CAPTAIN HOLIDAY ⥛ contact

[mmnpcs]

❝ Holiday here. Leave a message with your name and what you need. I'll get back to you. ❞

[ As of October 15th, calling this line will deliver this message instead: ]

❝ THE LINE YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED. ❞

Comments

1/28; telepathic message

[shuckit]

[[ ooc; i asked about this a while ago over here. let me know if anything changed and this isn't okay anymore! ]]


[ he's worried it's far too late for anything that could have helped holiday. they took so long getting to him, given no one wanted to try to take a chance at getting into the facility. maybe thomas can't blame them for being worried about the consequences, but he couldn't think about the captain without feeling a deep guilt and shame for not having done anything. when he'd learned about jesse's ability to give a boost to someone else's powers, though, he wasn't interested in waiting any longer.

so, in reality, he's sitting in his living room in heropa, with jesse nearby, concentrating incredibly hard, and imagining the location he needs to search, the voice and face he needs to look for. ]

Captain Holiday? Can you hear me?

[parcour]

[ There is a long, staticy pause before any kind of response is forthcoming, and even then, no thoughts that answer back seem very certain or clear; there's an overall fogginess. ]

Not before, I ain't heard you. Heard of? Am I s'pposed to? Where are you? Who the hell's this?

[shuckit]

[ that's encouraging at least. he'd been half expecting holiday's head to be a mess, not even banking on coherency being there, with how long he'd been left there. fogginess and uncertainty is at least better than the alternative. ]

'Cause I haven't talked to you before. My name's Thomas. I'm an imPort in Heropa.

[ how to go about asking this, hm. well, tact wasn't really ever his strong suit. ]

What are they doing to you over there, man? Just holding you?

[parcour]

I've known plenty of Thomas's. Doesn't help much. What is this? Why are you... how the hell d'you get in my head? Don't you know that's... it's... that's dangerous.

Who, the--? They're holdin' me, all right. Quiet as anythin' around here. How long's it been now...? A week?

[shuckit]

I'm a telepath. I had to get a power boost to try to reach you, but none of us know what's going on. Someone called L. Chases made an announcement that you went nuts and they put you in a mental house, but most of us thought it seemed like bullklunk.

[ there's a momentary pause, in which thomas is trying to take more of a curious look into holiday's head. somethings definitely off, but he can't tell if that's something that was naturally there, or something that was put there. ] Why's it dangerous?

Nah. Not a week. Try about three months.

[parcour]

Chases was never about excess. She gives you just as much as she thinks y'need and nothin' more. I only ever met her a couple times, don't always get along with Feds... they were startin' to crawl all over imPort operations when I was put up. Fired...? Hell if I know... don't remember much about it. It's all blinkin' in and out lately, the details ain't all there no more.

[ "Stream of consciousness" is a bit too on-the-nose as a descriptor for someone's thoughts, but it's clear Holiday's aren't following a linear track. They're distracted, disoriented, missing a step. ]

What's dangerous? You sure it's three?

[shuckit]

She said you were giving out imPort benefits where you weren't supposed to, and you started to have memory gaps. Was that true?

Being in your head. You said it's dangerous. By 'blinking in and out lately', do you mean since they closed you up in there, or before?

Yeah, close to three, three and half maybe. The announcement was October 19th - November, December, and now January. It's the 28th. Happy New Year.

[parcour]

Was it true? Which part? Yes? Maybe... but it's complicated. I was never the strictest about cuttin' the Unsettled imPorts off when I should, not everybody was so happy about that.

Dangerous for someone. Before... sometime. Both. Dunno. You're askin' a lotta questions.

[shuckit]

Sorry, bad habit. Look, I wanna help you, but there's no way we can get close to where they've got you without getting caught. That, and, we don't really understand half of what's going on. I'm trying to figure it out.

[ he pauses, searching his own mind for a moment, going over things kate had said before. a thought occurs - ]

Were you close to Salvatore Quisma?

[parcour]

He's dead, ain't he. I remember when it happened... sad day. Always wondered why they tried it the same as they'd done before, seemed so clumsy if they wanted to be subtle 'bout it. It might not've been the same people at all if you ask me.

Ol' Sal's the reason I'm alive. Not too sure... anymore 'bout that, though.

But you're damn right you'd get caught. Don't try it, I'll keep. Say hello to 'Rigo for me if you get the chance so he don't worry.

[shuckit]

Maybe not so dead. People've said they talked to his spirit not long ago. [ wait, what? ] What d'you mean what they tried before? Who?

Because of the coma, or something else?

I'll make sure the message gets to him. I'm sorry I can't do more.

[parcour]

No... still dead. Dead as he can get. Which is... y'know... he got an advantage there I suppose, but someone got him anyhow after they didn't get me. All 'cause misinformation's the Vanir's best strength, 'specially among themselves. Nothin' we did ever was perfect, but the way they tell it you'd think...

The Hornets? Whatever they are.

[ The thought drifts off. ]

Was I in a coma?

[shuckit]

'Got him'? Got him how? Hornets, yeah, that's what they're going by now, I guess. We've been trying to track them, but so far they'd just been messing with us. Left a riddle at the last place. What do you mean, misinformation?

