008 [Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris smiles and gives a small wave at the camera when the feed starts, then turns his hand to show Hope's blessing on the back of it.]

So uh, who else got one? And are they all from Hope, or...?

[This is so cool you guys he wants to see who else got what. And for something else slightly less important by still cool--]

Oh, also, my iPhone was up and working for a bit thanks to Pell, and I managed to get some music off it. I'll share on the condition no one makes fun of my taste.

[The last comment is a joke--he's really not going to be too hurt by jabs about his choice in music--but the offer is serious, and attached is a download of the music he's copied off so far. It's kind of a slow process, so there's still more on the phone that he can transfer later.]

Comments

[Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

No problem.

[He smiles, genuinely glad to have helped.]

I'm Chris. You?

[crowboy]

An' ah'm Corbin. Good t' meet ya, Chris. How long've ya been here?

[thechoiceisyours]

Almost nine months. I'm guessing you just got here this month or like, the one before?

[crowboy]

Somethin' like that. Been tryin' t' keep track with marks on th' wall, but... it's weird, not havin' the sun t' help.

[He's pretty sure he's missed a day or two somewhere in there, but it's hard to tell with no seasons or sun or moon. He already misses the sky.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Oh, uh, Hermann's clock might help, especially if you're sleeping at weird hours or something.

[He's had some confusion about days before as well, mostly from sleeping less or more time than he expected.]

Here's a link to get it, if you want.

[And attached is a text message that links to Hermann's post.]

[crowboy]

Still mostly sleepin' when it's darker an' wakin' up when it gets light out. Jus' hard t' get used t', I been outside long 's I c'n remember, so not seein' trees 'n' th' sky when I look out m' window's... weird.

[It's the only word he can think of, but disorienting would be a good one too.]

[But his smile lights up again at the post. Once he figures it out.]

Aw man, thanks! This'll be lotsa help. I owe ya one, Chris.

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah, it uh... Takes a lot of getting use to. The no sky thing.

[Although Chris wasn't ever a huge fan of the outdoors and is even less so now after what happened on the mountain, the lack of a real sky is still strange. He never thought he'd miss the sun or the stars as much as he does.]

But there's a park on the outskirts of the city, so you can um, see some trees at least. It's pretty nice there, actually.

[He rarely goes there himself, but it is pretty calming.]

It's no problem.

[crowboy]

Yeah, I been goin' there a lot, it ain't quite th' same, but it's nice. An' them jays ain't bad neither.

[They get along pretty well, and he's teaching them so many interesting new words and sounds.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Have you um, met Amos yet? He has a few of the jays as pets and taught them to sing really annoying kids' songs.

[Chris is not a huge fan of the birds, especially since they like to mimic wendigo screams at the worst times, but still.]

[crowboy]

[Corbin just laughs]

Yeah, I met Amos, he's smart. I wunnered where th' jays lernt them songs.

[Corbin loves the jays, they make him feel a bit more at home, even if he can't really understand them as well as he can most corvids.]

[thechoiceisyours]

[He grins a little, both at the laughter and the comment.]

I wonder if they could like, mimic full recorded songs.

[Maybe he should play some music for them.]

[crowboy]

I dunno 'bout a whole song, but they might be able t' sing a verse 'r two. An' it'd be neat t' see how much they c'n r'member.

[This is the sort of experimentation Corbin is all for]

[thechoiceisyours]

That'd be a lot better than some of the noises they like to make, so maybe next one I see I'll try playing songs for.

[Seems worthwhile for sure.]

[crowboy]

They're a mite fond ah the screamin'. I could do with a bit less've it, I ain't gonna lie. Some singin'd be nice.

[Heck, he'll probably try himself once he gets the chance. He whistles a lot better than he sings anyway.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. They uh, showed up the same month as an event where there were these monsters that um... Make this really distinct shrieking noise. I think some of them picked it up.

[So yes, please teach them more songs, even just little whistled tunes.]

[crowboy]

[He thinks for a second]

Don' think I'd like t' meet somethin' that shrieks like that.

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. You uh, definitely don't.

[He's quiet a moment.]

They're from my world, and they're really um... Bad.

[There's no way to actually describe them, so the understatement is as good as anything else.]

[crowboy]

They 'nother onea those things out'n th' caves?

I ain't heard anythin' like them screams...

[Even armed with a rifle, he doesn't think he'd want to encounter something that screamed like that...]

[thechoiceisyours]

Not um, exactly. But sort of, yeah; they're actually um, spirits that possess people and turn them into monsters. The spirits are in the caves, but they can only possess people who engage in cannibalism and um, fortunately that hasn't been a problem here in awhile.

[A pause.]

But uh, that's why a lot people here avoid meat entirely. Just in case, since the month the wendigo spirits showed up was also the month some of the gods decided to screw with the food.

[He figures Corbin can probably put two and two together there.]

[crowboy]

[Corbin did more than put two and two together, his eyes went wide, since he'd already been told about what the gods had done to the food, and then he frowned]

So folks was eatin' meat they thought was fine, an' gettin' possessed by those wendigos.

Adam tol' me 'bout what Fear 'n' Rage did t' the meat. [He shakes his head] 'tain't right.

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. It was uh, pretty bullshit.

[Understatements and all.]

But Hope was really pissed off about it so I don't think we're gonna like, have a repeat of that or anything, hopefully.

[Really hopefully.]

[crowboy]

I bet ain't no one eatin' th' meat ennyway, jes to be safe.

[Which is really sad, he likes meat! It's really tasty.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. Or not a lot of people are, anyway.

[But it happened long enough ago that there are so many here that didn't experience it, and while that's good for their mental health some might not know about the whole meat issue or perhaps even believe it should be taken seriously.]