revivalproject | Video

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[shortly after everyone has been teleported to their temporary homes for the next couple of weeks, a message is sent out across the network. regardless of the communications expert on board, there is a lot of static and interference. the sound warps and pops between moments of clarity, along with other strange noises that almost sound like whispers if you think about it too long.

the video is hard to make out, but it seems to be most big, dark, nervous-looking eyes staring at the camera.]

--Where? Where... [between all the static, their voice is strange and soft and at least a little upset.] Where, where... where??

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[ cool cool cool cool cool cool cool. His communicator is fucking haunted. He's clearly hearing that same voice again, and he has to admit the more he hears it, the more unsettling it is. He has to loop the video a few times to really make out what's there, and really, he wishes he hadn't. ]

You're probably stuck here.

[the video shudders and holds clear for a moment, long enough for a good look at the face of a ghost in distress.]

You're probably stuck! [--countered like an argumentative four year old.]

[ You'd think being able to see the full face of what you're talking to would be better, but no. The retort startles him, and his expression sours just a little bit more. ]

I am stuck.

[the look of distress fades to a vacant sort of sadness, then the static takes over most of the screen again.]

We're lost? Lost... we lost them?

Who did you lose?

Everyone.

[there's an eerie bang noise from somewhere on the ship... which is a wonderfully spooky effect, but it's just Phalanx flailing unhappily into the wall or something in some other room.]

Except us. It's just us. I don't know where... where where where--

[ The noise sets him on edge, darting to look around for the source and not finding anything. Fantastic. ]

I don't know, either. It will be okay or it won't. We'll deal with it.

[the ship is just haunted by unhappy spirits. no big deal. the lights flickering are probably normal too.]

You don't care? Will or won't. Alive or dead. Here or there. Where or where or where...

[ COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL, he's haunted. ]

It's not that I don't care, just that I don't have control over what happens here. We deal with things as they come, which is about all we can do.

All we can do. But we don't want to dig out. Again.

[another bang, another temperamental flicker of the lights.]

Can only care. Care... carry. Hurry, leery, fear...ing? Fearing.

[ Garak doesn't need to recognize much in the video. Those large, dark eyes alone are enough for him to know who it is. ]

Phalanx, it's alright. I'm here. We're all still here.

Are you well?

[there's an eerie whisper-sound in the static before it stutters and the video suddenly becomes clear. if the tone of Phalanx's voice hadn't been enough, the picture makes it clear that the spirits are feeling distressed.]

We are? [they sound doubtful.] We're... where?

We are on ships. All of us, it seems. You are in one ship, and I am in another, which is why you couldn't find me.

[ He smiles calmly, despite the intense distress he's felt since he woke up here. ] I don't know why. No one understands why. But we are alright. Are you alright?

Are we alright? [they parrot nervously, but Garak's calm helps some of the edge off of their voice. it's an actively simmering anxiety instead of a spiking one, words clumsily running together.]

Ships? Box. A box. It's a box. Nothing--nothing outside, no one's outside. Maybe just dirt..."

We are alright.

[ Not that Phalanx's description of their current predicament helps. Garak closes his eyes briefly, swallowing down a surge of panic when they speak of being trapped in a box with nothing outside. ]

There is the sun outside, and the air. There are flowers, and tiny, shiny pebbles by the lake. Pretty ones, like that one of you likes. Do you remember?

[there's a small, sad-sounding whine, but they're listening. they don't answer Garak's question directly, but they're thinking. they hold themselves together long enough for a few things to settle before finally speaking again.]

...The people. Where are the people? They're gone. You're gone.

No one is gone, Phalanx. We are merely being kept apart.

[ His voice settles into something softer, gentler. That seems to soothe Phalanx's panic, at least. ]

People can still exist, even when they are far away from you.

[their face slides away from the screen as their device shifts around. when it settles, it's more aimed at the being's shoulder, just enough to see what seems to be their arm flinging carelessly back into the metal wall with an a bang.]

