inbox - Mask or Menace

[justlittle]

username: BEAN / JULIAN DELPHIKI

✉ ☏

Comments

text.

[flightforfreedom]

uh, bean


do you know what the hell is wrong with finn

he doesn't remember anything?

what happened? where'd you find him?

[justlittle]

I found him in the desert outside Jeopardy. Just walking.

I don't know what happened to make him forget everything.

But I do know I wasn't the first one to find him. Someone calling himself a general told him his name was FN2187 and to find you.

[flightforfreedom]

General Hux.

no one else who'd call themselves a general would call him that

fucking

okay

i'll deal with him later

walking around jeopardy

maybe this has to do with that creepy guy out building sand castles in the desert

[justlittle]

Jadus?

I don't think so. But it's entirely possible. I can't get a good read on him, even after living and working with him.

I hope Finn's alright. Has he shown any sign of remembering anything?

[flightforfreedom]

you live with that guy?

man, i'm sorry

but i can't think of a reason why he would, either, and i'm kind of grasping at straws here

but no

no, he hasn't.

i showed him his room, his paintings, talked about archie...

did he say anything to you?

next day after the thing with finn

[h2no]

hey bean
i'm archie, poe left finn with me, i don't know if he mentioned it

anyway, i just wanted to check in and make sure it all went okay
it's probably a bit later to offer but if you got hurt at all i have healing powers i'm more than happy to offer
thanks for doing what you did and supporting poe

[justlittle]

[ Poe had dropped a couple names of people that Bean didn't know while they were driving out to the desert. Archie. Bodhi. Bean fully intended to look these people up when he got back to civilization and the mess with Finn was solved.

Looks like one of them jumped the gun. ]

Ho, Archie.
Poe did mention you, a few times.
I'm glad you were able to help Finn out.

We did alright on our end, but apparently there are more of these things out there.
If you see a creature with tentacles, don't let it touch you.

[h2no]

there's more?
i won't. please stay safe, too.

[justlittle]

I'm not interested in wiping out another species.

[ """Another"""??? ]

As long as we can restore Finn's memories, that's all I care about.

[h2no]

[his eyes just kind of glaze over at that.]

of course
i hope this isn't an inopportune time to ask how you met poe?
i'm simply curious

untraceable text

[maskormods]

V

s-e•-:-g-r
o-g•-s•
w-f•-h-a
o•-h-o
t-a-’-t-e
g-c-o-s-r•-r-a
c-h-h-h-m
c-o

[jadus]

[Jadus has remained a sporadic presence, with irregular hours and odd habits. His creations have occasionally escaped Jadus' room, but they have never attempted to enter Bean's. Contact has been sparse, but remained respectful after their work together.

And now, very suddenly, he is here.]

We must speak. There is actionable intelligence regarding the oncoming cataclysm.

[justlittle]

[ Bean is in the process of packing up what little belongings he has in preparation of moving to Nonah. He hasn't announced to his housemates that he's leaving, but then they all keep to themselves pretty much, so he hasn't seen the need to.

He's stuffing clothes into a duffel bag when Jadus approaches. His new pet pseudodragon, Dink, stirs uncomfortably on his perch next to Bean's bed. ]

Actionable intelligence? You were able to make sense of the decoded message, or is this something else?

[jadus]

The message lacked context, which I possess. [And had, for some months. Regardless of his reasons for withholding the information before, it was now no longer tenable to remain silent.]

Atropos will manifest. That is inevitable. But if she is forced to appear alongside her sisters, we may survive. Deliberately summoning the other two may be possible, with the power of enough imPorts acting in concert.

[justlittle]

[ He'd seen the broadcast on the Nets. Between that and the cryptic message, that had sealed the deal in convincing Bean to move away from Jeopardy. He didn't want to be here when Atropos arrived. ]

"Acting in concert?" Acting how? Some kind of concentrated force?

[ Of course, his mind is picturing a military strike of some kind. But the majority of imPorts are civilians. ]

[jadus]

Our powers distort this world by their mere presence. If they are activated en masse, they will provide a means by which the Fates may join us here. Only when all three are present will Atropos be vulnerable. If we can act quietly and ahead of OTO's timetable, then we may gain the upper hand. [To an extent: He does not feel that he needs to mention how dire the stakes are.]

I am contacting those who are willing to participate and can remain discrete. There is no set location or time for a summoning attempt, and there will not be until we are ready. If you have any others that you would consider suitable, I will need their names.

[heliophilic]

[On Christmas morning, Bean will find a wrapped box on his desk. The tag on the box reads:

To: Bean
Merry Christmas.
From: a doodle of a crescent moon wearing a santa hat.

Inside the box is a small white dragon figurine, gift card to a family fun park wrapped inside a note that reads to continue our attempt to make sense of normal people stuff, and a post-collegiate-level book on the history of geopolitical rivalries.]

Text

[iminthebook]

Hello! This is Harry Dresden. So, I am slow getting this done, because I am in the mid\doe of wedding preparations, but we have a person, Padme Amidala, who would like to tour H.O.P.E.'s facilities and maybe end up working with us.

Since you are the other imPort working here currently, I wanted to touch base with you and see if you wanted to work with me to do this, maybe after my wedding by a week or so.

Let me know what your schedule is, say, around the 12th or 15th?

Text

[justlittle]

Hello Harry. The 12th or the 15th would work for me. I'd be happy to show Ms. Amidala around the facilities.

Oh, and congratulations on your nuptials.

-Bean

Re: Text

[iminthebook]

Thank you. For both things.

Let's try the 12th then. I will let her know as well.

I hope this is the beginning of a new wave of volunteers or workers for HOPE.

-Harry

[justlittle]

It would be good to spread the word. H.O.P.E. could always use more staff and volunteers.

-Bean

( text | un: mrs.s )

[aeva]

Hi Bean, it's Mrs Sheringham. I wanted to see how you were doing since we spoke.

[justlittle]

Mrs Sheringham. Still interested in other people's business, are we?

[ He has to be sassy. It's part of his charm. What little charm he has. ]

I've been fine. This month has been relatively quiet, as far as this world's weirdness goes.

[aeva]

( he's lucky she doesn't mind a little bit of cheeky, especially since they cleared that up before )

I'm glad to hear that. I've found that these cities can be confusing enough without anything else involved.

[justlittle]

Yes, they sure can be. Some more than others. But I tend to avoid the problem cities whenever possible.