[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

[scarsolderthanyou]

I'm several hundred turns old. I died of old age. I can call you kid if I want to.

[He's teasing. Mostly.]

[catholicisms]

( Matt laughs. clearly he's not put off by it. )

I suppose that's fair.

( reminds him a little of Stick. which can be an unflattering comparison most of the time... but not always. )

You're... Stone, I'm guessing?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Yeah, I wasn't very creative with the name I put on this thing. Not like some of you people.

What does yours even mean?

[catholicisms]

Hell's Kitchen.

( truthfully, that's not creative at all, not for Matt. it just isn't his name, that's the only points he gets for uniqueness he gets. )

That's where I'm from. It's a neighborhood in New York City.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Don't know where that is, but I'll take your word for it. What's it like there?

[Look, Stone likes hearing about other people's homes as much as he likes talking about his own.]

[catholicisms]

It's a huge city. Millions of people in not a lot of space. Constant noise, bustle, traffic, people. It's got a distinct heartbeat, and it's from the huge variety of cultures that have been drawn there. There's nothing like it.

( Matt is a private guy, but there's a couple things he enjoys talking about. how much he loves his city is one of those things. )

[scarsolderthanyou]

Millions of people.

[Stone sounds vaguely skeptical. He can't really even comprehend a number of people that big.]

I think the largest city I've ever been to had, I don't know, a couple hundred thousand. And that city seemed big and crowded.

[catholicisms]

( to be fair, even living in the middle of New York, it's a hard number to truly conceptualize. )

I know it isn't for everyone. The crowds, the hustle, the noise. I miss it, though. That sounds crazy, but it's the truth. I liked the crowds, the noise, the energy... all of it.

[scarsolderthanyou]

I like cities. There's a lot to watch, lots of food everywhere to buy or beg off people, and it's easier to blend in when everyone looks a little different.

Just that sounds bigger than any city I've ever heard of.

[catholicisms]

It sounds massive, and ... it is, I suppose, if you look at it on paper.

Living in it, you don't feel the size or the scope. Or at least, I didn't.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Someday I'd like to see a city that big.

[A pause.]

Though I'm going to guess I probably won't get that chance. Since we're dead, and this world seems pretty empty.

[catholicisms]

They say never say never.

( but, uh, yeah. if they really are dead and this world is a few years from destruction... the likelihood isn't great. )