[ VIDEO ]

[It's dark. Not really true dark, because it's early in the morning and in fact the sun would be shining right through the windows onto Neil, except he's drawn the curtains close and turned off all the lights. There's only an eerie illumination from below, like a kid holding a flashlight under his face.

Because that's what it is.]

When I got up this morning I found this,

[Neil says, the picture lurching as he picks the camera up to turn it, to show the table in front of him. Several hundred small puzzle pieces are scattered there-- some showing their pallid backs, some their dark and indistinct faces. There's no picture, no box, in sight. Two edges and part of a third are assembled, stretching around the pile.

A single piece sits in the emptiest spot, notable because a single, wild eye is printed on it.

Neil's hand comes into the frame, pressing one of the pieces around the edge more firmly against its mate, before he whirls the camera around to his face again. Still lit by the flashlight. Shut up, he's mature.]

It must be a curse, but it's a strange one! It reminded me of a story though-- something from home. This is true, as strange as it sounds.

[There's a pause, and when he begins speaking again it's pretty obvious this is an old favorite, a well-practiced and oft-recited tale.]

It was a dark and rainy night, and this old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle.

[There's a pause for tension, and his eyes slide off the lens; he leans a little to the left, placing another puzzle piece in its proper spot.]

But as she pieced the puzzle together, she realized, to her astonishment, that the image that was formed was her very own room.

And the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was herself.

[Another pause, a little longer, Neil's eyes widening as he glances out of frame. There's the slightest waver in his voice when he resumes.]

And with trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window.

The last thing that this old lady ever heard was--

[THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS! Neil gasps as something shatters in the background, his attention snapping offscreen... and that, dear friends, is where the video cuts off.]


[ooc; for your listening pleasure, this is canon! :3 spooooky.]

[ She is... definitely drunk. And this is definitely not a tale of fantasy, the bitterness in her voice should make that clear, despite the faintest slurring. I am so sorry about her bad French accent, it is honestly this corny in the game too, I don't know what else to do.]

Once upon a time, zhere was an ingenue starship called zhe Von Braun. She was accompanied out into zhe stars by a military vessel, zhe Rickenbacker. Zhe first few months of zheir journey was moderately successful.... zhe Von Braun was a prototype and not quite ready for zhis.

Travelling by light years, zhey made zheir way to Tau Ceti V, where a distress signal called zhem to investigate. A military man and a corrupt scientist went to zhe surface first, intent to hoard any discoveries and zheir credits to zhemselves.

What zhey found were zhe eggs and zhe annelids. And their hunger for power blinded zhem as zheir minds were overtaken. Zhey brought zhe infection onto zhe ship, and zhey left Tau Ceti V with nowhere to run from what zhey had done.

Infested, zhe ship began to tear itself apart. Zhose infected with the parasites, zheir bodies overtaken, began to attack others. More eggs were laid, and in need of midwifes, zhey began to take young women from zhe Hydroponics sector and refit zhem as cyborgs with no purpose but to protect zhe young ones.

Zhe biomass spread everywhere, impossible to exterminate.

Zhe remaining security force began to mow down zhe infected, some of who begged for release even as zheir body was driven forward into zhe spray of bullets.

Zhe security for was eventually ended as well. The halls going quiet except for faint sounds of suicide, one gunshot and done, and zhe infernal hypnotic singing of zhe annelids, which tempted zhose very few which still resisted.

Zhey hid in corners, stalked by annelid larva at every turn, screaming things which stank of contamination.

And zhen the biomass consumed zhem and zhey met zheir 'orrible fate.

The end.

[Kind of anti-climactic Marie...............]

[ action - morning through afternoon ]
[Naga knows before Korra does: Mako's gone. While Korra's at work at the Welcome Center, the polar bear dog sniffs around town, just to confirm it. But all his scents are old over a day old, and she doesn't need to see the Hall of the Missing to know that he's nowhere in the City.


[ voice - filtered to Chekov - supremely hackable ]
[For once, Korra remembers how to do a filter, even when upset. It helps that, by this point, the pain is familiar enough to practically be normal. With Mako gone, she's once again alone in the City.

Except the weirdest part is, she's not actually alone. At this point, she's been in the City longer than she had been in Republic City; she's known Chekov and Hei longer than she had known Mako and Bolin. She doesn't feel as stranded as she had the first time all her friends had left.

That doesn't stop her from feeling lonely in the large Beach House, even with three dogs, eight cats, and five sheep to keep her busy. Which is why she dials Chekov.]

Can you come over tonight? Bring some of that vodka stuff.

[Sadness. Happiness. Sadness again. Her emotions are cycling around so quickly, she can hardly see straight. She's not a drinker by any stretch of the imagination, but right now she'd give just about anything for the world to just stop for a minute and let her catch up.]



[ooc: Open action with Naga during the day! Come run into a lonely polar bear dog.]

[Using Underground tunnels to travel unseen, he's revisited the site twice since that day. Doesn't attempt making contact again. Simply watches the place for awhile, wondering whether there's potential allies to be had within or if he's on a fool's errand.]


No nightmares to report.

The mirrors are working normally for me (yes, I do have a reflection). It's in the dark surfaces I see things. Not of me or the immediate setting; feels as though I'm 'looking' at the Shadow City.