures like that tend to work in one way or another.

[standalonehuman]

Hunh. I don't think I've talked to someone who has seen this from the other side. Setting up an automatic security system to discourage people sounds familiar to your memories?

Does that mean next time I run into one of Retrospec's toys, you're the expert I should be asking for advice?</font?

[manufactured]

Perhaps. Admittedly, one of my colleagues was far more skilled at it than I was - he was often the one to set them up, I was usually just along for the ride. But I did see him do a fair amount, at least.