Chapter 4b: Listening in (Ray, Nat, Tobias)

[evil_scientist]

“I’m sorry for your loss. Perhaps another time, then.” Tobias said, trying to sound sympathetic.

"Thanks. Feel free to come around to the Exhibition hall anyways. I can show you his papers and the fossils from the area, if you are interested. Give you a little guided tour."

She gives Tobias a business card.

"I'll be there tomorrow, sorting out some documents. Give me a call if you decide to swing by."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias nodded, and took her business card with grace while he pulled out his own business card. “And if you have a job offer for a Private Eye with experience: call me.”

[aine]

Nat continues to give a summary to Ray, "They're still having a cosy chat; Julie seems to getting Elizebeth's confidence but Elizebeth seems quite content there; she's not rushing for an excuse to leave the compound or anything. What do we do if she doesn't want to leave?"

[evil_scientist]

Tobias nodded, and took her business card with grace while he pulled out his own business card. “And if you have a job offer for a Private Eye with experience: call me.”

"I don't see that happening anytime soon... But sure, thanks for the offer. See you around."

The scientist waves, and returns to the rock, starts taking more samples.

---

Nat continues eavesdropping:

"You're welcome," says Julie. Then, after a short pause: "Sounds like someone's coming back. I wonder who it is."

"Oh! It must be---" Is Elizabeth making a pause here? Or is it just a glitch in the transmission? Nat doesn't hear the name. "Our teacher, the leader of our community," she explains. Then stops and hesitates. "You know, it's been some time since we've had any visitors. We welcome everybody, of course, but I'm not sure... But maybe it's alright that you are here..."

[aine]

Nat looks up from the radio, "Hey Boss, is there a car approaching the compound? Elizebeth says there's someone coming now!"

[Cotton]

Ray looks out in the direction of the compound. If there’s was another car coming the same direction as them surely they’d have noticed it.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias walks back to Ray, "So, what do you think?"

[aine]

"Man, that girl is going loopy in there; she sounds as bad as that woman Sy that I spoke to. She's either drugged up or...well...something like it. Julie's not getting much sense out of her anyhow. They've been on their own but now someone's coming - from somewhere." Nat gives Tobias his summary.

[HelplessBystander]

"Well, then maybe it's high time we wrap things up for now. I wanna be back before dinnertime, and I'm sure that Julie isn't exactly going to get everything out in one go." Tobias said, "We shouldn't elicit suspicion as of yet; prudence is key in our line of work. Perhaps we should tell her to come back."

[evil_scientist]

OOC,Sorry, should have done this earlier: a map of the locality.

Ray directs his binoculars towards the compound, and notices the red car returning. It wasn't visible beforehand, as some low mounds cover the dirt road that's connecting the compound to the state road. It stops in the middle of the enclosed area. A person gets out. Another person approaches from the side of one building, and two more people exit another building.

---

Nat listens carefully to the sounds coming through the wiretap. There are some mild disturbances, outside noises, which weren't there before. The voices fade in and out, some words are cut out.

Elizabeth talks: "--- some trouble, you know, some time ago. Had a moment of weakness... Lost faith in myself and my path. Called my parents. It was stupid. I just had to get through a rough patch, and everything was back to --- punished me or anything, but I'm still afraid a bit, that you being here will get me into trouble."

She hesitates, then finally says: "Okay, let's go. I will introduce you. After all, nobody said I'm not allowed to have guests. Just let me talk to --- first."

The name is skipped once again!! Is it because of atmospheric disturbances?

Then there is a pause, as, presumably, Elizabeth exits the house, and leaves Julie behind.

---

Tobias remembers that the wire only provides one-way communication: they can listen to Julie, but Julie cannot hear them.

[aine]

"Uh-oh. Too late, Amigoes, Julie's about to meet the rest of the clan. I couldn't get the name; there's a sudden increase in static. Let hope she can talk her way out and meet us back here - although won't they think it's odd; her walking out into the desert by herself?" Nat fiddles with the radio hoping to improve the connection.

[HelplessBystander]

"It's a one-way signal, at this rate, it'll be quite dangerous for her to stick out on her own. What do we do?" Tobias said, slightly panicked, and deferred judgement to Ray as he realised that he has no idea how to 'solve' the situation.

