FINAL INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

[Well, your time, your anger, your losses have led up to this.

It's time to go, and that blue card will give access to the floors above. In particular, there is the floor Barbara mentioned before the throne room, which seems to be a good idea to check out beforehand.

Indeed, it's much like the previous floors the Strangers had lived in, only smaller.]



[There is another elevator in the area, but that is inaccessible. Even using Marie's card doesn't seem to work on it. Hm. No matter. Marie's card works on all of these rooms, so it's fine, right?

In any case, if there's answers to be found about just whose in charge - and what in the world is going on - this is the last chance of finding them. You've all gotten this far, and as your teams descend on the rooms, you can feel the end is near. Hopefully, that end is not that of the universe - or of Ivy.

Good hunting, Titled.]

Comments

GOD I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM

[losergod]

[ Okay, okay, deep breaths. ]

Literally and figuratively, yes. Mister Morris, I died and became a God of a world born from my own mind. What happens when your mind is twisted and riddled with illness?

[ It's a simple question, he thinks. ]

Granted, I could not leave my room in the House. I had to possess other vessels to interact with anyone if they weren't on my floor. ... Hah... trapped in my room, just like I was in life... refusing to interact with people...

[backuphero]

[Yes. Deep breaths. If this were a Happy Nobody Dies Modern AU he'd probably crack a joke about suddenly bursting into yoga, right now, but it isn't, so Jonathan's just focusing on his own breathing for a few moments.

He's not going to think about that happening to his father, or whatever was left of him once he finally died. He is not. C is the one bleeding all over the floor right now, figuratively speaking, and C's the one who gets the focus.]

If that happens to you when... something's gone wrong with your head, I reckon it's like what you said. Things turn out broken.

[He frowns, but it's a troubled look more than anything else, troubled and frustrated, as far from angry as can be.]

Going from being trapped in one place there to being trapped here... just because you were sick doesn't mean you deserved that, God....

[losergod]

[ And then it occurs to him. ]

Oh god, I left them all alone. I left--Miss Wiltshire died and she...

[ Inhale. Breathe. ]

Her soul data... no, I... I saved it, but... she was so angry at me. For saving her. You know what she said? "You really are a loser god. Too human to be one."

[ He... laughs. ]

I think she meant it fondly, but she's right.

[ A pause. ]

... Say, Jonathan. I know more than one Charlotte Wiltshire. There were doubles. I guess you could say like twins, but that's not really the case.

[backuphero]

Like twins, but not like twins? I... C, there's a lot I don't understand, but... maybe start there.

[He pauses, and sits down on the edge of the table, carefully avoiding C's personal space bubble if he's still perched there himself.]

And... being human isn't a bad thing. Worked out pretty well in one case, at least.

cw for mention of child death and suicide

[losergod]

[ He just breathes. It helps. Trying to sort this all out is... confusing. ]

I... had a sister. Well, almost. My father... decided she shouldn't live. But it took a toll on my mother. She never... got over it. They had me, but I wasn't what she wanted. She wanted my sister, Scarlett Eyler. ... This is a long story...

[ He sighs. ]

Mother never really saw me. She was... delusional. She'd only see my sister. "Be a good girl", she'd always tell me. I... just did my best to take care of her. I was studying to become a doctor to help her more.

... You're probably wondering what this has to do with Charlotte Wiltshire, but I assure you the answer is "a lot". The one that I still remembered while I was here, the one I gave the yellow ribbon to... was the Scarlett Eyler of my world. My ideal sister. She had been reborn, as her own person there. But she committed a sin--she fought another copy of a Charlotte Wiltshire, this one defective, her name was V19, and killed her. She was then forced to take on a new vessel. One of the many Charlotte Wiltshires produced by the house. Her mind couldn't... handle being Charlotte Wiltshire. Eventually, it crumbled and that was all she became. A clumsy, naive girl, but a sweet one. I was... observing her because I knew who she was.

... I was... I was sick. I used to hallucinate Scarlett Eyler. She would hurt me. Make me hurt myself. She's--she's the reason I died. Well, part of it. So I wanted to hurt her. When I saw this new version of her, I thought... I could get back at her. But... every time I suffered even a little in her world, she picked me up. She helped me.

... And now... her soul data is... trapped in a television set. Preserved the only way I could think to preserve it. That is the first Charlotte Wiltshire I've talked about here. I... wish I knew how to help her.

[backuphero]

[There's no easy way to respond to any of that.

But he knows what it's like, to be seen but not seen at all. He knows that too well. And he knows what it is to want someone to hurt because you were hurt. These are things that even humans suffer. Even those pains are horrible, but the ones he can't imagine... those must be worse.]

If we can get out of here... I don't know if I could, but I know people who might be able to. Wind - Eric - when he was alive he was a great mage. His daughter Loretta's got the same talent. I don't know if humans can help gods, there's so much I don't get, but... I want to help you. And I'm sorry that all of that happened, I... God, you've been though so much.

[As it has been several times now, it's not clear if that's an exclamation or a name, that "God".]

[losergod]

... The House is self-destructive in its nature. No one living there is safe. It's all under mother's control. The amalgamate it made of her, just... spitting out Charlottes. It's not my real mother, but I... I can't bring myself to just destroy the House, either. All the people in it would vanish. And a lot of people live there. The tenants... I love them all.

It's my story, after all. It's alive, and it's living, and the idea of destroying it is... I couldn't do that to them.

[ He feels horrible. ]

I'm a coward. Miss Wiltshire, the founder of White Society, the one known as model Q84 died, and I brought her back just to ask for help with what to do with Scarlett. But if someone from here could help with her... if we could evacuate the tenants and them both from the House... I think everyone would be much happier.

[backuphero]

If there's a way to get them free... it might mean living as an ordinary man, not a god, but... if there's anything in my power that can help, I'll do it. I mean it.

[He makes an odd gesture, then - raises one hand as though he's letting it rest on top of a hand that isn't there. Hopefully the meaning is clear: if he could reassure you by touching you, C, he would, but he knows better now.]

There's always another option. You've helped teach me that.

[losergod]

... Yes, you're right.

[ He smiles. ]

Even if that option meant my passing on, I'd be okay with it. I just... want to help them.

[backuphero]

[Jonathan smiles, at that last, and it's wistful, for a moment. Almost as though he understands the feeling from the inside out.]

The whole world... all the lives in the world... yeah, saving them all is worth it, isn't it?

[losergod]

... I think so. I didn't... feel that way, at first. But if I really think about it, deep down, and after being here... there's no way I can keep lying to myself and pretending I don't care.