text, un: daylight.

[sunborne]

[ in the mid-afternoon, after trying and failing to get in contact with the others and with suspicions growing by the hour, daylight finally sends out a message to the network at large: ]

It looks like people are going missing.

Two of my friends, Okuyasu and Kiara, haven't been responding to any of my messages or calls since yesterday.

I've gone around th town to see if I can get a glimpse of them and nothing. Nada. Zip. Jackshit.

Coupled with other faces not being seen around town anymore - Have you guys noticed anyone else not popping up? Or noticed your friends not responding to messages?

Let me know so we can keep a track of everyone's status.

Comments

[sunborne]

[ oh man he's going to sound like a total creep but: ] I made a few sketches of Okuyasu and Kiara. Along with some others I met in person. It's to practice my sketching.

If you want, I can show them to you if you're at your place right now. Making my way back to the neigbourhoods.

[ as for where they've last been seen... ] I've only chatted with some of the missing people on this network. The last person I met who went missing is Okuyasu. We went to Uliveto's on the 5th, around the evening.

[ the day of the luncheon. after it, yeah, but the same day nonetheless. ]

[weifinder]

( sometimes you just sketch your friends. he reads this but doesn't feel particularly one way or another; he paints from life when he's so inclined, after all. )

Time for another delivery? Yes, please do. If you need other copies, I'm capable enough with a brush.

Fairly large gap in time with that, but we can look back, trace how he'd have gone home even. Does he live with anyone who can confirm he made it home later that evening?

( change: text to action! around late afternoon, after talking to erwin. )

[sunborne]

[ the messages from daylight are sporadic since he's already making his way to wei's place but he does try to provide information for wei to work with while daylight makes his way. ]

He mentioned a dad being his house buddy. That's about it.

Don't know their name or if they're also missing. [ it's frustrating for him to realise that there are so many names and roles that he doesn't know. it makes him more determined to learn what the fuck is going on but, right now, the current situation has his full attention.

when he makes his way to 211 mockingbird lane, daylight realises he doesn't have a package on his person or his clipboard. he'll improvise, he tells himself, and hops off the bike to jog up towards the front door. ]

Er- [ think fast, day! ] Special delivery retrieval! I'm here to pick up your package, sir.

[weifinder]

( a half beat and then he beams, rubbing the back of his neck as he laughs. )

Right, right! You know, I was still working on getting it together. Might be a moment, can I offer you water or tea in the meantime? You can tell whoever's next on your package pick-up route that it's Old Mister Wei's fault, I'll make them congee to make up for it!

( a scooping gesture, come in, come in, duck that tall head of yours and step into his brightly coloured living area. the door will shut behind daylight, with wei wuxian dropping the smile. )

Not to say having lists of information around is a wise idea, but do we really have no idea about who's even recently arrived? Nevermind, nevermind, it's important, but not as much as the missing. Has anything like this happened before? Nie-xiong told me about the doorway issues with the festival town by the lake. Has anyone checked out that way?

[sunborne]

[ nei-xiong...? daylight wonders if he's referring to huaisang.

he'll bring that up in the conversation, he decides as he comes inside the house, but, right now, it's more important to get the ball rolling on their main topic. ]

In terms of people vanishing, kind of? We've had people disappear on us but they've all been... unperson'd, I think is the best word for it. [ daylight goes on to explain how people like dean winchester and huaisang's house buddy have seemingly vanished, with locals acting puzzled and confused whenever their names are brought up. definitely, not a promising aspect but daylight has noticed something:

during his writing down of the lists and checking the past posts to see if they pop up, he noticed that the persons who are missing and aren't acknowledged are also no longer on the device's directory. so his working theory is that if the person is missing and their name is no longer on the walkie-talkie's directory of names, there's... not much they can do.

the ones missing but are still on the directory - like papyrus and saoyri, okuyasu and kiara - have a bit of a chance, at least. ]

-I haven't checked the lake yet, personally. Been keeping myself in the town to try and keep an eye on some places I have some suspicions on. Got any reasons why you're thinking about that place? [ he's curious and open to any possible places they've got to check out. ]

[weifinder]

.. Ah, the ones who suddenly aren't known within town, and disappear from the paintings inside the houses.

( is just one interjection as he listens, confirming his awareness of how that goes, compared to anything else. )

Not uniquely, but it is one place people were ending up before without trying, and it could have been a portaling going wrong. If that was a lead in to this happening, instead of its own occurrence. Could explain people going missing abruptly—walk through a doorway here, end up in another location.