Someone leaked an article saying you came out of a coma when you were 46, and Quisma died at the same time. You don't remember?

[parcour]

How? Ain't it obvious? I said he's dead. Or well I thought it. It's 'cause they're clever... don't get m' wrong. Messy but... clever. Not as much now though, clearly.

I remember readin' about what happened to Sal after I woke up, before L... La... whatever had all those articles pulled. They wanted... what'shisname... wanted him on their side and poor sap played right in their hands. Dunno the details or... timeline on that one, there ain't much to know... must've just started t'exist by then. Don't bother askin' me how I know who it was, 'cause I don't remember who told me. Don't remember a lotta things if you didn't hear already, so I dunno what y'all want from me. But when somethin' happens that we get the shit for, someone still had to actually be the ones to do it.

[qismet]

[ Without warning comes another man's voice, warbled in sound, but make no mistake: Salvatore Quisma is speaking.

Pleasantly: ]

If you will forgive the interruption, I do believe my old friend Parc needs his rest.

[shuckit]

You mean the Van-- [ he'd been halfway through responding when the second voice pops up, and for a moment, Thomas is near startled out of his skin. Less so for the fact someone else is in there, and more so because the voice immediately makes his mind jump to familiarity - Jorge. he'd seen Quisma in the video - just like him, but cleaner, probably. he already knew, so he shouldn't be surprised.

thomas rebounds from it, and there's an odd kind of excitement in having found him in Holiday's head. like another piece into the puzzle - kate had been right. ]

Send him my apology for working him up later. Guy could use a lot more than rest. [ he could use getting out of all this mess and back to his husband, but no helping that as things are. ] What're you doing in there, outside of driving your pal nuts?

[ there's no heat in his mental tone, just mild observation. ]

[qismet]

Excuse me?

[ The mild-mannered demeanor isn't dropped, but there is a hint of displeasure in his voice. ]

I never meant for this to happen to Parc.

[shuckit]

You didn't?

[ a genuine confusion. from what the others were theorizing, they'd all seemed to think the possession would have been something quisma activated consciously. then again, quisma would have swapped over back at his death, not just recently, when holiday started to lose it. ]

Can you tell what did cause it?

[qismet]

[ He hears that confusion. Slowly: ]

Everything that has happened, I mean. I'm sorry for not being clear. I'm certain if I hadn't taken his body, perhaps he wouldn't be in this place. Perhaps he would be with his husband, at home.

Or maybe he would still be stuck in that hospital.

[shuckit]

[ there's a pause, as if judging the sincerity behind that. as far as all the information they'd gathered on quisma, he'd only ever been trying to help, so there doesn't seem a reason to distrust him. ]

Is that why you did it - to save him? He doesn't know you're even there, does he? [ a beat ] Was it you helping us out with benefits, before they locked him up?

[ thomas 'fifty billion questions' edison ]

[qismet]

It was an accident. I don't remember much about my death... but I remember leaving my body before I lost all consciousness.

[ He breathes a sigh, exhaled by Holiday's body instead. ]

He may suspect it, but I don't know for certain. No, I don't have a sway on Parc's actions. Perhaps in some ways I've influenced him into helping imPorts, but my power is not as strong as it used to be. They are severely limited and have weakened over the years.

Often... I wonder how long it can last.

[shuckit]

You were found drowned on Cape Canaveral Beach. Holiday was saying they got to you - the Vanir? Hornets?

[ same thing, he supposes. maybe a shift in management? ]

I know someone who can boost powers. If he can get it to work for you, do you think there's any way we can separate you two? And keep the both of you... intact?

[qismet]

Was it? Unfortunately, I was not a man without enemies. I suppose this is my punishment for things I did. Things I had to do.

[ With urgency now: ]

Thomas, was it? I wouldn't recommend it. I no longer have a physical body and Parc is an ordinary human. I've attempted leaving his body before and Parc almost collapsed back into a coma. I think me doing so... did this to him.

I'm...

[ An uneasiness seeps in. ]

I am afraid if I'm separated from him, I may cease to exist completely.

[shuckit]

What things did you have to do?

[ spoken with a note of dread he can't really conceal. that never bodes well. he's familiar with "things that had to be done". they end in a lot of pain. ]

And that's when all this stuff started with him - the memory gaps, the confusion? After you tried to separate you two? [ there's a pause, and thomas's mind is running, trying to find solutions, options, fix the problem, solve the puzzle. he just doesn't know enough. too much up in the air. ]

What was the nature of your power, before? How did this usually work?

[qismet]

There's no benefit to getting into detail, particularly not for you. But I'm afraid to say that someday you will have to do the same. It's our burden as imPorts.

[ If only a nod could be seen. ]

It was a mistake. I'm sorry.

[ Then a pause; he sounds confused for a second: ]

You know my name, but not my powers? Astral projection and possession was my power. I left my body -- never for long -- mostly while consulting for the police. There are a lot of murders that go unsolved, so I wanted to help.

I had limitations, of course. The longer I was out of my body, the higher the risk was trying to return to it. It took quite a bit of energy from me, but that was because I wasn't so much a young man anymore, ha!