unfinishedlibrary | I'm not saying that it's aliens

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I'm not saying that it's aliens - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 2

Who: Readers and Actors
What: Beta Story final log
When: November 28 - December 11
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!

In Woodhurst:

There is quite a bit of confusion in the village as the weeks pass by- by now it is clear that some people are very much not themselves, and there are multiple theories as to why. Aliens, obviously- the really weird bit is that it’s not just certain edgy teens purporting this theory, but since there’s been some (alleged) activity previously, maybe they’ve come back! Some tourists (and perhaps some locals) have made signs of the ‘Take me with you!’ variety, mostly loitering in the town square or in the park, whenever they get chased out of one or the other.

Suffice it to say, those people aren’t being taken seriously by those in charge- though even they have to admit that something strange is going on. Prevailing theories amongst officials are ‘gas leakage’ and ‘water contamination,’ neither of which are suitable explanations but no one seems to want to think too hard on it. As a result, the friends and families of those acting out of sorts are in a strange position. Do they try to seek medical help? Wait and hope it sorts itself out? Or do they join the crowds bidding welcome to their potential alien guests, demanding their real loved ones return?

Visitors of all stripes might find themselves a bit more scrutinized, as a result. Didn’t a bunch of weird people show up just as people seemed to start changing? Readers and aliens alike had best be on their most normal behavior, or it’s possible they’ll get cornered by someone asking what’s happening, or… a fanatic who wants to be taken up into their spaceship. Some of whom have some weird questions about probes. Good luck figuring out what that’s about.

On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance

Things are not all well further up in the atmosphere, either. The staff have had to deal with much more pushback than they were expecting, including some people who seemed to not enough understand the concept of mental health (which was not in the briefing- shouldn’t they have at least heard of it before?). A few cases also seem to be quite severe, involving a level of intervention that they weren’t really prepared for- but of course, they’re here, so they’re going to do the very best they can to get all the humans the help they need! Hopefully legally.

Most alarmingly, however, it seems there have been some kidnapping attempts! …Kidnapping attempts that didn’t involve them! Someone, or multiple someones, have managed to get the patients off the ship without first filling out their discharge paperwork, and that simply will not do. As a result, security is ramped up on the ship… sort of. There’s very little in the way of a security crew, after all, and it’s not like they can call in reinforcements. So mostly this means that there are some very tired counselors who have been put on hallway shifts, and everyone has been assigned a little name badge that they MUST wear at ALL TIMES.

(There are actual people guarding the shuttles now, but again… there’s only so much security. The real question is, do you really want to beat up the aliens who are just trying to help?)

To their credit, the various Group members are trying to listen to the concerns of the patients who are here… less than willingly, and are beginning to filter some cases back to the planet by request. But they are going to do it properly, which means the proper forms. A wrap up visit with their counselor, a form agreeing to be finished with treatment, a politely worded request to maybe not tell people about the aliens (it’s not an NDA, because the Group has never needed those, it’s really just a form asking if they’re going to talk about it so management can figure out how badly this is going to go). Oh, and would you mind filling out this survey about your experience?

Of course, not everyone is in a hurry to leave- or at least needs something to do while waiting for bits of paperwork to approve. All the regular classes and sessions are still going, and they even retrofitted one of the spas to have water instead of… whatever it was before. Now certified safe for humans!

[Information on what's available on the ship is in the first log; info post is here.]

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He'd be wearing a lot less if he thought he could get away with it. Fashion is an unnecessary distraction when he's simply not bothered by heat or cold! But the social license he's been allowed by wandering around with no shirt or shoes would probably not extend to also being without a jacket.

Curze tolerates what he must.

At least the steady rain the town's been getting means the primarch doesn't stink quite so badly of old blood anymore, which might make his presence a little more tolerable; he glances up from his cards when approached, expecting one of the generic local mortals or worse, one of the creatures pretending to be human, and instead it's... Jonathan Harker.

In a different outfit, a different hair color, but the sound is the same, as is the scent. "Mm. Yes. I helped you with your jacket." He himself is normal human sized now, even if on the tall side! The Night Haunter still has the filed sharp teeth and depthless solid black eyes though, why HE hasn't been pegged as an alien probably revolves entirely around how not friendly he is, disturbing instead of welcoming. Nobody looks too closely at the assumed crazy, dangerous and homeless. "I had wondered if it were perhaps just myself, the ghost and the dead elf."

