audio

[undiagnosed]

[a voice crackles in over the radio:] Hey, Blanche Barrow. Tom Jones. Put your idiot Tupperware away. You'll never get that shitty spaghetti sauce stain out of it. Probably tasted like gross water. Use a potato next time, Jesus!

[nice. really pleasant.]

So what's the verdict on people who disappear? Buried in the woods or dissolved in acid? My bet is the woods. Vats of acid are a pain in the ass to get, especially shipped up to some backwards ass town like this. Just a heads up, if you see some extra green grass or a gross dip in the ground then you probably don't wanna start digging.

[...]

If you see vats of acid, though, you can dunk your head into it. You get one freebie. Oh, and Harding? If you're listening in on this, your wife's cheating on you. Eat shit and die, thanks. Over and out.

Comments

audio

[righthandstand]

[He recognizes that voice!]

What about bein' sent to a different lab to get experimented on? They could still be stuck down there because no one knows where they are.

[undiagnosed]

[archer... does not remember okuyasu's. he did not care to remember. he barely even remembers that day in general.]

What, and only drop hints about one of them to us?

[he's considered this. he doesn't know what to make of it. that broadcast seemed incredibly genuine, but...]

[righthandstand]

Hey, how do I know how you found us? The guy who took us wasn't someone Harding liked, so he probably did a sloppy job at sneaking us away.

[undiagnosed]

By... asking? Reading? I don't know. What do kids do nowadays?

[that makes him sound old. he feels old. life is hard.]

action

[13thcommander]

[Sigh. Erwin knows that voice.]

[He also knows that he probably shouldn't get involved. He and Archer aren't friends, that's for sure, and if Archer is struggling, then that's none of Erwin's concern.]

[... except, like it or not, Archer is in his social circle now, and he hasn't been doing well since that day in December when he briefly went home. This just seems like the latest in a series of cries for help, and Erwin is enough of a masochist that he feels like he needs to answer.]

[And so it's about thirty minutes after Archer's semi-incoherent ramble that Erwin is at his doorstep, rapping briskly on his door. As soon as it opens, Erwin will wordlessly hold out a bottle of whiskey that he brought along.]

1/2

[undiagnosed]

[oddly enough, archer wouldn't consider this a cry for help. maybe he just doesn't understand himself enough to know what he's doing, which is... concerningly likely. erwin's very nice to bother. archer hasn't been doing well since his birth, really. right there on a bar in the middle of a warzone.

when the door opens up, archer is clearly confused to see erwin, does the double-take he always does when he sees the guy and mistakes him for someone else - oh, god, barry was my friend. this coma thing's been hard. - then takes the whiskey and slams the door in his face.]

[undiagnosed]

[goddamnit.

he really, really hates this fucking town.

the door opens up again a few moments later. archer is drinking directly out the bottle and somehow maintaining eye contact with erwin at the same time. he looks petulantly pissed.

he holds a finger up.

hang on.


hang on.

hang on.


okay. after downing half the bottle in one go, archer stands aside.]

Don't touch anything.

[13thcommander]

[Getting the door slammed in his face is, in all fairness, about what Erwin expected. He gives Archer a few moments to come to his better senses, and is getting ready to knock and possibly shove his way in when the door opens again.]

[Okay, that... that is a lot of alcohol in one go. Has Archer already been drinking? Probably, and if Erwin hadn't thought booze would be the only thing that would get him through that door, he would have brought something else. Still, he waits patiently as Archer chugs, then smiles when he stands aside to let him in.]

Thank you. I wouldn't dream of it.

[He's in.]

Are you feeling all right, Archer?

cw alcoholism

[undiagnosed]

[that's his secret, erwin. he's always been drinking. let alone in santa rosita, archer barely remembers the last day he got through sober. that alone should be enough for him to seriously re-evaluate his life, but archer's never really been fond of introspection. or being sober. at least this way he's likely to actually pass out and get some goddamn sleep, not that that's helped much recently.]

Yeah, I'm just fucking great. [the house isn't a mess at least. archer barely interacts with it and rapunzel cleans up most of the time. lot of paint around on the walls, which is her doing. archer has a dog now, apparently? there's a large rottweiler sleeping on a bed in the living room, having just had a walk if the mud all over it and the carpet is any indication. he has a ball in his mouth, drooling over it as he sleeps. his life is very nice.] What the hell do you want?

audio

[peninhand]

There are at least two opposite forces at work here. We know the Mayor's side doesn't want us here, whereas those who operated the bunker need us for their experiments.

[ She'd thought long and hard about that. ]

If those who disappeared did through the Mayor's authority, something along the lines of dead and dissolved in acid sounds about right. If they did under the bunker group's authority, they are likely in captivity. Of course, there is very likely a third force at work— The one that's broadcasting on our TVs without either the mayor or bunker group's approval. If those who disappeared did it under their authority--

Then we may never know.

Re: audio

[undiagnosed]

I'd figured those two sides were the same. [he's not sure, though, he can barely remember that conversation that had broadcast, and he's pretty sure he hadn't caught all of it. but-- hadn't there been talk of keeping them in the lab? god, he can't remember the mayor's voice apart from harding's. was it even harding? maybe it was someone from the lab?

okay. side note. he doesn't like calling the mayor mayor. can't remember his name. quimby? wilkins IV? he'll get back to this, when realising that pam would have something great doesn't make him want to punch a wall from grief.] I'll keep looking.

[that's muttered to himself, more than into the radio, but it's still audible. he can do this. he's the world's greatest spy, for fuck's sake. he can save them if they've gone and got captured like a bunch of fucking idiots. it's better than his original theory of them being dead. which... honestly, he still believes.]

Figures this creepy cult-y shitheap is full of in-fighting.

