001 → audio

[customplates]

Hello? I...thought I'd see how this thing works. Since...yesterday, I-

Okay, I'll try something else. Um. Has anybody...seen anything weird or, uh, heard anything? Like, maybe a line that keeps repeating and you know you've never heard it before?

Comments

[kingforboth]

How about an odd whistle?

It's not exactly something I'd like going through my head. Nor am I ....familiar with it.

[customplates]

[He's heard a few odd whistles in his time, but nothing since he'd arrived here.]

No. What...kind of whistle?

[kingforboth]

Like....
[Kelson tries to imitate the whistle that's been driving him crazy.]

[customplates]

[It's clear from the quickening in Aaron's breath that his blood has run cold.]

Where did you hear that?

[kingforboth]

[Well that was a reaction that Kelson was certainly familiar with, not that he liked it too much.]

I don't know. I've never heard it before in my life. It simply wont get out of my head.

[customplates]

[he swallows before speaking again.]

...I have. A...group of very malicious men and women us it to communicate with one another.

[kingforboth]

[Kelson immediately wished he could get that damned whistle out of his head even more. The last thing he wanted was more maliciousness in his head, he had quite enough of that from reading the minds of some very bad men already, thank you.]

How very industrious of them.

[customplates]

[He chuckles nervously but nods.]

Yeah...they made the most of a bad situation, I guess, so...everyone else's detriment. We...

...you know, that's not what's important right now is it?

[kingforboth]

No, the real important matter is how I can be hearing that in my head. I've never heard it before in my life. You said something about hearing a line?

[customplates]

Yeah. It's, uh, Latin, I think.

"Sanctus Camberus, libera nos ab omnibus malis"

I don't speak Latin.

[kingforboth]

That is most certainly latin. Saint Camber, deliver us from every evil.I guess you could call him my patron saint?

I'm afraid his name has been rather maligned, but neither that explains why you are hearing such things, as much as it is a relief for me to hear the phrase.

[customplates]

And I've never heard of Saint Camber, either.

[It also didn't explain why Kelson was hearing the Savior's clarion call.]

...what do you think this means?

[kingforboth]

If I had to guess I'd say it's something like rapport, a kind of magical sharing. But I've never heard of it doing something like this before. This is....rather incomplete. This is like.....water dripping out of a bucket via a small hole. Certainly not the typical sharing I've experienced before.

Is it just us?

[customplates]

Maybe...it's a side effect of something else?

No. Tim...saw something, too. From my world.

[kingforboth]

Perhaps? Something we've all come in contact with, like the food or water?

The question is why? If this was done knowingly, why. And if not, then what in God's name was done to us and why?

[tdls]

Anything weirder than the parade of singing and dancing pink elephants, you mean?

[tim laughs dryly under his breath.]

Sorry. Bad joke.

[also not a real answer to the question, but that’s intentional.]

[customplates]

[He chuckles slightly.] Winnie the Pooh. Nice.

[He takes a breath.]

I mean...things you've never seen before.

[tdls]

[he's quiet for a minute, deciding on how much to say. on the other side of that minute, he decides that there's no harm in being truthful about this. if they're all locked in here together against their wills, the smart thing would be to work on building alliances. lies don't really help foster a sense of camaraderie.]

It's not really something I haven't ever seen before ... I just don't know why I'm seeing it now. A license plate - yellow with dark blue numbers and letters. I figured it was just a side effect of the drugs.

[no big deal, tim's been exposed to scarecrow's concoctions a few times. this at least wasn't terrifying, just a little odd.]

[customplates]

Alaska.

[He takes an unsteady breath.]

It's an Alaska license plate.

[tdls]

Yeah ...

[weird. is this guy some kind of mind reader?]

How did you know?

[customplates]

Because I remember that license plate really well.

[I killed a zombie with it.]

Is it one you've seen before?

[tdls]

No ... Alaska's on the other side of the country from me.

[license plates aren't generally something most people pay attention to, unless they're reporting an accident or crime or just looking for their car. remembering a specific license plate really well must mean that it's important for some reason.]

What's so special about this particular license plate?

[customplates]

It's, uh...so...the world ended?

[How do you even talk about this?]

A-anyway, in our community, it was my job to go out and find people, or-or things that were useful. I've always liked collecting things so I decided I'd try to collect one from every state...a license plate, I mean. I never thought I'd find Alaska, but I went out with a new friend and...there it was, on the back of a delivery truck in an old cannery. Only it was a trap, we barely escaped, but I killed a few with it...a few walkers, I mean. The living dead. I'm sorry. I promise I usually tell stories better than this.

[tdls]

... Wow.

[yup that is quite a story. given their current setting, some might be inclined to dismiss aaron’s story as a delusion, but this is not actually the strangest thing tim’s ever heard. and he doesn’t believe anyone here is actually crazy, either.]

That’s a pretty unorthodox weapon but whatever works, right? [he chuckles quietly. improvising weapons in an important skill!] So did you end up finding a plate for every state?

[customplates]

It's what I had in my hand. It didn't last long, but I was able to get my machete.

Nope. I still needed 12 more whenever I ended up here.

[tdls]

Which states were you missing? Maybe I can help you finish your collection.

[customplates]

Thanks, but it's really not important anymore.

[He scoffs slightly.]

I guess it never really was.

[tdls]

I wouldn’t say that - even small things are important when the world is ending. And I don’t just say that because I’m short. [he laughs quietly.]

[customplates]

[He chuckles.]

Good point. Um...mostly the western states: California, Arizona, Nebraska. I needed Idaho, North and South Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington State, Wyoming, Utah, Florida, and Hawaii.

[tdls]

[mission accomplished!]

I’ll keep an eye out. Who knows, maybe one day they’ll set us to work making license plates and you’ll finish out your collection with a set of custom vanity plates.

[customplates]

[That gets a laugh.]

I don't think this is a prison.