(SPEECH TO TEXT) FROM: @OBJECTION | TO: @ALL

[murdocksboy]

I've been advised against using my real name, so I suppose for now you can call me Jack. As a relatively recent addition to COST, I'm curious to learn more about my fellow recruits. What led to your decision to join up? What has your experience been like?

And maybe most pressing at this moment: do any of you have advice on how you dealt with your near-death experience and the recovery following it?


@OSCARBAIT | @SPIRITFINGERS | @APPLEDIE

I hope you've had better success than I have.

Comments

let's go with PERMAPRIVATE

[omniavincit]

Someone you loved?

[murdocksboy]

yes

and what's funny is that this isn't the first time someone's tried to convince me she had to die. i just don't want to believe that.

[omniavincit]

I'm sorry.

Both times you made the same choice?

[murdocksboy]

no uh no the time she died for real we fought side by side and she uh

i'm sorry william she isn't something i can easily talk about over this damned texting thing

how about we talk about you for a while

[omniavincit]

Okay. [ He doesn't know whether saying there's a universe where she's alive would be cruelty or comfort. ] I'm not great at it.

Where do you want to start?

[murdocksboy]

don't have to be

how about something easy like tell me something interesting about where you're from

[omniavincit]

I'm from Connecticut.

[ A joke he knows isn't likely to land. ]

In my world, Ymir is a story. An old story, practically primordial. There are as many different versions as there are people to tell it, but most agree he was a giant. He rose out of a pit, a gap in the universe.

Does this sound familiar?

[murdocksboy]

pretty sure that went over my head. in case we're just trading places of origin, i'm from new york.

i think so. norse myth says the gods used his body to make the earth?

[omniavincit]

It's not a hotbed of excitement, that's all. I live in New York now. Or did.

That's right. His skull was the sky and his blood was the sea.

It's strange, knowing your world has something in common with this. No matter how distantly. I don't know what to do with it.