For anyone else, that might be a note of welcome relief in his tone.

If he wore less, he would likely get to meet the constables. But given most probably though the tall man was a homeless person, he was getting a pass. Maybe judged, but a pass all the same.

Jonathan Harker was not judging. He used to be that type to judge, but his horrors at least fixed that.

To be honest, the lack of blood smell is what made it not click this much shorter than before man was his friend. But as soon as the coat was mentioned, a smile crossed the young man's face as he pulled out the chair across from Curze and sat without asking. His sunglasses stay in his hair as those blue eyes seem to light up. "Night Haunter! I didn't realize it was you, my friend. How have you been doing?" He inquired before adding. "And I must ask, ghost and dead elf? Have I missed something?"

What a sight these two must be.

He's certainly not going to tell Harker to go away. It's ... strangely nice, to see a friendly face. It's a novel experience, nobody ever looked pleased to see him. Nor do they ever remember what he preferred to be called. It was always the most disliked name his father had given him. This mortal however defied expectations on both fronts.

"My disguise," he says with a sharp edge of irony, "Is flawless. Who would think to look for someone half the size they should be?"

Maybe some of the other patrons of the coffee shop will be pleased to know the menace taking up space apparently has A Friend, and m aybe that friend will get him to leave! "It's been a troublesome couple of weeks. There's an alien infestation, you know. Innocents being kidnapped. Our 'recommended reading' it seems, was accurate."

And he hasn't caught a single one yet! It's depressing! "Two other members of our book club, it seems. I have seen no others besides yourself."

To be honest, Jonathan just liked how Night Haunted sounded, despite his horrors. And Curze had said it was preferred so he would remember and use it. The young Englishman did look very pleased to see his spooky friend.

Sitting his tea down on the table, nodding with a chuckle. "We are nearly the same height, it is surreal." Jonathan was six foot three and always felt too tall until he met the brothers. "They just gave me my natural hair color back and a change of clothes, but I do think I have given myself away to at least one person here."

Had he mentioned his hair turned white? Eh, it didn't matter. "I had noticed one of the children running around seemed to think I was an alien. Or something of the like. I admit I have been exploring more than speaking to others. Despite the era being wrong, we are pretty close to where I am from. Not that I think they would let me return to Exeter from here." He hadn't tried, but Jonathan had been tempted too.

"I have seen a few, and even one I know to be one of us, but he believes he is part of the story."

"Why did you change your hair color? Both suit you well enough, but I admit to bias for that which I knew you in first." He's always going to connect Jonathan to white hair, even if it wasn't his natural color.

As an afterthought, the cup of soup is herded in Harker's direction with one ragged black nail. "It is, apparently, 'chicken noodle', if you wish it." Should he be eating it? Probably. Is he willing to share? Sure, why not. "I assure you, you are no alien. I would know." They smell different. "But with the fear running through town, not knowing friend from foe.. it's unsurprising they would question a stranger."

They'd probably be questioning him, if he didn't live and breathe intimidation. "If we are here much longer, attempt for Exeter. It would be good to get a better sense of where we are." And when. This is Jonathan's colony world? That's fascinating. And excellent to know, where to put the man later when he finally gets his claws on his fleet again is handy.

But the last draws a moment's pause. "And it seems you know more than I of our situation. Is this a story? How would one become part of it?"

"It was not by choice, my friend." He admitted sparing a moment to take a drink of the still a touch too hot tea. Yet, it didn't bother him. "It lost its pigment less than a month before we met, when I awoke to Mina's attack. It turned white before the dawn." He had grown used to it, even if he felt it made him look like an old man. It did not.

Looking at the soup, then at Night Haunter. "Are you certain?" Just as the other did, he pushed his tea forward. "Have you ever tried Earl Grey?" He grew up in an orphanage; sharing with a friend was not that strange to him. Plus, germs aren't really something he knows much about. "I didn't think I was, but it is a relief to know. I do trust you unquestionably when it comes to such matters." Jonathan nodded, then reached for the spoon.

"From what I have gathered in our book club, Exeter does seem to exist in more than just my world, but, it is a comfort to know. Perhaps it would be worth the journey to see if my home still stands. We are more than a century from the time I lived."

Using the spoon, he takes a taste before looking up. "That is quite good." He replied. Standing just a moment to grab a second from the near station and a second cup to help with sharing. The cup and spoon were placed down. "That, my friend, I have not figured out. But they do clearly believe they are the people in the story. I confess I did not push much. Fearful of causing damage."

