101.5 - what it is ain't exactly clear

[hard_talker]

[ten PM, radio static, record scratches, Leonard Cohen, soda opening ... business as usual, right? right?

there's actually dead silence once the music stops. then Mark's voice pipes up, minus that edge he puts on for his Hard Harry persona. he just sounds ... bewildered]

Jesus Christ, we don't have ANY new people this week.

Has ...

[the flipping of pages]

... that's never happened before. We've always had at least one or two. Either the castle's full, or tired from all those damn kids, or ... or ...

[all the air goes out of him in a tight, nervous sigh that he tries to turn into a laugh. something about this revelation has deeply unsettled him. and there's something else, something that he's been trying to shake, all weekend ...]

You ever get the feeling that ... something's just wrong? I ... I had this dream. The last few nights. And whenever I wake up, I can never remember the details, I just ... I remember it being like every other day here, where I get up and do stuff and everything, only ... it's all different at the same time. Like I'm ... seeing what this place is really like. And there are voices.

When I wake up ... I can't remember what they say. And I can't remember what I saw. I just ... it stays in me, it's down in my fucking bones. This ... this isn't just me making some smartass survey, I'm -- I'm honestly asking you.

Has anyone else ever felt that?

Comments

[demontobeloved]

No, none like that.

[Cole's sounding slightly worried.]

Think it might be a loss or something? I'm sure someone would mention dreams like that over the journals.

[hard_talker]

I don't know. I mean, otherwise, I still feel like me, I sound like me ... I thought losses changed people more than that.

Mark

[demontobeloved]

[Scribbling in a filter, because this may get sensitive.]

Well, it might be the castle, might be something else. This place is powerful - Way past anything we know. You've been here a while, right? Maybe it's an exposure side-effect?

[Mark]

[ino]

... You really heard that stuff, huh?

Ino

[hard_talker]

Yeah. Yeah, I did. I ... I wouldn't fuck around about something this fucking creepy.

[wilder]

[Ye- oh wait you mean in context of the castle. Never mind. ]

I can't say I've noticed, no.

[hard_talker]

Great. Great, I'm losing my mind. Thanks for letting me know, man.

[onlyanapple]

Last time we had a cut off of new arrivals, the castle pretty much had a psychological breakdown.

[hard_talker]

... Is that when everyone tore it down? I read about that. You think we'd be able to pull it off again?

[it's the strangest place to get a glimmer of hope: from a demon]

[spongetastic]

You've only been feeling this recently?

[hard_talker]

I ...

I don't know. I don't ... I don't think so. It's like ... you know when you wake up and you know you dreamt, but you can't remember what? I get that all the time, and this ...

[he shakes his head, as if that can warm him] I don't know.

Mark

[hulloeverything]

[He doesn't respond at first. What? He had expected to hear the broadcast last night, not today. His voice is quiet, lacking some of it's usual luster.]

No new residents whatsoever?

Doc, until the end of time

[hard_talker]

[something about the tone of his voice just breaks his heart, and that makes the fear all the worse]

Just the babies. Doc ... I don't know what's going on, but it isn't good.

Mark

[lord_wizard]

Sometimes I sleep restlessly, but I can't say I remember anything in particular upon waking.

How long has this been going on?

Felix

[hard_talker]

I thought it was new, but the more I think about it, the more I remember waking up in the middle of the night and then going back to sleep.

I couldn't tell you.

[goldencirclet]

That sounds real weird, Mark. Maybe yer sick?

[hard_talker]

No, Goku, it's ... this place. It's this place that's sick. Not me.

HH

[youfallback]

It sounds a little like what happens on Friday the 13th. Do you think the lack of new arrivals has to do with dreams?

C

[hard_talker]

... Beats the shit outta me. Have you heard anyone else saying stuff like that lately? Most of what I've heard's been baby drama.

[exanimatus]

[he's not saying anything... but he is stalking the hell out of this entry. :|a]

[hard_talker]

[you just don't want Ray to hear you ... because you know he's keeping tabs on this, too.

just, well.

muncest]

dictated

[midget]

The castle probably just used up too much power bringing in kids to mess with other people for once. It's new, but hardly concerning.

The dream thing is a bit moreso. Got a psychology handbook handy?

[hard_talker]

That was one of the thoughts I had, too, 'till I remembered -- yeah, that.

Psych? No, I don't. You really think Freud's gonna hold the key to this place, though? Somebody else would'a figured it out by now, if he did.

Mark;

[loisfuckinglane]

[ It's something that people here just don't talk about, and so Lois couldn't help feeling like it was just this place getting to her sometimes.

But she knew it was more than that.

She knew. ] ... You're not the only one.

Lois

[hard_talker]

Why am I not surprised.

[that's more reassuring than ANYTHING else he's heard all night.]

I still feel like somethin's off, though, and the Doc's still out in the Dead Zone. Well, one've em. The one whose TARDIS I know my way around.