i • ( text | anonymous ) • just after the sirens

[playthings]

[ There's quite the text out there on the network tonight, Siren's Port, from a person who wishes to keep their identity quite under wraps. The anonymous communication is sent just as the sirens end, punctuating the alert for anyone looking over the feed. ]

A cage. That's what I'd call it. A well erected one with all the toysies we could hope for, all the people to make it feel like you never left, all the corruption of home... and then some.

A little birdy and her lovely pamphlet told me there's a secrets most people are keeping. Some of them don't even realize it. That everyone here is a little more than ordinary.

I disagree. Most people are ordinary or striving to be normal. Average. Mediocrity is soooooo fashionable.

B O R I N G

I wonder, could anyone really want to embrace anything more?

-Anonymous

[ There's an additional piece to this post should anyone be so inclined to open it up and take a peek. ]

file attachment: rabbit_hole.txt

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[ Brace yourself, Siren's Port, the game is about to begin. ]

(( ooc notes • welcome to jim's creepy ic intro. feel free to crack the code and respond to it (it's simple binary, you should be able to google for a decoder). ALL of jim's responses to this post will be anonymous texts only and he may throw in encryption or file attachments. ))

Comments

anonymous text;

[playthings]

A bird among fowl.

How unique.

-Anonymous

[ He just can't see how that's special when, allegedly everyone here has a power. ]

[gabriel_gray]

Thus comparatively not so special.

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I was raised to be extraordinary. In the end you're still flesh and blood like everyone else. Fair game.

[playthings]

Wrong wrong wrong. Games are never fair. What's the purpose if anyone can win?

Do you like games?

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

I like baseball. I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

[playthings]

Ah, American. No, no, not your little sports.

I meant games where the stakes are much higher.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

Maybe you should try them. A good bloodthirsty ball game might sort you right out.

As for your question: I'm a Senator, the stakes are always much higher.

[playthings]

I'm quite sorted.

AH, the frontman. The voice of the already well voiced.
Your stakes are always on others.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

I'm not only a voice, I make difficult decisions, have a responsibility beyond myself. But it does make me different. Unique? Wasn't that what you were asking for? People who dared to embrace being something more.

[playthings]

Your strings are showing, marionette.
Best tuck those in.

But I am quite fond of those in your line of work. We often see eye-to-eye.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

I like to think I'm a little more complicated than you can read in a few lines of text. In fact, I'd be prepared to bet on it.

[playthings]

Let me let you in on a little secret.

No man is as complicated as they hope. Even those with deep dark secrets.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

My world makes things complicated. And fair to say my family does the rest. But maybe you're right. Still, you're not going to know, are you? How interesting is your world? More or less than this one?

[playthings]

Thinking that the previous world makes the man; therein lies the flaw.

Evolution.
Darwin had the right of it.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

Does it make you?

You're awfully sparing on the personal details.

loving this conversation tbh (so many edits sry)

[playthings]

Don't underestimate me when I say that I made it what I wanted it to be.
What does that makes me? I'll let the Senator decide.

Anonymity is a tool. I intend to wield it properly.

-Anonymous

It's okay! And yes me too. The sad thing is Nathan doesn't know how complicated he is.

[gabriel_gray]

You already said that you have a thing for politicians. And you clearly like to be in a position of power yourself. Anonymity is just that; power. The power to know someone else without being known.

But it's a certain sort of person who craves it, and consequently as much of an example of who you are as it would have been if you'd introduced yourself as a SWM who enjoyed long walks on the beach, the music of Madonna, and complex strategy games.

[playthings]

So what woud you make of me if I gave you an initial?
Or are you interested in faces?

The human condition is to presume you can know a man by knowing a name or a face.
I like to think I'm a bit more complicated than that.

-M

[gabriel_gray]

That makes us both more complicated.

But to answer your question, of course I'm interested in faces. Politics is about showing mine off to its best advantage, after all.

[playthings]

Mummers and mines and all that jazz.

My name holds more sway than my face.
Where I come from, that is.
Isn't that the point, dear Senator?

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

Maybe, maybe not. A face is sometimes more memorable than a name, but both--now that's how you get remembered. Look at Abe Lincoln.

[playthings]

The public eye and I aren't acquainted.
I'll save the glory for the senators.

-Anonymous

[gabriel_gray]

You do that, then.

[ Disconnected for now. ]