>>> [BBS THREAD: has anyone seen Small_Talk?? (serious post, don't quote me)]
[THREAD STARTED BY: /RubyRose] 2075-05-02
/RubyRose
OK. SERIOUS POST. i'm going to try to do this without yelling
Small_Talk hasn't posted in a month. not one line. not in any thread, not once in April.
i don't know his real name. i don't know where he lives. i know he's a troll and i know he takes his hot sauce seriously and that's the whole file. i've been in i don't know how many threads with him and i can't tell you one thing about him that would help me find him
so if anyone knows anything, or has a guess, or has a guy, please say it. and if you don't have anything please don't make a joke about it. (Ledger that's for you too)
/Ledger
My Records:
Last post: Friday, March 29, the Toll thread, four words: "Someone bought her customers." That is thirty-four days ago. His handle is active. No ban, no lock, no deleted posts.
I don't do theories, but I'll say the absence is statistically unusual. Before this he posted one line in nearly every thread, very rarely two. I logged the gap as an anomaly on day nine.
/RubyRose
YOU LOGGED IT ON DAY NINE AND SAID NOTHING
/Ledger
Nine days is inside the normal range for a man with a job. Day fifteen is when it stopped being one.
/RubyRose
YOU LHAVEN'T SAID ANYTHING ON FAT FIFTEEN EITHER YOU JERK
/Ledger
Calm down and type that again.
/RubyRose
YOU HAVEN'T SAID ANYTHING ON DAY FIFTEEN EITHER YOU FAT FUCK
/Ledger
Language girl. And for the record, I am not fat.
/Abuela_Diesel
I asked around, because that's what I'm for. Nobody I know has seen a troll go missing, and for a man that size to vanish quietly he'd have to want to. Trolls don't disappear quietly, sweethearts.
Either he's somewhere he can't be seen, or he's somewhere he doesn't want to be.
I don't know where he lives either, Ruby. That's the point.
/Cubicle_9
Just asking questions. Has anyone considered he might be on vacation? It's a thing people do. I have eleven days banked and I've never used one.
/RubyRose
HE DOESN'T TAKE VACATIONS
/Cubicle_9
He seems like he'd be good at a beach, though. He'd just sit there. Say one thing about the sea. Sip his martini.
/Ledger
That is the most accurate thing you have ever posted.
/Two_Wrench
Thirty-one years on the river. When a man stopped showing up for a month, it was one of two things: he'd gotten married or he'd gotten arrested. Once in a while, both in the same week.
I don't know which this is. I'd only say it's not always bad news. It's just usually news.
/Ghost_Lake
Silence from someone like that isn't quiet. It's a very long line. Either something took his words, or something worse...
I was about to send a spirit to find him, but the spirit I summoned looked at me funny when I told it to find a troll with Small_Talk matrix handle.
/Half_Past
If he's in a hole, the last thing he wants is a crowd at the edge. If anyone goes looking, go quietly. Don't go looking for a man who doesn't want to be found.
/RubyRose
ok. so what i'm hearing is nobody knows anything and everyone is being really nice about it, which is worse. i'm leaving this thread open. i'm going to check it every hour. if that's sad then i'm sad, ok
/Small_Talk
Run went slightly wrong. Had to go dark for a bit.
/RubyRose
THERE HE IS
/Ledger
Logged: Friday, May 3. Thirty-five days.
/Abuela_Diesel
Welcome back, cariño. Eat something. You owe four people a drink and one of them is me.
/Two_Wrench
Glad you're back, son. I'll assume neither marriage nor arrest.
/Cubicle_9
Just asking questions. Is "slightly wrong" the good kind of wrong?
/RubyRose
CUBICLE. DO NOT ASK HIM. HE USED HIS LINE
/Ledger
He gets one per thread. That was it. You will get nothing further.
/RubyRose
THAT'S NOT FAIR. HE HASN'T POSTED FOR A MONTH. HE SHOULD USE MORE LINES.
/Ghost_Lake
"Slightly." I note that word is doing a great deal of work.
/Half_Past
Good. The board has been sounding like a legal department without him.
/Abuela_Diesel
Nobody ask him what happened. He'll tell us when he wants to, or he won't. Either way he's here.