network: HUMANSONA420

[sweariff]

WHO: bigby & you
WHAT: small, angry new yorker yells at small, purple phone: the genesis.
WHERE: over the network.
WHEN: before the event, aka right now, but can also be backtagged throughout it and after.

[This? This is not a phone. This is a little glowing square crafted from (presumably) plastic and fueled by (obviously) hatred with way too many picture boxes and keys that are too small for his fingers. Plus, it looks like it has a camera attached to it. So, clearly not a phone.

It is, however, the only usable item he's been able to find in past hour since waking up, excluding a walkie-talkie without batteries — which feels like some cosmic force's idea of a joke, just like everything else in this shithole. After what feels like a wretchedly long amount of time hitting the wrong buttons because, again, they're too goddamned small, Bigby finally reaches the screen he's looking for and somewhat literally takes a shot in the dark.]

hello

[That... also looks too small. Isn't there a way to make this shit bigger?]

hELLO

[Perfect.]

GOT A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS
MAYBE YOU'LL HAVE THE ANSWERS
1. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE FROM NEW YORK CITY
2. WHAT YEAR IS IT
3. WHERE CAN I FIND BATTERIES

[There's a pause on his end for a good two or three minutes as he stares at his screen, then something else occurs to him.]

4. WHAT THE FUCK IS A HUMANSONA420

Comments

[omniavincit]

[ He files that away. He doesn't really have anything to offer in exchange—a date off a calendar no one here's ever heard of, a region that, one way or another, will be renamed. ]

Most of us are from Earth. Vastly different times. [ Most of them are human. He'd ask—solely because of the handle—if this weren't public. Still thinks about it. ] Do you have powers?

[sweariff]

[it should say a bit about him that he's more taken aback by the question than the revelation preceding it. ignoring the not-phone for a moment, some of the mechanical junk he's seen in the streets is unfamiliar, almost as if it was plucked from another time, and the world itself seems unstable — like someone took several jigsaw puzzles of different cities and mixed all the pieces together. when in doubt, you can always blame magic.

readily admitting to that much less talking about it is a different story, though. a good minute passes before he types a reply back to the stranger.]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN

[the chances that he's talking to a mundy are 50/50, but even if it does turn out to be another Fable, he's going to play his cards close to his vest anyway, at least until he figures out who they are and where they stand.]

[omniavincit]

[ It's hard to get a read on, but he tries anyway: factoring in the pause, looking over the conversation leading up to this. Does this question sound less assured than the others? He goes back and forth, ultimately decides—that he wishes they were talking in person. ]

Capabilities that test the bounds of possibility. And credulity.

Using them here has made people sick. So be careful.

[sweariff]

YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT MAGIC

[If he were speaking aloud, it would come as a flat statement rather than a question, but here it can be taken as either. One of the positives of using this as a medium to communicate, he supposes.]

SICK HOW? ARE YOU SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE OR JUST OBSERVATION?

[omniavincit]

Are you asking if I'm magic? [ Despite himself, he's tickled by the question. Enough for the serious warning to take a backseat. ]

Profuse bleeding from the nose or eyes. Headaches. [ He thinks of Logan, but he hadn't thought to ask what was or wasn't normal. And there's Eliot, who's either skating by without any ill effects or covering it up. William isn't sure which sounds more likely. ]

[sweariff]

DOES IT SOUND LIKE IM ASKING ABOUT THE WEATHER IN CONNECTICUT
YES, I'M ASKING IF YOU'RE MAGIC

[Rude.]

[omniavincit]

I talk to birds.

[ Number of birds William has seen here: 0. ] What about you?

[sweariff]

REALLY
JUST BIRDS?

[Smooth evasive maneuver right there.]

[omniavincit]

[ Bro. ]

Do you need me to speak up?

WHAT ABOUT YOU

[sweariff]

[Dude.]

I READ YOU JUST FINE. IT'S JUST A WEIRD QUESTION NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT

NO I CANT use magic [Shoot, there go his caps. Now he's back to squinting.]
but i know enough about it

[omniavincit]

Enough for what?

[ He's been meaning to ask if this person—this New Yorker—is all right, how they're doing on food and water. But given their determination to change the subject...

It can wait. ]

[sweariff]

enough to know how to deal with it if i have to. probably not as well as someone who can actually cast spells or cancel them out, but i can handle myself well enough.

[omniavincit]

[ Enough to protect themself. ] Nobody here's tried to hurt me. For what it's worth.

I'm not saying it's safe.

Do you need anything? Besides batteries.