[audio] @HK; set during the middle of the event! [open]

[catholicisms]

( Matt isn't big on the devices, for a multitude of reasons. he'll answer on occasion but most of the time he observes and doesn't participate. his username might not be familiar, even to the people who have met him. maybe his voice will be; that's the medium he chooses, it just makes delivery easier. )

I am sure we've all heard what is going around, that plenty of us are suffering from hallucinations. I know how real they must look, or hear, or sound.

( he's had at least a little of his own issues, mostly voices in his head. touches he can't explain. Matt thinks he might be getting off a little easier on this round of misery because he's blind. that's a first, but it also means he has a different perspective on the situation.

and while he's generally not big about talking about how he uses his other senses, in this instance? he feels like he should. )

If you don't recognize my voice, my name is Matt. If you don't know me yet, I'm the one with sunglasses and a walking cane. ( hopefully this is obvious enough a cue to imply he's the blind guy wandering around. ) I can't see what you are seeing, any more than anyone else can. But I can tell you that your other senses could help you decipher if what you are experiencing is real.

If you see blood, something dead, rotten, you'd smell it as much as you'd see it. If you can feel things on you, they can't just come out of nowhere. When things come towards you, they leave an audible clue, and it means something if you can't hear it.

The things you are seeing, hearing, feeling — they're terrible, and horrifying, but they also aren't real. Try muffling the sense that is troubling you most. It's already dark here, but a blindfold could help you ignore what isn't there.

( and because he realizes it isn't easy to rely on senses without practice, ) And if it seems real and you need help figuring out what you can trust, maybe I can help.

Comments

audio | @kol

[unpredict]

[ this dude is evidently onto something. either matt's overcome each and every horrifying thing that's been bestowed upon him... or he's immune.

kol doesn't sound angry or ready for a fight. he sounds uncharacteristically resigned. ] Are you experiencing them, too?

[catholicisms]

I am. Mostly auditory.

( voices that shouldn't be there, all happy to drag up the darkest parts of his subconscious wearing the guise of people he knows. some that he miss, but mostly someone he distinctly doesn't. )

[unpredict]

Unlucky.

[ so not primarily sight. it's interesting to see how these affect everyone—kol's got a mixed bag of sight, scent and sound, with sensation sometimes coming into play. he'd rather just have one thing to focus on, although that's possibly just as unpleasant. ]

So how are you muffling your sense of hearing? Clearly it must be working if that's the advice you're offering.

[catholicisms]

I'm not muffling it, I'm using my other senses to invalidate it.

If someone were really here, talking to me... there'd be more than just a voice. Their voice would echo a little, or change as I got farther away. They'd make the floor creak, and I'd smell hints of them, as bizarre as that sounds.

( he hates that he knows what Fisk smells like, but, there you go. )

It's harder when you have multiple senses at play, I won't argue that. But if you think it might not be real, look for the flaws in the projection. I find they're there, if you're willing to look for them.

[unpredict]

[ it's all good advice—great advice, really—but kol knows, despite how he wants to posture himself as someone strong and capable, that he won't be able to focus. not with what he's been hallucinating. not with what he sometimes believes—it's as if these hallucinations really know how to work him.

after a quick moment of silence, kol decides he'll ask what he wants to ask—even if it shows him as slightly vulnerable. ]

What would your advice be if what you're seeing, thinking, feeling is something that's happened to you in the past? You can't help but be wrapped up in that, can you?

[catholicisms]

( slightly vulnerable, though not overly so — plenty are suffering hallucinations that take them back into a moment they'd rather not relive. Kol is at least not alone in that. )

It's difficult, yes, though if you can try to focus on the disconnect between where you are now and where you were then. You're not in the same place, and chances are life and experience have changed you from the person that lived those moments. If you focus on the differences, you might be able to poke holes in the projection.

[unpredict]

[ it's excellent advice. logical, reasonable—easy.

despite being confident (and rather cocky), kol immediately and sincerely doubts he'll be able to find those holes and poke them so hard they dissipate at once. but he has faced impossible odds before—after all, what he's being haunted with are moments in his life he has survived. ]

How often have you been noticing the difference and poking your fingers into these holes? [ kol has a feeling it's a small number. people who often give out advice are the ones who find it tough to follow it. ]

[catholicisms]

( that's matt in a nutshell. logical, up until he can't be. he's more of a do as I say and not as I do kinda guy. )

None of my hallucinations have taken the shape of a memory. ( so, not at all, not really. ) I couldn't tell you if it'll work, but it's the best suggestion I can make based on what works for me.

( Matt sighs, voice a little tired. ) I hope it helps. I'm aware it likely won't.

[unpredict]

It does.

[ it comes quick. kol isn't one who likes to build people up for the sake of making someone feel good about themselves, but he feels the impulse here. already he has a weapon against what's happening here, which is far more than what he had five minutes ago. ]

If I can ask—what have yours been of? Fears? Stories you've heard?

[ it has to be something he has a connection with, surely. from what kol's heard thus far from people, they've had some sort of intimacy with what they're being haunted with. ]

[catholicisms]

( well, he's not expecting that. Matt isn't even sure he buys it — his advice is so conditional. some demons are determined to linger, despite his best efforts. still, he hopes it's true. not because he likes to be right, more that Matt genuinely wishes to offer a reprieve. limited though it might be. )

Mostly I'm hearing voices. Voices from home, before here.