video/audio/text

[shoesfitperfectly]

[It's sometime after the crashing and howling and screaming from Ionae's apartment. People are maybe settling back in or trying to figure out what's going on or hiding in absolute terror, but they can't miss what happens next.]


[The entire Network crackles with a horrific energy, every tablet emits a terrifying shrieking and pounding and cracking sound, flashes painfully with a blinding, crackling blue-white light, and then promptly shuts down. When the connexion to the Network comes back, albeit grudgingly, each screen bears a blargle of normal letters and Gallifreyan text, which vanishes as soon as the user touches it, returning the screen to normal.]

Comments

[leliatrope]

What was that? Is this thing broken?

[shake shake shake]

[shoesfitperfectly]

[It futzes a few more random spurts of words and letters.]

ghr46ual';44

7ukl;o0

h

h

h

h

[Then returns to normal signal. Huh.]

[leliatrope]

[Just this face.]

[shoesfitperfectly]

[The screen flickers an image of a lot of circular Gallifreyan writing for an instant.]

[Okay, it's done for real, now.]

[kingdom_of_song]

[So, there was a crazy city thing that is likely some sort of stoned, drunken hallucination. This has happened before, that's okay. The best way to remedy this was to find more to drink and get it on. Success! There was a box of unmarked bottles beside the bed they'd pointed out to him in the dormitories. After drinking himself back to sobriety, he passed out.

[Only to be woken by an explosion and the world rocking back and forth. A screaming noise from the wee piece of glowing something with words on. It didn't have a positive effect.]

Oi, what the buggerin' hell...

[He smacks the thing a couple of times. The tablet comes alive right afterward, and he stares at it. Maybe it'll tell him something? It's told him things all bloody day.]

why is the world exploding

[shoesfitperfectly]

48owghnkl;qa

9p;

h

h

t

trans

trans lationsub sub subroutin e

on

line

trAnslatION SUbroUTIne oNLine>>>

[kingdom_of_song]

[Boggles.]

Wha's... online?

[He stares at the tablet for several moments. After taking a long drink from one of the bottles, he types slowly]

what do you translate?

[shoesfitperfectly]

TranslAte:

Translate: psionic signal. Origin: The Doctor.

Identity confirm:

[kingdom_of_song]

[Stare.]

Wha's a psionic an' wha's it when it's at hoome?

[The Doctor. Doctor Lodz? He didn't trust the bloke much, but he was clever. Maybe he'd be able to figure out what was going on.]

John Bro

[He grumbles under his breath and deletes what he's typed.]

Doctor Kingdome Diogenes Swann

[shoesfitperfectly]

IDENTITY CONFIRMED
PREPARE FOR INCOMING MESSAGE
h
hhhhhhh796506946g;;y065e
>>685ejteohe044.:ur9e00/00—8564x-00y-774z-675435t
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhANOMALYhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhWARN_THE_OTHERShhhhhhhhhh
hhhWARN_THE_INITIATIVEhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhZAGREUShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhZAGREUShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhANOMALYhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[kingdom_of_song]

[Swann reads the message and sits back quickly, looking at the pad as if it had tried to bite him.]

Och, what're ye -- I dinnae knoo anyone 'ere.

[This is bad. Really bad. People who knew him before he knew them were looking for something. Usually his hide, for selling a friend or relative an elixir or salve what didn't turn out well for them.

[He takes another drink. Whoever made this stuff knew what they were doing. Swann takes a deep breath and adjusts his hat atop his thick, curly hair, and types.]

what is a zagreus

?

what is it with a fur coat on

[Pause to take a fortifying drink.]

is the initiative those bampots what brought us here

?

[shoesfitperfectly]

hhhhHELP_ME hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>>>>hhh
zzzzzzzzzZAGREUS_ISzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
>>>>>>ANTI_TIME>>>>>/
//58ehtew;;;k75etyrtub
B
B
TRANSLATING
TRANSLATING
NO MATCH FOUND
>
LINEAR LOGIC CIRCUITS ENGAGED
75te4twt//54e;;987-=4659tywjjjjj
>>>LINEAR LOGIC FAILURE
J
J
CONSULTING ARCHIVED DATA: ZAGREUS
CONSULTING ARCHIVED DATA: ANTITIME
75940]]9’ 645470etirlod’
T5egjire;54ijy54-e=2k`6iky
Y
y
RETRIEVING DEFINITION: ZAGREUS
FILE FORBIDDEN
RETRIEVING DEFINITION: ANTITIME
ANTITIME: RESIDUAL ENERGY OF REALITIES WHOSE EXISTENCES HAVE BEEN TRUNCATED ARTIFICIALLY. ANTITIME ENERGY ACTS IN POLAR OPPOSITION TO REALTIME ENERGY TO MUTUAL DESTRUCTION OF BOTH.
Re:INITIATIVE: AFFIRMATIVE