( though he holds up his empty palms after saying this. )

Doesn't mean it did, but the precedence for that kind of abduction exists. What locations were you watching?

[sunborne]

[ sounds like someone told him about the christmas village then. much as daylight wants to believe it's a case of transportation gone wrong, he wonders how that will explain the lack of responses on their devices.

that's for another branch of conversation they can have if the chance pops up. right now, daylight pats down his body to pull a crumpled up napkin from the blue moon diner since it has the list of places he's keeping an eye of. ]

Right now? The police station and the hospital. Since that's one of the few places I can think of that can hold that many people without getting too many looks. [ that, and he's keeping an eye out of the police station in case wrathion tries to sneak back there. daylight hopes he doesn't try to sneak back there and start something. ] The tunnel is out of consideration. That leads outside of here, allegedly, and they're still on the directory and I can still connect to their devices.

[ these things are too archaic to have that long of a range. they need to be nearby. ] Places like the diner and neighbourhood are out of the question too. Because. You know. Diner and neighbourhood.

If you twist my arm, I guess they could be underground but... That just widens that searching grounds to something impossible. Not until we get clues or hints of where to look next.

[weifinder]

( knock someone over the head and make off with their device--then again he's used to that level of trickery, which doesn't take much. the concept of being in constant contact with anyone at all is a strange one for him. he's still adjusting. )

What about underground attached to any of the big buildings? If people are being abducted, they might not be in a place others could see them, so how appropriate the location is might not matter. What other large buildings are there in this town? There's that department store thing, that might count...

( he's thinking out loud, but he's not yet inventoried every building; and the schools have not occurred to him, though the hospital has, and the police station for being such a strangely busy hive of activity anyway. (strange being relative. the concept of a policing force in the way its seen here is novel to him.) )

Are there any normal kind of... tunnel systems below streets or houses? For the water and the waste, things like that. I don't know how the plumbing here works, but it has to flow somewhere. Does it all stay small?

[sunborne]

I mean... [ he rubs the back of his head, humming thoughtfully. it takes him a good while to think up of an answer but, when he gets an answer, it's something they could work with.

hopefully. maybe. let's see what wei has to think about the following details: ] Yeah. In theory, Santa Rosita should have two to three underground infrastructures. Personally, I think only two are viable for how many are missing.

[ he counts them out on his fingers, face a picture of concentration as he tries to think about it. ]

There are sewage systems. For, you know, wastes. There should be a sewer system and it's easily accessible due to it needing upkeep and maintenance. You know those metal discs on the ground? On roads and sidewalks? Those are manholes and the most direct way to get in them.

There are the storm drains. Those are used to, well, drain away the waters that come during especially strong storms. Usually, there is only one outlet for the waters but it's pretty big as it diverts to canals or rivers.

[weifinder]

( is this the moment they go on sewer adventures. are they saved from this by having the televisions play late at night. are they going to later map the sewage systems and ensure no clowns have recently escaped down there.

daylight, what adventures await in their future? )

Do you have any idea where this storm drain outlet might be? The sewage system, if it's below those metal disks, it's at least easier to note where to look on those. I'm not against doing either...

( he hesitates, wrinkling his nose; )

Since bathing here's far simpler than back home. All the hot water arriving out of faucets saves time, but if uh. It's going to be a smelly business, it'd need to be handled in a way that doesn't attract attention.

[sunborne]

[ i guess you could say there's a real chance for wei and daylight to be neckdeep in s-

rubbing the back of his neck, huffing under his breath, daylight tries to remember anything else about storm drain systems. ]

Usually, storm drains, er, drain out to places like maybe canals and rivers and lakes? [ daylight didn’t exactly pay attention to human infrastructures while growing up and most of the information he has is from lessons from a long, long time ago. the fact he can pull this information out — after a thorough shaking of his thoughts, mind you — is a bit of a miracle.

so is this tidbit: ] Usually storm drains and sewer systems are separate systems— [ thank the stars for that. ] —so there are two options to investigate if we want to look around.

[ and he’s going to be honest... he rather not go wading through waste and remains, thanks. not unless there happens to be real evidence the others are down there. ]

[weifinder]

( there are Needs for exploring all this okay, sometimes that's a character's destiny, ending up neckdeep in s....tormwater )

I know there's the lack, is there any other water moving through this area?

( he hums, and nods, because all this is way different from anything he knows. he's trying to make it make sense. to him, this just sounds... probably important? )

Think we can find any maps of either of those? I don't mind doing the footwork, but it helps if it's not entirely blind. Or I assume it helps. Are these things laid out in a familiar pattern in your experience?