2.8/ video/ i'd be glad to meet me if i were you

[dedikated]

( Hey, Hadriel! You know that lovely rare sight of Kate, actually using video instead of text? You're being treated to it again today, hair a paler shade of pink than before (she needs to dye it, but it can be stretched out for a while longer, she thinks) and eyes?

Well. They're completely white, no irises or pupils to be seen, and giving off an eerie glow against her skin. But that's the point of it, she needs a statement to be made. (Though, honestly, there’s enough statement in the background of the Colosseum, crumbling and ancient as ever, in the frame.

Kate, dramatic? Say it ain’t so.) )

So.

( Still sticking with those eyes, Kitkat? Okay, then. )

We need to talk about the Door.

( A pause. )

...Least, what's most likely the Door.

( Meanwhile, Alphys is very slightly off-camera, on virtue of the fact that she’s four feet tall and therefore too short to be caught in most video focused on someone’s face. But she stands on her tiptoes, waving her hand to get it to tilt down a bit. )

So, uh, we may have been-- well, uh, I’ve b-been looking into it. It absolutely matches Door signatures of the energy we’ve, uhm, captured when it brings in new arrivals. It’s unstable, and not consistent, but… yeah.

( She looks down, tapping her claws together nervously. )

It is telling the truth. Or s-seems to be.

( Maybe Kate should sit down the next time they do this. But nevertheless, her eyes finally fade and she looks less than pleased with the fact that they can only say so much. )

Behaviour means we haven’t got a proper reading on it. ( Her lips purse and tug to one side. She wants to get her hands on it, but it already causes her headaches when she stares at it from above ground. What the hell kind of experience would looking at it directly be? ) Not in the time we’ve had.

( SIGH )

Null’s not bullshitting us, far as we can tell. ( It would be so much easier if it was, really. The thought of it being somewhere in this city makes Kate antsy. Who knows how long they have before its communicators go back online and it drags the rest of its species here like some horrifying, metallic beacon? ) So.

We need to organise.

( Before 50 different people end up with the idea of doing their own thing, really.

But fuck if she didn’t have other plans for this. Ones which gave them more time, which didn’t ask them to post to the network in plain sight of the gods. )

It can’t really, uh, search right now, but I might b-be able to help a little?

( She reaches off-camera and pulls out a small device, with what looks like a camera lens on the back. )

I made this a while ago, but it tracks magical signatures. I’ve been able to confirm that the Door has, uh, a unique s-signature that doesn’t match god magic. It can’t track long distances, just scan what’s in front of it, but, uhm. If anyone thinks they found a piece, I can confirm it.

( ooc: replies will, of course, come from both kate and alphys, but holler if you want someone specific! )

Comments

[audio]

[synthedick]

We've got at least one person getting a crew together to find these pieces. [Though he's got to admit he doesn't know how far his trust goes that they'll do anything good with them.] If we want to organize a few groups to spread out the manpower and get as many pieces as we can find, I'll see what I can do.

[Nick does have plenty of experience organizing people by now, at least. If he's got any thoughts on how long they've likely been at this -- and why they kept it to themselves -- he doesn't say. He doesn't really have room to talk these days, and he knows it.]

[audio]

[dedikated]

( Kate hums her response to the first part. She saw Law's post, but she's no sailor (or a strong swimmer, yet, no matter how much Henry's been forcing her to practice). )

If Law's okay with it.

( She stares at the screen of her phone a moment and switches their conversation to private before continuing to talk. )

Heard from Henry.

( And no, she can't say she's particularly thrilled about people being so gung-ho about saving a Null, but for now that needs to take a backseat to working together.

And to hearing Nick's side of the story. She didn't have him pegged as the type who would hide that sort of thing from his fellow leader of the guard. )

[audio] → [audio, private]

[synthedick]

[He hms in return. Law would be who he was talking about, and while he generally thinks Law has the relative good of others in mind, it's some of the crew members he's eyeing that Nick doesn't trust any farther than he can throw them.]

I'll touch base with him.

[As for the rest of her response, he swaps his own feed.]

I'm sure you did. It's not something I kept from him on purpose, but with all we've been juggling, I never got around to telling him. I should have.

[Omission isn't the same as hiding it purposefully, but he's sure there isn't much of a distinction in Henry's eyes. Nick can't blame him there.]

[audio]

[sciencelizard]

That's, uhm, p-probably best? Just so we can uh, cover more... stuff...

[Gods she's nervous about this.]

I don't know how much I'd be good, uhm, out there though.

[audio]

[synthedick]

It'd be good to not put all our eggs in one basket, but getting a ship and enough people to man it is trouble as it is.

[He can hear those nerves, though.]

But with only one crew going out there, that means most of us are staying behind, myself included. I wouldn't be much good out there either, but there's plenty for us to do around here.

[Someone has to keep an eye on Name, after all.]

[video]

[hot_mes]

[it's like he knows they're talking about him]

Organizing is wise. You know what I'm doing. Alphys-ya's device could come in handy.

[video]

[sciencelizard]

[Not like it was subtle or anything, honestly.]

I don't know h-how waterproof it is, to be honest, when I built it we were all still underground?? I wasn't, uhm, expecting all of this. But I can operate it, I don't know if there's time to build another one, but-- I want to help! If I can.

[video]

[hot_mes]

Something is better than nothing. I've recruited Kaiba-ya to do the scanning and technological stuff, if you want to work with him to set something up.

[video]

[dedikated]

Who's volunteered?

