thesphererp | audio; un: s.rogers

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audio; un: s.rogers

[ Steve sounds like he's out of breath, like a man who's been running. For anyone who knows him from back home, you'll know how hard Steve needs to run in order to sound like this. ]

Does anyone copy?

[ If he sounds firm, it's because he needs to be. He has to believe that it's not just him left. He has to believe that he didn't wake up in a new world, just to live through this again.

It's only after connecting to the network now, however, that Steve realizes he might be able to access its archives. ]

----

[ Update. Steve posts a second message roughly thirty minutes after his first one. ]

Thank you, to everyone who responded. For those who aren't aware of what's going on, there's an explanation in the archive. If you currently feel isolated. Alone. If the people around you have vanished. Find the nearest exit and keep moving until you see can people again. You will find them, and this feeling will pass.

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[Alex's voice has more than a little relief in it, and she responds quickly.]

Hi. I'm here. Alex Reagan, I don't think we've met before. Where are you?

I can. What precisely do you need to be copied?

I assume you've been inside the nightmare fields.

Are you okay? Alright, dumb question, you don't sound alright, but are you hurt?

[ Hearing anyone's already gets him to stop running. To just breathe for a moment as he shuts his eyes and processes that someone else is here. Someone else is alive. ]

Alex. I'm— [ Steve. I'm Steve. But he just answers her question instead. ] I'm not sure anymore.

A few miles out from the dormitories.

You?

Copied?

[ He doesn't pick up on the joke. Not yet. Not while he's feeling like the everyone in the world has disappeared in front of him.

But first Alex, now another person. Just hearing the words alone starts to calm him down. ]

[ That devastating, isolated feeling isn't gone, but Steve is no longer panting when he responds. ]

Nightmare fields? What- [ There's a small sound of wind, like Steve is looking around, trying to find something. ] What do you mean?

[ By now, the panic at least, has died down.

And somehow, having the sound of other human beings played directly in his head is comforting. Maybe only in this one scenario. ]

I'm—

[ Steve looks down at the small rip near his abdomen and the red taint of blood seeping through. He doesn't even remember how he'd gotten cut. But it isn't deep, and he knows his body well enough to know that it'll heal. ]

I'll be alright.

Okay.... but what about right now?

[The sad part is that he's not joking.]

Copied. Are there documents that you need to be copied?

[ He sighs, barely audibly, in frustration. He doesn't want to belabor this, but he also can't blame the man for asking a question Steve knows he'd ask himself. Momentarily, he can't quite decide what to share, or not. ]

Copied? No, I—

[ Steve stands there for a moment, stunned, for multiple reasons. ]

No, no. I meant— [ Two breaths, as he keeps walking, instead of running. ] Can anyone hear me.

It's nice to meet you, Steve, and it's okay. You're not alone, I promise.

I was in the merchant dome. It was weird, it was like everyone just vanished at once. I left and everything came back. So if you can get out of the dome you're in it'll help.

Ah, then yes, I can hear you.

Yes.

There are areas of the Sphere that currently are playing on a fear of being alone. People are there, but you can't see or sense them. As soon as you notice something wrong, get out.

[ She sounds calm in a way that feels impossible to him, but he breathes a little easier regardless. ]

Get out of the dome...

[ He repeats it, nodding once before he looks up, using the curvature of the dome to determinate the direction of the closest wall — and therefore exit.

How the volume of his breathing starts to lower. ]

Alright.

[ This is a plan. One he can follow and execute, and the firmness of it grounds him. ]

I hope you're right.

[ There's no response from Steve for many minutes after.

Alex has told him to find an exit, and so he lets his finger fall from the network.

Eventually, he responds again, sitting this time, and waiting as the feeling of total isolation starts to slowly evaporate. ]

Thank you for responding. There seems to be some kind of ... psychological effect, taking place in the domes. I'd thought everyone had ... disappeared.

[ The next second is just the sound of Steve's labored breaths.

He nods, slowly, even if no one else can see. ]

Get outta here. Got it.

Keep calm and stay connected to the network. It seems that's the only way to communicate in those areas.

They're still there; there's just some sort of spell passing through the pods that causes you not to be able to see, hear or feel others.

[ Wanda's newly back in this place -- not that she remembers being here before, but ah well. The familiar voice comes through and her response is quick, but confused. ]

Hi...?

[Alex has already done most of her freaking out and is freaking out more privately with her people which is why she can be so calm.]

It seriously stopped as still as crossed the dome boarder. You have got this, Steve. I promise. And I can keep talking to you until you get out of there if you like.

[ Tony knows damn well Steve has to run to sound like this, and it immediately puts him on high alert. Or, rather, in higher alert than what he had originally had been, considering the circumstances. ]

Steve? Where are you?

[Because you know what? It's really nice to hear someone's voice, even if it's only in his head.]

Copy what, precisely?

Please. [ Steve has never had trouble asking for help, but the word comes out sounding more desperate than he intends. What can he do? Isolation feels like a rope against his neck. ] Keep talking.

[ Just because he can see how the dome curves doesn't mean it'll immediately lead him to a door, but once he's at the border, he can follow it until he finds one. Slowing down only once to double check that a hatch isn't some kind of exit, Steve picks up his pace again.

Soon after, he sees the door. The exit. Undisturbed. Clear and open.

As soon as he steps into the tunnel connecting this dome to the next one, there are people all around him again, and the noise should carry through his comms. ]

Sorry- [ He says, softly, to the woman he'd just accidentally bumped into, but there's a relief in his voice that he wasn't sure he'd ever feel again. ]

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