[network] @MarbleHornets; day 018, evening [open] [cw: offscreen character death]

[genreblindness]

[The video opens to show Jay, out of breath and glancing over his shoulder every now and then. It's hard to tell where exactly he is, but based on the lack of light it's outside.]

Those, uh- those shadow things. It kinda looks like- [He pauses to cough a little, clearing his throat before continuing.] I was filming them, and it looks like that made them want to come after me more. I don't know what that could mean, but...

[He's startled by a rattling sound from somewhere behind him and turns to look, but doesn't bring the tablet around to show what's happening. The way the video is stretching and tearing at its edges might serve as a hint, though.] Oh, sh-

[The next few seconds are too chaotic to fully make out; the tablet falls to the ground camera side down so it shows only black. There are nearby noises from feet scuffling on snow and ice, grunts and coughing from Jay, and then a distant thump from something heavy falling and hitting the ground. After that, there is nothing but silence. Jay does not return to turn the feed off.]

[OOC: There will be no responses from Jay because he is dead :( Feel free to respond and threadjack, though!]

Comments

[maskintape]

[ There's a long almost-silence, only broken up by Tim's hoarse breathing and faint sounds of the house walls creaking.

Why is it that hearing Al say that only makes it more real that Jay is dead? ]

Yeah.

[ No. ]

You're right. After a goof up like that, I wouldn't go back for my tablet either.

[armoured]

[He knows it too, but he doesn't want to admit it. Jay has already died once before arriving here, apparently, dying again is terrible. Not to mention if he was reborn again.]

...I bet you'll be able to find him and yell at him for losing it tomorrow morning.

[maskintape]

Dunno. Not really feeling much like yelling.

[ The only person he's really angry at is himself, what with how his guilt complex is bigger than the fucking MOON. ]

I'll probably have to hit him, though. Tradition.

[armoured]

[His heart is aching so badly, and he forgets that he has ever been angry at Tim before. Now the poor guy is obviously in need of a friend, so Al settles himself down to act as a distraction, his voice warm.]

Have you two known each other such a long time, then?

[maskintape]

A while.

[ Talking about it might not help, but it doesn't hurt more either. Probably because Tim's hit the limit there. ]

We met years ago, back in college. We weren't close or whatever then, though - like. He was a friend of a friend of a friend? It's only for the last year or so we've been...

[ ...Bestest buddies? Shit detectives? Hobos on the run from a terrifying paranormal creature without a face? ]

[armoured]

It must be comforting to have him here with you, it's always easier to face hard things when you have a friend at your side.

[True, Norfinbury is dangerous enough that sometimes Al wished his brother had never come here, but most of the time he's grateful to have that familiar presence around to strengthen him.]

[maskintape]

Yeah. Until they fall off a roof.

[ This is just making him think about what's waiting for him back home. He'll have to go back there at some point - Alex says Tim killed him, after all, so he obviously has to do that sometime. Somehow.

So he won't be here forever. He'll be back in Alabama with no friends, no family and a sickening amount of blood on his hands - and there's nothing he can do about it.

Awesome. ]

[armoured]

[That... was not the kind of distraction he was going for. Both of them know that it's unlikely Jay has made it, but Al knows that no good can come of Tim dwelling on it. If he's left to think on it long enough, he might decide to do something reckless and go out himself to search for his friend.]

Uh...

[QUICK SUBJECT CHANGE.]

You met in college? You must both be really smart to have gone there.

[Further education in Al's time was for the very rich, or extremely scholarly.]

[maskintape]

[ That actually prompts a small laugh! Because Jay. Smart. ]

Nah. Uh, we didn't study, like - smart people stuff. He took film and I did music, but... I - I didn't finish, so. I had to drop out when. When some stuff happened.

[armoured]

I'm sorry.

[He is just putting his foot into all the painful subjects today, isn't he?]

But even if you didn't finish, you were still smart enough to get in! I don't know many people who went to college, and I haven't been to school since I was about seven or eight.

[maskintape]

Oh... right.

