TEXT

[fleshing]

[Anyone who's talked to Krieg at any length might have a fairly good idea as to why the message comes out the way it does. For anyone else, it has the look of someone who more or less bashed their head against a keyboard, an assessment that would not be far from the truth.]

;ld

d




fl;azz@@ @
=!


h oOW Do o we ma;ke the FROWN FACES frown face frWON FACE/ /???
WHO PUT tH FACES S IN OUR TINY SCREEN?????/%s??

[Someone's apparently forgotten how to make emojis, much to his chagrin.]

Comments

[video]

[tongueamok]

[Whoa, calm down there. All that movement is going to make Carlisle nauseated.]

Who? I would assume you would. It's your device, is it not?

[video]

[fleshing]

But they're too small!

[His eye squinches shut as he tries to wrap his little brain around the concept of varying sizes.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

Your face, or these faces on your device?

[He is trying so hard to help you, Krieg.]

[video]

[fleshing]

[If Krieg had the comprehension to be grateful, he would be.]

Sideways smiles!

[video]

[tongueamok]

[He tilts his head to the side, and puts on his biggest smile.]

Like this?

[TRYING SO HARD, KRIEG.]

[video]

[fleshing]

Yes!!!

[Precisely! Success in decoding Krieg's tangled speech!]

How do they make them tiny?

[video]

[tongueamok]

Make them tiny...?

[Oh. OH.]

A moment.

[He sets the communicator down and heads off-camera. There's some noise of him digging around, then he shows back up with some things in hand -- looks like a jar of ink, a pen, and some paper. He gets some ink in the pen and scribbles on the page, then holds up his handiwork before the camera.]



More like this?

[video]

[fleshing]

MODERN ARRRTT!

[Krieg sounds delighted at the picture.]

How do you put it inside?

[video]

[tongueamok]

[He mutters to himself. Put it inside? Put it inside what? The communi...

Ah. He turns the paper in front of the camera.]



You mean like this! I see now. There are buttons for that somewhere on this thing.

[video]

[fleshing]

Yes! So who cut off all those pretty faces and slid them under the door?

[He mimes tearing a face off, apparently unable to grasp that the emoticons are not actual faces.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

[Carlisle cringes at the mere thought of what Krieg is miming.]

I... don't think that's how they get them in there. Someone who knows how to manipulate this technology must've put them in there. I don't think that someone literally took the face off a person and put it into these things...

[At least he hopes not.]

[video]

[fleshing]

[Krieg makes a low, disappointed noise and slumps back, looking disgruntled. That's much less exciting than what he was imagining.]

BORING.

[video]

[tongueamok]

You would rather they rip the face off a poor soul and cram it into one of these things?

[video]

[fleshing]

YESyesyesyesyesyessssssssss!

[That sounds about ten times more exciting and bloody. And those are two things that are Relevant To His Interests!]

[video]

[tongueamok]

Aaaaaallright. You're, er... the violent sort, I take it?

[video]

[fleshing]

We live for meaaaaaat.

[He thinks he can hear the little brain-voice in his head groaning, but he's not sure. He ignores it, in any case.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

... Animal meat, right?

[RIGHT?]

[video]

[fleshing]

Why bother discriminate?

[A joyous statement that almost immediately segues into peals of raucous laughter.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

[CRIIIIIINGING. He's just going to keep cringing through all that laughter.

And still cringing.

Are you going to stop laughing, Krieg? THIS ISN'T FUNNY.]

[video]

[fleshing]

[You're scaring him.

Krieg's head twitches oddly, like trying to dislodge something from his neck, and he gives it a little shake as the laughter peters off, warping, fading.

Then it's like a switch gets flipped. One meaty hand grips his head in frustration.]

We're WRONG!

[video]

[tongueamok]

[More cringing, but now with additional terror!]

We're wrong? What am I wrong about?

[video]

[fleshing]

Not you! Us!

[Followed by an emphatic thump of his fist over his chest, indicating himself. "We." We. Two voices in one stupid little brrrrrrrain.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

There's only one of you!

[YOU AREN'T MAKING ANY SENSE.]

[video]

[fleshing]

[Krieg makes a pained, angry sound, giving his head another rough shake. The whine resolves into a frustrated snarl.]

Stop judging me!

[He slams a fist onto whatever surface is nearest, causing the feed to jiggle a little with the impact.]

[video]

[tongueamok]

[Carlisle jumps at the slamming of the fist, looking so panicked that it's clear he thinks Krieg might come through the phone right this minute and strangle him.]

I'm not judging you! Stop yelling at me!