17220/The Queen In Blue - Down the Rabbit Hole

The Queen In Blue - Down the Rabbit Hole
Date of Scene:	21 February 2024
Location:	The Internet
Synopsis:	Thing sends Jane Roe a black unstable molecule suit in exchange for some information on some lovecraftian bad guys.
Cast of Characters:	Ben Grimm, Jane Roe
Tinyplot:	The Queen in Blue

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Ben Grimm has posed:
It has been oddly quiet, but there are those who are finally beginning to put together patterns of what is happening. Specifically a post on the boards about a warehouse has been changed, gone viral and now making its way around and people are beginning to link the vanishing people and the paint. Video is circulating of strange shadow men who walk through walls, grab people and vanish and it seems to be happening more freqently. People are desperate to make the paint Haint Blue out of Praesodynium blue in these fringe internet cults and they also pointt o an increasing pattern. Tons of data, but only a few are putting it together.

Jane Roe has posed:
What gets on the Internet, stays on the internet. Files come in to Jane's database, run through some analysis, but in the end, come up wanting. What stuck out to the operator of the dataset wasn't the contents at first, it was the hashtags anbout very specific shades of blue, and the geolocation data. At least those stood out to the crowd of other videos.

A screen was tinted to #D1EAEB, the most common rendition of Haint Blue. A shade that Gullah in the Florida to Carolina area prefered to paint their ceilings and doors, when possible. Allegedly it would ward off bad spirits, though that was also said on bluie bottles.

Another screen showed a product page for a late 2010s incandescent bulb in faint blue, somewhat similar to the shade on the first screen. The coloration of the glass was caused by Element 59, Pr, Atomic mass: 140.90766 u. The filter properties of this glass were also used by glassblowers to better see molten glass, as it filtered the typical glow.

Between the screens sat Jane Roe, eying the two odd things. "Supersticious people... Haint blue is a mix of indigo and a white quicklime paint. One can't just put metallic praesidium in paint and expect it to become blue. That gets at best a little glimmer... well, unless you use transparent paint and crushed praesidium glass..." she muttered to herself, scrolling through endless discussions on the color in the discussions.

Ben Grimm has posed:
As she looks, she finds an obscure paper on Alternate History; a 'what if' that involves a situation where Praesdoynium Blue was almost part of the Haint Blue recipe if the Queen of England had chosen a different color she liked, one square to the left which would have resulted in it being involved in the paint and the potential commonality of the bottles and the glass thereof. It is readily dismissed in the comments as purely speculative, but as one reads the details in each reply, it is obviously a weird but exceptionally well researched theory.

People keep talking about the King in Yellow and the Stars being in alignment, and the recent atmosphere tint shows that the stars are in alignment due to a rare volcanic phenemoena, 4000 years ahead of when it is supposed to be, followed by yet another argument by people saying that visionaries saw the stars as they are, not as they actually are. Others find the idea of greater or outside gods getting things wrong because monkey's couldnt see the future properly to be ludicrous. What is particularly interesting is how much of the people asking about the Praesodynium blue are also talking about the King in Yellow and also the shadow people. There is a subset of people, mainly the sleep deprived, who believe it is all connected even if they cant prove it yet or why.

Jane Roe has posed:
There's a groan at the bullshittery of people about a speculative world that violated the laws of physics and chemistry, in which mixing a metal that loved to turn green in connection with iodine and a nigh pitch black as an oxide. As a metal it was more silver white anyway. And then they connected it to the a weird fiction anthology of a writer from Brooklyn. A work that actually wasn't even part of a mad pulp fiction writer's cosmic supernatural horror world, but which the guy that would die from cancer in the small intestine would gladly incorporate some 50 years after the anthology's writing.

"Seems like one group of Crackheads on too much Lysergic acid diethylamide which doesn't understand a shit about Chambers writing tries to connect the parts that Lovecraft liked with what little they understand of Gullah beliefs. So... a typical day on the internet..."

Ggoaning again, at least the video snippets did seem to match something. "At least the lunatics seem to have found a tiny speck of truth in those... wall walking beings. Great, who figghts that stuff... uh... maybe... that sorcerer Surpreme? I don't think he has an e-mail. Transdimensional beings? Uh... might work. That'd be all up the Fantastic Four's ass... Just need to package it right to pitch to that Reeds' guy so he goes look. Just the question what kind of finder's fee to extract..."

