001 :: [video]

[tyndaridae]

[Hey look! It's an empty MAC room. The comm appears to be floating as if someone's holding it, but there's just nothing interesting there. A bed, a desk with some scattered papers and a denim jacket hanging off a chair, a coffee mug that looks like it could probably use a good rinsing. Nothing super cool or seemingly worthy of the bandwidth involved in sending this video.

... It basically carries on like this until abruptly someone (or something, I guess) picks up another communicator and begins to punch out numbers on the key pad. They don't have any significance, but they're pressed and released in a very specific way. It's slow at first, but gradually the repetitions get more comfortable and quick. Yes, that's right. Someone's punching out Morse Code very awkwardly on a keypad.

After punching out SOS SOS (pause pause) about 10 times, whatever's holding the second comm apparently gets irritated and so away it goes, sailing through the air obviously propelled by something, only to land angrily against a wall.

And then, the feed goes black.]

Comments

permavid; encrypted

[uzi]

_{( monica bites the bullet and turns on the video feed, trying to look as calm as possible. this she actually manages quite well. )}

Your home isn't here. We're in an alternate universe.

Do you know what those are?

permavid; encrypted maybe?

[tyndaridae]

[If the comm will default to match her encryptions on reply, they're there. If not, well... It's not like Nick knows how to encrypt anything. He can't even type. The code is back again, though. Spelling out N O very quickly.]

permaencrypted!

[uzi]

_{( monica pauses again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. she's not sure what the protocol is, here, but she can't just leave him by himself. )}

It's... we're in another world. We're all from different places and times.

How old are you, Nick?

Re: permaencrypted!

[tyndaridae]

[Nick doesn't know quite what to make of that. It's a big deal when he leaves Hell's Kitchen, let's not think about the idea of different worlds and times and all that science fiction mumbo jumbo. Red went out to Canarsie once. He said that was weird enough. But the lady did ask a question, and so far she's been the most immediately helpful. He punches out 1 8. It's a lie, but if they're all from different worlds and times, it probably doesn't matter anyway. Probably.]

[uzi]

_{( she just nods, her face not registering any disbelief. )}

This city we're in, sometimes it's strange. It does things to us and leaves us confused.

That's what's happened to you, now. But it'll be okay.

_{( she purses her lips for a moment, but her voice is even, calm--serene, even. the practiced voice of a mother. )}

[tyndaridae]

[Well, now she seems the calmest out of anybody here, too. Good going, Monica. He punches out I S N T T H I S N E W Y O R K pretty fast. He might not be able to find his building, and the cars might look real different, but he knows the layout of the city alright. He grew up here, after all.]

[uzi]

It is, and it isn't. We're in a different world, like I said. This is their version of New York.

_{( Just like you're a version of my husband, she thinks, but she has the good sense not the say as much. )}

Some things are the same, but most things aren't.

[tyndaridae]

[Yeah, that would be a real conversation killer. As it is, everything Monica's saying leaves him with more questions than he knows how to articulate in code. Why can't anyone see him? There's another few seconds pause as he tries to figure out how to respond. Get the most information for the fewest characters.

C A N T W E L E A V E]

[uzi]

_{( She considers bending the truth for a fraction of a second, but then doesn't. )}

You can leave the city any time you want. But unless you've got practice dimension hopping, you won't be going home.

[tyndaridae]

[The next reply takes a while, because gosh darn it, this is something out of a sci-fi movie that has suddenly gotten way too real. How do you even deal with being trapped in the future like that?

When he does respond, it's very steadily punched out. Not like the rapidfire questions from before.

O K (stop) T H A N K Y O U M A A M (stop).]

[uzi]

_{( At the ma'am her lips twitch into what might be a smile. )}

Of course. You can tell me if you need anything else.