shellphones | (no subject)

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Type: Accidental Video
Sender ID: 🖕nunya🖕(Sidestep)
To: Public
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Warnings: Mention of death and torture. Threads are likely to end up going deeply traumatic places.

(It's a typical day on Nogard, though many people who see this might be elsewhere.

Many have probably heard by now that Chris is dead. Has been dead for several days, in fact, after being captured and tortured by Ganon.

Except... they're not?

That's definitely a shot of a very panicked looking Chris running... somewhere, not paying attention to the shellphone clutched in their hand or noticing that it's recording.

Several people can be heard yelling in surprise in the background as Chris darts past them.

...The fuck are they even running from? It doesn't sound like they're being chased.

The hand holding the shellphone bumps into something, and the video cuts out.)

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[ Well, at least that got a response that wasn't just telling him to go away. That's a start. ]

Yes. It's been hangin' around here since...

[ Well, they know what happened. There's no reason to actually spell it out. ]

(Did you want a reply Faulkner? You won't get one.

The suit will follow him though. It will follow him for the next two hours or so, even if he leaves the Conservatory, until it suddenly perks up and gets excited.)

[ He's not he he expected an answer. He'll stay at the Conservatory though, since that's where he said they'd be.

He might try to convince the suit to help with simple tasks if it's following him anyway, but either way, he'll be startled when it perks up. ]

Is uh, is your friend here?

[ Even if he's not sure he'll get a clear answer. ]

(The suit will help with some simple tasks. The more clearly Faulkner pictures the steps, the faster it will pick up on what he needs.

It does not respond to him, instead moving off in a seemingly random direction. Oh look, those are some super interesting trees over there!)

Fuck! (The rat-king, about to pounce, freezes and backs down before Chris grudgingly pops out of their hiding spot in the trees. How the fuck did they get there without anyone noticing? Well, Faulkner knows they have powers now.

Faulkner knows everything now.)

Edited 2025-08-17 22:57 (UTC)

[ And well, Chris might sense a tiny bit of smugness because finding them this way actually worked. Given that he could have told them where the suit was without being there. But he wants to see them.

...Part of him wants to see them.

There's a lot of mixed feelings at the moment. He's genuinely upset and concerned about them. He's also feeling some kind of way about them working for Ganon, if he doesn't have that much room to judge anyone for... anything.

And the telepathy makes him deeply uncomfortable. He doesn't say any of that. Though it occurs to him that saying it out loud might not make any difference. Which doesn't help. ]

...Hey.

(Oh they pick up on that smugness and it makes them seriously consider punching Faulkner, because fuck you asshole, no one tricks them like that. Except Faulkner just did, and they can't fucking believe they fell for this shit so easily. Does becoming a villain just rot out all the intelligent parts of a person's brain?

...Fuck. That would explain a lot.

They glare at him, expression twisting into ...something.)

Hey. (And then they look away. Why does he care at all?

The suit is absolutely fixated on Chris, but not moving toward them. Chris' own posture is stiff, awkward, leaning away from both it and Faulkner. A normally beloved pet seeking attention but being met with barely constrained hostility, confused why its master is rejecting it.)

[ He feels a little bad, and more than a little on edge, but not actually ashamed. He does glance between Chris and the suit. He's pretty sure he's missing a lot, but it's hard to miss the general tension. ]

Hey now. You can be mad at me for bein' tricksy all you like, but don't be mean to your... what the hell is it, anyway?

[ Armor moving around on its own isn't the weirdest thing he's seen, here or at home, but it's still pretty strange. ]

(And well, they're honestly glad enough for the subject change they'll just give him the answer.)

Telepathic interface. Five boosted rat brains networked together. (They glance at the suit.) I didn't know they could take over like that.

[ Huh. He supposes that explains the scurrying sensation. And it would seem the 'rat brains' part doesn't bother him nearly as much as the telepathy. His world has enough body horror based technology that he'd have barely been surprised if it used human instead of animal parts. ]

...Okay then. Don't be mean to your uh, rats. They helped us find you.

