All Night, Hearing Voices

[unrecovered]

Who: Anyone with a talking item and anyone who wants to observe
What: Let's put the talking items together and see what happens!
Where: Traverse Town, Fifth District greenhouse
When: Not long after this
Warnings: Wash is his own warning, as always. Aside from that, ~who knows~

Wash still wasn't sure this was a good idea - far from it, actually. He'd actually be surprised if what they were about to try didn't bring some form of disaster crashing down on them through the glass greenhouse roof. It was about par for the course for the dream world.

He'd kept the blank AI chip in one of his storage compartments for the walk over here. Right now, all he could do was wait for the other pieces to arrive and try not to think about all the ways this could possibly go wrong.

Comments

[notquitedracula]

"May want to avoid oversized weapons, too," Soma added to the list. He had no desire whatsoever to be hit by someone else's giant sword. Again.

Of course, coming from the guy with a six foot claymore in his coat, that might fall a bit flat. Ah well. He could burn that bridge and salt the wreckage when he came to it.

"No lightning, no hellfire, no cloud of scythes or giant swords. And mob the guy with the shield if everything goes to hell. Right. I think that's about as prepared as we're going to get without some intensive group training. Who all has the talking items?"

[unrecovered]

Well, that was the last time Wash invited the brain trust anywhere. He could have done without all the theories about how he could possibly die within the next five minutes, thanks. "How about just not killing each other? I think that covers everything." He might have been tired of the conversation at hand. Just a bit.

"I have them, and I have no idea what's going to happen. I hope you're all ready." Which was all the warning anyone was going to get. He trusted North to be ready with the shield, at least. He fished into his storage compartments, picking up the ID card with the same hand that held the photo, then pulling up the AI chip-

And froze.

Holding one of the items had been relatively simple - the voice it spawned in his head was an indistinct murmur. It was easy to block out, given the experience he'd had dealing with unwanted voices. Three items overlaid on one another magnified the effect. He still couldn't place the voice, though it had now become achingly familiar. What he could latch onto - what he couldn't block out - were the words finally distinguishable through the murmuring.

I'm sorry

need your help

trying to find anyone

hold them off

Just find him

keep trying to

Don't

The message repeated once, twice, three times, the words standing out of the static like blood on snow, before he managed to yank himself out of it. The first thing he realized underneath the noise was that he ached all over, a result of the tension pulling his muscles taut, tension that hadn't been there when he'd picked up the items a minute ago - had it really only been a minute? The second was that he was breathing heavily, like he'd just been in a fight-

Well, that made sense, he realized slowly. He was fighting off panic, because there was a voice in his head and it wasn't shutting up not again not again-

He forced his fist open. The three items clattered to the ground, and the voice cut off mid-sentence. It took him another few seconds to begin unwinding himself, slowly, easing tension out of his body. Taking that upon himself was probably not the smartest thing he'd ever done, though it was by far not the dumbest either.

He should probably at least let everyone know he wasn't possessed.

"It's a warning," he managed. "I think. One voice - putting the items together made it louder. I got some words out of it, but not all. I think we're missing pieces."

As her person was speaking, Melody gathered the items up into a neat pile and promptly sat on them. They were obviously Very Important, but they also hurt her person and he was therefore no longer allowed to touch them. She'd look after them instead.

[brodakota]

"Wash, are you alright?" North asked, some relief clear in his voice. Once the items had been combined, Wash hadn't been the only one to tense up.

North wasn't sure if he would have been much help if something else had happened, but he could at least be there. What exactly the items had said could wait until after he knew that everything was safe.

[trademark_skull]

...Sadly Emizel could really care less about Wash's well being. In some way maybe it was just karma catching up for all times he's been a wise ass so far.

But..

"Warning?" Emizel repeated. He was tempted to ask what the warning was exactly, but oh yeah, 'missing parts'. Hey wait..

"It must mean there is more like these."

[letteropener]

"That... was anticlimactic." Celestia, who had spread her wings in preparation for whatever might come, now mantled them again. Though concerned about Wash, he seemed to need time and breathing space more than medical aid. "But not surprising. I expect another piece of the puzzle will come to light when we find the Elements of Harmony."

[notquitedracula]

"Given the way things have been going, that seems likely," Soma said, nodding to Celestia. "I guess that means we need to get to work on figuring out the new world. And whatever comes after it."

He returned the small knife he'd drawn when Wash tensed up to his pocket, relaxing his own tensed muscles as he did. It was hard to read body language in someone wearing that much armor, but what he'd seen did not bode well for when they gathered all the pieces together.

[lessabrasive]

Smart cat.

Lin had observed with no small, private concern, as Wash had held the items and let the voices in. Anticlimatic? Yes. But surely that was better than a full fledged battle. "Just the one voice?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Was it familiar at all? Like someone from your world?"

That Ponyville no doubt held the next piece was obvious. Lips twitched in a downwards frown. "So far, the items have all been found prior to the battle that opens the next world." She mentally ticked off fingers. "We'll have to make it a priority to bring them together again when the next part is found - though had we the means for all to hear and not just one person.."

[dork_of_keys]

Sora agreed with the overall sentiment that anti-climactic was better than a fight. Still, he'd also been on edge just as everyone else had when Wash had tensed up. It had been a little bit startling.