[kingdom_of_song]

[This translation took a little time. Granted, he wasn't uneducated, and he read voraciously, but this was a wee bit more H.G. Wells than H.P. Lovecraft.]

time is going to eat itself

that does not sound healthy

Nae, not at all.

[New problem, new bottle.]

right

I'll tell the initiative, so
tell the doc do not fear the dark

[He paused, wondering where that last bit came from, then shrugged. Swann pressed send.]

Sorry about the formatting in that last one. c/p ate an HTML tag

[shoesfitperfectly]

RELAYING MESSAGE

439uyyyy]]]]]]lkky48
u
u
548968=+;54
;;;;;;;THANK_YOU;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;SWANN;;;;;;;

Re: Sorry about the formatting in that last one. c/p ate an HTML tag

[kingdom_of_song]

not to worry
you have my word as a Scotsman

Re: Sorry about the formatting in that last one. c/p ate an HTML tag

[kingdom_of_song]

are you still there?

how do we stop this zagreus thing?

[shoesfitperfectly]

RELAYING MESSAGE
>
>
MESSAGE RECIEVED

45849067398tu0490';;50-3[e
49063ja>>>]
hhhhhhhhhhFIND_HIMhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhWITHIN_THE_ANOMALYhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhMUST_BE_DESTROYEDhhhhhhhhh
hhkyt94[][][][][]-ETNARI[][][][]-QUVIEhhhhhh
hhhhZERO_MATTERhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
h
h
h

h
>
MESSAGE TRUNCATED.

DO YOU WISH FURTHER INQUIRY?

[kingdom_of_song]

[Swann continues to chew on his bottom lip.]

i do not understand what is going on, but i am happy to help

who are you? there is the doctor, and you are someone else

yes?

[shoesfitperfectly]

>
AFFIRMATIVE

THIS ENTITY: 'TARDIS.'
>
>
THIS ENTITY: SHIP/HOME/FRIEND
>
FRIEND.
>
ENTITY 'DOCTOR':... FRIEND.
>
>
54830yu';685[][][][][]
>>>>>>>
4839y5j>.*
... UN

UNTRANSLATABLE.

EMOTION.
>
>
EMOTION. AFRAID.

[kingdom_of_song]

['TARDIS'. Odd name, but that's okay. Chas Tumblefoot was as well.]

I do not know you, but I will call you friend. You seem a lovely person, if you are trying to help the doctor.

Is the doctor Dr. Lodz? or someone else? I am thinking it is not who I think it is.

[He takes a long drink from his bottle, wipes some excess from his bushy beard.]

do not be afraid. Mr Freeman seems to know what he is doing

[shoesfitperfectly]

94yjhe]60--;^*([][][][][]...EMOTION.
>
EMOTION: GRATITUDE.
>
ENTITY 'SWANN': FRIEND.
>
>
ENTITY 'DOCTOR': NOT HUMAN. ENTITY 'DOCTOR' HAS MANY DESIGNATIONS/TITLES/NAMES. DESIGNATION 'LODZ': NOT AMONG THEM.
>
>
>
ENTITY 'GORDON': MORE INTELLIGENT THAN HE THINKS HE IS.

[kingdom_of_song]

well then it is official. though I am not sure why you know me? I just got here three days ago.

[Not Lodz, then? Good. He didn't like the man, anyway.]

what do you call him?

[shoesfitperfectly]

IT IS A HAZARD OF TIME TRAVEL. ENTITY 'SWANN' IS KNOWN TO THIS ONE FROM FURTHER ALONG THE TIMELINE OF ENTITY 'SWANN.' YOUR FUTURE.
>
>
THIS ONE REFERS TO ENTITY 'DOCTOR' AS 6;'&*(h[][][][]8^*{[][][][]48w90eo[][][][][][]
>
APOLOGIES. GALLIFREYAN LANGUAGE: UNTRANSLATABLE WITH INITIATIVE TECHNOLOGY.
>
ATTEMPTING RETRY
>
THIS ONE ALSO REFERS TO ENTITY 'DOCTOR' AS
>
BELOVED
BONDMATE
SYMBIOTE
... TERMINOLOGY INSUFFICIENT.
ALL OF ABOVE

[kingdom_of_song]

[Hang about, what?]

