VOICE ; forward dated to the 23rd, late evening

[itsnotaonesie]

Hey everyone, this is Peter. I'm, uh... Just lemmie-- Okay, I'm gonna preface this with "I'm fine", which... probably still sounds concerning to anyone who knows me. Uh, with good reason, but I promise that I really am fine.

Okay? Okay.

So... okay, you know those freaky tentacle snails that attacked those guys a little while ago? Yeah, they're still around. I ran into a few of them outside the city, and by 'ran into' I mean 'was totally ambushed by'. Like, I was just minding my own business and they jumped out all "Blahhhhgh!" and I was like "oh snap!!", so yeah, we fought a little and I got bit and, y'know, it hurt. And I know the one guy was all "hey call for back up if you see any" and I totally would have if I'd had a chance, but I didn't? I mean, not because I didn't want to, it's just like, in the moment I was a little distracted by trying to get away from the things, and I didn't have my web shooters on me because they're possessed by demons right now? So I wasn't gonna even try to catch one of those guys without my gear, so I left. My toothbrush tried to stab me this morning, I'm not dealin' with this on top of that today. I'm done, I'm tapping out!

Anyway, if anyone else ends up fighting these guys, go for the eyes if you can. They're kind of hard to hit because of all the tentacles, but if you can take their eyes out it slows them down. They're still dangerous, though, like, they will absolutely still try to fight you, so just like, don't stick around if you can help it. In fact, just don't go outside the city by yourself. Don't go anywhere by yourself. Y'know, buddy system up if you can. I don't know how many of these dudes are still out there, but I have a feeling that they're not going away any time soon.

Oh right, I did manage to break a chunk off one of their shells. I don't know how helpful that's gonna be? But I've got it at the lab if anyone wants to see it, assuming you can pry it away from Newt. I also got a photo! It's... not a very good one, but uh, I'll put this somewhere, I guess.

[attached photo: A City Boy Seconds Before Being Chomped By A Tentacle Monster.]

Comments

voice;

[storyseeker]

What the hell. You took a selfie?

[There's concern, exasperation and, oddly, a note of admiration in her voice. It is kind of impressive.]

Re: voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

Y-- no?

[Oh she's not gonna buy that is she.]

Yes.

But it while I was escaping.

[audio]

[synthedick]

How far outside the city?

[His tone implies a What the hell, kid?, but he'll save that for later.]

Re: [audio]

[itsnotaonesie]

[DON'T YOU JUDGE HIM no go ahead and judge him he deserves it.]

Not super far, out towards the lake?

audio;

[coyoteking]

So I'm guessing they didn't want you to figure out where they're hiding. You should map out where you were, it might be close. And now there's a blind one, should be easier to catch.

[He's not going to patronize Peter because wow does he not have room to talk about being reckless and it's not like the kid did it on purpose. He just made the best of a bad situation.]

audio;

[itsnotaonesie]

I wasn't about to try following them without my gear. And also not without backup, I think that's the important one. But yeah, I can definitely map that out, take people back to the spot if they want. Shouldn't be too hard to find again.

[I mean he did get bit, there's still probably spider-blood all over]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[ This look.]

Is that before or after they attacked you?

[itsnotaonesie]

[Totally innocent grin!!!]

Haha, um... during?

voice;

[nonscriptum]

[Now, we don't have time to unpack all of that-]

Holy crap.

[-but there's something about that blurry, almost-hilarious image that has Nate wondering where he's seen a shelled creature like that before. It comes to him with a weird, déjà vu sensation, almost as if he's handled a similar material. He takes a few frantic seconds to dig around in a drawer before he lays hands on something he pulled out of Hadriel's lake over a year ago.

It's a little bit of a long-shot. He might be able to better confirm it with the kid in person.]

Are you okay? Where are you?

Re: voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

I'm fine-- Like, I prefaced this with that! I'm fine!

And at the lab. Fine and at the lab.

[Instead of the clinic where he should be but SCIENCE WAITS FOR NO ONE]

voice;

[hardwearing]

They ambushed you...

[ There goes the majority of his goodwill and hope for not adding a third front to this war. So much for talking to them, them being related to a peaceful host species, if they're sneaking up on people one at a time and going for the kill? Wash sounds extremely unhappy and more than a little worried for the kid. ]

You're really okay, Peter? How many were there this time?

[ He is not commenting on the selfie. He's not. That's some Reds and Blues shenanigans right there. ]

voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

Yeah, it was pretty rude.

