audio: johnisn'talwaysaboysname

[spherenpc]

[Well hello Sphere. Hope you've been enjoying things going back to a sort of normal. Have the panicked voice of your resident ghost doctor from the space traveling future who hasn't been seen since ]

What the fuck is going on?! Where the hell is Laurie?! It's like I can't feel her anymore! I'm not even supposed to be here if I'm not connected to her! What the fuck happened?!

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Audio - UN: detwatts

[gadaboutdetective]

[To the detective’s credit, he knew better than to try to calm her down. People never calmed down if you just asked, and he couldn’t really blame her for it. So instead he’s going to listen and then try to figure out what indeed had happened.

This was not good.]

Mm— hello? I don’t know what’s going on, we’ve been trying to figure that out and find you all.

What do you last remember? Do you know where you were before now?

[Had Laurie and Max been with her? And if they had... why weren’t they back too? Honestly, he had a bad feeling about what her answer to that might be.]

[spherenpc]

The last thing I remember is the power coming back on. Then I was here and she isn’t.

[gadaboutdetective]

[Was that even possible?]

Okay, so you don’t remember anything between the power coming back on and now?

I know that sounds strange to ask, but uh— the power has been back for a while now.

[And that’s a lot of time to be missing and not recall. How did that even work with ghosts?]

[spherenpc]

No I don’t. And I know it has been. I can read! And no I don’t feel her and I should.

[gadaboutdetective]

[Oops. Right, she’d probably have realized that by now. Good job, detective.]

Then... I don’t know how your connection works, but if you can’t be here without it... Perhaps it’s there but masked because she’s in this other place that you were? Cut off, but still present enough that you continue to be?

[It was so frustrating, without knowing anything that happened or where Jon was during her ‘lost time,’ they’re no further than they were before her appearing. Even if it was good to finally see someone back.]

[spherenpc]

No. Without her I don’t exist. Literally. I’m bound to her life force. I can’t feel it. Even when she was dead here last time I could.

[gadaboutdetective]

[Could the sphere have... done something? Something to change how their connection worked? It could bring them back from the dead, so perhaps...?]

There has to be a reason that you’re still here then, I’m going to keep looking for her and the others.

[But maybe with some luck they’d appear shortly, maybe there was just a delay that was causing this...? Was that... a thing with magic? He didn’t know.]

... Before I do, and I know this an uh— ‘long shot,’ but do you remember anything strange from just before the power went back on? Any indication that something weird was going to happen?

[spherenpc]

No. I was with Laurie in the storage tent in agriculture. The lights came on and air started flowing and then there was this.

[gadaboutdetective]

I had a feeling, but I wanted to be sure... So it probably happened the same time everyone was mm... ‘reset’ back into their beds and awoken.

[He says reset because they all woke up perfectly fine, which was weird, all things considered.

The question was... What had they been doing all this time? Had Jon been unconscious for some strange reason, or had the sphere tampered with Jon’s memories of the last month. Would the others return the same way?]

[spherenpc]

Yes, that would be my guess but I have no proof. I don’t have anything without her.

[gadaboutdetective]

I know... But we’re going to find her and the others. [He sounds more serious about that than he feels, it’s one of those rare ‘someone needs to say it’ moments that he wishes someone else were around for.] Or perhaps they’ll be right behind you on returning.

[Whatever the sphere was playing at, it sent Jon back... Maybe it would send the others back soon too... Or something would present itself to explain all this.]

[spherenpc]

Maybe, I guess. But after the last few months I'm not exactly trusting in the Sphere anymore, you know?

[gadaboutdetective]

No... That’s probably smarter at this point, all things considered. Its intentions seem largely suspect, considering some of the things I’ve heard about people’s conversations with it. Even more so now.

[spherenpc]

So then what the hell do we do about it. It's not like we can fight the damned thing!

[gadaboutdetective]

I can’t say I have an answer to that, but um... one thing at a time. Getting people back, then figuring out how to proceed other than simply being wary.

[It’s not like he knows anything about magic or technology.]

I’m going to try to get back to that, but... if anything comes to mind later, or if you suddenly notice anything off, let me know?

[spherenpc]

I will. I’ll tell the entire damn city, that you can be sure.