@deviant.hunter / text (backdated to when the bad un was still a thing)

[metanoias]

Has anyone encountered a man named Markus here?

[ For a moment that seems to be the entire extent of the message but about ten seconds later, another one follows. ]

Please disregard this username.

[ Okay, that's the extent of the message.

Oh wait. No it's not. One more: ]

I have an additional question: have any of you ever experienced something like this before? I have reason to believe this isn't an isolated incident.

[ Reason being this is the second dang time it's happened to him and North. ]

Comments

@clonie

[subroutined]

[ He's been here a week. He could change his username if he wanted to. But he kind of likes the way this one sounds. ]

No, I haven't. But I'll look out for him. Who should I say is asking after him?

[ A thought occurs to him. While we're on the subject of asking after people (presumably) from home... ]

Oh, and if you see a woman named Martha, tell her

[ A pause. She wouldn't know his new name. But he's sort of separated himself from his old one. ...Does he even want to see Martha, if she comes?

Yes, he does. Of course he does. ]

Tell her Ash is here.

Also, to answer your last question, I've been taken to a new place before. But it was fairly different than this.

[metanoias]

My name is Connor. If I find Martha I'll tell her you're looking for her.

[ The odds are stacked against either of them finding the people they're looking for but it could happen. If not now then maybe one day.

Connor's interest is immediately piqued at the mention of a new place. He'd say Deerington had been somewhat similar to this one, though not identical, so he wonders if this "fairly different" place is yet another strange pocket universe... or whatever it is they've found themselves in. ]

What was it like?

[subroutined]

Thank you.

[ This could be a mistake. If Martha does show up... Well, he'll deal with that possibility when he comes to it. ]

It was America, but a very different America than the one in my world. Not that I'd ever been to the America in my world, but you hear enough about it to know, I think. This America had hover cars and teleporters and people with nanites giving them superpowers. I have a couple superpowers from it, as well. They're a bit rubbish, but interesting enough.

text - un: @always.a.choice

[arecompatible]

[Deviant hunter. Someone with that username asking for a Markus? It couldn't be a coincidence could it? Simon hadn't actually met the infamous deviant hunter, but he'd almost been found by him on Stratford Tower. Thankfully not, but all the same, he didn't have much trust in Connor, especially if he was looking for Markus.

If his assumptions are correct. As much as he'd rather not engage with the other android he will against his better judgement.]

What do you want with Markus?

[metanoias]

[ Texted like someone who actually knows Markus... but odds are they're talking about someone else, right? ]

He's a friend. Have you seen him?

[arecompatible]

[He sure does. Though again, this could all be assumptions and it's just another person who would be looking for a Markus who happens to be a deviant hunter. A coincidence, surely.]

It depends on if we're talking about the same Markus.

[Text, @atlas]

[theprezident]

Define "something like this".

[metanoias]

Taken from home suddenly and placed somewhere with only a vague explanation as to why, with people who seem to be from other times, worlds, or even universes.

[theprezident]

Oh, yeah, before this I was in a place called Asgard, together with a bunch of others here.

[ action, in their very own house ]

[brickbat]

[ was north's first priority in this house making a clean space for Their Plant to live? ........no, but look, it was in the top five. it's not like taking stock of food or having a functional bed was particularly up there. she pads into the room having finished that incredibly important task - hair piled up at the back of her head, a few streaks of grime decorating one collarbone and jawline - and comes over to sit next to him, what wants to be a hopeful expression tempered by cynicism. ]

Anyone seen him?

[metanoias]

[ Connor, meanwhile, is hovering over his phone in a pose that's very reminiscent of the days when he used to get into arguments about whether or not his abilities could be considered scientifically reliable. The good ol' days, one might say.

He sighs sharply through his nose and shakes his head. ]

No, I don't think so. Although... there might be someone else here who knows him. I can't be sure yet.

[brickbat]

[ The answer to that ought to easily be this someone can only hail from Detroit or Deerington, and yet. Here they are in neither place. She makes a quiet, shoulder squaring noise, resolved not to give up just yet, but finding it increasingly difficult. For North, that's saying something.

She scritches her nails absently through the short hair at the base of Connor's neck, mostly for like ....her own comfort, because two years and six months is not nearly enough time for the novelty of simple affection to wear off. ]

Even if they do, it might not be our Markus.