[Oookay wait, now doesn't seem like the time for quips. He mentally kicks himself for not taking this as seriously as he should be, and then continues]

But yeah, I'm fine. I heal really fast. There were four of them, didn't even give me a chance to try to say anything before they were on top of me.

voice;

[pellameno]

[ That's terrifying. All of that is terrifying, but Pell is gonna focus in on one aspect of it because that's all he can handle right now. ]

Peter? I know what your version of "I'm fine" is, and it's never actually fine. Bites from those things killed Harlan, tell me where you are.

[ He will big brother you within an inch of your life, Peter, so help him. ]

voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

[There is a defeated sigh from Peter's end. If Pell didn't sound quite so worried, Peter would probably insist that he was fine at least six more times.]

I'm at the lab. I'm mostly okay, they just got my arm.

Audio

[murderpotato]

Fuck, kid, you got some balls, takin’ a selfie with a Cthulhu-lookin’ motherfucker tryin’ to tentacle your dick.

[It’s dumb as hell, too, but ballsy. If you’re not going to be smart, you might as well just be balls-to-the-wall crazy. Like, keep on shining you crazy spider diamond or whatever.]

SUP DOUCHE

[itsnotaonesie]

[THAT'S HOW WE DO]

That's. Definitely not what they were trying to tentacle. This wasn't a hentai thing, this was a murder thing. They were trying to murder me. To death.

[God he hopes they were trying to murder him]

[ voice ]

[forcer]

[ That, all of that, was a lot to take in for somebody who is new to Hadriel... But he's quickly realizing that he doesn't need to gloss over these things, because they all have important bits of information about his surroundings and his neighbors. He's decided that he won't go outside the city - at least not now and definitely not without his lightsaber. Though, he does wonder what damage he and Anakin could do to those monsters.

The one thing that catches his attention in all of Peter's rambling is the mention of the web shooter, because he has no idea what that is. ]

What are web shooters and how would those help you against a monster like that?

[ voice ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[oh HEY, a new voice. Not that this is weird, there's new people popping up all the time. That's how Hadriel do.]

I mean, they're just what they sound like. Devices that shoot web. Synthetic webs, not like, actual spider webs. I designed it to be strong, like, it can hold a ton of weight. Pinning one of these guys down with it would have been easy.

Audio

[blessedmaiden]

Oh, yes, tentacle snail monsters, exactly what this place needed.

[There's a sigh, big snail things aren't really a new thing for her but....]

We can just hope they don't decide to sneak on us while the city is in chaos like this. Going for the eyes, good advice. Just be careful, snails can grow eyes back... and you never really know regeneration rates work on monst-ek!

[And her sentence is cut short when her cellphone flies away from her hands, across the room, and Rydia can be heard muttering as she moves to get it back.]

Audio

[itsnotaonesie]

I'm hoping that these guys can't grow them back. I didn't stick around long enough to find out if they can--

...You uh, you okay over there?

voice;

[casualryder]

Holy crap, Peter. [That was a lot of information just now, and a lot of it was concerning.] Glad you're okay.

[But now that the concern and relief is out of the way, Scott's tone takes on one of disbelief but also a bit of awe, along with a small laugh.]

Sweet pic. You are actually insane, you know.

voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

[If this was video, Peter would totally be doing finger guns right now.]

You know what, I don't think I have any room to argue with that assessment.

audio

[toiletseat_girl]

[he can't see her, but she's totally facepalming right now. facepalming with a concerned look on her face, but still facepalming]

"I'm fine," you say. Why am I not convinced? Where are you right now and do you need healing?

audio

[itsnotaonesie]

[GEOOOORRRGE don't make him feel guilty!!! or do, that's fine too]

I really am actually fine this time, I swear! I'm not even bleeding anymore!

audio

[unphase]

[she sounds really worried]

How far out of town were you when they attacked you? And are you sure you're okay? I could come find you so you're not alone in case you're attacked again?

audio

[itsnotaonesie]

[NOooOOO don't be worried he's a solid dude and he's totally got this!!]

I'm at the lab. I hit the roofs as soon as I got back to town, and there's no way anything would be able to follow me up here. I mean, except for you. I'm sure I'm okay, aaaand, I was out near the lake.

audio

[theladyofhighever]

[she's curious and sounds like it]

How did you manage to break off part of its shell? It seems as thoug that would be very difficult.

[and she looks at the picture]

Why are you in the picture along with the creature?

audio

[itsnotaonesie]

I punched the absolute crap out of it. I, uh... for the record, I hit way harder than your average dude could, so I don't recommend this approach to literally anyone. That's not a brag, I'm just sayin' I don't want anyone to get hurt.

