paradisa | 101.5 - what it is ain't exactly clear

[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?

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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.

... You really heard that stuff, huh?

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

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

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

You've only been feeling this recently?

[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?

[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.

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.

... 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]

I think I know what you mean. I've been feeling it for months.

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

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

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

Hey no problem! I'll even make sure you don't start talking to lampposts~!

Well, I figured that much ... I'm just surprised. I thought it was only the older residents that had that kind of stuff happen to them.

[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?

No... Well. Not necessarily. It goes through spurts, as it were. People come... People leave... No rhyme or reason or sense behind it.

Yeah. It started to do the creepy whispering voice thing a lot more, then it tried to make us feel like we were at home, then in a last ditch effort, it got some of us to move into the town.

Like I said, a psychological breakdown. It had it's bunny boiling moment, it got torn down and everything got better again.

[That is a terrible place to find hope, Mark] I don't know. Maybe. If the castle is as unhinged as it was last time.

Side-effect? You mean like eating paint chips or breathing too much second-hand smoke? ... I know people who've been here longer than me, and I don't think they've ever mentioned shit like this ...

You -- you have?!

[he sounds like he isn't sure whether to be relieved or even more freaked out]

Can you make any of it out ...?

... [he sighs] Yeah, I ... I heard. I'm sorry.

... Bunny boiling? Is that a British thing?

[yes, that's what he's hung up on right now. you may not miss someone so much after all]

People have different resistances to stuff. Or maybe it's been so bad for them that they don't want to talk about it. No-one in this place is very open with how they feel on the inside about things

[in a deadpan he MUST have learned from Maladict:] I feel so much better knowing I've got you looking out for me.

... Cole just asked me if it could be a side effect of being here too long. ... Wait, does that mean you --?

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101.5 - what it is ain't exactly clear

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[Mark]

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Mark

Doc, until the end of time

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Ino

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Mark forevuh

Mark

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Cole, to end

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why did it eat my last icon?

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Ino