Look down, back up! [Slightly backdated]

[live_ringer]

Characters: Gene-1 (live_ringer) and OPEN
Date/Time: Mid day - May 18, 2010
Location: Out and about in the Disney World Wilderness
Rating: PG?
Summary: Gene walks about the theme park in an attempt to get away from the voice outside his head, i.e. the Old Spice guy that has become his personal disembodied narrator. [spoilers: it doesn't work]

Comments

[desig_survivor]

Rogue saw the taller man and spent a few seconds pretending to be lost in thought and scrutinizing him out of the corner of his eye, just like the last time they'd met. He didn't want to call out to the wrong twin or clone or... whatever, and it was something he was trying to train himself to do. Especially considering that there was another matched set around now, and from what he'd read and heard Alive made him uneasy.

There was a good chance that this was Gene, he decided. Irritated as he seemed, he showed it in his face and posture in slightly different ways than Aim had. He'd risk it.

Rogue shook his head as if coming out of a daze and blinked, then started towards almost-certainly-Gene.

"So I've been told that the Scavenger's Yard is clear," he said in a rueful voice, once he was close enough.

last edit, I swear

[live_ringer]

Gene blinked at the familiar voice that wasn't his constant accompaniment. He had gotten so used to tuning out the other that he failed to hear Rogue approach.

"That so? That's a relief to hear." On a couple of different levels. It was nice to talk about something routine. Gene turned around to face Rogue fully, then leaned against the corner of the vendor's cart.

"Do you think the elevator guards will let us take the carts with supplies up before the Wilderness changes? Or did they still seem a bit punchy? Not that I'd them if they were. Being on giant venomous man-eating ant duty would put anyone on edge."

"I'm on an ant."

...Gene wasn't even going to ask about that one. Not like the disembodied voice ever gave answers when addressed directly

Re: last edit, I swear

[desig_survivor]

"I'd complain about all that work being for nothing, but it's not bad news," Rogue said easily. He idly ran a hand through his hair, putting a bit back behind his ear. "One of the Guards on duty when I checked really doesn't like me, but I wouldn't be surprised if the others wouldn't be eager either."

"Maybe you should talk to them. You've been here how much longer than me?"

The voice made him blink and look up, then shift from one foot to the other.

"...what the kark?" he said at last. "Where'd that come from?"

[live_ringer]

"Mm, sounds like we'll just have to find some that will work with us and avoid the shifts of those that won't." He tapped his chin as he thought.

"I've been here about... damn. Seven, nearly eight months." It was almost depressing to think about, really. "I could talk to Bastet again. She's had to deal with a couple of nutters trying to shoulder their way back up, but if I can make it clear that it'll be a quick trip where no one tries to play hero... maybe."

"Look at this man, now back to Gene. Sadly, he isn't Gene. But if he stopped pissing off ninjas and got on the Guard's good side, he could get on the lift with Gene."

He let out a put-upon sigh before answering Rogue's question. "I got a memory crystal yesterday. That's been going on ever since."

BEST. FIRST. MEETING. EVER.

[man_genius]

So after being arrested for robot assault, thrown into the Disneyworld version of a jail (really just a security room with bars but hey it sooo counted! Genius was a hardened criminal!) and then broken out by a psychic bad ass motherfucker (re: Qi), Genius was trying his best to keep a low profile in the Magic Kingdom.

Of course a low profile meant sunglasses and his popcorn mickey mouse ears pulled low on his head, which was enough to fool security mannequins but no one with an actual brain. In short he looked ridiculous and probably even morose when a random deep voice started talking from nowhere, making him jump.

"Jesus what the hell is that?!"

OBVS

[live_ringer]

"Memory punishment." The response was automatic and flat. Gene had given it out enough times that day, after all. He turned around to see who was addressing him... and lifted one eyebrow at the hat.

"I should ask you the same thing. What's that thing on your head and who convinced you to wear it? Because I don't think you should listen to them anymore."

"Look at this man, now back to Gene. Back to this man, now back to Gene. What's the difference? A souvenir hat that cost an exorbitant amount compared to the cost of materials and labour that it took to actually make the hat. That is the power of marketing and brand recognition! But if he'd forgone the hat, he could have purchased tickets to that ride he loves."

...beautiful

[man_genius]

An auditory punishment? Genius was a bit thrown by that. The only ones he was really familiar with were physical ones, like people in tight leather or funky colored hair. That wasn't so bad.

