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 gives a growl of frustration. Why is everyone responding in letters? If she could figure out how to use the TAB as a camera, then they should as well.

She sends back a video that will probably be familiar to anyone who's been following the responses to this post: a shot of another drawing on the rock, showing what appears to be two crudely drawn human heads, one with an open mouth. She (very forcefully) points to the mouth of one and the ears of the other.

Speak up.]

[Sorry Sis, he's a suspicious bastard-- you're not the only one who's gotten these manners]

Alright, I'm listening. If you're gonna whistle creepy showtunes at me I'm hanging up, though.

[The next response is very brief. The seconds-long video clip shows a hand, index finger pointed directly at the camera.

He’s the one who’s supposed to talk, not her.]

Me? I don't know who this guy is! You're supposed to tell me what you wanna know. Jeez, amateurs...

[Someone is growling in the next video response. Either that, or something is going very wrong with some nearby industrial machinery.

The video shows the same drawing as before, except this time it’s focused on the head with the closed mouth. That long, spidery hand appears again, still clutching a piece of chalk, and draws a bold ‘X’ over the mouth.

She couldn’t speak even if she wanted to. At least, not in a way he could understand.]

[this isn't getting them anywhere is it...he sighs.]

So alright, I'm guessing that there is you. Is there anything else you can...explain? Any other parts of this story we're missing?

[There are so many parts of the story missing, she’s not sure where to start. There’s a long delay before she replies… and then another video message from her will appear. It shows one of her hands pointing at the red-stained glass tube from before, and then gently placing it on the ground. Next, the camera focuses on her hand itself – namely on her wrist. The skin there is just as uniformly pale as the rest of her – except a single red point, resting just on the vein of her wrist.

ADAM goes here. Perhaps they have ADAM here, but they call it something else? Hopefully this will make things clearer.]

WAITASECOND-- have you been askin' for a fix all this time!?

[She perks up at that. She’s heard plenty of splicers refer to ADAM in the same way – has someone finally figured it out?

She turns the camera towards herself specifically so the other person can see her nod. This means Badou will become the first person on the network to get an eyeful of what appears to be someone wearing a modified diving helmet that’s inexplicably glowing yellow from the inside. The helmet then tilts just slightly to the side, almost expectantly.

So, does the man know where she can get this “fix?”]

Alright well good to know you're the little diver in everyone's shitty fishtank.

[yes this
puts no pieces of any puzzles together except what she wants]

You need it to live or just need it to function? There's a doctor here, we're headed by probably aliens. And you haven't found any at all?

[She ignores the jab, mostly because she doesn’t understand it (why would someone dive in a fishtank?) and the second question just gets another nod. Living includes defending herself and she can do that much more effectively with ADAM.

She hesitates at his suggestion of doctors, though. In her experience, doctors are more likely to do harm than good – possibly even more than what a dose of ADAM would be worth. She only shakes her head in response to his last question; she hasn’t caught so much as a whiff of ADAM since she got here.]

The docs might not know, but they might be able to find you something close. They're pretty useful...since they're one of us.

[She listens to his words, still feeling more misgivings than not about this plan. She’ll have to think about it. Perhaps she should observe the doctors before trying to approach them right away – and if they do have a supply of ADAM or something close to it, she can find where it is and take it rather than dealing with them directly. That seems like a far less risky plan.

Badou won’t get any thanks for the information. She merely deactivates her TAB and lets the thread go without response.]

video; january 1

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