For SRWU, an attempt at a different kind of story

[killed_the_cat]

 1.) [New guy's wandering around base. No military insignia of any kind, but he's got an ID badge clipped to his chest that reads "JOHNATHAN VALE-PRESS".]

So this is the unity group, huh...
[He can be seen taking pictures as he wanders around.]

2.) [Later, the same guy can be found wandering around the hangar, though he's got an escort as he takes more of his pictures.]
Quite the variety, isn't it...

[He's probably even taking pictures of your robot.]


3.)
[If you're going out to the bar in town, who should you happen to see there but-Johnathan Vale, Freelance Reporter. He's got a laptop, a notebook, and dozens of sheets of paper arrayed in front of him on the table. The ashtray's got plenty of cigarette butts in it, so he's probably been here a while.]


Heh, I'll probably be doing this until the day I die...
[He takes a drink of his scotch.]

Comments

[killed_the_cat]

Yeah, but on my income, there's not much help they can give. Still saving up to get an MRI.

[A chain of islands off the coast of japan. There's hundreds of tiny little bits of land out there. A spot on the largest one-the only one with any sort of human habitation marked-has a red X on it.]

Doc's said that if they find a new disease they're gonna name it after me. So I have that to look forward to, I guess.

[in_over_his_head]

I suppose it would ... Why the maps?

[He traces over the Xs... something about that island was prickling at his brain and he didn't know why it was.]

[killed_the_cat]

That's where they found me.

Washed ashore 15 years ago with no memory and nothin' but the clothes on my back. Wouldn't have even had a name to go by if it were't for those dog tags I had.

What, you a detective? Or just a concerned citizen?

[in_over_his_head]

The first one is pretty close to what I do.

[Calvin pulls out his credentials.]

Calvin Eldred Edwards. I'm an inspector with ESUN's Office of Special Investigations. Technically I'm not on any assignments right now, but given that the mandate of the OSI is to pull off covers from mysteries to better help mankind...

I'm not averse to trying to help you figure this out.

It's like Fox Mulder and Kolchak teaming up

[killed_the_cat]

OSI, huh...You really think there's some kind of mad scientist involved in all this?

Isn't it great?

[in_over_his_head]

Maybe, maybe not. Saying that your lapses in memory and this grab bag of issues you're dealing with here are an after effect of your accident is a little too clean cut and convenient.

Is there anything else? Anything odd that happened or still happens around you.

[killed_the_cat]

Well, alright, if you're fine taking on my obsession, so be it.

[He downs the rest of his drink.]
Headaches crop up whenever I think about this stuff too hard, that's the weirdest thing...like I said, my doctor's hoping to get a new disease named after me. Other than that, it's all in here. [He gestures across the table again.]

Though, what I could really use right now is a ticket to japan. Don't suppose you've got one of those lying around...

[in_over_his_head]

I suppose you could say its already in the job description...

[Calvin listens as he goes over the documents again, shuffling the papers in the right order before settling them down.]

And its this matter specifically and nothing else?

[The investigator's lips thin into a tight line. Something about this felt very out of the ordinary. If it was chained to a specific set of thoughts... some kind of mental block?]

I could find something, but I can't make any promises. And even if I can get us there it'll probably be uncomfortable as hell.

[killed_the_cat]

Hey, I'm used to bottom-rate airlines. It'll be just like normal.

...And no, the headaches aren't just about this. I keep a log.

[He hands over the notebook. There's all sorts of activities recorded in the cramped, scratchy handwriting; taking photos of base personnel, talking to people around town, going to the laundromat, reviewing photos for sale...]

I've been getting them more frequently now, actually. Ever since I got back from that bit in mideast and went to this gig.

[in_over_his_head]

[Which threw one part of his pondering off. This is going beyond weird. This was not the strangeness associated with normal human mysteries... but rather. Calvin's mind raced as he flipped through the notebook, taking into account the times and activities and weaving patterns within patterns.]

I see...

[The Unity Group for a lack of better term was nothing short of a weirdness magnet. For something like this, along with the incident itself its no surprise how being in close proximity to them would cause such a reaction. There was no doubt about it. This was no ordinary mystery at all! His expression tensed as adrenaline pumped through his veins.]

[The patterns are there, and very familiar just like Romania and Germany and everything was falling into place now he could almost taste it.]

With everything I'm getting here I'm not surprised. The world's been going through a lot more trouble and maybe there's something in the air that's making you react.

[killed_the_cat]

What, like carbon monoxide?

[in_over_his_head]

Carbo- No. NO! Though I'm probably willing to admit that's sort of a problem. But that's not what I'm talking about.

[Calvin clears the rest of his drink in one go, feeling the burn just smash at everything on the way down.]

These might not just be headaches. At first I figured it may have been some kind of complex psychological trigger someone put on you at first to keep you from digging too deep. You try to investigate and your body starts having problems...

But the more I think on it and this log...

[He looks dead serious right now, just what is he getting at?]

I'm thinking it might be some sort of ESP that may have been jarred open by that incident, and you experience some sort of sensory overload when you get close to anything that triggers it.

Phenomena of an unexplainable nature in other words.

[killed_the_cat]

...

[in_over_his_head]

I'm telling you this is exactly what it is! All we need to do is dig a little deeper and we'll find out everything we need to know!

[killed_the_cat]

Yeah, you can uh...go...do that. [He starts packing up his stuff.]

Uh, good luck. I guess.

[in_over_his_head]

... You think I'm crazy don't you.

[killed_the_cat]

No, I've seen crazy people. You're just a believer.
[He finishes packing up his stuff into a large messenger bag.]

Water fluoridation, vaccines causing autism, the kaiju are an inside job...those people aren't crazy. But they have faith, and faith doesn't care about facts.

[in_over_his_head]

But I do care about facts!

[Its just that a lot of them lead to places that other people would think him crazy for.]

[killed_the_cat]

But not Occam's Razor. Look, we live in a crazy world, but just 'cause there's aliens doesn't mean there's psychics and unicorns.

I'll see you around. Do all the occult detective stuff you want, but I'm not gonna be your guinea pig for it.