thisavrou | video; january 1

[I hope everyone’s ready for some surrealist content on the network because the captains just gifted the Big Sister with a box of sidewalk chalk and she is determined to communicate.

The video feed opens on a boulder -- likely one found around the exterior of one of the many cave systems nearby. On that boulder, in the shaky, uncertain scrawl of someone copying a picture from memory rather than consciously writing, the word “ADAM” is drawn in pink chalk. The camera hangs on that word for a moment -- and then suddenly jars to the side. It refocuses on what appears to be a glass tube held in a pale hand with long, spidery fingers. The hand turns the tube so the viewer can see inside. The sides of it are stained red and umber. Some of that is clearly dried blood, but there’s something else, traces of something so red it almost glows.

There’s a sound then. It sounds almost like a low whistle, if one were whistling through water. It seems to warp and if you listen, it almost sounds like speech… but it’s far too garbled to be understandable. It continues for a few seconds, the camera continuing to focus on the dubious contents of the glass tube -- and then the video cuts out.

Questions, comments, concerns?]

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[The Big Sister watches the recorded message without understanding. Those immaculate red nails are familiar, a tiny detail that brings to mind a fantasy she’d long since seen through. Eyes narrow in suspicion as the hand writes what the Big Sister recognizes as the symbol for ADAM -- and then adds something else.

After a moment, she’ll give this respondent the same treatment she gave the last one who replied in text: a shot of another drawing on the rock, showing what appears to be two crudely drawn human heads, one with an open mouth. She points to the mouth of one and the ears of the other.

Whoever sent the message will have to speak out loud if she wants the Big Sister to understand.]

Edited 2017-01-03 19:51 (UTC)

[Oh so they're drawing now?

That's pretty clear message she's been given by the other person, or whatever it is that she's dealing with, but now that she's started this there's no way she'll start playing easy anymore.

She also begins to draw as well. She doodles a stick figure on the paper, writing ADAM next to it. And then she draws another one, except that this time she adds a triangle skirt over its legs and writes MADAM next to it.]

[When she sees the woman begins to draw rather than write, the Big Sister can’t say she’s completely disappointed. Though it’s not as clear as simply speaking aloud, it’s still preferable to the written word.

...Not that that stops the woman from once again writing “ADAM” and the strange “ADAM”-with-something-added symbol under her pictures. The Big Sister squints, trying to understand.

...There’s a man and a woman, but only the man has ADAM? Is that why she’s lost all her ADAM? Because she’s a girl?

In her response, she copies the woman’s stick-man and draws a circle around his face. What does this man with ADAM look like?]

[Now there's a brief pause before J answer the person. She looks at the empty round shape that is supposed to represent the stick-man's head, wondering the next move as she taps the paper with her pen. She thinks she knows what's the question that's being asked her but the game is only now starting to get good.

After a beat or two she draws a :C face on the paper, right next to the stick-man's face.]

[A sad face? That’s hardly helpful. And why is it next to the stick-man’s face instead of on it?

The next message J receives will be audio instead of video and consist entirely of impatient-sounding growling and a few terse not-quite-words that probably wouldn't be all that friendly if she could understand them. If the woman isn’t going to tell her anything helpful, then she shouldn't waste her time.]

video; january 1

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