paradisa | 107.5 - we are not of this world

Weeeelllll, only three new people this week ... Albus, Harry, Tylenol. We lost a bunch of folks, though, so Wonderfuck's traffic ratio is off. Either something's about to go down to compensate, or ... shit, fuck me sideways if I know. You know what, folks, I'm not feelin' it, this week. I'm openin' my mouth and the same old shit is comin' out. Exactly what I keep telling you all not to do, right?

I dunno. [he sighs, leans back in his chair, and spins idly, staring at the ceiling]

Maybe I'm just feelin' a little old in my shoes. Two years and change, that's a long fuckin' time for a guy. I'd be halfway into college, by now, back home. Normally, this place is a pretty big distraction from all that, but ...

Damn. I guess there's no other way to put it. Anyone else out there feeling it? I think tonight I'll just let the guys down at the Soul Asylum say it for me.

Send me your requests, your rants, anything. Talk hard. And keep cool, everybody, it's a scorcher out there.

[and he'll just sink back in his chair and let a little bit of music play. it's like they used to say back home: some nights he's on for hours, sometimes he's on for five minutes.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Two years ain't shit, kid.

[he nearly falls out of his chair, to be honest. after Terre Haute, he figured the last thing she and Zeke would want would be to contact any of them. but he picks the journal up, carefully, like picking up a moth. like if he doesn't handle it just right, she'll disappear]

Hey.

... Yeah, you ... you're right. I guess that's what happens when I decide to just leave my brain door open and let the bull out. I can only imagine how you must feel sometimes.

[he does sound genuinely sorry - as strange as their relationship is, he considers her a friend in her own weird way] ... How you doin'?

[She doesn't say anything for nearly a solid minute... but then there's that laugh of hers coming through the journal again.]

I'm just giving you shit, Mark. You don't have to apologize. What's the record over there, anyway? Isn't that albino kid closing in on seven years or something?

And I'm fine.

[her fakeout works, until she starts laughing ... and then he laughs right along with her] Oh my God, you are such a fucking jackass, I thought you bailed on me for a second there.

But ... yeah, I think it's seven. Ino was here for five before I even showed up, so ... seven sounds about right. [he shakes his head] It's so fucking bizarre when you stop and think about it ... that you could live out a whole damn life here and then one jump to the left and step to the right later, it's all gone and you're back at square whatever.

Big fuckin' waste of time, isn't it? I guess that's why we're not supposed to remember when we were here in the first place. Even if the castle's flipping the bird at that rule lately.

On the bright side, if someone pisses you off, there's always a chance they could disappear one day. Or have a giant spaceship dropped on their ass.

So ... Wait, you never had anyone leave, then come back and remember everything? It's seriously a completely new thing?

That's what I just said, isn't it? Come on. It's not like it doesn't still have a few tricks up its sleeves every now and then. We can't have a predictable castle, can we?

Point. ... And you never know, we could have a predictable castle, it's just our shitty luck that it's one of the other ones out there, those abandoned ones named after D&D classes.

Probably. But who really wants to subject themselves to another castle. One was more than enough for me.

And you were originally in the same one as us, right? ... How long were you gone, before you came back?

Good old Paradisa. Don't make me feel old by trying to do the math. It was a long ass time.

Perish the thought. .... Jesus, it must have felt weird as fuck to come back after so long.

Weird as fuck doesn't even begin to describe it. You know there's no magic and shit in the Dead Zone, right?

Imagine it's like this: You can't hear or smell shit for decades. Then, you step over some imaginary line. All of a sudden, your senses come back to you. You got used to not hearing or smelling but suddenly you can again.

That's what it was like for me.

[he'd heard people talk about how it felt, but ... he'd never considered it from the perspective of someone who'd been away as long as Nancy, before. even trying to imagine how it must feel takes the wind out of him, and he's silent for a moment]

Fuck.

... There are layers to it, though, ain't there? I mean ... if you go far enough out, you get it back again too, right?

You mean the other live zones? We sure as fuck didn't encounter them. Maybe we had a knack for going to all the wrong places. I--

[She cuts her words short, as if she's listening for something. There's a good minute of silence at least.]

That's weird. I did hear somewhere that they move arou--

[he stops when she does, too, and kills the music from his stereo. if someone's spying on her, he doesn't want to do anything to get her in trouble. if anything happened to her, after all she survived, and it was due to something he did? he's not sure he'd handle that very well.

he waits to see if she comes back]

[Her words are to the point when she finally speaks.]

We'll talk later.

[And with that, the journal's shut.]

[well, SHIT. ... congratulations, you're now officially half the reason he goes on the expedition? yay?]

107.5 - we are not of this world

Mark

Nancy Downs, to end

Mark to the end!

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