yES HELLO: ruth, 2

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

WHO: ruth aldine + YOU
WHAT: talking about BOLD PLANS for the FUTURE
WHERE: the ruins, specifically near the river
WHEN: june 30th onwards
NOTES: this is step one of the player quest happening on july 5! please zoom over there if you have questions, want to make plans, &cet. NB: potential for discussions of suicide, state-sponsored murder, etc. more specific notes tbd.

[The warm hiss of white noise is just part of being in the ruins--but at some point, when it's getting a little darker, a voice comes through.]

Yes. Pardon. This is Ruth.

[You know, if the stuttery little words at the start didn't clue you in.]

We had thank you an idea--see if we can reason yes, reason with this place. That... [A crackle of static.] Sorry. You saw the empty spot, didn't you? Sorry. Yes. I think...I think it's something.

But going...yes. I'm, uh. I'm not gonna pardon, won't be in my body. And after all the other stuff yes, pardon I tried to do here...it might not agree with me. Sorry. Might need people to keep an eye out. No.

Sorry. No. So if anyone's interested...

[And, you know. If they understood any of this.]

Comments

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

...It is. Pardon. [There's something nearly amused in the answer, a laugh waiting in the background.] Trying to sorry dumb it down some.

[Just in case. People here aren't familiar with the kinds of genetic mutations they see at home--better assume they know less, rather than more.]

That's...sorry, thank you, that's harder. [A pause.] Stop the bleeding.

[fumitory]

( look, Ben can't even want to pretend like the offer to dumb the explanation down offends his sensibilities. please. treat him like he's in grade school, on this subject.

anyway, wait, what did she just say about—? )

Bl— bleeding. ( Ben can't tell if he's impressed that she must be practiced enough to know exactly what to expect, or if he's horrified that she must be practiced enough to know that is going to happen. )

Uh, all right, h-how does one help stop... Bleed from where? ( Ben thinks he isn't going to like this answer. )

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

[And hastily:]

Didn't used to pardon, to be a problem. No. Sorry. But here...

[There's a moment like a shrug, a tiny silence that means you know what this place is like.]

It doesn't yes like me using 'em. Pardon. My powers. [Another little pause, static crackling.] Usually no, usually just nosebleeds.

[fumitory]

( it doesn't like her using her powers...

yeah, Ben can probably confirm that phenomenon. he hasn't been able to speak with Peter, not even once, since arriving here. ) There is some sort of...barrier. ( Ben had thought of the barrier like a very literal thing, like a bubble around this world with them in it, but... if the world is trying to keep people from using aspects of themselves... )

Nosebleeds. All right. ( said choked and clipped, in a way that might suggest that he is taking notes and, yeah, literally that. ) If you need someone on standby for you... I've taken some emergency assist classes. ( and he can sew some very neat stitches, just saying. )

How long do you tend to be in that state for? What's your...well. Limitations?

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

You've pardon, you've noticed it. [Surprise and a strange vein of hope in it. It's not just Logan and her.

Are you a mutant? she wants to ask. For the moment, she doesn't.]

At home--yes. A long time. [Was it half an hour, meeting David in the melting ruins of his mind, trying to stop him from swallowing everyone up? An hour? Or just a few minutes? Hard to say--she hadn't exactly been watching the clock.] Sorry. Here, I don't know.

[fumitory]

—I have, yes. ( like some admission of a secret, though without the confident authority of someone who knows the full extent of what he speaks on. he doesn't know what this supposed 'barrier' does, how far it can go to affect them, and that's not including the understanding of what all these people he's encountering are capable of... a meager tone matches the extent of his reply.

so. she's going to project her mind out and probe the possible sentience of the world. no idea how long it will last, what it will do, what she will find, and above all, she may likely suffer severe physical ailments in response.

okay. )

All right. Where will you be? If I can do nothing more than just...be there, then it's the least I can do. Perhaps if those shadows come prowling around. ( not that he's felt exactly like some gladiator for evading and luring them off, but hey, so far, so good. )

And...I'm just realizing, I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. ( it would probably help, right? )

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

What, sorry, what were you trying to do?

[Maybe he is a mutant--but there's a hesitance in how he says it that she can't quite follow. She needs more information than a staticky radio can carry.

And he's right--they haven't traded names. For a moment or two, she waits, but his doesn't seem to be forthcoming.]

Ruth Aldine. Yes. Or Blindfold. [Just in case they have mutual friends, somehow. With Logan here, it doesn't seem so impossible.] I'll be sorry at that wall. Yes. The one in the green place.