[ Alternate old timey magic world shit. That. ]

That's about the age I stopped going to school too. You get homeschooled or - or whatever you'd call it? Learning outside school.

[armoured]

No, not really. My brother and I travelled to find a teacher after we left school, but we only stayed with her for about a year or so. After that, we didn't get taught by anyone any more.

[Nine or ten is a totally normal age to stop schooling forever.]

Wait... I thought you said you went to college, how did you do that if you left school at seven?

[maskintape]

Wow. Get your ass back to the school and pick up some books. You've gotta learn long division, you can't call yourself a man until you do.

[ HAHAHA JOKES.

And more awkward questions, THANKS AL-BAMA ]

As for school, I - I got sick. So I had to learn in the hospital for a while.

[ A W K W A R D ]

[armoured]

[NO! HOW DOES HE KEEP ASKING THE AWKWARD QUESTIONS?! There is an embarrassed silence for a few beats, and Al's voice is higher than usual in distress.]

I-- I'm really sorry, I didn't know.

[God.]

You, uh, you must be extra smart to still qualify for further education even after a long illness, that's amazing.

[maskintape]

Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal.

[ It's not like it ruINED HIS LIFE OR ANYTHING ]

Being stuck in the hospital probably made it easier for me to study. No distractions, you know?

[ Except for the hallucinations and dissociative episodes and violent outbursts and depression and screaming and ]

[armoured]

[He's never known hospitals to be that relaxing, but then he's always been there when Ed has been injured which usually means a lot of military personnel and some shouting.]

...

[He's scared to say anything now in case he makes it worse.]

You said you studied music? What sort of instrument do you play?

[That's a safe question, isn't it?]

[maskintape]

A few, actually. Keyboard and guitar, mostly.

...And I'm a badass with a ukulele.

[ Like the ukulele he used to recoRD THE MARBLE HORNETS SOUNDTRACK OH GOD ANGST ANGST THAT SHITTY STUDENT FILM RUINED EVERYTHIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG

Okay no not even that can sour the magic that is the ukulele. A safe question indeed. WELL DONE KIDDO ]

[armoured]

That's wonderful!

[He is completely genuine in his praise, no sign of animosity remaining. He might not know what a ukulele was, but he can tell from the context that it's obviously a type of musical instrument.]

I don't know many people who can even play one instrument, let alone three, you must be a really amazing musician.

[maskintape]

Not, uh, not really. It's not that weird where I come from. And it's not like - it's not like, you know, I was super great at playing or anything.

[ ADMIRATION IS WEIRD AND UNNATURAL AND HE DOESN'TKNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT. STOP THAT ]

[armoured]

I think you're probably underplaying yourself... after all, if you managed to get into a higher education to study music, you must be pretty amazing.

[Can't stop, won't stop.]

[maskintape]

Look, you're - you're way, way overestimating the amount of talent involved here. Like. Like, the worst amateur film-maker in the entire goddamn universe got into the same college I did.

[ Wait ]

Uh, a film-maker is - it's somebody who writes stories and gets other people to act them out while he films them, I guess. Like on the tablets-- okay, no, the important part is that he was a total hack.

[ Ohhhhh boy. Things that are really good for the purposes of distracting Tim from awful things: SHIT TALKING ALEX KRALIE AND HIS TERRIBLE-ASS MOVIE. ]

[armoured]

[Why is Tim always so angry about everything? Al sighs almost inaudibly.]

I'm not so sure you should say things like that, even if you don't appreciate his talents, I bet he can still do things a lot of other people can't. Like me, I wouldn't know where to start in writing plays and then making them into moving pictures.

[maskintape]

[ Tim has two modes: angry and sad. Sometimes they collide. ]

Okay, before we - before we formally induct you into the Alex Kralie Defense Squad, you should know that his movie was worse than anything you've ever read, seen or heard. It gave me a concussion.

[ well he's not lying ]

[armoured]

Really?

[He sounds so disbelieving right now.]

It gave you an actual concussion? How did it do that?

[maskintape]

[ Drily: ]

I got hit over the head with an iron bar while we were location scouting.

[ The fact that Alex was wielding it is something he's not going to go into. ]