[IC Contact -- Snowblind]

[bookofnope]

[There is a click noise. It sounds as though it might be judging you.]

Comments

[0thingsonmymind]

may be

yes, ithink wait ing isgood
adapt to diff er ent
make newplan, same willnot work
prob ab ly


down town
iam going to postoffice
to waitfor
weather
jade you

jadeis back
a live
at hos pit al

[bookofnope]

[However awkward this exchange is otherwise, Beckett can't deny his curiosity. This isn't the response he'd expected.] So there is still something there? You'll have to elaborate. Do you only feel those of us who are here, or the whole however many millions back home?

[Even as he asks his voice loses the careful neutral tone and eagerness starts rising in it. Congratulations, England, you got him hooked. Leading him by the nose with interesting information is laughably easy.]

[circumsutus]

Have you had any possible symptoms? Another possibility: staying in one place for an extended period of time causes long-term damage.

[bookofnope]

Of course that might mean it would also adapt to us, but that may not be a bad thing.

I'm going to be delayed, I'm afraid. House has a mad plan that [Midway through typing he skims the message all the way to the end again, and there is a pause as he lets out a long, long breath of relief.] So she did return. Thank God.

If she can reach you, that is best. If she can't, I should be running into her anyway - as I was saying, House is bound to the hospital to deliberately get himself killed in the morgue again, and I'd really rather he didn't. It is on my way, but it might take another day or so until I track him down and figure out a way to keep him contained.

[bookofnope]

Not any that my companions seem to share, no. And if that were the case, I wouldn't be the ideal person to talk to.

And look, questions and answers are happening again. I think I might stop now, pending that little condition about you telling me the truth.

[circumsutus]

Any symptoms. Anything at all. Physical. You're experiencing PHYSICAL symptoms, not mental?

Why wouldn't you want to share information? Anything could give us a clue for getting out of here.

[0thingsonmymind]

*There's a hint of...something--he doesn't know, but he's coming to understand that he doesn't know a lot of things about friends--when Beckett says he'll be delayed. But he trusts Beckett, and if the vampire has to be delayed it must be for a good reason.
Not sure why he'd want to stop House, though. He, at least, wanted House to redo his morgue test.*

why
stop house
?

[bookofnope]

[It's going to be a little tricky, Beckett is well aware. Damned ironies...]

If he only meant to replicate his experiment, I'd say he was welcome to it. But he means to kill himself again and again until he breaks the system. My worry is that he would break it not just for himself, but for all of us, the same way that overusing medical interventions has - no more returns from the dead.

[bookofnope]

Because as I might have mentioned, information is the only currency I happen to have on me, and you have something I want.

And please don't try to tell me anything about how we should all work together as friends. You've seen how well that works out here.

[0thingsonmymind]

*Okay, lack of whatever makes the dead return here would definitely be bad. But it took quite a bit to break the medical responses, didn't it?*

ithink it would take
a lot
to break
m o r e
medi cal things services help

ido not know if inter vent ion broke be cause
too many
orif
all at once
from angel's plan or
what rhys d i d

i donot know if one can break for
all

but thereis poss i bil ity

*He's not sure how much of one or how much energy to spend on trying to stop House, though. He would totally understand Beckett trying to spite House, though. That's an acceptable thing.*

[circumsutus]

What do I have that you want?

If we don't have open discussion we can't progress.

[bookofnope]

It probably would, yes, but now I have the chance to catch him that I may not have again for a while.

[Brian is right, though, there are no many unknowns... if that was his only reason, he'd have conceded that more paranoia than genuine worry was involved. But explaining that there is more to it is - well, it might be easier with Brian than with most, actually.]

The truth is - call me a fool, but it has as much to do with why he wants to do it. Being willing to die for answers is one thing, but he just wants to die, he's said as much. I'd like to say I don't care, but... he isn't so different from you and me. He thinks the same way. I don't like him, but I respect him.

[bookofnope]

Your skills, the help I need from them. The ability to tell certain people what I asked you to do, which could have unpleasant results. It's all leverage.

So, open discussion: How do I know I can trust you?

[0thingsonmymind]

*Eh?*

you want himto
feel bet ter
?

[bookofnope]

Oh, I don't think I can manage that. But perhaps convince him not to die quite yet. It's - a waste, for a truth seeker to lie down and die like this.

[0thingsonmymind]

*He sort of understands...but also doesn't quite. House was going to redo an experiment, not just end his life. Did the intent really matter? He doesn't know enough about NIMA to say.*

isu ppo se
ithink he should be a llo wed to
redo
exper i ment
at somepoint
though

[circumsutus]

I'm not trustworthy. However, I am determined to get out of here by whatever means necessary, and gathering information on every facet of our captivity.

[bookofnope]

Oh, that makes two of us, but it's also entirely irrelevant. If you aren't trustworthy, then the only way I have to stop you using the aforementioned leverage against me is to have some leverage of my own on you. And if I give you information freely, there goes that.

Convince me that I don't need to worry, and you'll have my full cooperation.

[bookofnope]

[A fool indeed, perhaps, but given his own experience, the question of intent sticks with Beckett. A part of him wishes he could explain this properly to Brian, the idea of fellow-seekers and the one loyalty he concedes to having. But he is not sure how, when Brian is still learning the ropes about friendship as a concept, and Beckett has never been too articulate about it, himself.]

If I cannot catch him on his way, I'll leave it be - let him do it once. Once might be enough.

[0thingsonmymind]

*He's still not sure he gets it, but he largely trusts Beckett. He'll leave the vampire to it and deal with his own stuff. He couldn't reach House or the hospital right now, anyway.*

o kay

[circumsutus]

I don't like House any more than you do. That's all I can offer as a promise.

[keepscalm]

[Despite himself, England can't help but be a little excited at Beckett's obvious interest. Though he often goes without the approval of his citizens, it's very nice to have. Especially when his citizens here currently seem to number about three.]

Just the people back home. I imagine because I'm not receiving status updates, as it were, my awareness hasn't expanded to those of you in the town. And I can't expect that I would already be connected to anyone who comes in because we all seem to come from different times and places.

[He would expect there to be some discrepancy in this very odd situation.]

[bookofnope]

Not a bad start, except I suspect you don't like me any more than House does, either.

We can make this simpler. Give me something on you, something I can use as a counter. Then we'll have us a nice little balance of terror and can exchange all the information we want.

[bookofnope]

[Expanding awareness, he says. Curiouser and curiouser. Why hasn't he investigated this before? It's getting unnerving. Where on earth was his mind before his death?]

I don't suppose it would be possible for you to describe the experience of the connection - not in terms I would understand. [He still sounds a little hopeful. Who knows?]

If you were a spirit, I'd say it makes perfect sense that you are not "connected" to me, my kind being spiritually dumb. As is... perhaps humans in your world have some capacity that enables the connection, which those from other worlds lack.

[circumsutus]

Pick something. There's nothing I could tell you that would terrify me as much as possibly letting House know your plans seems to terrify you.