004 — video. [iphone] (forward dated to the 3rd!)

[argents]

[ So instead of speaking straight off, it looks like Banagher is having a tough time just keeping his phone steady enough to record himself coherently. He's very carefully nursing a (lovely, gorgeous, untainted) bottle of water, and honestly it looks like he's just run a marathon only to get punched in the nose as soon as he crossed the finish line. Cheeks all red and expression furrowed, there are still tears edging in on the corners of his eyes. Hell, he even has the hiccups. He takes a deep breath and winces. His poor, sad lungs have zero composure left to give. Who knew laughing could be so completely awful?

Don't check the network for one day, he said. It'll be just fine, he said.

LESSON LEARNED. ]

All that — [ hic, sniff ] — just for something I already remembered once? That same speech, about the Earth [ hic ] and space.

And humanity's dream, or whatever it's supposed to be. It's [ hic ] still hazy. These pulses, or echoes... don't happen twice for no reason, do they?

[ Briefly, his expression sours. Though all it does it make him look kind of pathetic. ]

My stomach really hurts.

(ooc. dated to the 3rd because i'm a sad busy worker bee.)

Comments

Text | Handwritten

[reckless_fire]

[Hopefully, Banagher can read Kenji's chicken-scratch handwriting]

No shit, man--once was bad enough for that crap.

You okay? You look like hell.

[searchforpeace]

... Maybe you should sit down.

[Or lay down. Preferably not by collapsing?]

( perma-video )

[argents]

[ He only trips up on a few words! (Though if you look hard enough you can see those concentration gears whirring.) ]

It wasn't a bad memory. Just... no different from the first one I had, the one that gave me the numbers. What point is there in that?

[ bleghfh ]

I'm okay. Having my insides get into a ticklefight with alien water is the only weird part.

[argents]

It's gone now — [ god these stupid HICcups ] — mostly.

[ text ]

[fatherssins]

It almost feels like we're just being toyed with now.

Text forever

[reckless_fire]

[He sees and tries to write a little more legibly. Banagher might notice a slight improvement. Very slight.]

Don't ask me, man. I gave up trying to figure out the point a long time ago. I've reached the zen state of don't give a fuck anymore.

Agreed about the water thing, though. That was bullshit.

[handwritten]

[moarnomsplz]

I got a repeat, too. But nothing new with it.

[Sort of a relief, really.]

( text )

[argents]

Hey. And yeah, you're supposed to mean it when you laugh, you know? I felt like I was laughing like I'd never laugh again.

[ Which isn't to say it wasn't a terrible experience but what on earth, really. ]

( text )

[argents]

Apparently people have been. Getting new pulses from it. Mine was just the same speech I heard when I first got the numbers. It was still all fuzzy though, like an old radio.

[ Which just makes him feel like he has to live in fear of what might ]

[argents]

[ Fair enough. He smiles a bit and gingerly sips more water. It feels like someone took a kitchen mixer to his gut. ]

I don't even know whether to ask if that's a 'good' zen or a 'bad' zen. — Any [ hic ] zen at all probably would have helped, thinking about it.

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

It's like they're on repeat when you're stuck with the giggles.

You okay?

[reckless_fire]

I dunno either, man. Is there such a thing as bad zen? It wouldn't have helped with the giggle water anyway. Just with not giving a damn afterwards.

[argents]

Mm, point. [ He clears his throat. Nope, still feels like someone took a cheese grater to it. ] That means you got hit with it too, huh?

( text )

[argents]

You too? I know we ought to be used to things not making any sense, but how random is it to have a massive /laugh/ attack?

[ HE'S NOT BITTER ABOUT HIS CURRENT STATE, NOPE. ]

I'll be fine, when I stop feeling like my stomach and my lungs swapped places.

( text )

[shiromadoushi]

Stupidly random and really annoying.

I keep slipping back into Egyptian too, which is even more so.

Getting real sick of feeling like we're being toyed with.

[reckless_fire]

Yeah, yesterday. Didn't see the first warnings about it until about an hour after. The 'rents thought I'd been in the liquor cabinet.

[argents]

[ Given this is the first time he's really looked annoyed about it, he'd call it a hallmark. ]

Wow, Egyptian... but uh

Yeah, you're telling me. The more I try to think about it, or try to make sense of it, the more I feel like I'm just running in total circles. It's not like this is an accident, but why the repeat?

[ This might be the literal worst. ]

[argents]

[ A sort of halting breath. He can't muster up the courage or willpower to even think about laughing. ]

If only the truth was that simple, right? [ Sigh. Square one, meet frustrated teenagers. Frustrated teenagers, square one. ] But I guess it just proves what a lifeline this place can be.

[shiromadoushi]

One of me was apparently from the time of the pharaohs. Also illiterate. 8/

Something's triggering flashbacks to flashbacks like it's a goddamned recap episode or something. Like it's trying to trigger the real thing but is made of too much fail to get anything new.

Or it's just giving us the finger.

[argents]

That long ago... looks like we're opposites.

Maybe it's just a side effect. I'm starting to think the things we're up against know as much about us as we do about them.

[shiromadoushi]

Getting future memories?

You think so? Like they're just testing shit out to see how it works?

[argents]

If my repeat means what I think it means, then

[ An mms download comes along. ]

I think I must've had a pretty good view, in whatever life this was.

[ Not that he's prepared to fully accept it, exactly. So he keeps on: ]

Anyway, if the water affected everyone, that could be half the city dissolving into giggles like we did. The fact that it's just us, and with the police apparently trying to keep a closer eye out for /suspicious/ activity...

The timing's right.

[shiromadoushi]

So you're thinking that they know just enough to make it so it's something that just we react to, but they haven't a damned clue what it'll actually do?

[reckless_fire]

No shit, man--although I kinda wish it HAD been true. I could use a stiff drink about now. As long as it wasn't water.

Yeah, at least we got one place we can talk about this crap. When the people on here aren't being assholes, anyway.

[argents]

If our 'pulses' are supposed to help us in some way, help us remember things that make us capable of fighting, or even just defending ourselves, why would the things the enemy supposedly controls cause them?

Like the statues, or the water.