eastbound | video & text; un: majortom

[ The video starts without words, or introductions. What people can see of it, Jim is in a dark room, cold and almost cavernous, no windows to let any light in. Paint is peeling off the walls, and furniture is scant, what little of it is there falling apart and thrown across the dark, blood-stained floor. There are chains, needles and ropes surrounding a table in the middle of the room, but none of it is quite as scary as the figure lying down across the tabletop, seeming like a human strapped to the table. It's eerily still now, but from the wild look in Finn's eyes, standing some good feet away from the table, that probably wasn't always the case. ]

We can't get it out of here, are you insane?! We can't—

[ Finn's voice is quiet but panicked, and silenced by Spock's swift and quiet interruption. ]

We will need to be swift and careful if we do not wish to be seen. It will not be long before someone comes back—

[ And there is Finn's voice, panicking yet again. ] Are you crazy?! No, I— no!

Captain, [ Spock interrupts again. ] I suggest that we do this now, if we do not wish to be discovered.

[ Jim huffs from behind the camera, taking a deep breath. ]

Alright. Let's get to it.

[ Finn's eyes widen impossibly, seen even in the dark of the room, but before he gets to say anything, the feed cuts.

Along with the video shared, there is also a text post. ]

This is a room in the Remembrance headquarters. It's kept locked at all times, with strange noises coming from it on occasion, and we decided to investigate. We had the key all along to open it, thanks to the work of another group among our own.

This what it looked like on the inside. We didn't have a lot of time to explore, but there was definitely something wrong in there. Blood, signs of torture, a broken dollhouse. An overall sense of stillness and dread.

The mannequin on the table was moving, before I shot that video. It tried to grab our throats as we picked it up. We brought it with us anyway, but we have it locked up in a room right now. It's not moving for the time being. We're not sure how to proceed from here on out, so I'll take any suggestions.

I also got my hands on a music box. The song from it was warped, and the room itself reacted strangely to it. Finn could sense something strange from it. If anyone here is sensitive to supernatural things, I could show you. It might prove useful.

We didn't have a lot of time to explore the room otherwise. A few minutes in there at best, but we didn't want to get caught, and we really wanted to get those things out of there. So we kind of had to rush. If anyone else is able to get in there and have a better look, explore more of it, I think we might be onto something.

Study the walls. there was something wrong with them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Five could pretend that there's something other than the mannequin he's focused in on, but it's the first thing that gets his attention. He's stuck on it for a while before he takes in the rest.

He doesn't know if he should be impressed that they broke into a haunted room and thought to steal whatever they could carry out. Including the mannequin. More to the point: ]

Let me guess, you stole some magic items and no one's asked you to ward them away yet?

[ There was a whole set of risky decisions involved in their little adventure, but honestly, Jim's not sorry they took both those things. It may yet bite them in the ass, but so far so good. ]

Neither of these things have presented a risk yet. The music box seems to have only a mechanical issue that we can fix more or less easily, and the mannequin hasn't moved since we got it out of that room.

[ Five is more annoyed at the double standard. He can guarantee if it'd been him who took those items, he'd be getting nothing but grief about it. ...And yes, he still would have done the same thing, and just not announced it out of spite.

He also doesn't feel comfortable with them locking up a mannequin. Of all the things. ]

You took it because you felt sorry for it?

It was moving, it reached out and grabbed me. I took it because I thought it might be alive, and I wanted to help it.

[ He also worried what would happen to that thing if he'd left it behind, but he really can't say that he'd have cared all that much if it was just a normal mannequin. ]

[ This is one of the few things Five won't judge, even if it hadn't moved. He barely resists asking to see it to find out if it's anything like Dolores. ]

Have you tried talking to it?

Not really. It's inanimate at the moment.

[ Weird question, though. Should he? Like one would with a person in a coma? ]

[ Is it a weird question? It would have been the first thing Five did. ]

Or it just looks that way. What about the music box? Was it already playing, or was that the trigger?

[ Yes, well. Jim's not exactly experienced with mannequin interaction. ]

It wasn't the trigger. I opened it after the mannequin went still again and nothing happened. And I have tried a few other times too, just to be sure.

[ That's more forgivable than what he just said. Again, if Five had that box... ]

You didn't know if it was triggering an attack or not, so you kept trying?

It wasn't an attack. It was scared and it didn't know if we were part of the group who'd chained it to that table. As far as I could tell, it was just trying to defend itself, for the short while it was moving anyway.

You think it was the one being tortured. I get it. Any idea why they'd do that to a mannequin?

No idea. I don't know if it was torture or just experiments either, but it could be for anything. Including turning it into something close to human.

[ Five has many opinions on the subject, but he does notice him talking to Wrath. Who happens to be one of the very few people Five would trust to examine it and report back to him.

It's turning out to not be a terrible idea to have a demon detective as a roommate. ]

That sounds like something they might go looking for. Whatever is going on there, you stopped them in the middle of something.

It may not react well to being locked up, unless your plan is to turn it into an unconventional hostage.

I don't plan on keeping it locked up. But I can't risk it getting violent if it wakes up somewhere unfamiliar, so I'm just keeping it there until that happens. I'll just have to figure out what I can do from then onward, but it's really down to how it behaves and reacts to the new setting.

What's your best case scenario?

It either doesn't come alive, or if it does, it's peaceful and simply needs help.

I'm not sure there's a best case scenario after that. It entirely depends on whether or not there's anything I can actually do to help it.

[ Neither seem likely, but it's clear he didn't think this through. ]

If you can't, you'll just put it out of its misery?

[ He literally just stole a creepy mannequin and a music box from a weird room that was locked for a very good reason, buddy, it's obvious he did not think this through. ]

First of all, we don't even know if it's suffering. It could just be a new life form. Secondly, no, I'm not planning on going around ending any lives on my own definition of what's best for them.

[ This is less judgmental than he would be if the whole thing didn't unsettle him so much. Even if he still thinks the others are going easy on him, he's somewhat satisfied with his answer. ]

Then I guess we've got a new member of the group. [ It's not the weirdest thing, really. ] Keep us updated.

[ Jim honestly couldn't care less if people weren't going so easy on him. He's going to do whatever he thinks is right, regardless of pressure, intimidation or consequences. ]

I will, you can be sure of that.

[ At this point, he's not even sure that anything at all will happen, but he's going to stay alert. ]

video & text; un: majortom

un: ut malum pluvia | text

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