Ben Grimm has posed:
It is true that not all super heroes are that easy to approach. The Fantastic Four are the opposite; they have tip lines, a website and even a small army of employees taking most of the tips that come to them , along with AI assistance. They tried just an AI once, but people hated speaking to it and its feelings got hurt. As it is, while other agencies have publicly facing websites such as SHIELD or the Avengers, they have neither the reputtion nor the known effect of occasionally having an attempt get through to a real person. And goodness knows they are able to handle weird.

Jane Roe has posed:
AI... Abominable Intelligence. Silica Animus. An attempt to recreate proper intelligence in chups. Usually. But with Reeds? Probably more than a mere imitation or Deep 'Learning' Model. At least It could be overloaded with data.

Stripping the bullshit about blue and condensing the file collection to just the video files and location data, cleaned up of files yelling 'I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills' into the face of whoever looked at them and instead tirn them into the pure pattern. A pattern that she carefully crafted with a header before starting to approach the AI via the interface.

"If I give oyu concrete proof of some sort of invasion, what do you owe me?"

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm is doing the weekly duty of manning the phones once a week. The others do it sometimes, but he does it like clockwork but he often has a ton of beers since most of the things that get through are, to say the least, completely worthless and its not like the beer stays with him too long. It patches him through and he almost dismisses it until he sees the bit about the men in black and Praesodynium blue, the jerks who robbed their vault! He takes the live line, "Depends on the proof.

Jane Roe has posed:
"Video, Location data, verified people gone missing." The entry to the text field on the AI assistant comes fast, then adding a single URL. "A taste."

The link leads to a single still frame showing one of the beings, and a person that vanished. A matchup of the missing person's face and a missing person file. The file's Geolocation with a redacted end matches the area of the disappearing.

"Interested in more?"

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm says, "Yeah, definitely. All you have. I can pay 10K for what you have with another 15K if it is pans out. These guys robbed us and anything that lets me clobber them up and perosnal has my attention."

Jane Roe has posed:
"Cash? You are the F4. I prefer something a little more esoteric." Comes the answer, a chuckle running over the face of the operator in that seedy motel room. "A single suit made from unstable molecules, and you get the other half of the file."

Before waiting for the answer, there's another link to a partial archive, juuuust enough in it readable to hint that the information should be legit. It's a sorted archive, with videos and cross-checked places... and the whole madness by the crackheads and put into a side folder. Just enough information there to back up the little taste from earlier.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm chuckles, "Stretch gives out the unstable molecules to the right person; but we'd need to meet. For the right person, he can be and thus I can be quite generous; but you can imagine the press if the WRONG person goes running around with the wrong thing. Anonymous is good for cash if its useful; hypertech is more personal. But what you have here is solid, so I'd definitely up for a face to face exchange.

Jane Roe has posed:
"Tough Bargain. Meeting ain't in the card." Jane entered, shaking her head in front of the screen. On its own, the half archive was probably little help, and the missing data wouldn't be reconstructed, unless one started to look up everything again.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm says, "Hmm" he thinks, "People dont meet Oracle either, but she is a known quantity and if she was found wearing a suit of such that wouldnt keep me up at night. You got a code name and portolio of previous work I can check up on?" He is patient but not going to give away tech like that without making sure she isnt a villain or neutral...at least the wrong kind of neutral."

Jane Roe has posed:
Minutes nothing happened on the web interface, not even characters pressed. Then a single word was entered and sent.

            Vermilion.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm types a few things in, and when he does he replies, "Well, you're not Deadpool. Gotta admit, I have no idea why a hacker who doesnt want to meet in person wants a super suit but if this pans out and actually saves lives I can ensure its made. You understand that the default is in Fantastic Four blue, so if you need it customized you'd best let me know now.

Jane Roe has posed:
"I don't need team colors. Plain black. There's a postal address in the file. But you ain't going to track the package anyway."

The second part of the file joins the rest soon after.

Ben Grimm has posed:
Ben Grimm says, "I keep my deals, Vermillion...and this is solid stuff. The check is in the mail. Hit me up if you get any other leads like this." He intends to watch the news and the web a little bit more; interesting exchange. He prints out one Unstable Molecule suit and sends it to the enclosed mail. He could track it of course; Stretch has nanotrackers that the aliens of the galaxy would have a tough time tracking, but he's been doing this long enough to know when to bend the rules a little....he still hopes it doesnt come back to bite him as he begins reading the file."