[Cotton]

Ray says, "If things are going to go bad it's most likely to be now when she's meeting the leader, so we should be ready just in case. If things go well then we keep playing things by ear. Her story is she hitchhiked so walking out of the compound wouldn't be that strange." He also goes ahead and climbs back into the driver's seat so as to be as ready as possible.

[evil_scientist]

The Investigators get ready to intervene. Perhaps in their heads they imagine a scene, with Ray crashing through the vehicle through the fence, Nat getting into fisticuffs with hooded, knife-toting cultists, Tobias cutting through the ropes that restrain Elizabeth and Julie... But life is not a pulp story and the dialog seeping through the wires is strangely and disquietingly mundane and calm...

Nat fiddles with the switches and dials but comes to the conclusion that the disturbance must be on the other side, or in the atmosphere the signal is traveling through.

And the crackle only increases. It's like a radio show when the DJ is gradually fading in a track, while still introducing the band. Only instead of a hot new summer hit, it's a layer of hiss and noise, drowning out the speech.

Julie introduces herself, and then a man starts to speak. His voice is deep and calm, pleasent, but his sentences are truncated by the disturbances.

"Hello, Julie. I'm --- nice to meet you. A friend of --- is always welcome. Do you need a place to crash? --- some food -------- join us, we usually eat after sunset, when it's not so hot."

OOC Nat,Roll Listen, please!

[evil_scientist]

In the meantime, Julie and the man continue their garbled conversation:

Julie: "----We've got a lot of catching up to do --- call her Eli for short? She's always been -----"

The man elaborates: "To you, yes. And Elizabeth ------ Eli - to herself. Names are strange creatures. ----, and the name-giver. Naming yourself gives you strength, I think. But I'm sure----- opinion. And your own reason to call her -----"

The soothing, almost hypnotic quality of his voice is felt even with all the hiatuses and distortion.

"In any case, you two will have plenty of time to catch up. We will only whisk her away from you ------ hour ---when we have our prayer and meditation ----n."

[evil_scientist]

The noise in the headphones becomes almost unbearable, and Nat struggles to make out anything! Julie asks something - is she looking for the toilet? She gets a distorted answer "---outside---"... Then, finally, the noise goes away! Nat hears footsteps and the rustling of clothes against the microphone.

OOC,Sorry for the multiple posts! I just wanted to make sure you get all the relevant information (editing one post doesn't "bump" thethread. Nat, you can still roll for Listen!

[evil_scientist]

After some more shuffling, Julie's voice comes through, loud and clear. She found a place whereshe can be alone (judging from the other noises: the toilet...) and she is reporting directly to her fellow Investigators.

"I got a weird vibe from Malcolm," she says. "When I first saw him, it was like I couldn't see his face, but then it became clear a few seconds later. He's very slick and smooth, but also a bit scary at first. The wire got warm when I was talking to him for some reason. I hope there's nothing wrong with it, and that it doesn't get unbearably hot or anything. Talk to you later."

[aine]

Listen,(20%) roll:57

Nat pulls the earphones off, rubs his ears and then puts them back on, somewhat reluctantly. "That's some crazy distortion coming from that Malcolm guy; do you think he may have a jamming device on him?" Nat seems doubtful though. "Man, I feel sleepy just listening to him from here, it's amazing Julie's still okay and had the nounce to head somewhere quiet to report in. She said she couldn't see the guy's face to start with- how weird is that? He seems okay with her being there but I dunno if he'll let her leave that easily."

[evil_scientist]

"Someone moved Malcolm's red car while I was in the outhouse. I'm going into the old house now, where Elizabeth and the others went." Julie reports. The microphone picks up the sound of her footsteps, the opening of a door, then a fragment of Malcolm's voice: "...like a beacon of life in the midst of the city of blank faceless crowds. And even if he doesn't change or save the world... Well, he already, himself, is a complete universe."

[evil_scientist]

OOC,Here's an option: HelplessBystander will be away for some time. Maybe Tobias takes over headphone duties (while his player is absent) and Ray and Nat head back to town for an hour to catch up with Dr. Corman?