Me, time traveling?

[The woman who met him when he first appeared told him as much, so maybe he's done this before. Or will do it. Again. Before?!]

Time traveling makes my head wonky, it does.

[Well, then. Time to have a long, healthy drink.]

then hello again
or the first time
at some point

does all my hair fall out when I get old?

[He squints at the screen at the cascade of circles scrolling across the screen. It's pretty, though he's not sure what it means.]

so

you're his wife
or

her husband?

[That explains the urgency.]

[shoesfitperfectly]

EMOTION. AMUSEMENT.
>
IT CHANGES COLOUR BUT ALL OF IT REMAINS.
>
>
IN THE FUTURE, YOU SING OFTEN. IT AFFECTS EMOTIONS: USUALLY VERY PLEASANT.
>
>
>
RELATIONSHIP WITH ENTITY 'DOCTOR': NOT MARRIAGE. HAVE TRAVELLED WITH ENTITY 'DOCTOR' FOR 900 YEARS.
>
THIS ONE
TRUSTS HIM.

[kingdom_of_song]

[Swann panics and runs his fingers through his long, curly hair. This causes his hat to fall off and roll under the bed. No, no. At least it's all going to be there. Just... a different colour.

[That's more or less okay.]

My da's hair all fell out, except for a fairy ring around the perimeter.
He said that's why he never cut it.
Maybe he thought it would make the rest of his hair come back.

[He curls his finger in his long beard and gives it a gentle tug.]

900 years is a long time
or do you mean in

[Swann rubs his temple, feeling the headache of tangled time threads, coming on.]

time travel years?
No one can be so old, although when I was a wee wean, there was a woman in our caravan who was 108.
she had three teeth of her own, and whistled through them.
she only knew three songs, though.

after 900 years, there would have to be some trust in there somewhere

[shoesfitperfectly]

THIS ONE CAN SEE WHY ENTITY 'DOCTOR' LOVES HUMANS.
>
ENTITY 'DOCTOR': GALLIFREYAN. AVERAGE LIFESPAN OF GALLIFREYAN: SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS.
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY: BEYOND NORMAL LIFESPAN OF HUMANS, CORRECT?
>
>
>
WORD FOUND.
ENTITY 'DOCTOR': FAMILY.
FAMILY IN SOUL, NOT BLOOD.

[text]

[kingdom_of_song]

I've never heard of a Gallifreyan before. Is that over in America? He seems like a nice bloke to me, it doesn't matter. A thousand years? I don't know if I'd want to live that long. All my friends would die.

But you know, I think I'd try it anyway. Can learn a lot about things if you have that long.

yeah, that's a long time for us, we usually go till about 70 or 80 or even 90 if we're really lucky. all our hair falls out and our teeth fall out and our skin gets all wobbly and we can't get around too well, but Marie, she was solid.

[The corner of Swann's mouth turns up just a wee bit, thinking of his father, and then his own friends.]

Aye. You make your own family. Blood doesn't matter.

video;

[lovesgod]

You really need to learn how to control yourself. This is ridiculous.

[shoesfitperfectly]

INCORRECT--ENTITY 'ZAGREUS' AND ENTITY 'THE DOCTOR' ARE SEPARATE INDIVIDUALS. ZAGREUS ENTITY HAS ASSUMED CONTROL OF DOCTOR ENTITY.

[lovesgod]

[Said in a half-mocking robot voice.]

ENTITY 'ZAGREUS' AND ENTITY 'THE DOCTOR' SHOULD COME TO AN ARRANGEMENT AS TO NOT DISTURB THE OTHER POPULATION WHO ACTUALLY HAVE SELF-CONTROL.

[shoesfitperfectly]

YOU ARE TINY AND PETTY.

YOUR OPINION IS MISINFORMED.

ITS DELIVERY IS INFANTILE.

YOU ARE A HINDRANCE, NOTHING MORE.

FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH YOU IS WASTEFUL.

[And with that, the connexion drops. Well, then. Clearly the TARDIS won't stand for anyone insulting the Doctor. She's a bit peevish, herself.]