Halloween Reaction Videos - [Open] [Network - Video]

[spaghettimonster]

Date: [October 31st]
Characters: A string of numbers yet to be determined (Russell)]

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[Mid-afternoon, Halloween, a video post becomes available on the network. It's coming from a slightly odd angle, pointed as though someone had tapped their number on a mirror and propped it against the head of a bed. Front and center in the view is Russell, sitting a few feet away, with a pile of things in front of him. Two different cell phones, a few colorful sketches, and... several bones. There's no dirt on them, but they sure don't look like plastic.]

I am having. A day.

Multiple times, today, I've had that... that dizziness, and emptiness, and found myself remembering things or finding things. I can't go to my door without tripping over something that sets it off. Is that just me?

And, can anyone tell me about this?

[He gestures at one of the cellphones, and holds it up close to the mirror so the charger port is visible from the mirror's feed. It's not any of the standard ports, or even an obscure one. And something about the style of the phone, there's no match on Earth for it.]

Did one of you drop this off with the bucket, or do the rest of all that... decorating?


((ooc: Tag in action/prose as you prefer, and I'll match! And if anyone has the technical skills to examine a strange electronic device, and especially to devise a charger for it, I'd love to pursue that option.))

Comments

[warped_replica]

In this context, the two words are close to being synonymous, and he gives a nod of agreement. Regarding the matter of prior connections, Benjiro lends an admission, “The thought had crossed my mind early on... I knew several people before the launch of the network. But I agree, it seems unlikely with such a timespan to account for.” Even with the consideration of something akin to dormacy, it would require a selective chain of transfers.

Benjiro leans to one side to produce his phone from his pocket, and with a few quick taps, forwards the contact info to his cousin, “That contact I just sent you is her personal phone. I’ll call her myself on the way back. If she doesn’t answer when you call, she tends to address voicemails quickly.”

Setting his phone down, the teenager doesn’t wait any longer and reaches into the pizza box to lift out a slice, careful to draw off the strings of melted mozzarella before carrying it over to bite straight through the crust side first.

[spaghettimonster]

Russell smiles grimly, because what can he say? Everything about it is unlikely. It's difficult to rule anything out conclusively, or to conclude anything. Thinking about it is an exercise in frustration.

"Okay, thank you," he decides, dropping the topic for the time being, and pulls out his own mobile. As Benjiro starts in on the pizza, he checks that the message went through - and that the contact info includes a name. It does, but not who that is to him, so he spends a minute tapping and swiping to revise her info to include 'network dr'. That should be clear enough.

With that done, he reaches for the box and pulls it closer. The better to inspect the pizza for signs of grease. And asks, a little cautiously, "So... food first, this time?"

[warped_replica]

Yet Benjiro cannot help but tumble possibilities in search of some understanding. Giving up that effort would feel like resignation.

The minute spent editing the contact is enough time for Benjiro to decimate the first slice of pizza. Picking up his tea for a drink after as his cousin draws the box over to examine the pizza, he pauses and puts both hands around the cup with a slight note of uncertainty, "Oh, uh, if that's okay? Would you rather talk first?"

The pizza itself is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of quality. It's no cheap cardboard pizza, but it's not stone-fired either.

[spaghettimonster]

"Oh, god, no, I vented enough yesterday, I can wait." Hipster that Russell really kind of is, his nose wrinkles as he considers the middling pizza. It's not really... up to snuff, but Benjiro did go to the trouble of bringing it over.

Continuing to hesitate, he dabs at it with a napkin to take off the worst of the oily sheen. "I mean, did you hear what Sadie found out? That guy, the one who yelled about the petting zoo... That's Chad. Little fluffy Chad? That pain in my... A dog!"

Saying he'd rather eat than talk, and even meaning to mean it, doesn't mean simply doing so.

[warped_replica]

Shoulders visibly relaxing, he smiles at the allowance of food first. With one more drink of tea, he'll scoop out another slice from the box, and raise a brow at the way his cousin begins dabbing at the pizza. "You don't have to eat it, Russell. Unless you didn't get the sandwich you mentioned...?" He hopes his cousin doesn't feel pressured to be polite for his sake.

It takes Benjiro a second to make the connection, but he does pick it up, "Wait, the dog on that network post she made is the one you dog sit?" The number of connections between those that bear the Numbers is staggering. "That has terrifying implications and possibilities..."

Well, talking about Numbers things without yet going into Echoes is alright by him.

[spaghettimonster]

"I did, I just... I haven't tried the pizza from this shop, maybe I'll like it." He's feeling just pressured enough to eat one slice for politeness, and lie about whether he's tried the shop's pizza, but not more than that.