Re: audio

[peninhand]

Hmm, possible. I'm afraid I don't remember the conversation that well. [She'd normally be better at keeping tabs on that sort of things, but she'd not been in the best state of mind when it had broadcasted.] But that other man was clearly in disagreement with the Mayor. The police officer, Harding right? So I guess maybe there's Harding's side and the Mayor's side.

[ But in that case it means the Mayor may want them killed or kidnapped and Harding wants.... Who in the world knows. He's obviously working for the mayor yet also going against his will. ]

Infighting is likely. I think it's safe to say none of them are on our side. But we can use it to our advantage. Find out what the wedge between them is, then widen the gap.

Re: audio

[undiagnosed]

I don't think Harding has anyone on his side.

[that might be his bias against the guy, though. he sure does hate harding! useless sack of shit. archer doesn't think he could organise a piss up at a brewery. maybe he's having moral issues or whatever, but archer could care less. they're still here, aren't they?

wait, was that even the mayor? god knows if the guy who gave the speech at the christmas get together was even the real guy.]

You think so? Everything that was shared was through coincidence. [well, other than the stuff people have found sneaking around, but archer isn't privy to everything.] Or some shit-stirring benefactor.

[action]

[prodigalhairess]

[Rapunzel's lived with Archer long enough to tell when something is up. He hides how he really feels behind layers of sarcasm and snark, much in the same way Cass does, so when he really lays it on thick, Rapunzel can tell he's feeling... something. She's no sure what, but she's going to find out.

So she gives him a little time, between his audio message rant and when she approaches him, and she comes bearing what she hopes is some kind of peace offering before she grills him on the current situation; she has a mug of hot chocolate in each hand! The one she sips out of has plenty of marshmallows, and the one she seems to have prepared for him is much more reasonable in its presentation... and also has a shot of whiskey mixed in.

Probably not a good idea considering something is bothering him, but. Maybe he'll like it?]

Hey... did something happen?

Re: [action]

[undiagnosed]

[being around so many emotionally intelligent people that care enough to do or say something is a nightmare. seriously. he'd rather get in a fight with lana about this or shove cyril's head into a sink or something. this caring shit, ugh. this isn't how he was raised.

he's sitting lazily on the couch, Dog (still unnamed, though seems to like max for some reason?) sitting next to him. archer is absent-mindedly scratching behind its ears and considering going for a walk just to get out. he glares at the offered drink like something's about to jump out of it, right up until he catches a whiff of the whiskey, then he takes it.]

No. [archer says, immediately. i think i just lost my best friend.] Forget about it.

[prodigalhairess]

[Rapunzel doesn't seem offended at all with how he snaps or snatches the drink from her. Honestly, it just makes her worry even more. She's dealt with enough people who prefer to bottle things up instead of talk - hell, Rapunzel herself is like that often - and so she knows that it's pointless to try and force a conversation. She just... as to be there, until he's ready to talk.

It doesn't mean she has to like it, though. She wants so bad to help someone she cares about stop hurting....]

I can't just forget one of my friends being in pain.

[Hey Archer, remember how annoyingly stubborn this princess could be? Yeah, instead of leaving, she's just going to move over to one of the empty armchairs close by, taking a seat and tucking her legs up under her.]

I won't make you talk or anything. But you know I'm here for you if you want to, right?

audio

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It takes watching Erwin march silently out the door to get Cass to pull out her own wrist communicator and listen in on the garbled, incoherent speech she had only caught a bit of through secondhand listening. That quickly changes.

Through the haze of Archer's words, Cass finds only... worry. This can't be good.]

Maybe the people who disappear just end up going home.

Re: audio

[undiagnosed]

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Where are you? I want to murder you for saying that.

[he won't. like he can be assed even getting up right now.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Name the time and place.

[She will. But that's really just her choosing to fire right back at him.]

Don't you think it might be better to think that people aren't being killed around here without anyone noticing?

@PARKOUR

[webdesigned]

i dunno. doesn't seem likely that it's anything good.

my "dad" went missing about a month ago. and then my "mom" vanished pretty recently

( Peter Parker, the perpetual orphan. feels bad, man... Daylight, watch out... .. . .. . . )

@Archer

[undiagnosed]

[it takes him a little while to respond. way too drunk for this tiny ass screen...]

That's a superhero origin story if I ever heard one
Did you get new ones?

[webdesigned]

( Archer that was kinda fucking rude, how dare you :( )

yeah, start of the month. i'm hoping my odds turn around, i don't like how my odds are going so far

audio

[spaghettimonster]

If you ask me... I think, they found a safe way out of town, and left. But, somehow, the radios don't work out there... so they haven't called back.

[That's right, it's everyone's favorite neighborhood optimist, here to brighten people's days with hopes. Or rain on Archer's dire predictions, specifically, in a passive aggressive fit. Could be either.]

Or they're in November. It's still a mystery, where that month went off to...

Re: audio

[undiagnosed]

Uh huh. [there's an odd bitterness in his tone; archer wishes he didn't know to expect worse. well, that and the fact pam told him she wouldn't leave him behind if she found anything. we leave together.

god, he hates having feelings.

though that does give him a thought.] You think maybe they're drugged to the tits somewhere on whatever it is they use to make us... uh. Weird. Occasionally?

[spaghettimonster]

[Papyrus uses Optimism! It's not very effective...

Archer uses Ominous Prediction! It's super effective! Papyrus's Defense is reduced!

Which is to say, there's a faint choked sound from Papyrus's end. And when he speaks up again, it's with an even more exaggerated slowness, beyond the ways of compensating for his damaged facial muscles. A slowness and hesitant tone from drawing the words up all but unwillingly.]

It... did... sound... like someone, wanted to do that. But. I haven't run into any of them... shopping.