Around the dorms [Sunday morning]

[momslilassassin]

Half to give Ender some time to process Val's disappearance and half because it was a good idea, Ben was putting up hand-written posters on various bulletin boards:

Relatives and/or friends back home gone missing? Leave your information here, or contact Ben (555-LGCY or Ender (555-ENDR)

They didn't have the first idea of what was happening, but knowing how big the problem had become might help. Maybe.

[OOC: Open for finding him if you'd like!]

Comments

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn happened to read a poster on her way back to her room, and she was lucky enough to spot and catch up with Ben still on his way down the hall.

"Ben," she said, pleasantly enough (if utterly terrified), "are you sure that's necessary?"

She was really pulling for Puck's "the island is weird this weekend" theory. Please don't wreck it for her.

[momslilassassin]

"No, I'm not sure it's necessary," he admitted. "Why? Has stuff gone a little weird for you too?"

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"My mom forgot about my sister," Quinn said. "And my ex didn't recognize his new girlfriend's name, but good riddance on that one."

She wrapped her arms around herself, setting the pettiness aside. "Puck and I kind of hoped it might be the island going weird for a weekend again. Make us all think we're suddenly only children, you know?"

[momslilassassin]

"Could be," Ben mused. "Ender's sister seems to have disappeared today. I don't know if his brother's gone too, and I've always been an only child. If this blows over tomorrow, I'll be really excited."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I just don't want people to freak out for no reason if it is over in a couple days," Quinn said, biting her lip. "But if it's not..."

She let the sentence trail off. If it wasn't, she wasn't sure what they could do about it. It wasn't exactly the kind of problem she had any background in.

[momslilassassin]

"...at least they know they're not going crazy?" Ben offered. "Not that I have the first idea what to do about this if it doesn't just blow over."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"There is that," Quinn agreed. "And ... I have no idea either. Pray a lot?"

It was half flippant and half serious.

"Probably there will be something to beat up on sooner or later."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Because Wesley was about as clumsy as his player's other kids distracted, he nearly collided with Ben on his way out of his room. But didn't! Because he was sometimes aware of his surroundings.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I --" Hang on. Posters. He read one of the fliers and suddenly went very pale. "Has this been happening to everyone?"

[momslilassassin]

"I don't know about everyone, but I've heard about a few people," Ben replied. "I figure that it can't hurt to ask, see if there's a pattern to who's losing people. Why, have you?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley nodded. Finding his mouth suddenly very dry, he swallowed once before admitting, "Several people, actually. It's -- disconcerting."

[momslilassassin]

"Just a little bit," Ben said, nodding vigorously. "Do you mind me asking who?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ben. There was no time for a complicated explanation of the Buffyverse!

"A, ah, a former colleague of mine," Wesley summed up as concisely as he knew how to. "And the young woman we used to, er, mentor." So breaking the sibling streak, then. "Are there people missing from your world as well, or...?"

[momslilassassin]

"I haven't heard from my world at all for more than a month," Ben said with a shrug, "but I have no way to prove that's related to this at all."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully saw the posters, and pursed her lips, disturbed, then walked over, uncapping a pen. "Peter Bishop can't be contacted. Would that count?"

[momslilassassin]

"It could," Ben said. "Is he normally big on checking in?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"He usually at least sends postcards. He's twelve years back in the past, so there's always a time gap." Scully put her name and phone number down. "Claudia got a really disturbing phone message from him, that sounded like 'good-bye forever,' about two weeks ago. Like he didn't have a choice about coming back."

[momslilassassin]

Ben thought back. "Had Portalocity sent out emails then?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully frowned, trying to remember. "No, I don't think so? At least, nothing that set off any red flags in my memory. Claudia's been really upset, trying to find out what happened." So had Scully, surfing interdimensional theory sites on work time and trying his phone. "She might remember if they had by then."

[momslilassassin]

"I think their first notification came out on the 8th," Ben said. Perfect recall was useful sometimes. "But that doesn't mean that things weren't going wrong well before then."

He shrugged. "But it doesn't also mean there could be unrelated coincidences. I don't want to jump to conclusions without evidence, you know?"

Someone had been trained in investigation, yes.

[glacial_queen]

Karla had been doing some follow-ups on her own. "I don't necessarily have names, but I have universes affected," she said quietly. "Dinah, Momoko, and Priestly all have people missing. And--not just people. Places. Like, buildings and countries and whatnot. People are missing from Jono's world, too. The never-existed kind of missing."

As opposed to the usual kind of missing that people usually underwent in Jono's world.

[momslilassassin]

"Countries?" Ben repeated, blinking rapidly.

[glacial_queen]

"Priestly told Momoko that the Japan in his world has vanished," Karla reported. That had taken Karla awhile to comprehend. "Maps just have blank spaces where they used to be. No one's heard of them. Momoko's got whole streets and parks buildings missing. And no one but her had ever remembered otherwise."

[momslilassassin]

"That's really...disconcerting," Ben said, falling back on Wesley's word. "Val's gone too," he added quietly.

Which would explain the posters a bit.

[glacial_queen]

"Oh shit."

Not the most helpful thing to say, but what else was there? Especially since Karla didn't have anything that could help.

"Better to leave him alone for today?" she asked. "Not in the mood for visitors?"

She didn't think Ender would be up for sharing his pain with many people. Or any. Maybe Ben.

[momslilassassin]

"Yeah, he's gone quiet," Ben said. "I'm giving him some time to himself."