voice;

[welcome]

[This is a new voice. A smooth voice, canyon-deep and deliberate in its enunciation. Occasionally, the speaker breaks from his practiced tone, but, for the most part -- this sounds like a professional.]

Hello, everyone -- however many people and non-humanoid entities that word may entail. I won't take up too much of your time tonight, but I'm sure you've all noticed it by now. The stray feelings, arriving out of nowhere, and with no apparent courier. The images, too.

Oh, the things I've already seen so far. The things I may never stop seeing. The things now imprinted, permanently, behind my eyelids.

[He sighs, but he doesn't sound aggrieved. It's a soft, dreamy exhale, a gentle 'aah' that's slightly incongruous with the low, dark octaves of his voice.]

I just wanted to say, to whomever may be behind this: you're doing a great job. Simply fantastic. We had an emotional entrepreneur in my little hometown, and I thought I was impressed by their work, but this is a cut above! Full-featured memories, delivered right to us, and without any long and frustrating sign-up process.

It's a great service, and you're performing it so efficiently. Why, if this keeps up, I may never have a feeling or thought of my own again. My sense of self might become completely sublimated to a foreign set of memories and experiences. I would have no identity-based responsibilities whatsoever.

Dream vacation, right?

So keep up the good work, whoever you are. Five stars.

Comments

[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

["Ryuuzaki" has a young man's low, smooth, English-accented voice, but his tone is flat and detached.]

What things would those be?

[welcome]

Other lives, other stories. People happy, people in pain. Tears and blood and dinner dates. The usual spectrum.

voice

[supfirehawk]

[There is much disbelief and she's trying to figure out how someone could sound like they're enjoying themselves so much here.] You think this is some kind of service?

[welcome]

Naturally! If I could leave a Yelp review somewhere, I would.

voice;

[passe]

[ there's something weirdly nostalgic about the delivery, but the words themselves - not so much. hal fully intends to argue against the merits of whatever this is. reality's enough of a mess to untangle without this in the mix. but first: ]

Emotional entrepreneur?

[ the tone's somewhere between intensely offended and intensely curious. ]

[welcome]

[He doesn't understand the affront, sir! He's apologetic; sheepish.]

That was the best term I could think of. It's alliterative, even.

( voice. )

[overthought]

Not what I expected from a vacation, I have to admit. I'd have to say that they're really doing well with our accommodations.

[welcome]

I wouldn't say that about the entire situation here, but I can't criticize this particular feature of my stay. It's a little piece of home, for me.

[Until the aches and pains start, of course.]

voice

[humanistic]

Yeah, I used t' think that the south of France would be great for a holiday, but you're right, this is so much better.

[you're going to hear this implied in like everyone's tones, but Cecil: what is wrong with you.]

What the hell is an emotional entrepreneur?

: voice

[invisibilitea]

Be kind.

[welcome]

[He notes the sarcasm, but elects to slide right over it.]

Hmm. Well, the service doesn't seem to have a formal name, so I just -- made one up! You don't think it fits?

[invisibilitea]

Hello Cecil!

[She is just.....


........glossing over everything you just said.]

[welcome]

[His voice takes on a more casual quality for her.]

Annie! I know we're trapped on a labyrinthine and possibly malevolent spaceship, but I hope you've been walking.

voice

[seered]

I'm intrigued as to what you mean by "emotional entrepreneur", but since I'm not the first to inquire, I imagine I'll find out soon enough.

I find it much more interesting that you seem to be pleased by this--this, meaning not only the strange memory occurrences, but also the situation as a whole. I'm not sure telling the ones pulling the strings around here to "keep up the good work" is quite the best idea.

[welcome]

I'm just putting a name to this fine service, that's all. [There's a shrug in his tone as he continues.] And -- why not enjoy it? Takes the pressure off, I think.

t e x t »

[rixatus]

and it's only started.

[welcome]

Oh! Are you the esteemed courier of these feelings?

[askedtobe]

You sound way too excited about all this.

[welcome]

You're not?

permavoice

[withlace]

You'd rather someone else come up with your emotions for you?

[welcome]

I'm in favor of any technology that simplifies my daily life.

video;

[chickenselects]

Wait wait wait-- let me get this straight: your emotions were delivered to you.

[welcome]

[It's that handsome fellow from the other day. Hello, sir.]

That's correct! We received all varieties, from 'lost interest in this movie twenty minutes ago but don't want to hurt her feelings by falling asleep' to 'paralyzing fear over the unstoppable decay of this and all other organic bodies'.

voice;

[thebreakingwave]

I've a friend that signed up for an 'emotion of the month' club. Every month, he got a new one delivered to him by owl-post.

[He sounds pleased with the memory.]

It was all fine, until he accidentally dropped a bottle that turned out to be 'a vague sense of unease over a lost or thought to be lost object' and everyone around him had to keep their keys on a string for days.

[welcome]

[The grin is clear in Cecil's voice.] Fantastic. The organization back home was very fond of vague unease. Also nameless dread, unutterable terror, and -- for the lucky ones -- mind-bending portent.

voice;

[2leftfeet]

This is normal where you're from?

[Please mark that place on a map so she can make a point to never visit.]

[welcome]

The memories, not so much. But the random delivery of unasked-for emotions? Completely.

[jilt]

Well, well. Aren't you an optimist, my dear. A rare thing to find among these stars.

[welcome]

I do think it's important to look on the bright side. Until you start to feel yourself go blind, of course.

[kutte]

I can't tell if you're tapped or just fucking with us.

[welcome]

I'm not sure what it is to be 'tapped', so I'm going to go with 'probably none of the above'.

video;

[vindicating]

This is like a vacation to you?

[welcome]

Not being here, exactly. More the concept of releasing one's self to another self.