VL121R | Text | Night 20

[meadqueen]

Zam is gone. I do not know what happened - she was here last night, but no one has seen her since. Some of her items remain here, but her call sign has disappeared.

Comments

[salamanca]

He won't like it, but as soon as it's safe, I'd have somebody pull him in during the night and make him sleep with you. Until then, I'd set up times to have him text you. Or text somebody he likes better than you.

[ This aside brought to you by: Cohle will be even more insane if he feels like the kid isn't being considered. ]

I'd like to ask you a few more questions, if I may. How are you feeling now?

[meadqueen]

Martin and Jet travelled here with him, I'll talk to them.

[She takes another breath. She's still shaking a bit from the adrenaline]

I’m all right.

[salamanca]

Do you know how to find your pulse, Randvi?

[meadqueen]

Yes, but I'm not injured.

[salamanca]

I know that. Stick with me. Find your pulse at your neck. Close your eyes. Focus on just your pulse, nothing else, until it's steady.

[meadqueen]

I’ll try.

[There’s a long pause. Given that he's done this before he can probably feel the rhythm in it]

It’s steady.

[salamanca]

That's good. Detective Cohle taught it to me. It helps me keep myself calm during the lightning strikes. I'm usually afraid of those, but this works pretty well to keep me from getting scared.

How are you feeling now?

[meadqueen]

I still feel unsettled. I promised people that they would be safe here. If anyone can steal in here in the night and just

[No. There's no point in running in circles in her own mind when things need to be done]

I’m breathing easier.

[salamanca]

Stay with me. Focus. The best way to know how to prevent it from happening again is to make sure we have all the information. I'm going to ask you some more questions, and then we can make a plan.

[ Randvi seems like the goal-oriented type, so hopefully giving her directions and something to occupy her mind with might help...and if just so happens to benefit him too. ]

You said Zam was gone "in the morning." You saw her the night before? When was the last time you saw her? Right before you went to bed? Who was in the longhouse with her — Jet, Martin, Senku? I know K and Squalo are out.

I'd like to get a timeline of her disappearance, if I can.

[meadqueen]

Yes. I ate with the others, and then Kokichi left and I returned to my room. It would have been Jet, Martin, Senku, Steph, the man Senku calls “Steampunk” and Zam herself in the main longhouse.

[salamanca]

Gracias. Any other missing callsigns? Or only Zam's?

[meadqueen]

Zam’s is the only one of ours here that is missing, but I've noticed a couple of others. The woman who always called me Victor. The girl named Beth.

[salamanca]

[ Waittt. Who tf is "Steampunk?" ]

Yes, I noticed Beth's too. It's a pity. She was charming.

There's one more thing, Randvi.

[meadqueen]

[Yeah, she doesn't know either sorry]

What is it?

[salamanca]

[ If they were in person, he might lean over. Grip her arm gently, if she'd have it. Or he just might stare off into the middle distance, if she wasn't the touchy-feely kind. Maybe he'd clear his throat.

A moment of human connection, of... what's it called? Oh yeah. Relatability. ]

You're used to being responsible for the lives of other people. I get it. I'm a cop. I am too.

I don't know what happened to Zam, but I'm certain it's nothing you could have prevented. I know that has to be hard for you to read. I can imagine it's not a comfort. I'm sure you would like to believe you could have saved her. I'm sorry.

But things here are not like they are for you at home. Things can happen that you have no way of predicting or even understanding, because they're so far outside your realm of experience. All you can do is learn from it and move on. Did you know an elephant fell on The Detective and me this morning? It's true! Right out of the sky! I don't know about you, Randvi, but elephants don't fall from the skies where I come from.

All this is to say is that holding yourself responsible for the whims of a place behind your understanding, when you have no way to predict what could happen, will make you insane.

[ He's not kidding about that. He's experienced it himself, firsthand. How the feeling of helplessness, of how having your strength and autonomy just ripped away from you in a way you can't understand, can unravel you at the seams if you let it. ]

There is something I'd like you to do, though. If you're willing, of course. I don't want to impose.

[meadqueen]

An elephant? Are you alright?

[She only vaguely knows what that is, secondhand from more widely travelled people like Hytham and Yanli, but they're supposedly quite large]

What is it that you want me to do?

1/?

[salamanca]

Not to worry! We're both fine!

2/?

[salamanca]

The elephant, not so much. I'm telling you, I don't think I've ever seen a hole this big in my entire life!

3/?

[salamanca]

Ugh! My hair is a casualty, too. I'm still picking the elephant chunks out of it.

4/?

[salamanca]

[ If only he was talking to someone who could appreciate the agony of spending precious time styling your hair with hair gel and whatever shiny surface you can find to use as a mirror only to get Dumbo chunks in it! Alas. ]

5/?

[salamanca]

Anyways! There are two things I'd like from you, if you can.

6/?

[salamanca]

The first one, and I know this will be hard: DO NOT organize any search parties. Not until you hear from her again, anyway.

You send people out looking for nothing, best case, it's a waste of time, and worst case, somebody else could get hurt looking for someone who can't be found. Based on the information we have, Zam didn't leave on her own and she wasn't killed or taken by anyone human.

If I had to guess? Especially with her callsign being missing from the list on the walkies? She's either been killed by something or someone beyond our understanding, or she's been taken away somewhere by something we can't understand yet until we know more.

7/?

[salamanca]

[ Or... has she? Lalo thinks back to AN000N and how that name doesn't show up on any of the walkies. He wonders if Zam was able to figure out how to do that; or Beth. Are the disappearing people disappearing, or are they hiding? ]

8/?

[salamanca]

[ Ah, but no! Lalo still doesn't believe Zam could have left on her own without being noticed or leaving more of a trail, so hiding is out. And while he doesn't know Zam well enough to be sure of her motives or behavior, going through all of this trouble to get to the base, establish a home there, and then suddenly leave doesn't make any sense with what Lalo has observed of human nature. Especially to leave barefoot. Especially to take only what you arrived with, and nothing you acquired here.

Minus the walkie, apparently. An interesting wrinkle, but one he has no clue how to make heads or tails of at the moment.

Besides, there are a lot of reasons to keep that kind of information to himself... for now, anyway. But he really doesn't think there's anything to be gained from sharing it anyway. Zam isn't hiding, and floating the possibility just seems likely to sew more chaos... which he's usually a big fan of, but not in this situation. He probably wouldn't have even been so blunt about the possibility of death if it had been anyone but Randvi, but Randvi is from a different time; she can handle frankness in a way most people on the island can't. ]

9/10

[salamanca]

So, that means she's either dead, in which case she's going to turn back up eventually. Or she's gone somewhere else, and if she's somewhere else, it might be that she's gone somewhere much better than here, and that's not such a bad thought, now is it?