That the message was a warning wasn't really that much of a surprise. What they'd been able to hear before had sounded urgent, but that had been all they'd been able to get from them individually.

"I guess the only way for everyone to hear it right now would be to pass them around." Which might actually be a good idea, if everyone agreed. Maybe someone else would recognize the voice?

[spaceracist]

Emile crossed his arms. New information or not, if it was going to cause that kind of reaction there was no way in hell he was picking up those things.

"Or we could just let the man tell us what he heard."

A warning would at least give them all an idea of where to look for more information, if it was specific enough. Yes, he was aware that most people took warnings to heart and didn't immediately go after whatever they were being warned against, but Emile wasn't most people.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Anticlimatic was certainly preferred when it came to effects...but for all the trouble they'd gone to to obtain some of these items, they needed to at least get some important information from them.

And it looked like they'd at least gotten a warning from it...but also left Wash with some bad effects. He wasn't sure if that was a result of the objects themselves, or some...other things he'd gleaned from observation.

"If the voice is someone one of us may recognize but others may not, then it'd be in our best interests to pass it around, once we're sure it's manageable." Eraqus reasoned. He stepped forward and held out a hand towards the Necho Cat that had apparently taken it upon herself to guard them. "If I may."

[unrecovered]

"I'm fine." He was lying. He also wasn't planning on focusing on it. Wash had higher priorities than hashing out personal trauma, especially in public.

"It was familiar," he said, answering Lin's question, "but I couldn't tell you who it was." That in and of itself was troubling, given that he normally had perfect recall. He should have been able to place that voice.

"If anyone else wants to take a listen, be my guest, but I'm not leaving without the pieces I brought in." He was entirely aware that that wasn't too helpful, but it was the truth. Wash had a bad habit of taking responsibility for the things that fucked him over. Plus, one of them belonged to Ziva.

Melody sniffed Eraqus' proffered hand delicately, then raised a paw and pushed his hand away. Nope. She was guarding these things, not anybody else.

"Melody, stop it."

She meowed in protest. But she was helping!

"Don't give me that. Now move."

She huffed, stepping off the pieces and slinking around the other side of her person's legs. She still planned on being ready, though. Just in case.

[lessabrasive]

Lin didn't believe Wash in the slightest when he said he was okay, but she wouldn't call him on it. North was present, however; if anyone might intervene, it would likely be the Freelancer's closest friends.

Melody's antics earned an eyeroll, but at least Wash seemed to have his Spirit well in hand after some scolding.

"Given three brought the voice into greater clarity, it may well take that inevitable fourth to clear up that mystery," Lin said as she folded her arms across her chest. "Still. Who out there would be trying to help us? Certainly not our anonymous spectator." She kept the huff from her voice, but the irritation was clear on her face. "And how is it these fragments they keep sending only reach us after battle?"

[brodakota]

North knew that "fine" and sighed. Still, this wasn't the best place to confront Wash about it, so perhaps once they'd dispersed, he'd pester Wash a bit more.

"This might sound a bit silly, but it's almost like a reward for beating it, kind of like in a boss battle for a video game."

North shrugged.

"But it stands to reason that if we can get the next boss to appear, and beat it, we'll get the next item and the voice will probably get louder."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Eraqus just continued to hold out his hand, giving the Spirit a patient yet potent stare. He understood protectiveness, but those things did not belong to her, thank you.

Once she hopped off, he took the objects in hand and held them. There came the voice again, and he closed his eyes as he listened to it. It was, indeed, strikingly familiar...but he just couldn't quite place it. He listened through it several times, absorbing the message as best he could.

Aside from the strangeness of hearing a voice in one's head, which was not even the weirdest or most damaging kind of magic he'd ever encountered, the objects didn't seem to be producing any other ill effects. So, that probably meant that Wash himself was reacting badly.

He opened his eyes again and loosened his grip on the objects. "Not much can be gleaned from a message so brief...except the possibility that there is more than one anonymous spectator: one seeking help, and one intent on denying it." He had a feeling if they found out the identity of either one of them, they would soon learn the identity of the other.

In the meanwhile, Chuza had suddenly taken notice of what master was doing, and waddled back over to check on him. She sniffed at the objects in his hand with interest.

[letteropener]

Celestia gently took the objects in turn with her magic, all she needed to 'touch' them, as she'd discovered back in the mansion. She shut her eyes as well, listening to the message a few times before she looked up once more. Anypony was free to take them from her, if they wished.

"I wonder if perhaps the worlds here are asleep because of some conflict between two sides, that we are expected to resolve."

[notquitedracula]

Just like everyone else, Soma took his turn - just not as a bat, as had been his original intent. Voices in his head? Nothing new there. But though they sounded familiar, he couldn't place them, either.

"Where I came from, there's a video game. In it, you collect pages from two books, in which are trapped two people. One of them acts friendly - the other, not so much. In the end, it turns out neither is what you'd call a good person, and you have to rescue instead a third, which turns out to be their father. That's a bit beside the point I'm trying to make though; what I'm trying to say is, we should proceed with caution in listening to anything either of those voices tell us."