IC Inbox

[burntvideocassette]

"This is, uh. It's Jay. Leave a message, and I'll try to get back to you."

[voice/text/video/action/anything]

Comments

mirror writing, 6/13

[pseudological]

[At some point, writing will appear on the mirror in Jay's room. There's no escaping his reach, no escaping the mirrors interspersed throughout Wonderland, especially since the version of Jay that showed up on this side of the glass is so - susceptible.

Color him curious.]

The prodigal cameraman returns.
Planning on sticking around this time, sport?

mirror writing

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay freezes.

LAST CHANCE

Tim and Georgia both said something about Mirrors--capital-M Mirrors, people who lived on the opposite side of the glass, always watching.

(He'd tried to cover up his mirror the first night, but the sheet he draped over it kept falling.)

Hesitantly, Jay grabs a marker from the closet and approaches the glass. Now's as good a time to make contact as any.]

[He writes the first few letters forwards before realizing his mistake, wiping off the glass with his sleeve. Backwards, gradually, Jay manages to spell out a message.]

I plan to. Who are you?

mirror writing, 1/2

[pseudological]

[Oh, dear. Guess old Tim here didn't explain the concept of Mirrors all that well! Suits his purposes just fine.]

Surely you can guess.
But just in case you can't, I'll give you a little hint.

mirror writing

[pseudological]

[The words disappear as though wiped away by an invisible erase. For a few moments, there's nothing but the empty glass, and Jay's own reflection staring back at him.

Finally, it appears.

A familiar symbol.]

⨂

mirror writing

[burntvideocassette]

[No no no no no. Not here. Not scrawled across his mirror like Alex's papers.

Tim? No, wait, Tim said everyone here had a double, so that left another option. One Jay really, really didn't want to contemplate.]

Narrowed it down to two.

mirror writing

[pseudological]

Aren't you a smart cookie today.
Not smart enough to realize you don't need to write to me, but we have to measure Jay's progress in careful amounts.
Can't get too ambitious, us.

We're always watching you, silly. :)

action

[burntvideocassette]

[Don't need to write...? Oh. Oh.

Just when he thought the Mirror situation couldn't get any worse. The condescension is bad enough, but the thought that he's been able to hear everything? Not good. Not good at all.

Pulling back from the mirror, Jay mutters a response.]

Watching doesn't always mean listening. [Asshole.] Which one of...us are you? Got any more hints?

text, 6/17

[choosetruth]

[She gives Jay a little time to settle in before contacting him again. Just a little. She wants him comfortable, but not too comfortable, and while she's not sure how accurate Tim's appraisal of Jay is in terms of how much of a risk to himself and others he is, well, she does want to keep an eye on him. And see if she can't show him how the news should work while she's at it.]

Do you want a job?

text

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay has to take a few minutes to stare at the message before responding.

A job? He'd barely had a job for the couple years between graduation and when he'd started his investigation. He had written copy for a few websites, gotten a couple bucks editing local commercials, and spent way too many hours doing favors "for the exposure". He'd been dipping into his savings every month just to make rent. Jay was nearing thirty, and he still didn't really know how taxes worked.

From Georgia? The last time he'd talked to her--the only time he'd talked to her--had hardly been job interview material. Things had gone fuzzy near the end, and he'd had to reread his messages the next morning to remember what he said.

And now she's offering him work?]

What kind of job?

text

[choosetruth]

The most important job there is. Reporting the news.

Of course, I can't pay you. I would if I could, but Wonderland doesn't have an actual economy. But you'll get published in our weekly zine and you'll be telling the truth as you see it.

text

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay's still processing it, staring wide-eyed at his inbox.

This place doesn't have real internet. It doesn't have a site where Jay can post his findings without making it into a conversation. But this? Sure, it's a "zine", but it's real circulation, and it might give him access to information he would need to fight for otherwise.]

Do you have a video department? I've got more experience with that than writing. [No, you idiot, don't make it sound like you're turning her down!] But I can write, if that's what's needed.

text

[choosetruth]

[She grimaces a little at the question.] Back home, we would. We're usually bloggers. Our site, After the End Times, is multimedia and a lot of people prefer video, especially Irwins. But we don't have a real internet here, so we've had to venture into print media. You can certainly include pictures in reports, but video won't work.

I'll need a writing sample, and you'll have to meet my partners before we hire you on as full staff, though you'll be free to submit work either way. I should warn you, I'm not an easy person to work for. I demand the truth, and I demand nothing less than all the effort you have to give. And I demand critical thinking skills.

text

[burntvideocassette]

[Oh god, what is he getting into? No video, just Georgia breathing down his neck and critiquing his critical thinking skills.

It's an opportunity, though, and after nearly five years of fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of evidence he can get, he can't turn this down.]

