[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

[catholicisms]

( no billy club, he's been Well Behaved. but the stick for sure. all he needs now is an old timey rocking chair so he can shout the youths off his porch. )

In my defense, I found the flowerpot after the mandrake. It still likes to sleep in dirt. I have no current plans for a picket fence, if only because nobody else would have a chance at yard of the week with that much homey charm to contend with.

( pretty far from his general style but he's living in a cabin, pretty hard to get industrial loft vibes from a cabin. )

[webshoots]

That kind of makes it worse. It means the flowerpot is a choice. Suburbia'd suit you.

[ yeah yeah, not everyone gets fancy schmancy lawyer-salary apartments matthew. some people get apartments that they share with two other people, one of whom is a wannabe-supervillain turned ... not supervillain and pants stealer so... ]

—How d'you know it wouldn't prefer a flowerbed? I know nothing about gardening, by the way.

[catholicisms]

I think that’s the cruelest thing anyone’s ever said to me, and being blind in grade school offered plenty of opportunity for insults.

( unlike their last conversation, voice makes it abundantly clear he’s joking. even still, he kinda means it — he’s a city boy through and through, his flowerpot is for the sake of the tree baby, not suburban acclimation!!! )

That’s a little on the nose, pun wise.

[webshoots]

I'd apologise, but you're the guy with a flowerpot outside your door. I feel the need to milk it for all its worth.

[ LOOK peter gets it, but that doesn't mean he's going to make it easy for anyone else! ]

[catholicisms]

Similarity doesn’t prove causation. You’re reaching.

( that sounds like an old man trying to be hip, but it’s actually lawyer talk. though maybe the fact he said “causation” in casual conversation gives him away more..... )

[webshoots]

Reaching's basically my middle name.

On the plus side: this is definitely not the city, so you're in your element.

[catholicisms]

No, it’s definitely not the city. It’s quieter here. In theory, it’s a good thing. I’m not sure in execution.

( only a New Yorker would mourn the loss of traffic and people yelling on the street at all hours of the night. )

[webshoots]

[ peter feels u bro. ]

If the going theory wasn't that we're already dead, I'd say the lack of air pollution has definitely increased my life expectancy by at least five years, but also that I'm not convinced it's worth it if I don't have access to Cucciniello's.

[catholicisms]

I'd risk the air pollution and lowered life expectancy to go back if I could.

( if anyone finds a portal back to NYC, though, someone let him know. )

Might as well make the most of rural living. I think we're way past suburbs at this point.

[webshoots]

You're going to need to start embracing more flannel for that, Matt.

[catholicisms]

Maybe a flannel tie.

( in Matt's world, that somehow counts. )

[webshoots]

That doesn't count. Shirt or overshirt, maybe both. Maybe double flannel.

—Hey, is it a requirement that lawyers have to be able to dress well? It's disconcerting.

[catholicisms]

Not necessarily a requirement, though more or less an expectation.

( court is a bit of a formal affair, and lawyers spend plenty of their time there. )

What about it is disconcerting, exactly?

[webshoots]

All the time? That's what's disconcerting. You know if there's any excuse for casual Friday, it's being stuck in an alternate maybe-version of Maine, right?

[catholicisms]

Please don't imply we're in Maine. That's asking for killer clowns to show up.

( do you want this to become a Stephen King novel, Peter? because Matt sure doesn't. )

I'm not in a suit, ( because he has no access to them and for no other reason, ) so I'd say I am dressed down. As much as I enjoyed the storage potential in those shorts you gave me, they weren't exactly my style.

[webshoots]

What? [ w o w. ] It was hot, I was trying to be considerate. Next time you find yourself sans clothes, you're on your own. [ beat. ] You know, I've never read It. Was the clown even real, or was it just a metaphor?

[ lOOK THEY'RE HALLUCINATING. killer clowns would be a step up, at least he could like, punch them or something 8( ]

[catholicisms]

An alien, if I remember right.

( one that could manifest deepest fears to feed off of them. honestly that's a little too on the nose for what's going on in Beacon lately... Pennywise u out there bro )

That said, I was trying to keep up with a friend recollecting what was happening on a screen, I might have missed something.