Entry #91

[postictal]

[In the latest dramatic reveal, it seems that Claudia has been hard at work unearthing a great deal of dirty laundry as it suits her. In the process, on November 23rd she manages to draw out an encrypted broadcast - only it's encrypted no longer.]

[And what's more, it's no longer anonymous. The broadcast bursts across the screen with an eerie screech of static and rapidly flashing images. There's even a voice speaking in the background - a voice that some might find familiar.]

YOU TOOK IT
I SAW

BURNING

[An image flares in a brief sputter of black and scarlet, and is gone again.]

/////////////////////////
////bird flying south////
///////do you know///////
///////what you did///////
/////////////////////////

----checkmate----

[And now, the name of the user who released the video in the first place is painfully apparent. For some, this won't be much of a shock. For others, on the other hand...]

[Did Tim Wright ever strike you as someone who favored cryptography?]

Comments

audio; EXTREMELY PRIVATE

[burntvideocassette]

[Shit.]

[He doesn't know what happened. Did someone (something?) take the meds? Did Tim just miss a dose? (He wouldn't. He's too careful.)]

[Is it here?]

[Jay pulls out his phone and dials Tim, hand shaking.]

Come on, come on...

audio;

[postictal]

[Tim picks up.]

[Trust him, he is not pleased about this.]

It wasn't me this time. I swear it wasn't me.

[burntvideocassette]

[Tim picks up.]

[This outcome is about ten thousand times better than Jay anticipated. Still, this just raises further questions.]

It's your account, Tim. [He pauses a moment. Thinks.] Not that that really means anything, but still. Has anybody hacked your account before?

[postictal]

I...this is from months ago!

[Jesus. Jesus. Where does he even start with this? The tremor is more than evident in his tone, in the way the words hitch. Like he's near tears.]

After you left the first time!

[Bird flying south.]
[It knew.]

[It knew and it was mocking him over it.]

[burntvideocassette]

[Jay checks the timestamp, and...he's right.]

Then why the hell is it showing up now?

[Bird flying south. His shadow's teasing nicknames still ring in his head. Is he the "bird"?]

[After he left the first time. He left, and he doesn't remember. He can't remember anything, save a few scattered posts on the network. Another dead Jay.]

[video]

[punful]

[Well this is...certainly a thing. And if Sans had his head on at all right, he'd be a lot more concerned. He knew Tim needed space, but he didn't think that space equated to whatever this is. And this seems kind of familiar. Like maybe he's seen this video before or something.]

...tim?

[video]

[postictal]

[God. Why video.]

What. What.

[video]

[punful]

[Regretting this immediately, but if he backs off it'll look like a guilt trip or something. Just see it through, leave Tim alone, and go nap for a bit. It's fine.]

just. you okay?

[video]

[postictal]

Fine. This isn't...

[Fuck. What the hell's he say now? Tim angles the feed away so Sans doesn't have to look at him - instead gets a really lovely view of the nondescript sweep of the opposite wall of Tim's room.]

This isn't me!

video--

[achomp]

[ oh crap. this particular post had had the stink of ominous event warning all over it, but-- well. seems like claudia had it way wrong... ]

Uh, hi? We ... should chat. Or, I should probably do most of the talking? I think I just blew up your whole spot sort of by accident and I'm sorry. Cause-- yikes.

[ and she winces, preparing for these crows to roost. ]

video--

[postictal]

This was you?

[THOSE CROWS SURE ARE ROOSTING. Tim sounds a lot of things at the present moment, but most pertinently? He sounds pissed.]

What the hell?

video--

[achomp]

[ her wince levels up to a full on grimace of guilt and also shame. so much shame. ]

I wasn't targeting you! [ caw caw ] It was just part of a bigger data dump...

video--

[postictal]

[The fact that she's contrite will probably play into his cooldown later. At the moment, he's a little too incensed to care about anything else.]

So you just dragged out whatever you decided might be worth looking at? Why?

private video;

[choosetruth]

...you okay there, buddy?

[This... well, it's not exactly that she doesn't think Tim is capable of something like this. It's just that she doesn't think he'd do it and attach his own name to it.]

private video;

[postictal]

Been better.

[He looks like he's been grinding his teeth for the past half hour. Because that's exactly what he's been doing.]

Someone dug something up.

private video;

[choosetruth]

So I see. This is from last May, correct? Shortly after the portal incident.

private video;

[postictal]

From after the...Mirrors. Yeah.

[You took it. I saw.]

[He knows exactly whose face flickered up on the screen. It's the same reason that he ended up with a tape on his doorstep, unwatched, with the insistence that he could keep his secrets.]

audio; private.

[shorthair]

( Clementine saw what happened to Jay after Tim left during the truth Event. Is this connected too? All part of something that came from their world? Something that's been here before according to Jay. Something that doesn't seem like it's easy to protect oneself from if this video's any indication- if Jay's behavior afterwards was any indication. )

...Tim?

( There's concern in her voice. She doesn't want to ask too much since that's also bad to talk about it according to Jay at least right then during the Truth event, but she can't pretend like she didn't see it either. )

You okay?

audio; private.

[postictal]

[He didn't really...]

[No. He didn't. He should have, but he didn't, because he's a piece of shit who likes to burrow himself in his own crushing self-pity and if he learned anything about himself during that "true self" bullshit, this is just what he does. He should've bothered to talk to her.]

[He should have tried.]

Yeah. [No.] I mean, I'll...nothing's happening right now.

audio; private.

[shorthair]

( Clementine doesn't believe he's okay at the moment. Whatever the hell this is, how ever it got here, it's nothing anyone would want on the network, but she's not someone who cares if someone says they're okay even if they're not. Sometimes that's all they can do. Sometimes they need to. )

Okay. I believe you. ( She believes nothing's happening right now. )

Is this like the stuff from your world?

What Jay meant when he said the stuff from your world has been here before?

audio; private.

[postictal]

There was this...video. Couple months ago. Right before Jay showed, actually.

[He's making a conscious effort to speak slowly, carefully. Occasionally his breath rasps softly in his throat, the only indication that he's on the edge of...something. Of panic. Of pain.]

It looked like this, but it was coded.

[Text]

[shslliar]

[... Well. That explains why this guy tried to kill him during that truth event.]

[Perhaps he could try to do some damage control to make it up for pestering him.]

You guys are making a big logical fallacy here. Obviously, someone must have stolen something important from him. The bird flying south? It's something like migration. And tying this with the chess theme? Hm... Sounds like some kind of weird Wonderland nonsense to me.

So maybe this might have been the result of one of those weird events, and he didn't really know what he was sending.

[Text]

[postictal]

you have no idea

[What the hell is he - no. No, just...just let him believe it. It's simpler to let him believe it. Maybe then no one will suspect him for being fucking crazy. Even if he is. Immediately, Tim about-faces.]

maybe youre right

[Text]

[shslliar]

[Nobody said he believed his own lies.]

See? You remember the event that happened before this was first broadcast?

[Text]

[postictal]

[Do you lie to a liar? It might take a little work to cross-reference the original posting with the event itself. Is he dealing with someone liable to check?]

shit with the mirrors