un: 2ndmass; video

[chemlocked]

[ Ben had spent most of the night reading the information he'd been given after he recovered from making his way to the lighthouse. It hadn't offered nearly enough answers to the questions swirling in his head. About how, and why, and where everyone else was.

Or if he was even really here or was this some nightmare game of the Espheni to keep him distracted when his unit and people needed him most?

That thought keeps creeping into his head, along with the glimpses that seem as if his vision is darkening, and he can't find proof if it's real. Not enough to calm the thoughts in his head. ​ ]

Hey. I was brought here by Enam? That's the name, right? I somehow washed up on the beach. Name's Ben Mason. I'm with the 2nd Mass out of Boston.

Truth is none of this makes sense. I want to believe it's a game, trying to make me believe it's real but it's only doing the opposite.

[ He hates putting this out there, but if it is all a dream, then would it matter?

There's glimpses of the wall behind him, soft reflections of light from the shards and bits of mirror in the room behind him. The pain of touching those shards without a cut driving him to reach out. again but he's started this video instead of trying again. ]

I think I'm seeing things. Hearing them too. Nothing seems right. Doesn't seem real either. Hell, maybe I'm just losing my mind.

[ Or his mental connections with the Overlords has screwed up his brain. Could be that too.

He sighs, rubbing at the back of his head and fighting the urge to rub at the top spikes he's keeping hidden behind his jacket's collar. ]

How do you know the world's real when nothing's right?

Comments

voice; @ jd

[baum]

[ Yeah, John sympathizes. This guy seems young, and he looks like he's been thrown straight into the deep end. ]

It feels real enough, which might be all that matters. Get cut and you'll bleed.

You kind of get used to it, even the weird parts.

text; @wicked.thistle

[soulmonger]

isn't that a bit philosophical of a question? how do you ever know what you're experiencing is real?

does this shit feel real? it's probably real then.

[chemlocked]

[ Ben looks kind of down and away, reaching out for those pieces of glass on the floor. He winces as he lifts his hand. ]

If I touch them it feels like I'm being sliced open but no blood. Part of why I'm questioning it.

I've had a mental connection to some before that could maybe put things like this in my head. Why I'm wondering how you tell the difference.

[chemlocked]

Didn't mean it to be philosophical. I just have things going on that have me questioning it.

[ He shrugs. ]

I knew someone that believed they had lived a whole other life. Seemed real. Was a mind game to distract him to try and kill him and his unit. Guess it's why it's got me wondering.

[soulmonger]

sounds like you can't prove it's not real until you wake up.

guess you're stuck either way.

[baum]

I don't know, man. Sometimes dreams feel real.

You don't have a head injury, or anything?

[chemlocked]

I guess not. Though having people saying things like that makes it more believable.

I can't imagine the ones I'm worried about screwing with my head would just tell me I'm stuck with it.

[chemlocked]

Yeah. Sometimes they're designed to feel that way too.

What? Oh uhmmm, yeah no. I don't get injured like that. Advanced healing, I guess you'd call it.

[soulmonger]

the problem with mind tricks like that is that illusions are usually easier to penetrate visually or physically. catch an odd shimmer to something or touch it and it doesn't feel how it looks...

but enchantments that effect the mind take specific magic to dispel
or you have to snap out of it yourself.

I could maybe try to detect your thoughts and probe to see if they're really your own? but I've never tried it so I don't know if it would tell me the truth or not.

plus it again all depends on if you even believe I'm real.

[chemlocked]

Yeah, you're not helping because I'm definitely have been seeing things. Like in the water this morning and when I got something to drink. Like, I don't know. Shadows, maybe?

There was a time I was like connected to those that could make me have visions but I can't imagine them making me think this. I didn't until I kept seeing things, and hearing them.

[ He sighs, rolling his eyes. ]

I know we're by the water but when I'm in this room and I touch the glass? I hear the waves... and I feel cut without cutting myself. You know anything...

You know magic? Not just this place talking about it?

