inbox @ diadem

[elsecall]

Inbox

381 – 0183

Voice — Text

"Leave a message."

CONTACTS

—listed with a personal equivalent of a 10-shift caesar cipher.

gkxnk

477-6790

@carmesi

pobx

176-0273

@longtooth

vexo

538-7763

@savante

cmsov

007-8719

@searingbond

uswsuy

822-2762

@pse

Code Source

Comments

text.

[pse]

[ It takes forty-eight hours for cell signals to return, and another twenty-four hours for Uswsuy to be in a state to be checking up on her people. Jasnah gets a quick, concise text — but the concern behind it is genuine. ]

Checking in.
Are you alright?

[elsecall]

[ How unexpected. But not unwelcome. ]

Still in one piece for the time being. Storming long lines at the hospital, however.

[ Damnation! What she'd give to be able to once again do what she knows Kimiko can do. ]

How are you faring?

[ Physically fine, she imagine. But otherwise? ]

[pse]

[ Well, she was riddled with bullets and had her vehicle stolen — and then, a gate blew up in the general direction of her face. Fortunately, she's still pretty. Truly, MC Hammer said it best: can't touch this. ]

I'm okay.
Thanks.

If you need running water, you can go to my apartment.

Why are you at the hospital? Are you hurt?

[elsecall]

Feels like a broken wrist.

[ Important but not Urgent. Triage is doing its thing and has appropriately deprioritized her. She'd be more annoyed if she couldn't see the haphazard beauty in the emerging systems replacing all of those rendered useless by the blackout.

Fortunately, she's adept at getting things done one-handed. ]

[pse]

Who broke your wrist?

[ And can Kimiko break their wrist in return?

Place a checkmark in the box representing your vote:
☐ Yes
☐ No

Even if Jasnah tripped over a fire hydrant, Kimiko is prepared to go fight the fire hydrant. ]

[elsecall]

I'm afraid I did. A poorly judged punch.

[ She's ordinarily in shardplate when engaging in petty violence. Quite a different experience. ]

But I appreciate your concern.

[pse]

Did someone attack you?

[ Kimiko was riddled with bullets from a semi-automatic and then had her vehicle stolen while she was healing on the pavement, so. She's not a stranger to the fact that people are more desperate and more daring this week. But out of the two of them, only one looks like an easy target from a distance — and it isn't Jasnah. ]

[elsecall]

Someone tried.

[ She does have an air about her of being a bit more well-to-do than she actually is. Doesn't justify it. There will be no victim-blaming in this house. And so she refuses to change her behaviour simply because someone else decides to be an asshole. ]

Barely more than a petty mugging.

[ And the man had already been banged up from a previous altercation. Plus, she'd had a bit of help. All details Jasnah doesn't see fit to elaborate upon. ]

You mentioned your place has running water—?

[pse]

👍

[ She doesn't love that Jasnah was mugged, but it doesn't seem like more information is forthcoming. Better to focus on how she can help. ]

No hot water.
But you can go there if you need to stock up or wash your face.

[ Or if you're metal enough to withstand a cold shower. ]

text; 007 - 8719

[searingbond]

hi!
it's sciel. how are you?

any shot you've been by the institute yet? with that fancy card of yours.

[elsecall]

[ What an immediate flaw in her tactic to keep her contacts listed under cipher'd names. CMSOV texts her only to reveal her name immediately within the first message. Which, Jasnah supposes, any enterprising codebreaker could probably use to crack the shift.

With a long-suffering sigh, Jasnah delays answering Sciel while she goes in, edits the record, and deletes the name entirely. So now Sciel shows up merely as 007-8719. So be it. Later, she'll delete everyone else's names too. Safer still if she simply memorizes the numbers and associates them with the appropriate faces.

Eventually: ]

Of course.

[searingbond]

have you come across anything about death in the diadem? what happens to those who die here, or if there are records of people who'd died before arriving here alive again?

[ There's a pause. Then — ]

also: you didn't say how you're doing.

[elsecall]

[ Well. That's concerning.]

I'm fine.

Is this about the new individuals who have turned up from your home world?

[searingbond]

it is.

[ ...But not entirely. It's also about individuals who might turn up from her home world. ]

[elsecall]

...The girl?

[ Does Jasnah know Maelle's name? Is she just being extra-cautious not to put it in writing? Has that thread simply not yet concluded, so we can't be certain? ]

eventual e33 spoilers, almost certainly

[searingbond]

[ God, no. Sciel actually says the words aloud, feeling her breath catch at the very idea. ]

you know her?