I can't feel them. I... We can't feel. Hear. Be anything out there.

[the device slips further as Phalanx moves around then, the image on the screen becoming an unfocused view of fabric.]

I don't want to dig again.

Phalanx, dear--

[ Garak starts, letting out a soft sigh at Phalanx begins to flail around. ]

You are not helping. You won't be let out simply because you don't want to be there. Believe me, I don't want to be stuck in here either, but we must be patient, and we must stay calm. Unfortunately no one on my ship can understand how these systems work, but I'm sure someone else will figure it out, and eventually they'll learn how to open the doors and we'll be let out.

You don't have to dig. You only have to be patient, and try to help the others on your ship.

[when those flat black eyes find the screen again, they have a distinctly sulky look about them. they're listening--or, at least, all the parts of them that have ever been scolded by a parent are listening.]

A cage? Like... a cage? Waiting until a door... a key or hands that... [there's a shuffling sound while they make some sort of gesture off to the side of their device.] --And then the door opens? Then we can come back?

[ Garak truly dislikes that word. He tries not to show it, though. Phalanx already seems to be having a difficult enough time dealing with all of this, they don't need to be confronted with Garak's deep discomfort and latent panic about being locked up inside such a small space. ]

Yes. The door will open. I can't tell you when, but soon. We must all be brave and patient until then. Can you be brave?

[there's a weird little hesitation where Phalanx pauses, staring at the screen for a few moments, before quietly parroting the voice on the other side of the screen.]

Can you be brave? ...Can you be brave?

Yes. Yes, you can.

[ It's the best Garak can do. How else can he help Phalanx calm down, how else can he keep them calm? This is the only way they can communicate. He can't touch their shoulder or reach for their hands, so words will have to do. ]

[For some reason, that staticky transmission is starting to give Delta a headache. However, he'd noticed that Phalanx was assigned to his cohort, and it doesn't take huge deductive skills to assume that's who he's on a ship with. So he starts exploring - it shouldn't take too long to find them.

Weirdly, the headache clears when he turns off the video, but the skin around his tattoo starts to itch when he spies the odd person.]

Excuse me? Phalanx?

[curled up with their forehead on their knees, looking like a pile of laundry dumped in the corner of the room, they only lift their head a little when they hear a voice.

the lights in the room flicker, though. which is probably fine.]

[It's definitely nothing to be worried about. Ignore Delta's concerned expression.

He approaches cautiously.]

You seem unwell.

We seem dead. [the emphasis there implies a correction, but their voice is mostly full of a scattered, distant sort of distress.]

Are we all in the ground?

[Buddy, no. He gets close enough to kneel down next to Phalanx.]

We are not in the ground, but in a ship made of metal and similar components, and I would posit that we are no more or less dead than we were before.

[they still haven't truly lifted their head, face still lowered to nearly rest on their knees. but their arm swings up to bang lifelessly against the wall that they're leaning against, which happens to be the closest to the outer hull that they could get in here. the motion probably hurt, but they show no outward sign of it.]

Then they're dead. Gone. There's nothing there.

[He startles a little bit at the bang, but reaches out an open hand to offer to Phalanx.]

You can usually sense people around you, but you currently cannot?

Gone does not mean dead.

Sense, with... senses. See or hear or... But there's nothing there. Now.

[so, yes, that's probably what the problem is. Phalanx lifts their arm to the wall again, but they don't bang against it this time. just sort of thump the back of their hand against the metal and leave it there.]

Gone means gone, then. Just gone.

Gone for now. [His voice is quiet; he may be shy about making friends, but there's at least one person he cares deeply about that's not on this ship right now.] Not gone for always.

[Phalanx gets quiet too, watching Delta's face carefully.]

...They'll come back? Do we go get them? Or dig out?

[He thinks about it for a moment.]

I am not sure. However, I think a hole will open, and we will be let out. We will only need to be patient.

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