"Oh?" Now there's a phenomenon he'd never heard of. With several brothers with naturally white hair he'd been content to assume Jonathan's was too. "How unusual. I wonder how all the pigment could drain out overnight." Color was wired in! Or at least, it should be.

He's no biologist. Maybe he should... find a book on it. "Of course I'm certain, or I wouldn't offer." Sure, his thinness compared to even Sanguinius is marked, but he hasn't starved for decades now! It's fine! But the tea in return is eyed. "... Much to the despair of my brother Fulgrim, all teas are much the same to me. One form of boiled leaf water is not much different than another." He'll try it anyway, because why not.

The unquestioning trust of a mortal who actually thinks of him as a friend. How surreal is his day going to get? "Strange that it might be the same world but not the same time. Warp deviations can lead to years of de-synchronization, but a century.." The second cup of soup is also considered. Now he has tea to try, AND soup.. and the meat pie. He's spoiled for choice. "Who was it, do you remember? The one you spoke to."

"I had never heard of it happening before either. Jack, a friend who is a doctor, seemed very fascinated by it. I was a little too angry at the time to really take time the time to let him try to figure it out." With chasing Dracula and all. Revenge mattered more than vanity. "I wish I knew; I rather stand out too much with my hair white at my age." So it's not normal in his world, at least at twenty-one.

Nodding with a pleasant smile as he takes the spare cup and pours half the tea into it to slide it to Night Haunter. "Perhaps this one will change your mind. It is a favorite of mine. If not, that is okay too. A small warning, though: I only use a little honey and a dash of cream. If you need something else for it, please let me know. I wouldn't mind going to fetch anything." Black tea and coffee were for waking up; otherwise, cream and honey were delightful in his opinion.

It could get more so, who knew! "I am not sure about it. A few I have spoken to seem to have thought Mrs. Harker's and my times were very much in the past. I worry it is simply something with us being out of loop more than the world." Taking another drink of his now half-empty tea before he considers it. "Professor Randolph Carter." He's not a professor; Jonathan is just assuming. "He did not recognize me at all." It was then that Harker pulled the sunglasses out of his hair, dark smoked things, and held them over. "You don't like light much if I remember correctly; try these."

"Not by my era. White hair is as common as any other. Three of my brothers have it. Most of their sons. A good.. quarter of my own serfs." Though the bulk tended towards black hair in his fleet and on Nostramo, there were exceptions! "I have heard dyes with recaf as their base can cover white quite well, if you decide to hide it." It'll take getting used to, but not terribly so.

Jonathan remembers correctly, he did NOT like the light, but he looks terribly bemused for a long moment when Harker offers his sunglasses before reaching to accept them. It's easy enough to figure out what they're for, and now that the two of them are nearly the same size, they actually have a chance of fitting.

It does help, when put on. Most people don't wear sunglasses indoors, but most people also don't find the already somewhat dim lighting of a Starbucks to be aggravating. "Thank you. My difficulties with the accursed daystar and of course the average hab-block's obsession with too many lumens does indeed continue." It's almost funny.

The tea is picked up then, scent considered before taste. "I don't think I've been introduced to a Randolph Carter as yet, it seems i should have paid more attention. If my sons arrive before some other means of getting offworld, please point him out so we may fetch him to where he belongs as well." No point in leaving anyone behind. Well. Anyone human. "I don't know of ways to travel backwards through time, but I can at least attempt to return you to the right location. And your alternate-reality missus, if possible."

Though if they're both displaced in time the chances of them uniting with their proper husband and wife were ... slim.

"That is fascinating, and is the age not relevant? What a fascinating place you come from." He did arch a brow at the word serfs, but said nothing. Not his time, not his place. Jonathan was just endlessly fascinated to learn about the universe the brothers come from. Shaking his head then. "Thank you, but no. I see no point in hiding it, I'm not nearly as vain as all of that."

Jonathan smiles again when he watches Night Haunter put on the sunglasses. "I do hope they help, and if anyone says anything about wearing them indoors, allow me to handle it." He would not let anyone judge his friend for wearing sunglasses indoors, though the lack of a shirt? Night Haunter is on his own there. "I am inclined to agree on the latter, though I do like the sun. The indoor lights, though? Quite painful at times. I do so miss the candlelight." It was easier to see, no doubt, but the bright lights hurt him some at night, yet as he said it. "Keep those. I woke up with them, and I feel they will help you more."

