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

[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!

[shuckit]

[ he tenses at that, voice tight but careful. ]

Not a big fan of accepting only one, bad option. [ but there's a lot loaded into that that he doesn't need to talk about right now. ] How're we supposed to prepare for something if we don't know what's coming? Telling us could help us find another way.

[ steve had told him that - there's always another way. he's still not sure how much he believes that, but he wants to. ]

I know 'Phantom' and 'possession', I was hoping for specifics. With that, though, I'd say you've been out of it a hell of a long time to pass the risk zone. [ so basically, homie's screwed. unless something else comes along. the idea of this man fading out, and of holiday maybe going with him, settles a sorrow in him. he makes a mental note to keep his eye out for possibilities that might help. there's a mild smile at the guy's 'ha!'. he's kind of a funny dude. his mind wanders back to the part before - about how it'd been an accident, how he didn't know how it happened. maybe it was an unconscious panic, or maybe not. ]

How much do you know about Lachesis?

[qismet]

You're not a sharp one, are you? That's alright. You're still young.

I've just explained my powers to you. Was that not specific enough?

[ He sounds a bit amused, but confusion colours his tone following that last question. ]

I'm... sorry? The Greek myth?

[shuckit]

[ rude, bruh. ]

Yeah, well, sorry for being opposed to accepting a crap end without even trying.

[ bristling. he never was great with feeling looked down on. ]

It was, I was just explaining why I asked. [ not the important part. ] Sort of. That's the idea, at least. Here, it's the being that's possessing the Porter, as far as wide belief goes, at least. She was in the City that was destroyed, and brought some of the imPorts there over to this world in 2014.

There's been instances all over that keep relating back to her, or myth, or the idea of Fate. You don't know anything about it?

[qismet]

Did you really? It didn't sound like it.

[ He's unable to help a light chuckle. ]

I believe I've picked up bits and pieces of that tale from Parc and his conversations, but I don't know anything about that.

Why do you ask?

[shuckit]

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, chuckles. Whatever.

[ huff huff. rude ghost dude rude. ]

Wondering if she has anything to do with your problem. Or Holiday's problems. I dunno. You showed up on a video Ananke had from an auditorium, showing The Nutcracker in 2007 - how'd you get out of Holiday's body then without making his brain go all scrambled?

You were supposed to have died in 2004.

[qismet]

Did I? I had never left his body before.

[ A considering pause. ]

It's possible the camera captured my after-image, my spirit, by accident. It had happened a few times in the past. Sometimes technology has a way of seeing thing that aren't supposed to be there.