[ a pause, then literal shoulder squaring. ]

I'm sorry. I know it doesn't get us anywhere to assume the worst, I just thought ...I thought when we left Deerington it would be to go home.

@feral.forest.gremlin

[skittering]

no markus

yes to the other thing

[metanoias]

[ It's looking more and more like Markus didn't get the memo on the mass exodus to uh, wherever this is. ]

You were somewhere like this before? What was it like? Were there others there with you who came here too?

[skittering]

asgard. was supposedly a world tree with all these other worlds as leaves. don't know if it's true. don't know how it connects to here

a few others -
emil vasterstrom
klaus hargreeves
reynir arnason
rhys (don't know last name. metal arm, stupid face hair)
namine (doesn't have other name. doesn't remember asgard)

text; un: retired.wireless

[brandnewtech]

Depends on what you mean by "something like this" but I'm pretty sure the answer is yes.
If this is another fucking nightmare, I'm going to fucking scream.

[ a few seconds later ]

also really tired of the Internet misbehaving on my watch
what the fuck are these user names?

un: traci

[brickbat]

They're humans reminding us who's in charge.

[ can you just TASTE the bitterness wow it's bitter; meanwhile she has nooo idea if she's speaking to a human, but that is irrelevant. north cares not for such trivialities. ]

Or you could just say they're bullshit. I like that, it's shorter.

[brandnewtech]

[ reading tone through text messages is one of his special skills. he likes "bitter" and commiserates. ]

Humans don't know shit about who's really in charge. They will though, if I ever get my hands on his new batch of tormentors.

The usernames are bullshit. This place is bullshit. The pamphlet is bullshit.

[ Why be concise when you can be angry? ]

[metanoias]

[ He copies a text he'd sent to someone else for efficiency's sake — ]

Taken from home suddenly and placed somewhere with only a vague explanation as to why, with people who seem to be from other times, worlds, or even universes.

That's what I mean by "something like this."

[ As for the names — ]

I believe someone may be fucking with us.

[ No, that's not a phrase he was programmed with. He's spent too much time around a rough-around-the-edges detective and also teenagers. ]

[brandnewtech]

Fucking with us. Yeah. Most definitely.

[ He appreciates efficiency, especially with a followup that includes swearing ]

Oh. Like that. In that case, yeah. Sleepy little nightmare town in Maine. Fewer "technicians" and "elder gods" and more forest wildlife and sadistic religious leaders.

Have you had a similar experience?

text | un: obedient.robot.slave

[obeir]

[ For a long moment, K simply stares in dismay at the username he absolutely did not choose for himself and is unable to change. Inwardly sighing, he decides to just get on with it. He's been called worse. Far worse.

(But they could have gotten the "android" part correct at the very least. Honestly.) ]

I have experienced a phenomenon like this before, yes. Last time it was allegedly a shared dreamscape that we all were trapped within.

un: retired.wireless

[brandnewtech]

These fucking usernames. How dare they.
K, I swear to-- FUCK. I'm relieved you're here, but I already wish neither of us were.

[obeir]

Are you all right? [ PRIORITIES. And he's also immensely relieved they're at least still together. ]

I suppose mine could be worse. It isn't necessarily inaccurate, just very unimaginative.

[ His resigned attempt at humour. Needless to say, he's well inured to this kind of treatment. When it comes to Tech Boy enduring the same treatment, though... that actually gets under his skin. ]

But I do take exception to yours. Is this like that app you couldn't take down? [ The deerlyBeloved profile. ]

[metanoias]

Can you describe this dreamscape?

[ Ah, another one. Perhaps it's a coincidence but Connor has his doubts. Surely Deerington has the monopoly on the shared dreamscape market but he can't be sure — it's hard to draw probabilities on something so absurdly impossible.

The username strikes a nerve too.

He almost doesn't comment on it since he knows these names seem to be designed to hurt and this one hits close to home for him, but in the end he can't resist. ]

You're an android?

[obeir]

A town in Maine called Deerington. The abducted residents — informally called Sleepers — were taken from all different times and universes, though the town itself existed within the 1950s, or so I was told. That was well before my time. But the general level of technology (and lack thereof) lent credence to that belief. The town was frequently plagued by odd phenomena and strange creatures, and exerted influence over Sleepers that was generally to our detriment.

I am. [ That the OP used android and not robot has K very curious now. Someone who's familiar with android technology, perhaps? ] Why do you ask?