[ Maybe not in time, but still. They were pretty clearly worried. The idea it's something like a pet actually makes sense. ]

(They give him the finger.)

Fuck you, Dick. (You don't tell them what to do.

They look at the suit, which comes over and bends down so they can open up some of the plating and pop out the telepathic interface. It's a tiny cylindrical chamber, and they'll carefully tuck it into one of their various chest pockets.

...They'll need to find a way to move the suit, but right now they don't really care. Everyone knows anyway.)

[ And at this point this behavior doesn't surprise him in any way, so he mostly just rolls his eyes.

He watches a little bit curiously, but doesn't comment or ask why they're doing that.

He has a lot of questions, but maybe none of them are the best place to start. He'll try a different approach. ]

...You want some strawberries?

(The rat-king snuggles happily into its customary place in the back of their mind.

They stare at Faulkner suspiciously at that offer.)

...No.

(Their stomach is growling. They haven't eaten since their revival.)

You sure about that? They're good.

[ Look, they've made him eat when he was stressed and didn't want to. Apparently they're going to be subjected to the same treatment. ]

I'm sure.

(The problem here is that Faulkner isn't half as good at bullying as they are.

...Though it's entirely possible that this could just turn into an "eating strawberries while insisting they don't want the strawberries" scenario.)

...Uh-huh. Well, how about you come chat while I pick 'em anyway. I was about to do that. Guess I don't have help now.

[ He says this last part mildly, more an observation than anything. Though he definitely didn't mind pawning off tasks on the... rats. ]

I'm not talking to you.

(They can read his mind, they know what he's trying to do.)

Suppose I can't make you. But you really should at least eat somethin'.

[ He's worried if he pushes too much they'll just run off. Along with being worried about them and... lots of other worries. He's trying not to think about most of them. Which unfortunately probably means they'll just be aware of him thinking about what he's thinking. ]

(They cross their arms, looking away.)

I'm not even a real person.

(The fuck do you even care, asshole?)

What's a real person anyway? Cause I've had to adjust my definition plenty since gettin' here.

[ Which they know, given they made fun of him for having to work on it. Maybe that makes more sense in retrospect. ]

Someone... made you, right? From scratch, like an angel? Or like the professor?

[ It occurs to him after he says this that he doesn't actually know for certain how much Chris already knew about Turo. ]

Not me, clearly, if you ask anyone from my world!

(The words are spat out with a snarl.

So he knows about Turo then.)

Grew me from the remains of some kid the cops murdered, apparently. Brewed a whole big batch of us in oversized fishtanks and dosed us with drugs til we turned into something useful or died.

[ He can't help flinching a little. He's not sure what to say to any of that; he can't do anything about it and he can't argue the fact it all seems horrifying.

He's been having nightmares just based on the glimpses he saw.

He's also not sure if the added context makes it make any more sense to him, or not. If they were made from a dead person are they more like a saint after all?

He doesn't actually ask, though he supposes they'll know he's wondering all the same. ]

Can't pretend I know what any of that is like. But I'm not from your world, and you seem as much like a person as anyone.

[ Whether they're a person he trusts is largely a separate issue. ]

A creepy, gross one, maybe. (Yeah, they see those thoughts, and it stings.

...This is why they don't tell people they're a telepath. And especially don't tell people they're an alpha telepath.

They know they're disgusting and inhuman and their powers are creepy and invasive, they don't need other people telling them.)

[ The inhuman part doesn't seem to bother him that much; he really has been working on that. But the telepathy does not play well with his general paranoia. Nor does the idea they used to be working for Ganon, even if it would be fairly hypocritical to judge. ]

Never said that. I'll give you really annoying.

[ He is trying to break the tension a little. Whether or not it's likely to work. ]

You don't have to.

(Though they're taking his thoughts in the most uncharitable way possible.)

[ He huffs a little a scrubs a hand down his face. He's doing his best here. Kind of, at least. ]

Look, if I didn't like you at all I wouldn't have come to get you or told you where your rat-thing was.

[ Even if that was also an excuse to talk to them. ]

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CW: I keep forgetting to warn like a moron, but this thread is likely to get worse

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