poly_chromatic | 3 ♛ settling

[ This is a photograph of a letter, not the best quality but she tried for good lighting. The paper is white, mostly, with a cup stain across the middle, and the handwriting is small and cramped. ]

Dear Watson,

I've received communication that you've been kidnapped, but as I saw you go upstairs approximately ten minutes ago, it seems unlikely. I haven't figured out what game this woman is playing, and she hasn't used any of our agreed-upon code words, it is nearly certain that this letter will instead be routed to someone who wants a sample of my handwriting for some nefarious purpose. But as I don't intend to actually provide her with the letter, and am simply waiting for you to return from your brief toilet, I feel as though I can speak freely.

If indeed you have been kidnapped, then you know what to do. Information is key. I expect a return letter, whether by this post or otherwise. If your message gets to me and is not edited by your captors, I will certainly be able to find you. If edited it may take me longer. Don't lose heart.

It seems time grows short. Best of luck with your investigation.

S.H.

[voice]

[ After a moment, there's a long sigh. Joan had volunteered to paint when the strangers asked, and this is the fruit of her labors: a letter from home. ] It sounds just like him, that's for sure. I wish I knew something more about handwriting analysis. Although that would require a comparative sample, so it isn't any good either.

Has anyone else received anything from the new regime as a gift for helping out? Any other letters? I figured that would be the hardest to fake.

I'd like to get together and compare notes with anyone who has.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If they can get stuff from home, why don't they just send us all back?

[For a kid who spent 5 years alone with a ghost and a baby, that's probably a half-way decent question. She coughs at the end of it and moves the device, now showing that she's lying on a couch with a blanket over her.]

[ Joan is glad to see Victoria again, but she's concerned about the sickness. It's her former doctor instincts kicking in. ]</small. What I was told was that small things are easy. But they have to work their way up. Are you okay? That sounds like a bad cough.

It's a cough. [Her way of saying she's fine. Which she isn't but she doesn't want to talk about it.]

How long do you think they'll take?

Well, a lot of problems start with a cough, and get worse.

I don't even know how to guess how long. There are so many variables -- how easy it is to reverse what the former deities were doing, whether or not they're trying to hurry... I'm hoping soon, though.

A lot of people are sick. Some people are disappearing.

I hope so, too.

[ Maybe the best way to deal with weirdness wasn't to try to ignore it, but Joan did not always have the best coping mechanisms. ] Disappearing I don't know anything about, but coughing is, at least.

Have you seen a doctor?

No.

[And she doesn't want to.]

Are you a doctor?

[He's definitely sounding under the weather, and thus, responding via voice rather than video, but he felt it necessary to respond all the same.]

I got a letter from home, too. Supposedly.

Supposedly, you say. [ She's just as unsure about hers. ] Does it sound like your friend wrote it?

Well, the handwriting looks right enough, and the spelling is appropriately atrocious, but I think that kind of thing could be easily faked.

Handwriting analysis?

3 ♛ settling

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