[ If so, Sciel isn't going to possibly cause Jasnah any discomfort on her end at the notion that the teenager is dead in another world, so: ]

but no. she's okay.
it's about someone else.
and...the general idea, really. unbelievable as it is.
or was. before.

[elsecall]

We've met. She suggested someone else also arrived alongside her.

[ Must be that someone else, then. And — as Sciel fills in — the prospect of others. Jasnah pauses, staring at the device. What was unbelievable to Sciel had become quickly apparent to her. But a particular conversation between the aisles of a bookstore might have helped cement the possibility in her mind. So! She spares the other woman a terse, callous why are you surprised? Doesn't seem like the time, really.

Growth. Anyway. Sciel had asked whether she'd come across anything— ]

My focus has been on local folklore. But I can...adjust. It'll be more effective if you tell me explicitly what questions you're hoping to answer.

[ It's not strictly true. The efficacy likely won't change by much. But she'd appreciate the constraint and — and, well, she's curious. ]

text;

[savante]

[ Despite obtaining Jasnah’s number, Lune hasn’t needed to reach out and use it yet — she rarely texts someone just to chat, there usually needs to be some pressing question to push her into it, or some eminently practical and pragmatic reason behind the communiqué — but, at last, it has happened. ]

How do you feel about museums?

[elsecall]

[ — The message finds her in transit, walking back into the dormitory after a lengthy stint at the library. And because old habits die hard, Jasnah resists responding until she's made it back to her room. Then, with all the same ceremony as though she were sitting down to her spanreeds, Jasnah takes a seat and rests her elbows on the desk. Communication device propped up at eye level. ]

Intrigued. We haven't got many. My opportunities to visit were few and far between.

[ And now she's also intrigued about the question itself. ]

Why?

[savante]

I know someone who's considering putting in for an empty gallery space. They asked for suggestions, and I thought perhaps a museum for the general public might be a good idea, considering how knowledge has been gatekept (figuratively and literally) within the Sanctum, and there's no guarantee they won't close those doors again in future. I used to do some archival work with the Expedition journals, but it wasn't my specialty.

Whereas you're a historian.

[ And thus: better-qualified. ]

[elsecall]

[ Reams of context. Jasnah reads the message one, twice, three times. She doesn't begrudge Lune her explanation; however, it makes her wonder whether her fellow scholar frequently finds herself required to justify her requests, her stances. Showing one's work is natural — expected — in all manner of circumstances. But Jasnah isn't convinced that this is one of those. ]

Go on. Whatever you'd like to ask or offer — do it plainly.

[ Ultimately, it's not the explanation she questions. It's all that explanation without the actionable stinger. ]

[savante]

[ Where some might have taken offense to that response, Lune just-- bursts into a surprised laugh. Evidently she's picked up some bad habits over time from other people, circling indirectly around a topic without getting to the fucking point. Maybe she's been around Verso too much.

Back to being direct, then. She does actually appreciate this style of communication. ]

They would like to focus on art, but pitched that the space could share or rotate exhibits, splitting focus between art vs history. If so, the museum half would need a curator.

I don't think I have the right qualifications or the time to manage half of it on my own, but so I was wondering if you'd be interested in working on it together. It wouldn't be paid, unfortunately, but I think it might be a valuable public service.

[elsecall]

[ A valuable public service. Jasnah's turn to laugh — although her is perhaps more hollow. Except, except, except. She reminds herself of what Lune has left behind. Tells herself that for someone in those circumstances, adding value to their current circumstances might carry more appeal than looking for a way out. A way home.

But most of all, she laughs because the offer reminds her of one she'd made to Sciel so early on. That she'd heard of someone else looking for teachers, and wanted to recommend the woman. How strange is Fortune. ]

And my self-reported inexperience with museums hasn't managed to dissuade you?

[ Perhaps the humour reads poorly by text, but it's intended with a good nature. At any rate, Jasnah considers herself a quick study. ]

[savante]

[ Equally wry, ] Mine might be even less. Our only proper museum was lost 67 years ago; anything else has been slapdash since.

And you said you were a historian.

[elsecall]

I am.

[ It's all very silly. Setting aside all the diligence, skill, and critical thinking required to become an expert in anything — Jasnah is acutely aware that her expertise in Rosharan proto-languages, the Desolations, and Voidbringers is hardly helpful here. And working at the library as a transcriptionist reminds her that she's a novice in someone else's historical waters. But... ]

It could be interesting. Tackling such a project alongside you.

[ How does one graduate beyond novice? She puts in the hard work. ]