video: un: samporterbridges

[greatdeliverer]

[Sam's a little more used to the devices now, so when the video starts, his face is a normal distance away from this time. He waves and gives an awkward kind of half smile, rubbing at the back of his neck.]

Hey. I'm Sam. I just got here a couple weeks ago. You've probably seen me around. I deliver for SuperWaiters. Uh, what else.

I'm from Earth? America, but maybe a different America from yours. From the East Coast, mostly. I was a delivery person there, too, so I traveled a lot.

[There are some small, sleepy noises in the background and Sam murmurs Oh she's up before swinging the camera around to show a pod with a baby in it, carefully nestled into the crate with blankets]


That's Lou. She's my little girl. She uh, she's a preemie. The pod helps her.

Anyway. [He clears his throat and brings the camera back to him, waving again] I'll probably see you around town.

Comments

[greatdeliverer]

I'm used to meeting people through holograms, so this isn't much different.

The pod gives her what she needs, for now. So she'd be pretty easy to look after. [He smiles softly and draws a finger over the side of her pod, his heart melting at the sleepy noises she's making.]

You're not the first to offer. She kinda has that effect on people. Makes them fall in love with her the second they see her.

[iseegoblins]

Holograms, really? Weird.

[ She kept help but smile watching that. ] That's pretty cool that the pod does that for her. How long does she have to stay in it?

I think you both probably play a role there. [ Jean laughs very lightly. ] Nobody can resist an adorable family. Brings out the natural instinct in people to want to help make sure they both stay safe and happy. [ Or maybe that's just her and her own bias towards seeing a dad look at his kid that way. ]

[greatdeliverer]

A doctor friend at home said she might not survive without it. Might not even survive long in it. But I'm going to find a doctor here, see what we can do to take care of her.

[He clears his throat a little.] Yeah, holograms. Where I come from it's pretty dangerous to be outside for too long, so most people just send out a hologram. Met a few people who've never seen sunshine.

[iseegoblins]

I'm uh, not exactly a doctor but I have a lot of medical knowledge. Enough to preform state of the art surgery. If you don't find anyone here or end up needing some help, I might be able to.

Oh, wow. What makes it so dangerous to be outside?

[greatdeliverer]

Thank you. You have no idea what that offer means to me. And Lou.

As for what's dangerous outside -- a couple of things. There aren't a lot of roads, so the terrain's tough to get across. If the rain hits you, it ages you pretty damn fast. [He ruffles a hand through his hair, which as a few white streaks through it]

But the worst are these -- they're like ghosts, kind of. Except if you come in contact with one, it can cause an explosion big enough to crater a whole city.

[iseegoblins]

We're all stuck in this together, might as well try to help each other out right?

The rain ages you? That's messed up. [ What is wrong with his world??? ] Okay, ghosts that cause meteor explosions. I can see why it's dangerous to go outside. How did things get like that?

[greatdeliverer]

We're not sure, actually. There was this event -- we call it the Death Stranding. It meant that a lot of the dead were half stuck in our world, half stuck in theirs. I talked to someone here who deals with uh, dimensions crashing together? I think that's the closest way to describe what happened with the Death Stranding.

Now, whenever the dead things make contact with a living thing, it causes another dimension crash.

[iseegoblins]

Death Stranding. [ Well, the name kinda made sense at least. ] That sounds...complicated. [ Complicated seemed like a light way to put that actually. ] Dimensions crashing sounds super bad. Is there a way to reverse it? Or at least stop the crashing?

[greatdeliverer]

No way to reverse it, not that we can see. Mostly we just have to avoid it. People stay inside. The only ones that travel are people like me. Porters -- delivery people. But we're fitted with equipment to scan for the dead things. Let us know when they're around, so we can avoid getting caught by them.

[iseegoblins]

That must be frustrating that the only solution is just staying inside. What made you take up a job that dangerous?

[greatdeliverer]

Freedom, I guess. The chance to wander and see parts of the country people have forgotten about.

I'm, um. I have -- [He bites his lip, because it's a weird thing to say to someone new, but -- ] It's easier for me. I can sense them. I can't see them, but I can feel when they're near.

[iseegoblins]

I guess...I can kinda get that. Wanting to travel and have freedom. [ It's why she'd ultimately left Earth. ]

So...you have powers?

[greatdeliverer]

They're called DOOMs, where I come from. Those of us that have them are DOOM sufferers. Some have them stronger than others, but all of us are able sense the dead things. Some of us get dreams. Visions, I guess. Some of us get other things.

[iseegoblins]

Where I'm from we try not to think of our gifts as something we suffer from. Though I guess calling them DOOMs kinda ensures that from the start.

private all the way down

[greatdeliverer]

I guess it could be considered a gift. Do you have gifts, too?

private all the way down

[iseegoblins]

I mean, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of it as something that doomed me when I was younger. But yeah, I do. We're called mutants and most of us have different gifts from one another.

[greatdeliverer]

Mutants, DOOMs. Not very nice ways of saying, "Hey, you get special powers."

I can um. If something kills me, I get yanked right back. I can die, but it's only for a few seconds before I'm up and moving again. [He moves the phone a little so the camera catches the odd looking handprints on his shoulder, panning down to show they go all the way down his arm before his face is in frame again.]

The dead leave their marks on me. I have more handprints every time I come back.

[iseegoblins]

Mutant seems better than DOOMs but they're both kinda not the most flattering.

[ Her eyes widened and she frowns a bit at the handprints. ] Do... the marks hurt?

[greatdeliverer]

Not really, actually. They just look how they look. I stopped minding them a while ago.

What about you? You said you had some medical knowledge I know, but I don't count that as a super power.

[iseegoblins]

That's cool that it doesn't hurt.

I got the knowledge because of my powers, so I guess it kinda counts. [ She looks just a bit awkward and rubs the back of her her neck. ] The shortest explanation is that I'm telekinetic and telepathic.

[greatdeliverer]

Telepathic, huh? That's gotta be useful. Or -- terrifying, depending on whose mind you look into.

[iseegoblins]

Bit of both. When it first manifested I couldn't control it at all. I just...constantly heard everything from everyone all around me. That was pretty terrifying. Now, I can mostly control it, but it also means I don't get many birthday surprises.

[greatdeliverer]

At least you can control it, now. I know people who can control their DOOMs, do amazing things with them. But I'm not that high level.

[iseegoblins]

Sometimes I have a problem with it and some other aspects. It's a lot easier now though. [ She shrugs a bit sheepishly. ] If you ever want some help trying to learn more about your abilities, maybe I could help? I kinda worked for a school that did that.

[greatdeliverer]

[He shoots her some awkward finger guns] That'd be great, actually. We could meet up some time. Talk about -- being mutants.