2020-10-06 - So About That Time You Tried to Kill Me...

(TXT to Alexander) Joey : Important. Pick up.

(TXT to Joey) Alexander : (Alexander's voice is a bit gruff, but he picks up promptly.) Kelly. Hey. What's wrong?

Joey coughs at the other end of the phone. It sounds not unlike pneumonia kicked the shit out of him, and there is the occasional benign ...beep... in the background. "Add-" More coughing and catching his breath. he murmurs, "Christ that shouldn't hurt. Addington. The dead one. The one with the ghost you kicked my ass...my ass with. Tried again." There's a pause and his voice, usually gruff, now hoarse and very tired asks, "Your ass better be sitting and elevating."

There's a pause at the other end of the line. "Kelly, is that a heart monitor in the background? Are you in the hospital?" He doesn't bother to hide his worry, or his outright shock. "...wait, what? Thomas Addington?" A cough. "And I didn't kick your ass with the ghost. I just had ghost rage. There's a difference. Are you okay? Do you need me to bring anything? What the fuck happened?" Each question fired like bullets from a gun, rapid and precise.

Joey sighs, resting and breathing with trouble but he's managing. "Yeaaah. Went to the boardwalk, me, Nicole, Roen, Aidan, couple others. Exorcist was there. Addington and some..." There's a sigh and a grunt trying to get comfortable which ain't happening. He's tired and sounds just exhausted like the words are coming hard. "some other asswhipe. Ghol? I dunno. Brought the Ferris wheel down. Trapped me in the goddam cart thing and drown me in the fucking harbor."

There's questions rapid fire and he slowly gets to him. "Yeah I'm in ICU...I think. They got me on antibiotics, and glued back together and shit. Nicole's arm is bust. It's a mess. What I need... is for you to know what happened."

"Can you describe the other asswipe?" Alexander says, starting to sound clinical about it. Detective Arriving On The Scene. It derails, though, when Joey goes on. Alexander knows Joey's fears, after that elevator dream, and that knowledge carries over to the vehemence of his quiet, "Fuck. I'm sorry, Joseph. That must have been...I'm so sorry." There's guilt there, too, along with the aching empathy. He clears his throat and tries to regain focus.

Joey quiets and in the edges the fear is still there. it's something that doesn't stop just because the threat's abated. That's the funny thing about real phobias; those experiences haunt you. He'll calm down when the salt is out of his lungs and he's done having them burn like hell and feel tired as shit from being used and abused as water balloons. "Thanks Alexander. Means a lot."

How do we combat fear? with systematic destruction and that means... facts. He can't do but he can think and he can get that to someone who may know what they need to do with it. Tiredly he racks his brain, "Um... beginning um... everyone looked kinda dressed old timey. Saw the Exorcist on teh ground and she seemed to see me and Nicole like from when we-" the words are trailed off trying to find a moment of pause. Christ he's not used to being winded. Were he in bad physical condition it might not be this good even which isn't saying much. "were at her office. Younger her. Something climbed the damn ferris wheel and slashed her throat. Blood raining down and shit. Was fucked up."

There's more. He's going slow. There are more beeps but they're even, vigilant and not of any great and dire emergency. They are annoying. Ask him.

"Dolores Cunningham," Alexander murmurs. "I've...got August on text, as it happens, and he's mentioned some of the same things. And in the Revisionist's museum, we saw a badge with the Exorcist-as-a-human on it. Her name was Dolores Cunningham. I think she was a nurse." He swallows hard at the description; he does have the somewhat unique perspective of someone who's had his own throat slashed by Gohl. Who is also his great-great-grandfather. Fucked up doesn't even begin to cover it. "So, it sounds like, if that's an accurate picture of the past, that Thomas was using Gohl as a personal assassin before he started to slip. Or Gohl broke out, at least once before. Damn it." He clears his throat. "August is suggesting we go back and talk to the Exorcist. What do you think?"

Joey tired, murmurs, "Yeah. Roen'd know. Sounds about right. He mention the black car that came up to pick him up from the playground?" Looking over to see if his roommate's up, and is currently napping he murmurs hoarsely, "Aiden Kinney here might have some usable knowledge of the city for you." More Baxters with city ties in this no less. "Way she was looking at us? I think she might... be tryin to tell us something? like an't tell us something but wants us to know? My ma... she does stuff like that sometime."