[soulmonger]

I don't know anything about that. and it sounds like you should probably not stay in that room. kinda sounds dangerous. and cutty.

but wouldn't all of that make you think this isn't a dream? because someone controlling your thoughts wouldn't want you to doubt the reality they made you.


but yeah. anyway. I do magic stuff. not just talk about it, I can do it.

un: white pawn; video

[chosenbylight]

For better or worse, I can assure you that this is very much a real place.

[Anduin hesitates, uncertain of the pleasantries of such a situation but: needs must.]

Forgive me for asking you to specify but. There is a story behind this tower that we have yet to piece together and I have to ask -- the things you have been seeing? Can you describe them? Perhaps one of us has experienced something similar.

[Sorry for Anduin's bleeding heart and his fancy manners, he has a hard time turning it off and just being a normal person...]

[chemlocked]

Promise. I'm just outside the door. I was just kinda testing things, you know? Like making myself try and figure it out.

Yeah, that's what I'm leaning into too. But then it's accepting magic and that's a whole new thing.

[ Aliens sure, but magic? ]

Like what? Is it rude to ask?

[soulmonger]

can't blame you. I'd probably be curious and touch shit I shouldn't too.

but I don't think it's rude to ask.

I know a lot of mind magic. telepathic stuff. minor teleportation. some spells that help in a fight. those kinds of things.

plus I have a hell hound named fluffy. he's magic too.

[chemlocked]

[ Despite all of it, Ben can't help but smile. ]

That's what an Overlord fake reality would say.

[ He is trying to smile though, despite it all. ]

Uhmm, yeah. So the weirdest is that if I touch any of these glass pieces? It's like being cut, like the worst like... tin can lid cut, but there's no wound and no blood. But then I hear things. Like back when I washed up on the beach.

[ He glances at the area behind him and then back at the device. ]

I can show you but not sure you would see anything, or hear it. No one seems to be seeing anything either but I keep seeing shadows since I got here.

@samsa

[enucleation]

It is real, unfortunately. All of it.

There are far too many us in this situation to just be a dream.

un: absterge

[downswing]

You make an anchor of a certain truth and benchmark against it.

[chemlocked]

Isn't that how it is? How else you gonna learn?

[ Maybe not the best idea but definitely educational. ]

Whoa. Okay then. That's all natural to you?

Like literally a hell hound? Like from Hell? Don't they drag people to Hell? I mean, in the legends.

[ Because definitely nothing he could imagine was in his world but then five years ago he wouldn't have believed in an alien invasion either. ]

[chemlocked]

I keep telling myself that but then there's moments that I feel like I'm waking up all over again.

[chemlocked]

That makes sense. Just have to figure out what that truth is.

I keep having this feeling like I'm waking up. Then there's just these odd things but I'm learning odd things are normal here.

[downswing]

It is said we cannot read in dreams.

[chosenbylight]

[Anduin doesn't know what he can say that might be reassuring and convincing at the same time, but he can be understanding. He offers Ben a smile in return, encouraging his explanation on. Trying to remain encouraging as the explanation continues...]

I would be interested in seeing, even if you need to describe what it is that you're experiencing?

If... It's uncomfortable, I may be able to ease that? I am a healer, you see.

[And far too much of a bleeding heart for his own good. He offers another smile.]

My name is Anduin.

[chemlocked]

Worth a try.

What if it's less about a dream and more about the kind of screwy shit others can put in someone's head? Think that's true of that too?

[ Which its ironic that he wants to ask something that could be part of that to tell him it's real, but reaching out has helped him feel more centered. ]

[downswing]

Have you broken faith with your own discernment?

[chemlocked]

I can show you. Either over the camera of if you're at the lighthouse? Most everyone's near here, right?

[ It's the understanding he got but he's not sure how much of that is real or entirely accurate. ]

I mean, it kind of sucks but I don't mind doing it again if it could help.

A healer? So like a doctor? I don't know if there's anything to heal. Not from that.

[ And not even sure on his back either, but with time he knows it should heal where he had been tortured. ]