cape_kore | Ned & Meyer § Video 04 § Day 114

[ The video, when it flickers on, shows Ned, a pencil tucked behind his ear and a faint bruise on his jaw, care of the earthquake a few days ago. Which is, as a matter of fact, the subject of the message. He dives right in, speaking at a rapid clip: ]

I can't be the only one who thinks there was something fishy about that earthquake. Fishier than the usual amount of fishy in this place, I mean. I'm not exactly new to the whole weird-things-happen-here phenomenon, but this isn't the first time there's been an earthquake. I feel like, normally, when things go sideways here they do it in a new and interesting way. The fact that this has happened more than once seems significant. We've been... trying to guess what's behind all of it, but we're kind of coming up short on the ideas front. So, uh-

[ Ned hesitates, glances at someone near him, and then turns the camera towards the other half of the 'we' in question. Meyer sits near him, busily scribbling something into his small notebook, which looks to be running out of pages quickly. He looks up when Ned turns the camera to him, and offers that slightly too-toothy smile, brushing his hair back from his forehead. ]

Like everything else that goes on around here, different people witness different things. For our parts, we only saw a small amount of what happened during the earthquake. We need more information.

[ He gestures to the papers strewn in front of them. ]

I don't doubt that our captors're somehow... involved in this. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that we've had other earthquakes. So if any of you saw anything out of the ordinary -- more out of the ordinary than usual for this place, I mean -- it'd be appreciated if you could tell us. Maybe we can get to the bottom of at least some of this.

(OOC: Since this is a joint post, either Meyer or Ned will respond - if you have a urgent preference just let us know!)

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Even more so then, yes.

[ Raphael had mislead the Host for too long to not have a good poker face. ]

What do you make of that?

I'm not sure.

It seems... farfetched, to put it mildly, to assume that this young woman might be responsible for the earthquakes. Then again, stranger things have happened around here. The questions of why and how that's possible would still be unanswered, though, even if she directly or indirectly caused them.

A normal human would not be able to do so, without witchcraft, but there are those here who aren't mundane humans, and I know of several beings who aren't human who can create earthquakes. It's not farfetched for me.

The flip to a person being the cause is that she would be an intended victim. A tad overkill, but.

[ He's done worse. ]

You're right -- it's not farfetched for this place. Sometimes I forget that things I'd've considered impossible back home are completely possible here.

[Down to and including people causing earthquakes. He flips the page of his notebook and jots something else down.]

An intended victim. Interesting thought. Not an angle I'd considered, but I don't see why it couldn't be another possibility. The truth is, we have no idea what our captors want from us.

Earthquakes have been used as a means of death before, if your world's history is anything like mine, though likely it's been relegated to myth.

[ It's an archangel's arrogance, to assume they exist everywhere. ]

Have you seen the paperwork Stane found?

Most of what I've seen here has been relegated to myth back home.

[A quick nod.]

Yes. It's intriguing, although ultimately, I'm not sure it tells us much.

That isn't always an accident.

Small things add up - food has been scarce, but is anyone suffering for it?

[ He's leading with this. ]

Well, the food situation hasn't exactly been pleasant, but none of us are starving, I suppose.

Which is telling, if you wanted to study a group of people, isn't it? Most of us only know a few others from home, if any at all. And yet, there isn't much of a resource fight.

True. People have been remarkably decent at working with each other. In my experience, things don't always go so well during a food shortage.

No, they don't. Clearly they are watching our reactions. I don't know if it's the point, but it's something to consider.

I'm not sure what they'd possibly have to gain from our reactions. Sometimes I wonder whether they're benefitting from any of this at all.

You can learn much by merely watching the reactions of others.

But no captor, no matter how patient, simply watches forever.

[ He almost chuckles. ]

A few months is hardly 'forever'.

No, but from my experience, most kidnappers don't wait that long to make their demands known.

They kidnap us to experiment on us, what makes you believe they have reason to speak to us?

Most people can't resist gloating. That is, assuming they're people.

What do you mean?

We don't know anything about our captors. They might not be human. They might be something all of us are entirely unfamiliar with and unprepared for.

I would be surprised if they were human, but I've seen humans leash great forces.

[ So not that surprised. ]

They tend to also be arrogant enough to believe they can.