( Curiosity killed the-- oh, you know how this goes. )

[video]

[hot_mes]

I promised Floki a spot as reward for building it, if he decides he can work with my plans and build what I want. Glacius and Caedra are my diving team. Kaiba-ya will be handling scanning technology. I've got at least two or three others with seafaring experience ready to do the actual sailing.

[no hiding anything, anyone who looks at his own post will see who he's been talking to]

Still out a navigator, but I did mention that need to Rey-ya earlier.

audio;

[hasitsthorns]

Not sure how much help I can be when I can't swim, but-

I'll do what I can. Whatever you need me to.

audio;

[dedikated]

( Don't worry, Rosie. She can't either. Well, Henry insisted on teaching her but she isn't exactly about to start diving down to the bottom of the ocean with a few weeks of swimming lessons. )

Got any ideas how we can get down there?

( Teleportation seems to be out of the question, and Kate is loath to try and dig it up. )

audio;

[sciencelizard]

[Maybe it's an offensive question to ask a wolf, but--]

Maybe you can help us dig? When we have to, uhm, to get to the main Door here. I'm not going out on the ocean either.

[audio]

[killthisparty]

[ It takes him a while to deliberate whether or not he actually wants to respond to this. Plans of his own, already in motion and to set in stone in his own head to change them up, make him hesitate. But some things do actually push him into speaking up.]

One: what's with the eyes?

Two, you get down there and grab it. And then what? And the other pieces. D' you know how to put it together, make it work?

[audio]

[dedikated]

Lets me see powers.

( Admittedly, it was more for effect here. They're also a really great flashlight. )

Analyse it first. Then... ( The trail off is punctuated by a shrug he can't see. Honestly, there's no way of knowing. But leaving those pieces down there would just be losing a chance to get closer to having The Door work properly. ) Guess we have to find out.

[audio]

[sciencelizard]

Well, uh, n-not... yet, really.

[They've never been able to literally get their hands on it before.]

The Gods might help. If we can, uhm, get it for them. I mean, I've studied it before in, uh, a l-limited capacity, so-- maybe we could just figure it out?

[glacius]

I am more than capable of diving to retrieve the pieces of this being that are located under the ocean's surface. [And will be making an attempt at it whether or not he has aid, by the sound of his voice. Alphys and Kate both know he can make good on his word; they've seen the extent of his powers, whether it is shapeshifting or combat. He is as adaptable a creature as they come, and he has a vested interest in using the Door to free those who desire it from the depravity of the parasites that have imprisoned them.

He is also sensible, though, and would rather take aid from people he can trust where possible than just run off on his own without a plan.] Is there anything else you can tell me about this? And once we do find these pieces, what then? How do you think we are to use them? Must we return them to the being underneath the colosseum?

[dedikated]

( Oh, she knows. And his voice, as ever, is a reassurance. There's so much to do, and honestly, Kate's kind of winging it, but Glacius has always been there. Always a supportive presence in this place. )

Not much. Null's info is all we've got to go off otherwise. ( Isn't that fun? :| ) After-- ( Kate sucks in a breath between her teeth. ) Need to take our time and learn more about them. Haven't had to figure out interdimensional powers before.

( But come to think of it- ) You think you can help there?

[sciencelizard]

Well, uhm, t-theoretically while all of you are trying to get the pieces from the ocean, some of us will be getting the Door out here. So uhm, it's possible we can just reunite them. Or, uh... f-figure it out?

[Most good science is throwing spaghetti at a wall until something works, but this is a LOT of spaghetti.]

I don't really know if any of us are gonna know how to put it back together. But we have to try.

[Video]

[allthecards]

I'm working on a camera with standard, infrared, electromagnetic recording, plus the program to immediately compile all of the data for cross-reference.

[Even though magic is bullshit he's read some of Alphys's findings so...] Your device could be incorporated. More data is better.

[Video]

[dedikated]

( Kate has her strengths, but technology? Not among that. She's no better than a human in that regard, able to work her phone, a laptop, but the construction of any of these things - especially here, in Hadriel, with its kinda shit supplies, impresses her enough to raise her brows just slightly. )

Not wrong. ( Up until now, Kate believed that the strangest thing she'd see was the fluctuating powers of a boy whose abilities wouldn't settle, but the sudden shifts of the Door may have that beat. ) Don't have enough yet.

[Video]

[sciencelizard]

[She nods fervently.]

Yeah! I d-don't know if I have enough for a whole new device, but I could probably calibrate a new magical sensor. If I can upload my Door signature data, maybe you can get it on the ship...? Then I can use my d-device here on land.

[video]

[solase]

A device that tracks magical signatures? I must say, I'm intrigued. How does it work?

[Everyone always just looks at him like he's crazy when he tries to explain what it's like to be able to see this sort of thing, how interesting to have invented something that might do it for other people.]

[video]

[dedikated]

( Alphys can answer for the actual device, but Kate shrugs. How does any power sensing device work? )

Powers're as active as anything else. Just another type of energy, gives off its own kind of signature. Problem's tuning into it when there's so many different worlds.

( And therefore, so much difference in logic. How powers come about. Nothing in Kate's world is simply magical energy without a form, as the gods are. Even Creatures have a physical form, albeit one that can't contain or control their power as well as a human body could. )

[video]

[sciencelizard]

[Oh! Someone interested! Instantly, she launches into it, her anxiety not yet catching up to her.]

Well, it's got a sensor in it with the ability to be tuned to magical wavelengths from-- well, magic has half-lives just like radiation where the effects are stronger or fade, so by using those concepts I can build graphs to read this decay and figure out the strength of an item by that. I can also figure out type and function sometimes and... h-heh.

[Mmmm maybe that was too nerdy.]

Sorry, I, uhm. I don't know if that was too much.