[The second question is a little harder to answer, if only because yeaaaah that had been kind of dumb]

Uh. Habit?

text

[unfollowing]

thanks for blocking the actual subject of the pic with your face, you masked weirdo

[ Hi Peter this is Emily and this is how she says hello a lot of the time. ]

text

[itsnotaonesie]

it really is distracting isn't it :(
i'll never make it as a photographer

[Hi Emily, it's all good Peter's used to this kind of greeting.]

voice

[carrotkeeper]

Sounds like you've had a rough day. I'm glad you're okay.

[Whoever this is. Peter apparently??? THAT'S JUST SO MUCH.

But he seems fine, by the sound of it, and apparently learned his lesson about traveling in groups. Close call or not, it worked out and the need to take a selfie would startle her more, if she didn't know Prompto. It kinda reminds her of him.]

You should make that picture your phone background.

voice

[itsnotaonesie]

I've had worse, but thanks!

[he's glad he's okay too, and he hopes that other people don't do the same dumb shit he does because lmao this is pretty goddamn dumb.]

I am way ahead of you there. I do wish the picture wasn't so blurry though, but you can't win 'em all.

[Audio]

[often_impaled]

Damn. Gotta say, it takes guts to get evidence when you're being hunted down. Guess I'm gonna have to go out and try to take some of them out.

[Audio]

[itsnotaonesie]

I-- okay, hold on. Wait. Wait. Are you waiting? Wait.

Okay, so you did hear the part where I specifically said like hey guys, definitely don't go out and fight them by yourself, right? Because like, that part was pretty important. Like, maybe even the most important part? Because they will wreck your whoooole situation, okay.

voice;

[battlebound]

( That's... a lot, but it all boils down to one thing: )

They're nearby?!

( Those words could be alarm on any other voice, but on Steak they sound more like a call to action, a declaration that they shouldn't wait any longer, that they should be pursuing these things. )

voice;

[itsnotaonesie]

I mean, they were. They split when I did. If I hadn't been bleeding everywhere, I would have tried to follow them.

[Well really it's less than he was bleeding and more that he knows people that would have been Pissed Off if he'd done something that stupid.]

[audio]

[circumitus]

Damn. Don't know whether to be impressed or annoyed that anyone would do something that stupid.

...

Or both.

[She'll probably go with both. Por que no los dos, you know?]

[audio]

[itsnotaonesie]

I have that affect on people.

I mean, it was totally stupid. I can own that.

[voice]

[northerndragon]

[Silence, and then, slowly:]

Your web shooters are possessed by demons?

[He sounds like he's from Northern England, but it's very clear that he doesn't understand what Peter is talking about. At all.]

[voice]

[itsnotaonesie]

[yeaaah it's okay Peter doesn't know what Peter's talking about half the time]

I mean, no, they're just doing stuff on their own like everyone else's stuff is. They're just really annoying about it.

video

[64th]

That's not a very good picture.

video

[itsnotaonesie]

Not my best selfie. Definitely my stupidest, though. That's gotta count for something, right?

video;

[restinglichface]

Can you show a gal where? I wanna piece of 'em. Fuckin' with too many folks to keep around.

video;

[itsnotaonesie]

"Hey guys! Don't go out and fight the dangerous mutant squids!" "Peter, where are the mutant squids so I can fight them??"

You-- you see the problem with this, right? I mean, I agree with you? But we have to get more stuff figured out before we go all explosion happy on these guys.

voice

[evocation]

Whatever, everyone else sucks. The selfie is great. Anyway, this is why magic is better than weapons.

voice

[itsnotaonesie]

I mean, I've taken better, for sure. But thanks, it's nice to hear a little positivist for once.

Magic is cool and all, but not all of us can just whip eye lasers out whenever we want to.

/late with Starbucks

[hot_mes]

on my way back to the city. I'd like to look at the shell, from a medical viewpoint.

psh time is relative

[itsnotaonesie]

you might have to fight Newt for it, which would be funny to watch ngl. i've got it at the lab

text; hey did u want a mega late tag in what's up hi

[ghostlocked]

omfg are u george's roommate?
everything shes told me abt u makes so much sense rn.
im obligate to be mad at u bc ur pic is better than mine and u didnt even have to die for it.
actually wait isnt art worth more when the artist is dead?
nvm im still king.

text; hell YES i did

[itsnotaonesie]

that would be me yes
i hope it's all been good things lol
you know what i can't argue with that my head's covering up half the important stuff anyway
you're the guy that they got, right? you doing okay?