IC Voicemail

[solvethepuzzle]

"This is Nathan Brooks. My apologies for being currently unavailable, but please leave a message and I will return the call as soon as I am able."

Comments

Voice

[enflammen]

[The photograph was important? But how ... as a bargaining chip of sorts, maybe - that's what Mello thought, that Near must have known they'd meet and that's why he held onto it, why he let Mello know he had it.]

And you still have the photo?

Voice

[solvethepuzzle]

[That could explain it, yes. But it would not explain the writing on the back. It doesn't seem like Near could have reasonably expected Mello to think it was genuine.]

I've kept every object I've Echoed. [Because they are important. Because he thinks that maybe they will help him understand.] My house wasn't too badly damaged by the fires, so all of them are still intact.

Voice

[enflammen]

Do you think I could take a look at it sometime?

Voice

[solvethepuzzle]

I do not mind.

... What are you hoping to learn from it?

Voice

[enflammen]

I dunno ... you said it's important, right? Maybe just ... why.

[Like maybe if he holds it in his hand, he'll get another Echo, with a better explanation, or more insights. Maybe there will be some kind of clue as to who Mello and Near were, something better than what they've been shown in memories.]

Voice

[solvethepuzzle]

It's never given me the reason why, but I suppose I cannot rule out that you might get something from it.

Voice

[enflammen]

Yeah ... I guess there's just no way of knowing what's gonna set off a memory until it happens.

[If the process were entirely predictable, it could potentially be avoided, if not fully, at least in part. Like with the memory that prompted the phone call.]

Hey ... thanks for talking with me about this. I'm feeling ... [tired, mostly] a little better about it. It's kind of a shock, you know?

Voice

[solvethepuzzle]

[It's true. Sometimes the most unexpected things can set off an Echo. And even the expected triggers could give something they don't anticipate. There had been a combination of the two factors for Nathan when they'd fled Willow Ridge during the invasion.

[He still does not quite know why that had triggered gaining riot gear. Custom-fit for his size.]

It's no problem. And I suppose it would be. I'm not sure most of us ever remember . . . that part.

voice

[enflammen]

I guess ... maybe there's a reason for it. Something to learn from it.

[A more full picture of who Mello was, maybe, though Micah doesn't have a clue about what the overall purpose of that could be.]

Anyway, if you think of anything else you know about this guy, will you let me know?

voice

[solvethepuzzle]

Perhaps.

[Or perhaps most of them had actually survived the ordeals which they all have come to remember. Lazarus remembers that he'd died. Nathan does not. Putting together what he knows . . . he thinks that Near probably survived the Kira investigation.

[... Possibly thanks to Mello. Strange as it seems, given their relationship.]

I will let you know.

voice

[enflammen]

Thanks, Nathan.