Video // Mirror, Mirror...

[just_displaced]

[It's pretty hard to disguise the fact that his hands are shaking when he turns on the video, and even harder to disguise the fact that he's sitting on the floor somewhere, arms wrapped around his knees, steadfastly avoiding looking anywhere except the communicator.]

Has anyone seen...

[He shakes his head, a little too frantically.]

Okay. Let me start over. Has anyone been seeing... things in the mirror? Strange things? Things that shouldn't be there but that're definitely there? I think I might be going crazy. There's something there, and I'm not...

[Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, he tries his best to get his thoughts together. It's an uphill battle.]

I've never hallucinated like this before. Other hallucinations, maybe, but not like this. Please tell me I'm not the only one, someone. I don't think I can take it much longer.

Comments

[deadmanbusiness]

It's probably a curse, not a hallucination.

[just_displaced]

[He actually practically jumps in surprise when a response comes from the communicator, though really, he shouldn't have expected anything else. He's just a little... off, today.]

Is a curse better than a hallucination? Or is it worse? If it's a curse, that means it's real. If It's a hallucination, that means it's not real.

[deadmanbusiness]

That's kind of hard to say. Curses tend to only last a day. It also depends on what your definition of real is.

[just_displaced]

But this has lasted more than a day. This has been going on... I don't know how long. A couple days, at least. And then there was that feeling of dread we were having, which has gotta be connected somehow.

[deadmanbusiness]

Feelings of dread have not abated. But... [He puts his hands together pressing them up against his mouth so the finger tips are under his nose.] I would definitely say that this is related.

[just_displaced]

I know, I know, the feelings of dread are still there, and now there's this, and it's not just mirrors, it's most reflective surfaces. I'm just going to sit here on the floor until it goes away.

[deadmanbusiness]

Sorry. I haven't been sleeping well. I can't say I've been seeing anything scary in reflective surfaces but it's not unheard of. There is the saying after all that mirrors are the windows to the soul.

[just_displaced]

I don't want a window to my soul. That's a window that should be locked, shuttered, and covered with blackout shades. That's a window that should be entirely smashed, if at all possible. Nobody needs to see my soul, I don't need to see anybody else's soul, I don't need to see my own soul...

[deadmanbusiness]

Are you that bad of a person?

[Theo isn't sure what he'd see in regards to his soul. Well, no that's not completely true, he thinks he has seen a bit of his soul, the godly part, way back when he was eighteen. And it was a scary bastard.]

[never_very_good]

Don't think you're hallucinating.

[just_displaced]

I don't think so either, and that worries me. Hallucinations I can deal with. Kind of. They're not real, and people tell you that, and they're still scary but at least nobody else sees them. This... Seems too real to me.

[never_very_good]

Shit like that usually is here. Real. Real enough, anyway.

[just_displaced]

Are you seeing them? The things... the shadows in the mirrors?

[never_very_good]

I dunno.

[He's seeing nothing. Nothing, when he should be seeing himself.]

Sometimes I think so. Could be imagining it, but knowing this place...

[just_displaced]

You're probably seeing something. It's this place, it's trying to make us all crazy.

[never_very_good]

Could be. Could be a warning. Could just be a side effect of something else, who the fuck knows?

[just_displaced]

I think it's a warning. I think there's something on the way, something really bad. Worse than this.

video;

[candothat]

I have heard of this happening to others! I doubt that you're crazy.

[contemplative pause]

Or not crazy in this way. When have you hallucinated before?

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Yeah. Kind of. Back home. But not like this. I've never seen things.

video;

[candothat]

Auditory hallucinations, then? Is this a disorder?

[He's asking out of concern, of course.]

You have never been in a City like this. Before declaring yourself crazy, it is advisable [or adwiseable] to consult the network to see if anyone else is suffering similar symptoms.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

It's not a disorder. Sometimes I just can't...

[A sigh.]

Sometimes I think I'm receiving messages. Ones that only I can hear. But I know other people are seeing these things in the mirror too, and that means that maybe they're real, and I think I'd rather be hallucinating.

video;

[candothat]

Are you psychic? Telepathic? Even low-level psychic skills can present themselves as symptoms of insanity.

Think of it this way: If you and other people are seeing these things and they are real, then you are sane and do not need to worry about your mental state. If this is a mass hallucination, then you may be delusional, but the mirrors would be safe.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

I'm not psychic or telepathic. At least, I don't think so. Is it possible to be psychic or telepathic? Maybe I am and I just never realized it.

[He's pretty sure he's not, though.]

I don't think the mirrors are safe. I think there's something in them that... it's not here yet, but it's going to be here. Something bad. And some of us can see that, and I don't know why it's only some of us and not all of us but... are you seeing things?

video;

[candothat]

There are a number of psychic beings in the universe. Many humans even have mild psychic abilities, or at least a sensitivity to neural energy.

Me? No, I have not seen anything myself. This doesn't mean that there is nothing in the mirrors.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Maybe I do. That would explain a lot. A whole lot.

I'm glad you haven't seen anything. I mean, not entirely glad, because if everyone were seeing it, that'd make more sense than only some of us seeing it, but I'm glad you're not seeing things because the things you'd be seeing aren't the kind of things I'd want you to see.

[He's not even sure if that sentence made a whole lot of sense. He's pretty worked up.]