OOM From The Future: in which there will be NO BEIGNETS FOR PETE

[claudiometer]

It's a damn good thing, in this job, that Claudia doesn't mind flying; if she did she'd have been in some serious trouble before now. Unfortunately, waiting for Artie to buzz in with more details than 'this guy will be DEAD if you don't go NOW' means she can't put her headphones on

Comments

[walksthebounds]

"I get shanghai'd into adventure more than you'd think," Jamie assures her.

". . . of course I also pass really awfully dull stretches in other people's worlds more than you'd think, too, so I reckon it balances out. Anyway, I like planes."

Not as much as trains, but they're still pretty cool.

Besides, this trip seems . . . overall less dangerous than hanging around the creepy warehouse, although there were a few things Jamie did find himself wanting to poke into . . .

[claudiometer]

"Oh, the real fun won't start until we get to New Orleans. And by fun, I mean... well, apparently someone's life is already on the line." Which does, she must admit, beat out the times where people have already died by the time they hear about a case.
Claudia sighs. "I think Artie might know what the Artifact is, at least. Usually these things are more like 'something weird is going on, I call shenanigans, go find out what's causing it.'"
(On the other hand, would a few more answers have hurt before they left? CLAUDIA VOTES NO.)

[walksthebounds]

"So . . . d'you think you could tell me a bit more about what these Artifacts actually are?" Jamie asks, after a moment.

"I've got the dangerous bit down, I reckon. Weird and dangerous. But is there anything more they've got in common other than that, so's at least I know what we're looking for?"

Jamie hates going in unprepared - perhaps especially because going in unprepared is about 90% of his life.

[claudiometer]

"I can try, but it's damn hard to find a common thread. If anyone actually knows what makes things go Artifact-y, it's not me. Could be magic, could be science, could be both or neither." It's something she's been trying to puzzle out since she really knew what the concept was.
"When it's something associated with a particular person or place... my best guess is there's some kind of strong emotional connection involved, where it's not outright science like most of Tesla's stuff. And whatever this is must have some seriously bad mojo for Artie to go postal like that."

[walksthebounds]

Jamie scratches his head. "Someone's very bad day turns the thing they're using mad?"

It must be a property peculiar to this world.

He supposes that They would have had fun tossing random Artifacts into gameplay, when They were still playing their games.

"And you lot just run about and round them up."

Because concentrating all that danger in one place is a marvellous idea.

[claudiometer]

"Somebody else set the protocol, dude. And at least they're in a controlled environment."
Nnnnnnnot that this always helps. BUT IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING AM I RIGHT.
She shrugs, and doesn't so much add to her list as doodle on it.

[doyousmellfudge]

Her reverie is interrupted by a metallic buzzing noise from her coat pocket.

[claudiometer]

"--Aaaaaaand here's our infodump." She sticks her pen through the notebook's spiral, fishes the Farnsworth out of her pocket, and flips it open, holding it so Jamie can see, just in case.
"And Claudia's like 'WTF mate?'" (The last two words are in the worst Australian accent she can manage.)

[doyousmellfudge]

Clearly, this was not the response Artie was expecting. "--wh-what? You--nevermind. Okay." He lifts a black-and-white photograph of a black man in a suit holding an acoustic guitar up to the Farnsworth's screen. "Does this look familiar?" he says, pointing to the guitar.

[claudiometer]

...Note to self: Have Artie watch End of the World when back in South Dakota.
"Hey, the guy ditched his backup band and what, according to Joshua, is his trademark guitar, for-- ooh." The guitar in the photo is in a lot better shape than the one from the video feed, but there's enough resemblance in shape that the answer to Artie's question is 'yes.'
Claudia frowns a little. "Does this explain the blues song from the Stone Ages? Because I already thought it was a weird concert before you turned around and started flipping out."

[doyousmellfudge]

"This man," says Artie, "is Robert Johnson. He was a blues musician from the 1930s, tremendously influential to the point of being legendary, and one of those legends states that he sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for skill at playing the guitar."

[walksthebounds]

Jamie decides that he feels like being helpful - or 'helpful', depending on how you define it - and chimes in sagely, "Oh, that never turns out well."

[claudiometer]

"...Please tell me there's no actual demonic involvement?"
It's one thing to brace yourself from bad mojo on the basis of what you've seen so far. But 'sold his soul to the Devil' is NEVER A GOOD PLACE TO START.

[doyousmellfudge]

"That could mean any number of things," says Artie with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It could have been a voodoo ceremony, some kind of symbolic witchcraft... anyway. Johnson recorded twenty-nine songs all together, then died under mysterious circumstances at the age of twenty-seven, but the guitar just--disappeared. No one knew what became of it, until 1969, when it was found in Brian Jones's house in East Sussex, the day they pulled him out of the swimming pool."

[walksthebounds]

". . . I reckon you mean out of the swimming pool dead," Jamie clarifies. Just to be sure.

[doyousmellfudge]

"They don't generally do that to living people, no," says Artie dryly. "Then, the year after that, it showed up in the possession of one James Marshall Hendrix, shortly before his untimely death. The year after that, it was Jim Morrison. All musicians, all dead at the age of 27, and they all owned this instrument."