01 - Video

[youngestone]

[When the feed starts, a scruffy teenager is kind of peering at the screen a little curiously. He’s outside and on a laptop, alone somewhere]

That..was not in my address bar. Why did typing in some random numbers in Goggle take me to some...forum or something? That’s what this is, right?

[He’s not sure. He’s not the techy one. He’s the cute one.]

A forum? For...people who’ve found weird stones and then had a weirder hallucination...type...thing?

[He holds up one of those glass runestone type things—the rune for "th"]

I mean, I know I look like it but I swear I don’t smoke pot so...this thing had to do it. Whatever "it" was.

[Honestly, he’s not sure what it was. Funny whooshing sound, random string of numbers...yep, no clue.]

So. Um. If anyone wants to explain what’s going on that’d be...great. Please.

Comments

[youngestone]

Proof'd be nice, yeah. Where do you wanna meet?

[espigeonage]

Let's see... Hey, why not. It's hot today and I have friends trying to get rid of some stock before it starts to stay cold. You know the Orange Julius on eighth maple? If I'm full of shit at least the trip won't be wasted!

[youngestone]

Only problem there is I'm broke

[espigeonage]

That's okay, I'll spot you! I'm friends with half the people on shift today, they discount me anyway.

[youngestone]

I'll pay you back when I can

[espigeonage]

No sweat, we're talking a dollar twenty five. Yeah I spot the kid size things. Sorry!

When can you get there? And I almost forgot. I'm Julien! I'm pretty recognizable.

[youngestone]

I'm like two blocks away. Be there soon.

And, uh. Killian. In case I never mentioned that before

[espigeonage]

Okay! It's probably crowded, but don't worry about that. I have a thing.

Great. I might have heard that already but no harm in checking right?

[Julien was right, there's a line out through the doors and people outside on benches drinking from cups. Despite the yellowing of a tree on a median it's quite warm, muggy even.]

[He shows up a little after Killian, all bright eyes and a smile suggesting genuine delight. Julien appears to be in his late teens. There's a slight resonant quality to his voice, and his dyed hair looks rather fluffy.]

Killian! Hi! You came! Cool. Now I know it's crowded, but I worked here for about four months, so they let me go in the back and cut lines if I make the things myself. Here, be ready to hand this back to me so I can get it in the register. [A five-dollar bill.]

[youngestone]

[Killian looks even scruffier in real life, mostly because he has a ratty backpack that holds his laptop and that just makes him look worse.

He's also really super short, but hey.

He blinks when Julien starts babbling at him, taking the money without thinking.]

Uh. Okay? Do I just...wait at the counter or...?

[espigeonage]

Yeah, follow me in past the line, but not through the door inside. Don't worry if they glare at you, it's not really cutting! There's multiple windows at the counter where they take your order and hand stuff through, the one near the door will be clear.

Okay? Okay. C'mon.

[There is not actually that much glaring. The employees, mostly high schoolers or college kids, recognize Julien and call out to him as they work, or yell to people on break. He responds in kind. One doesn't know him and studiously ignores all this. With just a glance back Julien passes through the door that someone's just unlocked, gets on an apron, and attends to some of the machines, chatting all the while.]

[After a minute he's at that window with a couple baby-sized cups of orange slushy thing.]

Here, quick, or they'll rope me into staying even though I wouldn't get paid. [A girl mock-punches him on her way to the sink] Heartless people, all of them.

[youngestone]

[Killian has no idea what he's gotten himself into.

He follows Julien because what else is he going to do and he hands him the money when asked. This guy is seriously overwhelming]

Here?

[He knows he should probably say more but...this guy is worse than some of his relatives!]

[espigeonage]

Thanks! Take both of these, it's just another moment.

[He takes it, pushes the cups at him, and feeds the cash register and gets change. Then, quickly, apron off and he's back through the door with a wave and taking back a cup.]

Okay, let's get out of this den of evildoers.

[He leads the way back through the line and into the air again. Julien then drags a hand through his hair and laughs softly, shedding a little of his manic energy.]

Aaah, it's been too long since I did that... You okay?

[youngestone]

[It takes Killian another moment to respond because he's just sort of not thinking as he follows Julien's instructions until suddenly there aren't any. He shakes himself a little]

Uh. Are you...usually that hyper?

[espigeonage]

[Julien grins and takes a sip.] Nope. Sometimes they forget to keep me away from caffeine.

[He does seem a little quieter now. Alert, but in a more relaxed way.]

So, network stuff, huh. Anything specific you want to know, or just a demonstration that this is real?

[youngestone]

I ran into a talking horse during our conversation. I think I have proof, but I'll take more. The more I have, the better. I think.

[espigeonage]

Cinderella, right. Well, I have a kind of a party trick, but... here.

[Rubbing a finger across his forehead, Julien uses it to write his rather lengthy number out across the wall. With his eyes changed, skin oil stands out. Immediately after he finishes some recent text post appears, magnified, on the wall, the letters six inches high. They've wandered away and it's not so crowded as near the smoothie place, but there are still people here and there, and they take no notice.]

This, you can do yourself on just about anything.

[youngestone]

[He gapes]

Whoa. Someone mentioned that it didn't matter what you wrote the number on but I didn't think he meant it literally! Think I'll stick to my laptop for now, though. At least until it dies on me.

[espigeonage]

It'll probably still work for this then, I got on with a fake lappie once. And people get on with planless or no-battery phones all the time.

[Shaking his head he sighs softly, exhaling for several seconds longer than is really humanly possible.]

No question, the network is really the only convenient part of this whole mess. You're likely to have unhappy times ahead, man.

[youngestone]

[He shrugs]

Yeah, and?

[Unhappy times are kind of a regular occurrence in the Ryan family. They adapt.]

So is the doctor part of this mess? You mentioned him but...

[espigeonage]

Heh. Exciting new forms of unhappy, I mean. "Becoming progressively less human" isn't an unpopular option, regrettably.

Mm, yeah. He's got a number. Even aside from usual medical things if you're... changing or something and you can't go to a normal doctor, he's the one. Solus too, the other LSR doctor, they're both in on it.

[youngestone]

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that first bit and focus on the fact that hearing that the LSR doctors are in on this is probably the best thing I've heard all day.

[espigeonage]

Uh huh. [He raises his cup to his lips and drinks about half an inch worth - still speaking, clearly, if a little muffled. It doesn't matter if his mouth is full or closed, the voicebox down in his chest can handle speech just fine.] Unfortunately, ignoring that doesn't change that it's happening.

[youngestone]

[Killian chokes a little on his slush]

...uh, dude. Did you just--

[espigeonage]

[Julien swallows and opens his mouth slightly, keeping his tongue still and his lips slack, and... his pupils shrink a little as he changes his voice to a pitch-perfect imitation of Aaron Strider.]

"That's right. Many things are happening that we've never seen before."

[He goes for his cup again to try and hide a smirk. For all that Julien claims he doesn't like using his voice as a party trick, well...]

[youngestone]

[This time he yelps, laughing]

That's scary. Is that from the...stuff?