But then the stranger with the mc-fries dissed his hat and Genius' bemused look turned dark.

"My brother bought me this hat." Tone of ICE. He even crossed his arms against his chest and looked...like a pissed off five year old.

He would have said more but THE VOICE would not be denied.

"Who is it talking to?!" Genius asked the voice with a flail. "Leave my hat alone, you stupid, auditory impossibility! Nobody's paying for the rides anyways we're all--Gene?"

Wait a minute. WAIT A FRAK'N MINUTE!!

"You're Gene?" That....did not compute. At all. " ...Name Twin?"

Re: ...beautiful

[live_ringer]

Ooh. Apparently he'd hit a sore spot about this stranger's fashion choices. But really, someone needed to tell him these things, since chances were his brother had bought it as a prank. ...And then the Voice had to beat the point like a dead horse that it just so happened to be on.

"I kind of tend to assume that it's talking to some non-existent audience--hm?"

He blinked when the man seemed surprised to hear his name... then it all came together when he said 'name twin'.

"Genius?"

Well, that explained why his brother would buy that hat. Not to mention why the guy kind of had a high-strung IT-guy look to him. It fit, really. Gene laughed a little, then crossed his arms.

"Fancy running into you. Last I saw you, you looked like you were wrapped in a blanket cocoon. And you were throwing a shoe at me."

His tone was more amused than anything. He knows Genius wasn't throwing the shoe at him per se.

[proudambassador]

The alcohol in his room was gone and housekeeping had wanted to change the linens, so Ambassador was out of his room. He was also not exactly happy; the clothing here left much to be desired and the sun was hot. But since he wasn't going to wear the newborn clothing around he'd stolen a rather ugly shirt with a scowling, big-nosed person and a pair of khaki pants with black mouse heads on them. It was ridiculous, but at least it wasn't as bad.

The loud commentating voice had Ambassador whirl around to see another person holding what was probably a "McDonald's fry," whatever that was. Ambassador was having a great deal of difficulty figuring out people's genders here. The person's hair didn't stand up, it was wavy, and... wait, the voice had answered that. Good.

"You." His accent was very noticeable, Eastern European-like. "What is that obnoxious voice, and how do I make sure I do not have something talking about my actions? Because that, my good man, would make me desire deafness."

[live_ringer]

Gene had to hand it to the punishment. It made for a good icebreaker. He looked up toward the source of the voice he'd never heard before and his eyebrows rose toward his hairline. Interesting 'do. Probably not the strangest head of hair he had seen, though he currently had a hard time thinking of any that would compare.

"This voice? Punishment from a memory crystal. You could probably avoid something like this by never touching one." A hand slipped into his pocket casually as he spoke. "But if the Sphere decides most everyone is getting a chorus singing about their every move like we did some months back? You're out of luck."

"Ladies, look at your man. Well, we think he's a man. Actually, he might be a man six times over. But we can't be sure"

Well, that was... odd. Gene wondered just what that was about, but ultimately decides he doesn't want to ask.

[proudambassador]

At least the man was talking to him. Some people hadn't seemed to care to answer questions. "A memory crystal?" That sounded right, actually. Crystals and data. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like it was a natural fit. "So this, this is the price that was mentioned? Voices, they narrate what you do if you want to remember something?"

Ambassador looked around as if to see the speaker, though he saw the hand go into the pocket. That was normally a bad sign, and Ambassador wasn't armed. He didn't even think he knew anything about arms. He took a step back, just in case. "So you, my good man, are telling me that voices just happen?"

The voice had him blinking. "Who is not? That is how things are..." Ambassador looked at the other man, as if there was an answer there.

[live_ringer]

"This is only one of the things that could happen as a result of a memory, actually. Whoever decides on this kind of thing seems to like variety. The 'punishments' are usually annoying at the least, and inconvenient and embarrassing at the worst. I've heard of a few being stuck in leather," which, no offense to this guy, but he hoped the man he was talking to never got such a punishment. Ugh. "Or other odd clothing. Some get followed by voices or music

...sorry Gene

[feathered_earth]

Cara had been exploring around the park after her guard shift ended, and was contemplating going to find Sailormoon. Her sister seemed to have no end of love for the rollercoasters. She hadn't managed to have a proper breakfast before running out, though--the hotel beds and the air conditioning in there made sleeping late much, much too easy, so when she smelled the french fries she changed direction. French fries were good. Whoever had figured out how to do that to potatoes had to have been pretty smart, in Cara's opinion.