Without knowing what Benjiro's learned from the newest echoes, what he's gained - and what ordinary humanity he's lost - it's hard to know what's the easier subject. This one's more stressful for Russell than talking about his own new echoes would be.

"That's what I said! Or, what I thought." Thinking back, Russell's pretty sure he disconnected from the network without saying much of anything. And that he then paced around the flat, stressing and occasionally talking to himself, before wearing himself out. "It's all... just a little too close."

[warped_replica]

The obvious contradiction regarding the pizza is ignored as Benjiro finds no reason to press should it be tolerable to his cousin. As sore as he feels, he might tire trying to eat it before he manages to polish it off as he normally would anyway.

Separating a second slice from the pie, he doesn’t pick it up immediately as he further digests the matter of his cousin having to deal with a dog that can communicate with him via the Network. Finger tapping lightly on the cardboard edge, he moves forward with the potential, “To be fair, those same implications could be in your favor. It depends mostly on how you approach Chad now that you can discuss things with him, or at least be assured he does understand what you are saying to him.” He idly wonders how Chad manages to connect to the Network as he continues, “Offering him choices for example. It would give him a sense of control he may not have otherwise and also allows you to set limits without trying to explicitly define rules. It worked well when I started looking after Emiko.” Parenting advice can apply to canines he is fairly certain.

[spaghettimonster]

"Well, yes, that all sounds reasonable. Treat him less like a dog... and more like, a person I'm looking out for," Russell takes from the advice, thinking aloud. "Choices, to give him leeway to do things, but helping cover him so people still think he's just a dog... Co-conspirators."

The practical advice is grounding, and Russell nods as he tests a bite of the pizza. It's... not quite up to snuff, but now that he's seeing light down one of the tunnels troubling him, it's easier to swallow.

There's still the question of if the network is contagious, though. If everything from people to dogs to any animals catch it... well, suppose everything became sentient like that, where would they be but a choice between compulsory vegetarianism and cannibalism?The part where dogs already think in ways similar enough to humans to have been hunting partners from truly ancient history.

Russell takes another, haunted bite of his pizza, and sighs. "Of course, they may not call me back soon. I don't think I'm the only one on call. Not with my other jobs, and the theatre group, and all."

Correction to last tag: third slice*

[warped_replica]

That his cousin so readily considers the suggestion and promotes it to a method he could use to cooperate with Chad to benefit them both is promising. Should Russell deem something necessary, he can leave it to Chad to decide what manner in which the goal is accomplished. “Exactly. I used to give Emiko choices for dinner and she’d select what I’d fix from things I felt ready to make. Or if she needed to clean her room, I’d give her choices of when to do it, and hold her to it.” Which was not always easy at first, but became part of expectation with repetition and allowed him to avoid reliance on bribery.

“That would be practical. Which should give you more time to figure out how you want to handle it,” he says as he picks up and starts on that third slice of pizza at a slower pace than the first two were devoured.

After a moment, he’ll inquire from his cousin, “Off the top of your head, you wouldn’t know anyone hiring that would accept a student for part time, would you?”

one of these characters is a teenager, which could it be

[spaghettimonster]

"Choosing between things I know I can do," Russell echoes, feeling slightly more confident. "And, so long as I go with his choice... he might be satisfied enough not to make other demands."

They can only hope. Even as they talk about it, Russell has his doubts how it'll turn out in practice. Acknowledging the benefits and plotting based on them, that's easy, and appealing... but putting it into action may be trickier, when dealing with the very real and present aggravation of Chad the Amazing Yelling Network Dog.

"Well, most of the places I've been want you to be at least eighteen years old..." He considers Benjiro, and ventures a guess, "but you aren't wanting to wait til summer comes, are you. Were you thinking weekends, or weeknights too?"

It’s so hard to tell

[warped_replica]

Benjiro had the benefit of taking over care of Emiko when his sister was already well behaved for a child her age. Chad, on the other hand, has never experienced social interaction with humans through communication and has yet to differentiate social graces of humans and canines.

Bowing his head slightly and shrugging one shoulder, the teenager nods once to confirm that his cousin knows his intentions, “Yeah… Weeknights too. I have petty cash and that’s about it.” He has not, and certainly will not, mention this to his parents or to their great aunts. The parts for his motorcycle at the junkyard alongside replacement clothes and shoes had decimated his savings early in the month. Now that his motorcycle is finished, he can use it to bypass public transport to tighten his schedule to make a part time position possible without affecting his other responsibilities too noticeably.