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.

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[sullenstallion]

[He crosses his arms. But this is a voice thread, so there's just a pause.]

I can smell, see, and hear better. Like an animal would, probably. Not that I'm an animal or anything like that.

[But then they gave him the ability to turn into a horse?]

[baguablade]

[ And yet, somehow, Cain can almost see the action on the other end of the line... mysterious! ]

Hm, can you identify the type of animal? Not all animal's senses are superior, so narrowing it down might help...

[ And the turning into a horse thing. That's probably big... ]

[sullenstallion]

[That's. A really interesting question. The few times he's accidentally turned into his horse form, he's noticed his senses are different, so it's not a horse's senses?]

Uh...huh. I've never thought about that. I don't think my senses are as strong as a wolf's or anything.

[baguablade]

Are any of them stronger than the others? Smell, or taste, maybe? Does your eyesight mimic human eyesight, or is the color palette limited?

[ He can at least try to narrow things down a little. It may not help that much in the end, but it's a start. ]

[sullenstallion]

No offense, but this is kind of weird to talk about with someone I don't know.

[Even if it's helpful. He's judging you, Cain.]

Isn't there a way to at least make this conversation more private?

[It's not like he's discussing his intimate areas?! But he still sounds bashful which is likely a welcome change from the unemotional monotone.]

[baguablade]

Haha, well, you're the one asking a bunch of strangers about it in the first place!

[ There's no malice in his tone, no attempt to be chiding, just a friendly reminder of why they're speaking in the first place, a little amusement in Cain's voice. The bashfulness is cute, has Cain revising his opinion from someone trying to gather information to someone a bit freaked out and not knowing any other way to seek help for his own problems. ]

But if you want to meet up, or call my, ah, personal line I think it's called? We could talk a bit more privately then.

[sullenstallion]

Is that what you think I'm doing?

[He clicks his tongue. Well, that's one way to get him to stop sounding bashful. He just didn't anticipate so many personal questions, alright?]

I'm trying to warn people. What I've got going on, I can handle. Or I thought I had it all figured out until you decided you wanted to find out what kind of animal my nose fits best.

[baguablade]

[ Sure, sure, that's all it is. Cain's not judging. He's just a little amused. ]

You don't want to know more about it? I don't think finding out as much as you can is a bad thing, you know. If the Orbiters are changing us, that seems like a priority set of questions to be asking. You're a pretty good guy, to be trying to warn everyone, aren't you?

I'm sorry this is so late!

[sullenstallion]

What? I'm not...this isn't nice, I'm only in a position to talk about this because I've been watching the symptoms pretty closely. Don't go turning this into something weird. And until now, I didn't even realize there was more to learn about it. How do you even test something like this?

[He's pretty simple. Better eyesight? Oh, that's fine, let's not ask any more questions.]

no worries!

[baguablade]

Sure, sure. Not nice, just looking out for yourself.

[ Maybe that's even what it is, but still... Cain likes to think the best of people. Surely it's not only self-interest at play. ]

But that's besides the point. It shouldn't be that hard to test things. Just see how far away you can read something, test how easily you can distinguish between smells, that sort of thing. There's lots of simple tests we can do.

[sullenstallion]

If that's what you want to think, that's fine with me.

[It's harder to make fun of him if he comes across as a hardass, right? He sighs, thinking over the idea of putting his new abilities to the test.]

That sounds like an excuse for someone to force me to smell weird things for their own amusement.

[baguablade]

I wouldn't have you smell weird things.

[ Geez, this guy is so suspicious. Reasonably suspicious, of course, but still, Cain's only trying to help! ]

And not for my own amusement. If the Orbiters can change us like this, it really is important to figure out the extent of what they can do.

[sullenstallion]

Wait. Does that mean you're volunteering? I don't even know you.

[And he's not your guinea pig? ...not that Dylas knows what one of those are.]

Are you really, really sure this isn't just an excuse to get me to sniff things? [He sighs. He drags his hand through his hair. This is 100% a set-up to get him to smell weird things.] I guess you maybe have a point. Maybe. I guess I should help.

[baguablade]

[ Not JUST smell weird things! ]

I thought that was the whole point, for you to find to find someone who can help you with this?

[ It's hard for Cain to offer to be the guinea pig when he's not the one going through these ch-ch-ch-changes, after all. ]

But I promise, I'm not interested in making fun of you or just making you do ridiculous things. This really is important.

[sullenstallion]

Nope. I've already got it handled. I addressed everyone to warn them, but...not fondly. With less attachment.

[So, basically, he wanted to help everyone and tell them about the Orbiters but he doesn't think this is a nice or friendly topic and wants no thanks or appreciation from it. Or he just sounds 'tsundere.'

Wait. Doesn't 'just making you do ridiculous things' still imply that ridiculous things will happen? He glares at his phone, forgetting that it's voice again.]

Fine. Who are you, anyways?

[baguablade]

[ Yeah, this all just sounds super tsun. But tsun is something Cain can work with! ]

I'm Cain. [ Trust given is trust returned, right? ] How about you?

[sullenstallion]

[Cain seems easy enough to put up with (Dylas would rate him as only mildly annoying, what a charmer). When it comes to whether or not he could work with him in return, Dylas thinks he'd be Abel to.]

It's Dylas.

[After a few seconds, it becomes painfully clear that there's no 'it's nice to meet you' or anything of the sort following his introduction. He realizes he's being rude, so he attempts to quickly add something before Cain picks up on it.]

We should do this soon. It sounds tedious, so I want to get it over with quickly.

[baguablade]

[ how dare you make that pun at me ]

Well, when are you free? [ Cain doesn't bother being put off by the rudeness. He's dealt with far worse. ] I'm ready to get started as soon as you are.

[sullenstallion]

I work in the clinic. Sanctuary.

[So, basically, he's never free? Everyone is so sick all the time.]

Once I get some free time, I'll let you know. I can't miss work right now.

[But then Wyver happens?]

[baguablade]

Sure, in the meantime, I'll see if I can find anyone else with your, ah, improvements.

[ And then Wyver happens! Alas, but someday, they'll find each other again... ]

[sullenstallion]

Yeah. You can do that. I'm pretty sure what they did to me is something they'd only do to me, but maybe someone else has changed somehow, too.

[Weird. He sounds oddly confident about that part, that enhanced senses were a personal choice for him. No stammering here; it's almost like he knew that already?]

[baguablade]

[ Very oddly confident. Which really leaves Cain no choice but to ask... ]

You didn't happen to ask for the improvements, did you?

[sullenstallion]

That's stupid. Who goes around asking if they can smell better? My nose was just fine before. But...

[He pauses. He's clearly trying to think of how to be as vague as possible here.]

...They did something else, but it's something they could only do to me. That's all I'm saying.

[baguablade]

[ It's vague, but Cain's still going to leap to a conclusion. Leaping to conclusions and seeing how people react to them can be nearly as informative as taking a more subtler approach to asking questions, after all!

With an over the top tone of great enlightenment, he lets his fist smack into his palm, loud enough for Dylas to hear over the phone. ]

Ooooh, so you did ask for it. And this is just a side effect of whatever it was you asked them to do to you.

[sullenstallion]

[What follows is the most exasperated sigh an melodramatic horse can muster.]

Hell no! I wouldn't complain about something I asked for. And who the hell goes around asking to smell and hear better, anyways? They changed me a second time this month and gave me a different answer!

[Shit—]

But I'm not going to talk about that!