She grinned when she saw who else was there and was about to say hello when a deep, disembodied voice spoke out of nowhere. The shock of it instantly set her on edge--disembodied voices were bad news, and she almost swung her spear down to attack the monster that was sure to appear when she heard what it was actually saying.

...Which made no sense to her at all. "What in tarnation was that?"

Never apologize!

[live_ringer]

Gene flinched slightly when he heard Cara exclaim something behind him. He turned around, nearly making a quip about her use of 'tarnation' when he saw she had her spear at the ready.

"Whoa, calm down. It's just a memory punishment. ...That is what you were talking about, right?" After all, for all he knew she may have just spotted a stray ant in the vicinity.

"Look down, back around you. I am not in tarnation, but the happiest place on earth. But look more closely. Can you see me? Maybe I'm not actually here. Anything is possible when you live in Edensphere!"

[feathered_earth]

"Uh--" Cara glanced down at her spear and hastily put it up, looking embarrassed. "Yeah. It just caught me off-guard." Now she thought of it she couldn't explain why it had been such an instinctual reaction. Expecting a monster to come after a random voice in the air had made perfect sense a minute ago.

She blinked and looked around, not because of the voice's instructions but in another attempt to figure out just where the heck it was coming from. "I know that!" she said. "And tarnation's not a place--wait, why am I even talking to you? It?" Cara shook her head. No matter how long she lived here, Edensphere never ran out of ideas on how to be weird. "Good grief. Has this guy been butting into your conversations all day?"

[live_ringer]

"All damned day," Gene replied in exasperation. "All of yesterday, too." He hitched one shoulder in a shrug. "It's irritating, but maybe it won't last too much longer."

And it could always be worse. At least he was not the one saying these things out of the blue. That would have been a helluva lot harder to explain away.

"So, what brings you out to this part of the park?" Because any distraction from the Voice is a good one and he figures that works as well as anything else.

I couldn't stay away

[snowburned]

Kazahana was taking a walk to distract herself from the idiocy of her best friend and boyfriend that had her so pissed off and probably would for a long while. The happiest place on earth wasn't doing much to lift her mood, not even with the delightful treats and fun rides.

Loud noises weren't uncommon in this version of the Wilderness, but the latest managed to catch her attention. It sounded so...confident and important, yet it wasn't saying anything that mattered, and it was talking about a familiar person.

"Gene?" She wound her way through the crowd and found him a few seconds later. "What are...why is someone talking about you?"

Old Spice guy brings all the ladies to the yard?

[live_ringer]

Hearing his name in a non-announcer-voice capacity caused Gene to look up. It was a little hard to pic Kazahana out of the crowd at first, petite as she was, but it didn't take her long to bustle her way through.

"Yo." He raised a hand in greeting, then hiked a thumb over his shoulder as if to indicate the voice that was constantly following him. "Memory Punishment." The response was almost automatic. He even paused to see if the Voice would pipe up this time. When it didn't, he assumed it was spiting him for trying to predict it.

"It's been like this since yesterday."

"Look at your man. Wait, he's not here. Perhaps he's because he's in the doghouse? That's what happens when you cross a cat and a bunny."

Ah, there it was. Just waiting for him to drop his guard. "See what I mean? And it doesn't even seem to make sense half the time."

((ooc: I've been pulling from meta for the Voice's material, but if you don't want it bringing up that sort of thing just let me know and I'll change the post.))

god, so late. cries. I hope not too late.

[snowburned]

Wait.

What was that?

Kazahana frowned, not exactly mad at Gene-she couldn't be, since she understood immediately what he was talking about, and she knew how annoying these things could be-but it had apparently uncanny insight into her own stiuation.

"I see," she said, not entirely glad that she did. "I hope you got something worth the aggravation. I can't imagine having an invisible announcer is much fun."

[ooc: nooo it's perfect!]

You're fine~ I fault no one for lateness. /been slow as Christmas

[live_ringer]

Luckily for her, Gene didn't have nearly as much insight as the voice and only got the vaguest idea that there was trouble in paradise. Hardly the sort of thing he'd pry into right now, in any case.

"Worth it? Eh... It didn't really answer much. Kind of brought up more questions than answers, but then, I think that's mostly due to the lack of sound. But it's not exactly something I can get a refund on, much as I'd like to send this guy back where he came from."