Voice | username: No

[sullenstallion]

Maybe this is a bad time?

[When Dylas starts the audio feed, he’s already not sure if he wants to do this. What a follows is a long sigh before he actually begins speaking in earnest.]

Hey. I know everyone’s sick. It’s pretty bad. I’m sure you all know some of the symptoms, but maybe you guys have been feeling something else, too? Something happened to me last month. Er, has been...happening.

[There’s a long, uncomfortable pause. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.]

I mean, maybe your body is changing. Doing things it couldn’t before. Maybe...being more sensitive. Maybe you’re noticing something different about yourself that you didn’t before? Something that doesn’t line up with the symptoms? If that happens, you should talk to the Orbiters. [Another pause. Ugh. He hates doing this, seriously.] They can apparently change our bodies without asking. They, uh. Can give us things that weren’t there before.

[He’s clearly not wanting to go into any details. Or maybe it’s not clear. He’s just this deep, masculine voice who sounds sort of confused about how to address large groups.]

So if you start feeling weird outside of the sickness or weren’t sick before, it might be that your body is going through new changes.

[Another long pause.]

It’s not puberty. I’ve already done that.

Comments

[sullenstallion]

[Dylas isn't a bright person, unlike Loras. He hasn't anticipated how weird or uncomfortable talking about these things might make him. Also, he loves bringing up subjects and then refusing to talk about them.]

Fascinating? It was more like a pain in my ass. It hit me all at once in the middle of the market. I thought my head was going to explode.

[triplerose]

Fascinating as in curious, really. And you know for certain it was them, not some ... Other oddity? [ This place certainly seems full of strangeness. ]

[sullenstallion]

Yeah. A friend of mine suggested I ask them. So I did. And they confirmed. I wouldn't make this up if I weren't sure.

[Talking to strangers isn't his strong point? But he hopes he'll get better at it. It's such a stupid weakness.]

[triplerose]

[ Loras isn't all that great at talking to people, either. The beauty of voice only contact is that it seems to ease some of his own discomfort. ]

Did they tell you why? It seems a touch drastic.

[sullenstallion]

They said it was their way of thanking me? To think of it like that. I'm not really sure what they meant, but I didn't push it.

[It felt sort of like a dead end to him.]

[triplerose]

Well ... I suppose it could be worse? It seems as if they believed to be doing you a favour.

[sullenstallion]

It'd be more forgivable if they stopped there. Believe me.

[But Dylas did say "has been happening." There's a second time there, but he's so loathe to talk about it that he immediately regrets bringing it up.]

It's not a lot of fun when you take a deep breathe and accidentally pick up the lizard poop thirty feet away. That's why it's not forgivable.

[triplerose]

[ That's ... Unfortunate. ]

Are you the only one afflicted? Someone in this world must know how to aid you.

[sullenstallion]

That's the big question, right? Who else has this happened to? What these Orbiters can do to us isn't something we fully understand yet.

[triplerose]

This might be a bit of hysteria we don't need right now.

[sullenstallion]

Hysteria's giving me too much credit. I doubt that many people are listening.

[triplerose]

In my experience, it's often the few that start the worst of it.

[sullenstallion]

That's not what I'm doing here! It's important that people know this while strange things keep happening!

[triplerose]

I'm not accusing you. I'm certain your intentions are noble. I am only saying one ought to be mindful of these things.

[sullenstallion]

That's your opinion. But as the sickness gets worse, now's the best time to throw it out there. I'm sorry it's too much for you to handle.

[He doesn't sound sorry.]

[triplerose]

I beg your pardon, but it would seem as though it is too much for you to handle. I'm quite normal, as it were. And simply offering an opinion on the matter.

[sullenstallion]

It's not too much for me. But since you're so concerned, there is something I could use your help with.

[triplerose]

And how is that?

[sullenstallion]

Yeah. I'm not used to these...communicator things. Which button do you press if you're talking to someone who's a pain in the ass and want to end the call on them? I always forget.

[Take the hint, pal.]