savetheearth | Twenty-Sixth Message [Video

Excuse me -- excuse me.

[It opens with voice for once, hasty and dry, but with actual words bringing the connection in.]

I'm sorry -- I don't...

[Starts over. Coughs. A moan solidifies into an "uhmmm". Tapers off and presses out through Anthony's nose.

Takes a breath to stall, gets the message together, and... speaks up again. Actually steadily - halting but articulate.]

...This is Anthony. Janvier, and I -- just -- thought I would say, um. In case, that -- I've been hallucinating, since -- fall. I think. And it -- uhh. ...Something happened last week - 'mmh not sure what's - happening. ...Exactly, but I.

[And that's where the organization of his train of thought ends.]

In case it -- might be interesting -- to someone.

[He'll put the fact that he's legitimately scared at where this might be going out of his head as far as possible in favor of what he's just said - it might be interesting to someone! There was that suggestion before that it could be due to his brain deteriorating, on one hand, and on the other, there'd been the boy who'd brought up "monsters" going insane, and the psychologist a while before, had touched on the idea of "treating" what had sounded to be that sort of thing.]

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[He thinks it might be that.

But alas, better to be safe than that which he's frequently enough of anyway.]

I -- excuse me, is this...?

Uh, about - what I said on the network...

[ normally she doesn't pay much mind to the network, but the moment alex mentions anthony, she gets up from her spot across the room and dares to peer over alexander's shoulder.

she watches in silence for a moment, frowning ]

Anthony? It's Reilanin. [ should she have said ms. bainbridge? she doesn't think to correct herself. ] What happened last week?

[ she tries to make her voice sound more like alexander's, less brisk than she'd usually have it. ]

[ He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it when Reilanin comes over. He glances at her out of the corner of his eye, silently uncomfortable with the prospect of readily acknowledging her inclusion into this conversation.

Not because of the conversation, but because of the two factors involved.

Neither of them see it. Anthony is blind; Reilanin is looking at the screen.

Alex returns his attention to the screen, too. ]

Yeah.

[That throws him off as well.

Angle of his head turns - twitches a subfraction of an inch up, back down and aside - Ms. Bainbridge and Alex are coming in tgat close together, if he's not mishearing something - ]

Are you. Are you -- both...

[Misses the inflection to imply it's a question - "Are you both there?", as in the same place simultaneously - before it peters out, in case it's any compensation barely "glances" aside and back, in spirit to indicate one person and then another.]

[ she has not much gone close to alexander since the full moon. her concern, as useless as it is, overrides her self-imposed distance.

there's a brief pause, as though she's just realized what's wrong with anthony, visually, and what she's done to both of them, interrupting. her jaw clenches briefly. she'd have heard everything anyway, so long as alexander was in the apartment. it doesn't lessen the feeling of intrusion. ]

Sorry. I was- I'm in the room as well, yes.

I, uh, switched up my living arrangements.

[ ... ]

Or non-living arrangements, as the case may be.

[Puts it together. A couple of sparks in the form of wait, why, when did this happen, but - there doesn't necessarily need to be a reason; sets the nosing aside and shuts the figurative closet door on it.

Coughs, winces.] I see.

Is --

Is everything all right -- ?

[Even if he's not going to ask on the specifics of why, it's prudent to ask with the urgency or immediacy of when unknown.]

[ she makes some sort of noise that peters off. is everything all right? it's more a question for alexander, anyway, so maybe she needn't worry about answering at all...?

come to think of it, alexander's getting back on his feet pretty steadily...

she looks to alexander and shrugs a shoulder slightly, her expression uncertain. ]

No.

[ Gentle, but candid. Also not something he intends to focus on. ]

Everything isn't all right, but everything isn't all bad, either.

Will you tell us what happened? Last week.

[A dissatisfying answer. Gentle and final, however, it sounds indeed. At least for the time being.

Dissatisfaction shifts back into steeling for the original line of questioning with a whistlingly-voiced breath. He's already explained it to Nick, by now - makes it a tad easier to articulate.

Coughs.] Well, uh -- I told... Nick, I - panicked. 'Mmh not sure why. I -- stayed that way - for a - while, and when it - was over I -- [Shakes his head.] - wasn't sure -- what I was doing - ...

[Also as was given to Nick:] I'm sorry.

[It always seems to be bad news.]

[ she listens, pressing her lips together. she can feel that anger curling in her stomach again, the idea that this sort of thing is happening, is happening to- to anthony, of all people. to people it doesn't deserve to happen to.

but then, who really deserves this?... ]

Don't be sorry. It's not something you can control... not yet. [ she doesn't seem to realize the irony of her statement, having been treating herself the same way, but she's speaking genuinely to anthony. ] What did you panic about?...

[ Reilanin responds before he can. Since she basically said the same thing he would have, he keeps quiet and waits for Anthony's response.

(The irony of Reilanin's answer doesn't escape him.) ]

I don't know -- ... [His tone's a little strained, but he's likewise trying to speak frankly. Slackens low.] I only had a pulse -- and - it happened... -- Maybe, the -- ...pulse, is... all I was afraid of.

[Small internal twinge at putting it that way, but it's a shame-bowed confession, he does get a flare of acute unease whenever he feels a pulse at this point.

It's either that or the pulse was the panic.]

Edited 2014-04-28 01:28 (UTC)

Maybe.

[ that doesn't help the anxious feeling building up inside of her. it could be the pulse that scared him, or...

she falls silent. ]

[ His lips press together in a thin line. ]

You said you hadn't been sure of what you were doing. Like you lost time?

-- I uhh.

[Drops and angles his head a notch further. Brow twitches.] I don't know... -- It's more, uh. I know -- something should've - been... happening then, but I...

Can't remember anything but the panic.

[And even that he's unsure is entirely faithful; lost time may be in the spirit of it to the extent he could say it, given he can't see a clock to compare.]

[ it doesn't seem like there's much to press on the issue. something should have been happening, but he didn't remember or didn't know what that something was.

she runs her tongue over a canine, careful not to draw blood on it (again). ]

What about all of those runes you've been collecting, Anthony? Do those have anything to do with what happened?

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