There's a long sigh and finally as for what he thinks? "Nicole and I were talking. We should visit her. I'm in." There's a pause and a snort of amusement, "Of course I also have a fucking concussion and am told I might have asked to have nuns with her yesterday. The drugs are pretty choice here. It might be true. I don't want to adopt nuns, but... I do want to know if there's something up. " There' s a pause and a upturn of curiosity, as tired as he is, "Revisionist that cat that got me the job, yeah?"

"He hasn't, yet. He thinks someone held down the Ferris wheel once it fell, tried to make sure it killed as many people as possible. I think that'd be Margaret Addington. Assuming that this Dream was an accurate representation of the past. And...maybe. It's possible the Exorcist could have been trying to show this to us. Also, don't have nuns with Nicole. I'm sure you can think of more entertaining things to have with her." A hint of amusement, there, in Alexander's voice. "And yeah. She's...she appears to be the person who makes the changes to our abilities, or whatever the Doctor, or Collector, or Director ask her to. And she mentioned that if she doesn't make some changes, sometimes, that things go 'sideways'. Whatever that means."

Joey grunts at guessing it's Margaret Addington. Joey's his own horse in this race and no love for the Bitch of Bay St. There's a snort that is a small laugh and a coughing episode at the humor "heh, yeah, I'll bring that up to her." There's a pause and sigh, "Anything. Could mean anything but sounds most like they're accountable to making it look like they're staying busy or they're out of a job or...something." There's a pause before a less certain, "Be my guess. How's the leg doing? Eddie come and take care of those leaves for you like I told him to?"

"Or all of reality collapses. There are times when I think this whole...thing that's brewing in the background is going to end in a suitably apocalyptic fashion." Alexander pauses, and frowns. His voice turns thoughtful. "I hate to ask, but if you can remember - did Gohl, or whatever, seem to go deliberately for the woman, or was it more a crime of opportunity? Like he just had to kill somebody?" The grimace can be heard in his voice. "Just wondering if it was a hit, or Gohl not being able to hold back whenever he's let out."

The guesses about the Revisionist's words meet with a dry chuckle. "It's about as good as I got. And yeah. Out of the cast, and the kid seems nice. He cleaned things up nicely. Kept asking me about how to be a detective. This new...false reality is less distressing than the other, but it's still weird."

There is a long pause and he sounds, well, tired. "Bro, my brain is scrambled like an egg right now." There's a longer pause in that same way someone with a persistent migraine gets to 'Tackle the Day(tm)'; with dread and too much input in no particular order, "Alexander. Sorry. Do I call you bro? I don't remember... I forget your stand on executives" Expletives. He's close. He's trying. "Lemme get back to you on it. I mean I ...think? I mean the fucker climbed to the top so...yeah? My guess is yeah?"

"I don't mind endearments," Alexander says, quite seriously. Worry creeps back into his voice. "And thanks. I know it's hard to remember things, right now. You need to catch a nap, maybe? Get some decent sleep and you'll feel better. And let me know if you or Nicole or anyone needs anything. I can pick it up."

"Apocalypse ain't so bad. Then we all get a day off. Can nap. Maybe a sandwich if there's any left." Yeah he's tired and his thoughts more liquid than solid. "I need one thing, bro.," He's using it. Fewer syllables too. "Don't get hurt trying to figure out what's going on. Gimme a couple days. I'll go with ya in case someone gets antsy." There's a pause and a tone of fond amusement, "Because everyone knows it's wrong to hit a teacher." Okay his humor wasn't too dented. Being awake is a chore right now and if nothing else Clayton catches onto that. "Nap good. Nicole or I'll call ya. No nuns." Yes all the take away from this conversation out of order. But the information is passed on. NOW he can rest.

"For a hardcase, Joseph Kelly, you are a complete mother hen," Alexander tells him, fond and amused at the same time. "My next stop is gonna be trying to set up an appointment with the Exorcist, at least for you, Roen, and Nicole. Maybe me, but I don't know that she likes me. But either way, you'll definitely be along. So sleep. Don't die." And then he hangs up.