Recording #002 | June Log

[the_archive]

WHO | Jon and OTA.
WHAT | DITL mostly, with a few starts in the comments. Feel free to run into Jon anywhere mentioned. He's flexing his Knowing, so if you're interested in dropping some knowledge, that'd be lovely.
WHERE | The Castle, Thorne, the Library, the Dungeon
WHEN | Post-Festival through the rest of June

Realizing that his connection to the Eye is whole again rather soured the end of the Festival for Jon. He spent a day behind the curtains in his room, enduring a headache, but now that's settled down to a mute throb, he's walking off the rest of it while he wrestles with himself.

It's not a surprise, this reconnection. Ambrose told him the respite would only be for a few days. And it's not explicitly unwanted. There are a lot of questions to which he needs answers, and he knows he can seek out those answers, but not without some cost. He knows he'll do it, since the information isn't only for himself. He has to work up the courage.

And he hasn't read a statement in over two weeks now, which is... troublesome. Despite taking full advantage of the dining hall daily (okay, nearly daily), he's aware of a constant vague hunger.

So the walking is as much distraction as exploration. He's going to wear out his sandals pacing the corridors of the castle and the aisles of the library, walking out into the town. He mostly confines his town visits to mid-day, when folk are often too busy to waylay an "honoured guest."

Comments

Room 7

[the_archive]

It's only notable because of where they are - there's nowhere in Thorne anyone could have gotten a tape recorder. It's just there one morning, sitting on the chest beside his bed. Black and silver plastic, old and so worn there's no telling what brand it ever was.

[moremilkplz]

It takes him a while to even notice it. The tape recorder. Sure, it's old and outdated and Homelander hadn't seen one at home for-- years. But he still grew up around them, he knows how they work and seeing it from the corner of his eye as he gets up, as he goes through his day and return to the (sadly) shared living space.

It just doesn't connect that it's out of place. Not for days.

And when he sees it, like really sees it, it's all he can see. Because it doesn't belong here at the castle, with the well-water and the goats screams. Which, who knew goats screamed that much?

"What in the hell?"

[the_archive]

Sitting reading in his bed, he looks over, just raising an eyebrow. "What."

Yes, he knows what.

[moremilkplz]

"That!"

And Homelander stabs a finger in the general direction of the tape recorder. "What the hell- how did they get that here and yet they can't seem to- you know what, I'm going to have a stern word with those lying mages."

[the_archive]

Jon looks down at it, as if he's only just noticing it himself. "Oh, that. No, they didn't bring it here. It brought itself."

[moremilkplz]

"What?"

His whole face twists and Homelander scoffs. "Things don't generally bring themselves. Did you bring it here? How?"

Homelander woke up naked, and with nothing to his name. Where the hell could anyone hide something like that.

[the_archive]

"Yes and no. They show up around me." He shrugs. "It might turn itself on, just turn it off it does."

[moremilkplz]

"Wha-"

This is getting repetitive and Homelander rests his fists on his hips and frowns. "It's-" How to even find the words for what this even is. "Alright. So, your superpower is to summon a tape recorder. At least that's new."

Useless, but new.

[the_archive]

"I told you it wasn't extraordinary," he says, voice level and his gaze flat. "They're not even good tape recorders. Antiques, where I'm from."

[moremilkplz]

"Right. Sure, you know what? I can live with it." he eyes it again, the unsettling feeling of knowing that it exists "Why don't you just pack it away somewhere and we'll call it done."

[the_archive]

Obligingly, he picks it up, opens his trunk, and drops it inside. It's almost the only thing in there. "Feel better?"

[moremilkplz]

"Much" But his eyes narrow at the trunk, before he drops down on his own bed and opens some kind of book. It's thin, with barely any pages in it but until he's powers are restored, he's forced to do this the old-fashioned way. One page at a time-- reading takes forever now.

"Why a tape recorder?"

[lone_horse]

Kiryu's not really going to remark on it so much as he's going to pause. And stare at it. And frown.

He'll move on until the next time he has a chance, when Jon's in the room, he'll point to it and ask-

"Jon, may I ask... about that?"

[the_archive]

It's something towards late when Jon's back, and he's pulling off his tunic when Kiryu asks. Pauses with just his eyes still showing, and looks where he's pointed.

And sighs deeply.

"Those just... show up sometimes. It might turn itself on. Just turn it back off if it does."

[lone_horse]

He nods... slowly. Right. Okay.

"Is it something you need me to remove for you?"

[the_archive]

"No point, another one will just turn up." He picks it up, turning it over in his hands. The cassette inside is at its beginning - nothing recorded yet. Hm. "If I keep this one around, might be able to keep it down to just one."

[lone_horse]

Another slow nod. It's a very strange concept, but he's not about to deny Jon his knowledge about his own abilities. He glances at the tape recorder and raises an eyebrow.

"'Recordkeeping'?"

[the_archive]

"I will be sticking with that," he says, acknowledging the half-truth of it.

[lone_horse]

"Just like I ran an orphanage," he says wryly, "and drove a taxi cab."

He feels it's only right, given the man has had something happen to give himself away.

[the_archive]

"Perfectly normal careers." Jon sets the recorder down on his folded tunic, sitting on the edge of his bed. His smile is dry, but there's frustration in his eyes.

"I'm going into town again tomorrow, if you're not busy before lunch."

[lone_horse]

He can appreciate someone who understands what he means when he doesn't say it.

"I would be happy to join you. I didn't get to go into town since I missed the festival."

[the_archive]

"Right, I still want to hear how that went. Been a few strange rumors." His tone is aggressively casual. For all Jon's in the habit of walking next to the truth here, he's not actually a good liar.

[not_caroline]

Coraline's never actually seen a tape recorder like this in real life. She was born in the year of our lord 2003, by the time she was old enough to actually use technology this was fully obsolete.

Coraline has no hesitation or qualms about other people's property when she spots it, and picks it up so she can sit with it on Jon's bed and press play.

[the_archive]

The cassette inside has a worn, blank label - maybe something was written on it and rubbed away? But it just plays an empty hiss.

Or is it?

Maybe, if she listens to it when it's very quiet in the room, there's the faintest hint of a male voice, but it's so eroded as to be unintelligible and unrecognizable.

[not_caroline]

The sheer strangeness of it compels her to keep fiddling, even after she decides the male voice is entirely impossible to understand. She rewinds it back to the start, and hits the record button, holding it in both hands as she lets the tape unwind while she thinks of what to say.

Eventually she decides on something harmless and not really a secret. "Ambrose is a fucking asshole."