[voice;]

[orplasmic]

[ Jack takes a shaky breath as he turns on the MID. He can do this, this gadget he's hooked up to is almost like a radio. It's just sort of stuck to his hand for the foreseeable future. Which is still a step up from jamming a needle in his arm on the regular to boost his EVE. ]

...hard to believe I'm in outer space, it's not the sort of thing you expect to hear outside of books. [ He pauses to laugh under his breath. It's a ragged sort of sound, with a faint edge of exhaustion to it. ] Then again, so do underwater cities.

Hopefully this place'll be nicer than Rapture. [ Though that sudden shift in lighting and the new strict people in charge have him a bit unsettled. ]

Anyways... I was wondering. Has anyone here heard of an Irish fella by the name of Atlas? He was helping me before I ended up here. I don't feel right leaving him in the wind.

Comments

[Voice]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth stares at her MID for a long time, finding that she needs to sit and run her eyes over his name a dozen times-- Jack Wynand. Jack from Rapture, who she brought into hell to save so many little lives. Here, and he has no idea who she is.]

[The warmth she feels from what she'd seen of Jack through all of those doors freezes over immediately when she hears that name-- Atlas. That snake-oil blooded, double-crossing, phony, cruel bastard. Cozying up to Jack like a friend, not even giving him the courtesy of controlling him in some way that wasn't so damned personal. Well, what had she expected? For Atlas to lay all his cards on the table for the sake of sparing someone alone and confused the indignity of being used? She'd been there, done that... and ended up on the wrong end of needle for her trouble.]

[Even thinking about him makes her sick, makes her experience the phantom pain of having her skull hammered against. She shudders, gets up, has to walk around and breathe. And think-- think.]

[He hasn't reached the end, he's in the middle if he thinks Atlas is still his 'pal'. Anything she says could ruin all of that, create a new timeline where things don't end the way they should. He could be killed by Atlas if his hand gets tipped by Elizabeth. As much as she wants to shout into her MID that Atlas is not even an 'Irish fella', much less helping Jack, she can't. This is the second round of her working to save Sally, and this time she has to keep her mouth shut.]

No, Atlas isn't here.

[Small miracle.]

And I can tell you from personal experience, this place is much nicer than Rapture. At least, I hope it stays that way despite the change in leadership. I used to be the first mate, and while I'm fairly certain that's been stripped from me, I still consider it important that I assist any crew who may have difficulty transitioning. And given we've come from the same place, I'm probably very qualified if you need help.

[She wants to meet him, even for ten minutes. She can't apologize for facilitating his being brought to Rapture, she can't even tell him why she wants to meet him so badly. But she wants to see the person who saved-- will save-- those little girls.]

[Voice]

[orplasmic]

...Jesus Christ.

[ He honestly wasn't expecting much, asking about Rapture. It would have been a long shot asking about it in New York City, nevermind a person in some strange space ship that wasn't even on earth. And then the first person he talks to is another escapee. ]

I mean... [ Two days in that watery hell and his manners are a goddamn trash fire. His ma would smack him if she ever laid eyes on this. ] I'd appreciate it, ma'am. This is all... it's a bit much.

[Voice]

[tearmeanewone]

[Yes Jack, you just bat a thousand-- she knows Rapture, she knows Atlas. Both up close and personal. But she's happy that he doesn't want to talk about either, and they can move on to something nicer.]

I know. It took me hours to figure out how to get around, and someone had to show me how to use my MID. The technology alone is a sharp learning curve.

My name is Elizabeth, Elizabeth DeWitt. Can we meet somewhere? To talk?

audio:

[that_cost]

Sorry. Haven't even heard that name before. Here's hoping he's okay.

[ If she knew he was an Actual Douche, she'd have left that last bit off. ]

audio:

[orplasmic]

It was a long shot anyways. I think he'll be okay, he's been there longer than me.

Re: audio:

[that_cost]

Even long shots are worth a try, solely because you tried. So my dad said a time or two, anyway, but I think that was more a dads attempt at getting his stubborn kid to try something new.


I'm Charlie.

voice;

[deconstruct]

[ was going to say something about space and technology advancement and shit, but hold the fucking phone. ]

Underwater city?

voice;

[orplasmic]

Underwater hell hole.

[ It's important to be as accurate as possible about these things. Don't ever take a vacation to Rapture. ]

voice;

[deconstruct]

How?

[ how is it underwater, how is it a hell hole, etc etc, did you see whales tho ]

voice

[clericals]

It does take a little getting used to.

[There's a touch of amusement in Karen's voice. This is the sort of thing she used to imagine when she was a little girl. She'd pretend to ration cookies for some great outer space voyage.

Now here she is.]

Your city wasn't nice but it was called "Rapture"?

voice

[orplasmic]

It wasn't mine, and I definitely didn't name it. Heard a lot of stuff about how it was nice once but it ain't like that anymore.

voice

[clericals]

The place I come from's called Hell's Kitchen. It's not my city either, or at least it wasn't. It can be pretty bad, but there's some good there too.

Is it really underwater?

Voice

[freiheiten]

What's an Irish?

Voice

[orplasmic]

[ Is this... is this serious?

There's a noticeable delay in Jack answering this because how do you explain the Irish to someone who's never heard of them? ]

Irish. As in people of Ireland?

Voice

[freiheiten]

That doesn't help when I don't know what Ireland is.

voice

[psychobabblery]

Has it been underwater the whole time, or did it sink to the bottom? Because if it's the latter, I can see why you'd be worried.

voice

[orplasmic]

It was built on the ocean floor so it definitely didn't sink. The guy who founded it thought it was a great idea.

[ It wasn't. ]

[psychobabblery]

Ah. Follow up question: was the guy who thought of it an idiot? Or did he have quite a lot of plumbers for friends? I suppose I can't rule out mermaids, either.

voice:

[tearsinajar]

'Rapture', I'm going to take a stab in the dark and assume you're talking about a location and not about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

[ How fascinating. ]

And underwater cities, are you from one?

voice:

[orplasmic]

I'm not, thank god. It's where I was before I ended up here but I'm from Kansas.

voice:

[tearsinajar]

Kansas? I'm from Florida myself. What was the underwater city like?

voice;

[procedures]

Space does seem rather vast.

[ He doesn't have anything more to contribute regarding Atlas or Rapture; space talk it is. ]

—You mentioned underwater cities?

voice;

[orplasmic]

[ He sighs. ]

Yes. It was underwater. Also falling apart.

[ Plus almost the entire population was trying to murder him. ]

(text)

[bilology]

Well, space isn't all that different from being under water. You can float through both and if you go outside in either one you'll die, so!! Don't go outside. :)

Haven't run in to an Atlas or seen the name anywhere yet, but I'll let you know if I do.

Oh, and welcome to space! It's pretty cool. ( and the dad jokes have begun. welcome to hell. )

(text)

[orplasmic]

Thanks. I think. And I wasn't really planning to take a scenic stroll outside anytime soon.

[ That's a lot of enthusiasm. And strange use of punctuation. He's gonna have to ask what :) means. ]