Dante De Angelis (Gabriel Gray) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brainsurgeon) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
savetheearth2014-03-26 02:44 am
brainsurgeon) wrote in savetheearth2014-03-26 02:44 am
video;
[ Dante dials his number into his cellphone, then lays it down in such a way as the video camera is obscured, effectively making it an audio recording...for the moment. His voice is rich and calm, noticeably Italian American, but a Locke City accent through and through. ]
Under normal circumstances, a doctor in my position would recommend that someone experiencing hallucinations to any degree get help right away. Then again, those hallucinations aren't usually on this sort of scale. Considering what we as a city witnessed, the recent news, and what some of you are capable of doing, I'd suggest that this has gone some way beyond normal hallucinations, as if there ever were such a thing.
I've seen it with my own eyes, experienced it - I dare say - myself. Gaining access to this network, this number's club, was one thing. I've been able to watch as other people have experienced their first echoes, learning from their experiences with a certain air of detachment. I may have watched out of professional curiosity, but I didn't consider myself to be one of you. Nor did I have any reason to take it on faith that the public were incapable of seeing these conversations--after all, I myself was viewing them, and there was nothing wrong with me.
Except that there was; there is, and in some sick twist of fate it seems the only people I can discuss this turn of events with are the very people whose stories seemed so ludicrous and farfetched to me before that it's a wonder perfect strangers believe them without proof now. Forgive me for saying so, but before all this began the idea that people could fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes and whatever else you people can do didn't precisely seem like the delusions of the clinically sane.
[ The phone is lifted, but not to reveal the speaker. Instead it lifts up to reveal a glass of water on an expensive Mahogany desk. A little light enters the room through closed blinds. There are inbuilt bookshelves, and a prominent leather couch visible in the distance too, but the glass is the focus. A hand reaches into shot, closes over the glass, and a moment later the glass frosts up, followed by the water inside solidifying into ice moments thereafter. ]
Now tell the truth: I didn't just hallucinate doing that, did I?
Under normal circumstances, a doctor in my position would recommend that someone experiencing hallucinations to any degree get help right away. Then again, those hallucinations aren't usually on this sort of scale. Considering what we as a city witnessed, the recent news, and what some of you are capable of doing, I'd suggest that this has gone some way beyond normal hallucinations, as if there ever were such a thing.
I've seen it with my own eyes, experienced it - I dare say - myself. Gaining access to this network, this number's club, was one thing. I've been able to watch as other people have experienced their first echoes, learning from their experiences with a certain air of detachment. I may have watched out of professional curiosity, but I didn't consider myself to be one of you. Nor did I have any reason to take it on faith that the public were incapable of seeing these conversations--after all, I myself was viewing them, and there was nothing wrong with me.
Except that there was; there is, and in some sick twist of fate it seems the only people I can discuss this turn of events with are the very people whose stories seemed so ludicrous and farfetched to me before that it's a wonder perfect strangers believe them without proof now. Forgive me for saying so, but before all this began the idea that people could fly and shoot lasers out of their eyes and whatever else you people can do didn't precisely seem like the delusions of the clinically sane.
[ The phone is lifted, but not to reveal the speaker. Instead it lifts up to reveal a glass of water on an expensive Mahogany desk. A little light enters the room through closed blinds. There are inbuilt bookshelves, and a prominent leather couch visible in the distance too, but the glass is the focus. A hand reaches into shot, closes over the glass, and a moment later the glass frosts up, followed by the water inside solidifying into ice moments thereafter. ]
Now tell the truth: I didn't just hallucinate doing that, did I?
[Video]
Even if it is rude. ]
There's no need, I understand that it's personal. I'm a psychiatrist, this is what I do for a living; it can just be a little difficult to switch it off sometimes.
If you don't want to speak about it that's fine, but if you'd be interested...I may be able to help you, or perhaps at least help others in your situation in the future.
[Video]
[Perhaps just a trace of a slow-dawning squirming under a figurative lens. Starts a bit husky.] I... --
[Shakes his head. Stilted and taut.] Don't need any help. But if -- if you think - it could be useful...
[For talking to other mutants, he means, but it trails off there.]
[Video]
Unless there's somewhere I could find you, instead?
[Video]
[The "uhm" was to hold a space for some manner of "are you sure". He can't pin down a specific one.]
[Video]
So another call, when I get things in order. That works, right?
[Video]
Is, er -- my number showing up...?
[Video]
Thank you for agreeing to this. I'm Dante, by the way.
[ He's not giving his last name this time, but he has before. It still feels dangerous, and nobody has really managed to convince him otherwise. ]
[Video]
[One cough.] And I hope umm - I hope, it's... [Another cough to hack up the faintest wobbling trace of a polite, cringing sheepish laugh.] Worth your time...