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

( 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Elizabeth sounds positively miserable. ]

It's certainly with a shot. Thank you, Mr Matt, for suggesting it.

( she sounds young... god why do the babies suffer the worst??? this is his nightmare!!! )

You're welcome. I really, really hope it helps. If you're not sure you trust yourself without your eyes, I'm more than happy to help you out.

[ Elizabeth gives a soft, rueful laugh. ]

Well, I don't think the approach can make it worse.

You're very kind to offer. It's not an easy thing, when you can't trust your own senses...

Apparently it's possible to hallucinate even with your eyes closed, so it might not help at all.

( but hey... he still tried. that's about all he can do. )

No, it isn't. You don't realize how much you rely on a sense until you can't trust it anymore.

I actually think the visual ones are the least upsetting, if only because sight seems to be--

Oh! I'm so sorry, that was... very thoughtless of me to say.

[ To a blind guy. ]

It's all right.

( people often forget he's blind and make slightly thoughtless references. "have you seen anything like it" or "would you look at that" or a litany of other things. he's used to it, as long as it's not said with intent he doesn't mind that much. )

Sight seems to be what?

[ She's embarrassed by the slip anyway. ]

I was just going to say... well, with the darkness in this place, sight is the least reliable sense anyway. It doesn't have the same visceral reaction that say, smelling something does.

It might not be as reliable, but that's half the struggle of being here. Letting go of that sense isn't easy.

( he'd know, wouldn't he? )

I'm not an authority, but it seems visual seems to be a common type of hallucination. I take it yours are olfactory?

[ Perhaps Elizabeth was a special case, having seen so much of the world through her Tears, seeing the way things splintered off into what was real, what could be real. ]

Mm... yes, the worst ones are. It feels like I can't even breathe until it passes.

Is it combined with another sense? Visual, or auditory?

( it might seem like a bunch of personal questions, but he needs to know details if he's going to help her work around the hallucinations... though, she seems quite lucid. she already knows it isn't real, at least for know. )

Both, but auditory seems the worse of the two. I keep hearing things behind me and I'm afraid... well, that my imagination may be working overtime.

[ She seems embarrassed by the admission, but at the same time, honest about it. ]

( all three senses are freaking out on her, which makes his advice so much less helpful.... but Matt will still try anyway. )

I think it is more than our imaginations at play here. I couldn’t tell you what is causing it, but group hysteria and hallucination doesn’t come from nowhere. There’s a cause, we just haven’t found it.

My suggestion is lean on the sense you trust the most. Isolate or remove the one that is currently most active. See if that helps you level the playing field.

[ Matt is a good egg. ]

I suppose I should start looking for some sort of earplugs, then. Perhaps the store will have something like that left.

You're very kind, working to help people like this. Most seem to just be focusing on handling it themselves without thinking of others.

( he at least has his moments... )

It might. If you’re having trouble getting around, I can poke around for you.

I don’t know how kind it is, considering the advice isn’t guaranteed to work. I figured I could share what I know, my perspective is slightly different in situations like this one. It was worth a shot — I should at least try to make myself useful when a rare occasion presents itself.

( it is kinda funny how he feels more blind than he ever has before being here. maybe the dark is getting to him, too. )

[ He seems so settled, she thinks. ]

I'm sure you're useful in many ways. Have you been here very long?

For starters, if you ever need legal counsel, I'm happy to provide.

( his Columbia (not the sky city, the prestigious college) education does no good in Beacon, so he's definitely being smart with her on that one. she's not wrong, he has other uses... he just won't admit to most of them. )

A good few months now. I arrived the ferry after the first.

[ The thought that she might need legal counsel as... whatever their technical state of living-or-dead they are in Beacon, makes her laugh a little, though not unkindly. ]

I'll keep that in mind. You're a lawyer? That's a very admirable career.

I hope your arrival was less... damp... than mine was.

( he was aiming for a laugh, so good! suffice to say, his legal career has been on a huge downslide since he died. )

I was, anyway. So far there's not much in the way of a legal system here.

More or less, dry, yes. A great deal more rats, however. We had an entire hoard of them.

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

audio | @elizabeth

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