Joshua Abrams wouldn't call himself a paranoid man.
He's quite reserved, even with his whims and bouts of ‘silly boy hours’, he's the type of guy who likes to mind his own business. His previous life gifted him a lot of patience, night shifts at work tends to do that.
And while it's not an exceptional or unique trait of his, the amount of times he felt his manager's eyes on him to make sure he's not on his phone made him familiar with the tingling sensation on the back of his neck, where some part of his brain is alerting him of the eyes watching him.
That being said, Joshua's patience is not infinite.
So when he feels something watching him again for the st three hours while patching up his section of the hospital. A part of Joshua’s fear is slowly converted into annoyance, and then to rage.
His eased, practiced movements while walking on the tile become heavier, his movements with less grace, his presence becoming rger as he stops concealing himself.
The gaze seems omniscient, peering through the cracks in the wall, through the thin slivers of the exposed windows not covered by curtain, it follows him to pces even he has trouble seeing in, especially dark pces of the hospital seem to do nothing.
It's maddening, and just about as annoying.
Something can see him.
But he can't see anything.
Is it the same creature from earlier?
He looks down at his cross, furrowing his brow at it. It hasn't reacted at all, nor has any message popped up.
It feels like he's missing something…
Looking out of a nearby window, he looks across the pitch bck pins. It is 8 in the evening, the sun has gone down not that long ago, but he can't bring himself to sleep.
Maybe he should, but he just can't.
The director's office only has one window, Joshua has taken the spot of sitting on a torn up leather chair and staring outside.
Jophiel is obviously tired, her head bobbing in clear exhaustion, but she's toughing it out as the debris is moved with her Magic Pony Powers? and the office is tidied up, slightly. There's not much she can do, considering how little of the office survived, but she seems to enjoy it.
“Jophiel”
She looks over, horn glowing.
Her eyes look glossy, she can barely keep them open.
“You okay girl?”
“Po…” She interrupts herself, dozing off for a moment in contemption.
With an annoyed huff, she shakes her head.
Poor girl.
“C'mere” Joshua adjusts his posture and waves her over. Jophiel complies, dropping whatever she has in her aura before dragging her tired fnk over to Joshua and plopping into his p.
A rexed sigh escapes her as she deftes, chair creaking at the extra weight. Joshua starts petting her, using his other hand to hold his chin as he continues to look out the window.
A strangely rexing silence envelopes them, even with the tension at the unknown gaze leering at them, Joshua is more surprised how soft Jophiel's fur is.
Of course, the moment does not st long, as the other group of stalkers need to make their presence known in their typical fashion.
[AWWWWWWWW]
[SO CUUUUUUUTE!!!!]
[<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3]
[why can't my ponyta be like that…]
[IonoZone: poor bABY is so exhausted
(/′△`\)]
[Josh ill give you 100 right now if you spend 5 minutes outside]
Joshua chuffs.
“Not a chance”
“Pony?” The Lap Horse chides curiously at his comment.
He moves the screen over to let her read the message, which she does with a tired gaze.
She just scoffs and shakes her head dismissively, ying her head back on the chair's armrest.
“Iono, I meant to ask earlier, but what's with all these people?”
[IonoZone: They're my followers (  ̄▽ ̄)]
[Yessirrrr]
[Iono brought me here]
[Chatter link]
[Still don't know how you're doing this]
[Screenshotted]
[Screenshitted]
[Cute]
Joshua stares at the list of messages coming in with a bnk expression. He honestly does not know why this is part of his ‘system’. Minecraft obviously doesn't have a streaming feature, so why is this here? It feels so different from everything else, like a half-assed addition to a game nobody asked for.
Outside of the company, if you can call words on a screen that, it offers nothing. Pragmatically it's useless, but as a human he can't turn away the social aspects of it.
Why? What's the point?
He pulls the dagger out of his inventory, rolling it around in his fingers while staring at it for the unteenthed time.
‘Ace’ didn't mention anything about a chat, or being livestreamed. But they obviously have to have the Minecraft system, like him, this here is proof. Why does he have a completely unreted ability that doesn't follow anything his base power can do?
Did ‘Ace’ just not mention it? No. From the little he can gather about Ace's personality, they would have brought it up in the letter.
The ck of answers makes him irritated.
Joshua is deep in thought as he brings out a small sb of unprocessed log and begins chipping away at it with the dagger.
He has no set design for what he's making, just letting whatever his subconscious brain do what it wants.
Eventually, the wood starts to take shape. A very familiar shape.
A crude but sturdy wooden cross sits in his hand.
“...it's you again”
Sighing, he leans back slightly. He's been putting back this question for as long as he could, but he can't stand leaving the topic alone.
Is God real?
Was that… entity, ‘him’, God?
Is Jesus real?
The cross protected him, was that Jesus? Or was that some… kind of magic? What's the difference? Something deep down tells him it was different, something divine.
Psalm 91:10 to 14
They were verses Joshua's mother would quote often, so some one of the handful of scripture he recalls. She would say them during stressful times of his life, those nights where he felt like the world was against him, and he was alone in the corporate machine.
He took it with a grain of salt, but he still appreciated her care. A hype man is a hype man, even if it is your own mother.
Now though, the verses seems more important than ever. The weight of it seems heavier in his mind, like the comforting heft of a shield to protect himself. As he recalls them, they slide out his lips in a firm whisper.
“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any pgue come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Amen.”
Suddenly, the air feels lighter, like a gentle breeze just rolled in and breathed life into the room.
But something else stuns Joshua, the gaze on him is gone, like a weight lifted off his shoulders. He feels invisible now, but in a good way.
Before he can dwell on it. A screen appears before him, one that makes his heart drop to his very core. The same featureless gold characters on a pale screen stares back at him.
[ Virtue of the Dove With Seven Names increased ]
[ Something is approaching ]
He looks down, his cross is glowing, vibrating against his chest.
But when he looks at his hand, he freezes.
The wooden cross is doing the same.