elnysa | Video; un: rtozier

[The feed begins with a man in his late thirties, one hand welded to his forehead in consternation. Adjacent is a swanky looking turntable, and stacks of records can be seen on a table behind the sofa. The titles are indiscernible but it looks to be a ballpark of about fifty albums.

He stares into the camera, desolate.]

All right kids, I'll concede: my folks would have cracked my radio if they heard how much I let The Doors holler out of it. I know it's a pattern and every generation thinks the one after it is a tasteless pack of miscreants. And I've been keeping an open mind. I can't afford not to. Music was my job, and for the most part the stuff hitting the airwaves had been pretty solid. Whoever's been picking out tunes for me up above has been doing pretty damn swell so far, too. Soundgarden was great, Lauren Hill, the Alabama Shakes — there's a lot of good shit I've missed out on because my apocalypse hit so early.

[He takes a deep breath.]

But today, I need an explanation.

[He takes a record out of a sleeve. Sets it on the player and closes his eyes in bitter resignation as the thing gets rolling.

His jaw clenches tight as the music starts.

"Hiya Barbie!"
"Hi Ken!"
"Do you wanna go for a ride?"
"Sure Ken!"
"Jump in!"
"I'M A BARBIE GIRL! IN A BARBIE WO-O-ORLD! LIFE IN PLASTIC, IT'S FANTASTIC!!"

A comely but irate redheaded woman stomps into the background.]

If you don’t shut that off, there’s going to be cats clawing at our window to check out who’s dying!

[Richie rips the record off, vein pulsing in his forehead.]

Music is dying, Bev! It's over! We've lost the war!

[She scoffs, disappearing once more. Richie looks to the camera.

He snaps the record in two with a malicious crack and tosses the pieces behind him.]

I don't know who allowed this to happen, but you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

[The video cuts out. Please deposit your apologies and condolences below.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's not like the thought hasn't crossed his mind. He yearns for the familiar cup of headphones around his ears and the mike jutting out towards his chin, running gymnastics loops with his vocal chords and floating on the high of electric guitars and drumlines thumping hard enough to rattle the table. Tending bar is a piss poor replacement for a job that might have been literally tailored to him. But even so?]

I do, more than anything. But I don't have a big enough catalogue to get started. If they keep going at about ten a month maybe I'd be able to wrangle it in a few years. And even then I'd need a studio, and that's getting a bit out of line with the medieval times. Then you'd need ads, other programmers, the works.

It's a nice dream though.

[Kind of figured. Maybe not quite the same as Red without her voice to sing with. But, y'know. Those with a passion. He'd been surrounded by the type all his life.

Mildly—]

Sounds like.

[A nice dream. Can't hurt to think about it, at least. Maybe get ambitious one day. But the way things have shaken out so far...?]

Nice of them to keep you stocked, anyway. Wonder if they're taking notes.

[Less Aqua, more Jefferson Airplane. Clearly the records they're rewarding him aren't coming from Richie's personal stash, so—]

[Boxer puts up with so much. All these high strung personalities. Is Luna the only one in their house with equal chill?]

I suspect they might be, what with the flying circus going on upstairs. If I wind up with more...."Europop", I reserve the right to riot.

[Akira has his moments, ig, but he's still a shitty teenager at heart so ymmv. It's fine, someone's got to shoulder this burden of being the straight man. Wry—]

That'll show 'em.

[The almighty alien powers that be will find that protest very compelling, probably.]

Sure will. We'll take the Molotov Cocktails to their windows this time.

[~~And yet the p5/sgg house will somehow still catch fire~~]

[It's all Yusuke's paint fumes, probably. Very flammable.

Even ironically, that's enough to pull a little wince from him, as the chorus kicks up on Richie's end. (And the white knight is talking backwards, and the red queen's off with her head—)]

Maybe consider the higher ground.

[What did those windows ever do to you, Rich.]

[It was nOT HIS FAULT?]

Well it wouldn't be my first time doing the peaceful protest either.

[Hypothetical windows.

Meanwhile: that's more interesting.]

Figure that one wasn't for records.

Nah. That was for the Vietnam War. Ancient history by now, but in the tail end of the sixties you couldn't take two steps on campus without getting clocked by sticks and cardboard.

[Most of those specifics mean very little to him, of course. But he gets enough of the gist to hum in a little I see sort of way. Not gonna lie—]

Not sure what I expected.

[Not that, apparently. ...No offense.]

Now I'm curious. What would you have guessed?

Tough call. Better acoustics in the Theater district? New bridge over the bay?

[This is said deeply ironically, so this is definitely a joke. But, y'know. Routine civic engagement in Cloudbank was what it was.]

Guess I could have known better.

[In hindsight. Wouldn't have pegged him much for politics, but Richie did attend that whole invite-only peace talk deal.]

Better acoustics would do the world a bit of good. Maybe that's what I'll picket next.

[He waves off the notion, even if they're on voice-only. He's too physical a talker to hold back gesticulating on the phone.]

How could you have? We've all only got the bare bones of each other's histories. I wouldn't rattle off about every hiccup in politics unless there was reason to. A lot of it wasn't even happening direct to me.

[Not that such things kept him from marching in favor or against them. It's hard to stand idly by when good folks were taking shots for shit they couldn't help. Being a woman, being black, etcetera etcetera. Tumultuous times, they were.]

[Pretty fair. Still—]

Thinking of picking up the habit again?

[Honest question. Just because he's allergic to civic duty doesn't mean everyone is.]

It'd have to be a damn good cause with a hint of success at the end. Picketing didn't always get the job done. And I'm not as spry as I used to be, I'd need more vino breaks and a lawn chair to park on every other hour.

Besides, considering the era Olympia's stuck in? I'd say they'd go straight to riots before they even bothered with a peaceful protest. They already did once.

Video; un: rtozier

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