video | oo1 | τ = 1.

[topology]

[ The feed clicks on and, for a while, all you get is the shift of a hand writing something on a page. The paper in question isn't in view, but the curl of his hand is — a short scrawl, tight but not illegible, from the way his wrist shifts. Arthur thinks about not picking up the device at all and deleting what's been recorded so far but he doesn't, instead choosing to set the pen down angling it so he can speak directly and clearly to the screen. He looks rough but it's not in his overt presentation, not with his tie neat and the collar secure and his cufflinks done up. It's in his eyes, the pinch of his brow — Arthur looks tired. But that's really not any of your business. There's a reason for all this face-time too. Demon-free, and all that. ]

I need to know how this— [ His brows draw together; it isn't exactly his field of expertise beyond using it as some on-the-nose symbolism. ] demon possession happened.

[ He taps the pen idly on the surface of his desk, tap-tap-tap. After a beat, he adds: ]

And how to stop it from happening again.

[ Another long, long beat. He sets the device down and it's almost like he's forgotten that the feed is on. He hasn't and, eventually, Arthur huffs out a laugh. ]

I also need a new pen.




( ooc | all replies will be in perma-text unless otherwise marked! )

Comments

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

I prefer programmer

[Which sounds less stupid by comparison and is an all-encompassing term- plus it doesn't really deal with the oogie sides of being a Dollhouse programmer.]

Yeah... Not my happiest moment to date.

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

[ Programmer. Yeah, that's a distinction Arthur's not gonna get in a hurry. ]

In the interest of comparing notes: what happened to you?

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

[Oh so casually... Inasmuch as text can be casual.] Got possessed, skeeved out Ariadne and a few of my friends. Got stabbed with a fork.

You?

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

[ Immediately: ]

Did you hurt her?

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

NO. God, no.

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

[ Right answer. ]

Good.

My experience was pretty similar. Memory's pretty hazy, though, up til the "exorcism".
Do you buy it? Demons?

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

I'm kinda agnostic, so... Not really? Hard to argue with what they're calling facts, but I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid and joining everyone in a rousing chorus of "What a Friend We Have In Jesus" right now.

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

I'm thinking it's an easy explanation for whatever happened to us. Not necessarily the right one.

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

Like a glitch in the Matrix?

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

If you want to think about it that way, yeah. Maybe.
I don't buy the dogma is all.

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

But you and Ariadne are totes on the Team "It Was All A Dream," right?

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

[ Weird.. Conversations... to have.... with an aware... projection... who is maybe not a projection... ha ha ha oh god fuck space so much B((( ]

Yeah.

Sedative could do it in theory, but it's nothing I've ever seen before. It'd have to be custom.
I'm working on it.

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

And you haven't even touched on the kinda tech I've got access to... Had access to. This kinda thing is what happened to people who didn't play by the rules.]

text | encryption | 85%

[topology]

"Rules."
What rules.

text | encryption | 85%

[andblockbuster]

[There's a long pause before the next message comes through- obviously a lot of deliberation went on to actually get it written, because it's so simple, really.]

'Don't screw up the whole thing? Don't betray the house?' Ariadne knows... The facts. Not the why. That's... Kinda where this gets sketchy.

[Of course, saying something like this is sketchy to someone who invades other people's dreams is a touch ironic, but, well, there's a difference between suggestion and what the Dollhouse does. And he's come a long way from being blinded by the philanthropic side.]