The Lunatic is In My Head | Video | Open

[ushahin]

[It's right around three in the morning, but does Ushahin care? No. The video opens up with a tapping sound that seems to happen every couple of seconds. He's tapping the phone, unable to tell if the video is playing. He's been able to figure out text and even audio, but thus far, the video function has eluded him. Give him time.

When he's satisfied that it is indeed working, it begins to focus in. The light in the room is dim, providing barely enough illumination to see by. Considering how sensitive his left eye is to light, this isn't just for a mood enhancer. He's lying in a bathtub empty of water, fully clothed, a pillow and blankets evident.]

It's quiet again. [His voice is soft and exactly the sort one would expect to hear in the middle of the night in a dimly lit room.] Back to the usual dreams. And such strange ones you all have. So many questions and all the space of the slumbering mind in which to think them.

[He pauses and his eyes drift off to the side as if his mind has gone elsewhere. Finally, he blinks and seems to come back to where he is.] It's all just a spider's web. Snap one thread and it all can disappear.

Comments

[ushahin]

[This is just the tip of the crazy iceberg. Ushahin can be relatively normal at times, but right now, he's not entirely in touch with reality.]

The beds here are too soft. It feels like I'm sinking in and then the walls close in, talking and whispering terrible things. This is much safer.

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ HOO BOY. He's probably gonna regret asking this, but— ]

Terrible things like what?

[ushahin]

Imagine the worst nightmare that you have ever had in your entire life. The kind that you would have done anything to stop until you finally awoke, terrified that it was still going on as you looked around the room to assure yourself you were actually awake this time. The kind that left you weeping in the dark hours of the night while you did whatever you could to stay awake. The kind that made you afraid to sleep the next night, for fear it would come back to tear your mind to shreds again. Those are the kinds of terrible things I hear.

[He did ask. Gojyo has no one to blame for this but himself.]

[inappropriatelaughter]

Wow. That sucks.

[ What else do you say? ]

You should try camping, man. No walls, sleep like shit, definitely no beds, it's great.

[ Jokes, obviously. He can't stop himself. ]

[ushahin]

[Ushahin shrugs, shifting around a little in the bathtub. He finds little humor in Goyjo's words.]

Nightmares are familiar territory to me. Nothing scares me for too long anymore.

[inappropriatelaughter]

Says the guy who sleeps in his bathtub 'cause beds are scary.

[ushahin]

The bed isn't scary. The bed is untrustworthy, young pup. Do you know how many people are murdered in their beds every year?

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ Young…pup. He can't even come back with 'gramps,' or something. ]

Well, if you're expecting somebody to murder you, now they know where to find you, I guess.

[ushahin]

[This is the type of colloquialism that comes from growing up among werewolves.]

They may try. They will likely fail. I have a habit of living through things that should kill me.

[inappropriatelaughter]

Huh. [ It is the longest and most exaggerated 'huh' possible. ]

Dude, I know you said you don't drink, but I think you should like, I dunno, go sit in the grass, or something. Feed ducks. [ Are there ducks here? WHATEVER ] Play darts. Go, uh— [ a stupid pause; he ran out of things already— ] Drink anyway. Something.

[ushahin]

[Those ideas are met with a flat and vaguely contemptuous look. Ducks? Where the hell is he supposed to find ducks? The park? Ducks indeed.]

Since when has alcohol ever solved problems? I'd prefer to keep my wits about instead of letting them get stolen away.

[inappropriatelaughter]

What good are they gonna do you if you're hiding out in a bathtub? I'd bet so much money you've never even had like, one beer in your whole life. Do you even know how to have fun?

[ushahin]

No, but I've had svartblod, which I can assure you is far more potent and foul tasting than any batch of beer could ever be.

[Don't ask him what it's made out of. Most people would prefer not to know.]

Considering how often you have brought up alcohol in this conversation, I can't help but reach the conclusion you turn to it far too often to solve your own problems.

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ WHOOPS whoops whoops what happened here, this isn't supposed to be about him!! ]

What? No. It's not about problems, it's a thing people do with other people 'cause it's fun. Just like cards, or, uh—

[ He ran out of things again. His life is trying not to get murdered and sitting in a car; this is hard. ]

—Y'know, whatever. Fun stuff.

[ushahin]

Fun things. Like ducks.

[It's hard to tell with that flat tone of voice, but Ushahin is in fact making fun of him.]

People usually drink to forget. That hardly sounds like fun. I wonder what it is you're trying to forget, hmm?

[And now they're back to focusing on Goyjo. Funny how the tables have turned.]

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ Two can play that game bud. ]

You sure that's not— [ His grin freezes. He's just kind of staring into the middle distance. ]

What's that thing where you say somebody probably does something 'cause that's how you'd do it?

[ Two can play that game with minor assistance?? ]

[ushahin]

That's usually called envy. It might work, but if you'll recall, you were the first one to bring up alcohol in this conversation.

[Let the games begin. One of them is outmatched here and it's not Ushahin.]

Therefore, I will now assume you are some form of an alcoholic.

[inappropriatelaughter]

That's not the word. I don't even know where you got that. Is it cool, since you brought up talking walls, if I assume you're completely nuts?

[ He's either being a jackass in a friendly way or being friendly in a jackass way, but there's nothing malicious in his tone. ]

[ushahin]

[Ushahin is silent for a moment. Then he throws his head back and laughs. The video tilts sideways and all that can be seen is a blanket covering his legs. When it finally faces Ushahin, there's clear traces of mirth on his face.]

It is about time someone here said it so plainly. I was beginning to think no one here has ever encountered a madman before.

[He's been insane for a long time and has learned to accept the title willingly.]

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ WELL he totally didn't expect that reaction, but okay. ]

I mean, to be fair, all the crazy people I've seen have been trying to kill me or somebody else, so. Listening to the walls is almost like, why point it out?

[ushahin]

I won't try to kill you. Not yet.

[That's a comforting thought.]

Talking walls are nothing special. It's when you start hearing people's voices when they aren't saying anything that you should start to worry.

[inappropriatelaughter]

[ It's way easier to take that as a totally nonserious joke than it maybe should be.


The other thing, though. Hmm. ]

Wait, do you really?

[ushahin]

Well, yes. But I don't worry. The voices I hear are when I scry the minds of others.

[He seems completely unruffled at revealing the knowledge that he can read minds, an act most might find disconcerting or an invasion of privacy at the very least.]

[inappropriatelaughter]

Does that mean you can read minds?

[ His expression is 100% undisguised skepticism. Dude just said the walls talk to him, there's no way. ]

[ushahin]

Yes. [He sees that expression and frowns. He's encountered less non-believers then than one might think.]

You don't believe me, do you?