I'm interested. Where do I submit the writing sample?

text on like 11/05

[postictal]

[Sent around midnight, without preamble:]

Never ask me anything like that again.

[burntvideocassette]

[Feeling a bullet rip through his spine, being taken apart again, gives a guy a sense of perspective.]

[Once Jay had taken a few hours to feel sorry for himself, he started to think about what might be going on with the others...and how much of a part he'd played in making "the worst thing that's ever happened to you" even worse.]

[He knew he'd crossed a line with Tim, even though it hadn't properly registered at the time. (Had it? Things get fuzzy after Tim bolted.) It was another interrogation. Sure, no threats this time, no blood, but he hadn't needed them. Tim could either tell the truth or run.]

[Three interrogations since he'd shown up here. Three failures. This wasn't working.]

[He knew he had to apologize, but he wasn't sure how to do it without making it worse, and now he'd waited too long, and fuck. Fuck.]

[Okay, he has to respond now, or Tim'll probably show up at his door.]

That was messed up.
I know.

I should have kept my mouth shut when I realized what was going on.

[He pauses.]

And so should you.

[postictal]

If I had my way I'd always keep my mouth shut, Jay. You just don't seem to want to give me that option.

[Precise, immediate, and grammatically impeccable. Guess they're both talking in the most coldly professional way they can. As if that would be enough to deconstruct the way they'd verbally gone for each other's throats, all but clawed out each other's guts across the floor of an improvised movie theater with an audience to boot.]

[burntvideocassette]

[So this is how it's going to be. Full caps. Full punctuation. Like they're pretending this is professional. Like they've still got an audience.]

It'd be a lot easier to trust your judgment if I knew you wouldn't hide things that could get people killed.

[postictal]

I'm not hiding things that will get people killed.
I'm doing the same thing I've literally always had to do.

And that's make sure you don't get your fucking hands on something that will get you killed and then get everyone else killed.
Again.

You understand

[This is Tim Wright when he is not even in the remote vicinity of fucking around, Jay.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Left outside Jay's door, wrapped with a note:
(except the person looks more like Jay.)]

Jay--

Merry Christmas.

--Shaun

[choosetruth]

[Left outside Jay's door, wrapped in brown paper, is a book. It's signed To Jay, From Georgia, but there is no note past that.

There may or may not be a test later.]

[voice] backdated to 2/12, SINCE SHIT'S GETTING REAL

[punful]

[Sans would very, very much prefer to not have this conversation at all, maybe even just sweep it all under the rug like usual, but that won't work this time. This is about damage control.]

it's me. we should talk.

[voice] OH SNAP

[burntvideocassette]

[It's Sans, and Jay can tell from the weariness in his voice and the fact that he hasn't seen as many ankle-biters running around the halls of the mansion that the event's over. He's back to normal.]

[And he says they should talk.]

[Jay can't help the way his heart rate spikes. He can't help the way the muscles in his throat constrict.]

[Still, with talking comes answers. Maybe he'll learn something, even if it also means Sans is taking this opportunity to cut him off. One conversation, but no more. Stay out of his life.]

[Maybe it's for the best.]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess.

[voice]

[punful]

[It's honestly a terrible thing to say to anyone. It's the worst four words in the world. He doesn't even have to hear any real anxiety in Jay's voice to know the sort of dread those words instill.]

[He sighs quietly. With any luck--haha, not likely--this will be relatively simple.]

first, uh. i know i apologized at the time, but i wanted to apologize again. for appearing out of thin air like that. it'd be scary for anyone, but uh...now that i got my memories back and understand the...context again, i realize it woulda been...heh. a helluva lot more than just scary.

[He's not sure how much Jay knows about--that thing that scares Tim so much, but he knows that Jay is at least aware of it. Which means that having a pale-faced stranger teleporting into his personal space without warning would be utterly, utterly terrifying. As horrible as it was for Tim, maybe.]

just want you to know it won't happen again. unless wonderland pulls some more shit like this.

[Sans wonders distantly if this is going to be one more person whose trust he's lost.]

[voice]

[burntvideocassette]

[Sans isn't angry. He's apologizing.]

[Unfortunately, this is terrifying for an entirely new reason. Jay sits up straighter, his voice wary and intent.]

Wait, how much do you know about the context?

[voice]

[punful]

[Aw, fuck his entire life.]

i...shit. i thought you knew.

look, i don't...know much. because i haven't asked tim for any details. i don't really want to know, frankly. but back during that event with the tower, and the creatures on different floors? i saw--uh. that thing. or at least...it looked like it. there were shapeshifters during that event, so i don't think it was the real version. and tim mentioned that it could teleport. so...

[He goes quiet for a moment and sighs again.]

tim...doesn't like it when i teleport, either. i've tried to be more careful. you guys had that fight during the truth event, so i...i thought you knew that i had an idea of what was up.

...sorry for assuming.