"If you do not meet him whenever, if ever, we get back, I will introduce you if it pleases you." He offered as he took the spoon up again to take another bit of the soup. "Do your sons look much like you? That way I can keep an eye out for them?" Did he think the man's sons would show? No. Would he watch for it? Yes. Absolutely. "I would be most thankful for that, my friend. You are very kind to offer, and I would happily take you up on it if the time comes."

Eventually, the Night Lords would catch up to him. It may take decades though, and Curze hasn't really considered that Harker might not still be alive at that point. "Age is irrelevant. I don't know when it became common, but perhaps only in Exeter and nearby locales is it particularly unusual." He's still pretty sure it's the same universe. Even the same galaxy. Different times though.. that's more likely. Sunglasses, a jacket, and pants and nothing else is certainly a fashion statement people are very likely questioning right now.

Thankfully (or not, depending on one's perspective) he's intimidating enough nobody's actually said anything yet. "No-one's seemed disturbed by my choice of clothing so far. It'll be fine." Probably. Though those same people might be wondering why such a clean, nice looking gentleman is hanging around with that thing by choice. "The incandescent ones are the worst. The humming never stops. People should embrace the night a bit more, the more light there is the unhealthier it is even for the average person." And not him, because he's tuned to a different environment!

The tea tastes like boiled leaf water. And.. beneath the sweetener and cream, some kind of fruit he can't quite determine the origin of, distilled. Hm. "It would please me." Randolph Carter was one of perhaps a dozen people he needed to watch for now. "If you spot him here again as well, feel free to point him out." He'd seen no visions one way or another on the matter as yet, whether they'd be returned to the library, spend some years here or some third option.

"..They do," he adds as an afterthought. "For the most part. I am told for most mortals it's difficult to tell mine own and Corvus' apart at a glance, but the Raven Guard wear different heraldry." So if anyone shows up, ridiculously pale and with solid black eyes and hair, probably they're his but maybe they're Corax's! "I am certain they can be coerced into aiding as well, however."

One never knows with a human life; he was pretty young for a human, but an adult by the standards of his time. Twenty-one was an adult in most standards but the fact remained, he tried to appear older than he truly was. He could easily have decades left in him if he didn't do anything stupid. Like ignoring more red flags.

"I may have traveled a bit for work, but I cannot say for certain. It seems much the same everywhere I was sent. Even if culturally different." Granted he'd never gone further than Tryansylvannia and never for so long until now.

Jonathan had a feeling his friend was being judged, or assumed homeless, but he would not say it. No, he didn't want to know how Night Haunter might react if he realized how quickly people judge while wearing a smile. He's Victorian, an orphan at that. Jonathan may be respectable now, but he didn't start out that way. Jonathan knows how it goes. "Good, I am pleased to hear it."

Nodding as Night Haunter spoke. "Those are giving me quite the headache each time I come across them. Electric lights were becoming popular back home, but I still lived with gas flames and candles."

Taking a drink of his tea as he considered his most likely dangerous friend, and how lucky he feels to know the man is watching out for many of them. He smiled then. "Of course, you can count on me. Do you want me to keep an eye out for anyone else? I will keep an eye for your sons, of course. If I see the wrong people you can surely let me know."

"How far is a bit, for context?" Traveling across a continent? Across a city? Across a planet? He doesn't know the scale everyone else thinks of as small or large. Humanity tended to adapt to their environment, but if Jonathan stayed within several hundred miles of his origin point there'd be no need for changes, it would all be more or less the same.

For better or worse, Harker may well actually be a little safer with a monstrosity such as Curze keeping even idle tabs on him. Nothing quite lent some measure of safety than a larger predator than the local ones. "It might do you some good to know by the thirtieth millenium, candles are once more the primary light source." Why, he didn't know, it lacked efficiency, but it was much gentler on the eyes. "They are used almost exclusively in my fleet."

Easy to put out, easy to light, easy to get more of, and one handles a whole lot of space! What isn't there to like? Of course they needed regular lumens too for when anyone not a Night Lord is around..

He'll keep working on his boiled leaf water, whether or not it appeals precisely, because it was freely given and he is not wasteful. "... I have not been able to find Sanguinius." It's almost reluctant. Such things as concerns for his brothers are foreign, and he knows it wouldn't be reciprocated, and yet.. "If you find him. If he's here. I would wish to know it."

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I'm not saying that it's aliens - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 2

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