one ❀ voice

[unknowable]

[There's no video, because it's too dark in the coffin to show anything anyway. Adam's voice is carefully steady, as if he's keeping himself under control through sheer power of will.]

I saw that Fear said our air supply will be refreshed. I don't know if that's true - I don't know if we can trust him - but I thought people ought to know anyway.

[Not that he necessarily believes anything any of the gods say, but - well. Who knows.]

Talking is a little less impersonal than text. It might help to hear a familiar voice, if any of your friends are buried. There also isn't much to do down here but panic, so if anyone wants to talk - I wouldn't mind.

Comments

voice

[unitas]

It's hard either way, seen or unseen. [ It's not easy to disappear, to give up any hope of friendship or a future to hide. Sharon can't imagine it's any easier fighting to be seen. ]

A cult needs me to give birth to their god. [ and then she laughs, very sudden. ] That sounds so crazy, right? But it's even fucking crazier than that.

[unknowable]

I'm trying to figure out how it could be crazier than that.

[Adam's been through some crazy shit. But that? Living with something like that?]

No wonder you were trying to get away from them.

[unitas]

We stayed away from them for so long, but we must have made a mistake somewhere. [ it's her fault, she knows that. for some reason, back before they really needed to hide, she might as well have been a ghost in school and in the crowds. after everything, she began to stand out, rebel. ]

They found us before I came here. They took my dad, all just to get to me. [ her voice is thick with guilt, and she swallows it back ] And now I can't save him because I'm fucking here.

[unknowable]

[He can't comfort her. There isn't any sort of comfort for that sort of thing, and he knows that feeling of guilt intimately.]

My friend at home is going to die, and it'll probably be my fault. And there's nothing I can do about it, because I'm here.

[So he understands, in a way. Normally he would never admit that, but right now it seems pointless to keep it a secret. There's no one here anymore who would care.]

I'm sorry about your father.

[unitas]

I'm sorry about your friend. [ Sharon returns the apology with a genuine one of her own. It feels empty in comparison to the tragedy the two of them may face in the future. Loss is loss and loss cuts deep. ]

It's bullshit we have to go through this.

[unknowable]

Yeah, it is. I don't know how to make it stop, though.

[And most of the time, Adam is more focused on his survival, and his friends', than he is on fighting against it. Adam's always been good at surviving. He's not so good at fighting back.]

At least they don't seem to actively want us to die. Most of the time.

[unitas]

They're torturing us. [ She's bitter, suddenly, voice sharp. ] Don't you think that's worse than death?

[unknowable]

Here? Yes, I guess so, since it seems like death doesn't mean anything. We only get brought back. But normally, no. I would choose torture with a chance to survive over death every time.

[Because if there's something Adam is good at, it's surviving through sheer will alone.]

[unitas]

You'd only say that so long. [ without real death, all of this is just elaborate physical, mental, and emotional torture. they have no way out, no escape, but it can be just as horrendous when death is real but still as unreachable. ] After weeks of this isolation, you'd want death more than you'd want air, or light.

[ she's ever the pessimist ]

[unknowable]

Maybe. [He can't ignore that possibility, but Adam's not the type to give up easily. Quite the opposite.] Everyone has a breaking point. But even so, I'd rather have a chance at survival - I'd rather not give up so easily. There's no way to prove anyone wrong, to make anyone pay, when you're dead.

[unitas]

I can get behind that line of thinking. [ That's how Alessa survived, after all, but it slowly consumed her until there was nothing but a need for vengeance left. Sharon fears that's the route she's taking herself. ]

But that will kill you in an entirely different sort of way. [ but it's better that than give up, right? ]

[unknowable]

Yes. I'd rather not be that person, but - I would rather not lay down and die, either.

[Luckily it hasn't come to that, not yet. It still might, if they're stuck down in the dark for too long, but not yet.]

But right now, people are looking for us.

[unitas]

Let's hope they find us in time, right? [ but Sharon doesn't want to hope because fuck you Hope. ]

[unknowable]

They will.

[He's not nearly as certain he sounds, but it's better to be certain than to simply be hopeful.]

We aren't going to die down here.

[unitas]

Yeah, I know.

[ it sounds like a girl who does not believe that in the slightest. ]

[unknowable]

[Adam might try to give a pep talk, if he could, but he's absolutely awful at that sort of thing. They'll just both have to deal with this however they can.]

Thanks for talking to me.

[unitas]

Uh, thanks for listening.

[ she'd apologize for her pessimism, but that's not how she rolls. but she does appreciate adam for listening, for talking. it's helped. ]