[35: accidental vid] won't wear my sunday suit to walk that street

[kindly_done]

[The feed starts from inside an empty room, one that was until recently underwater, sealed off with heavy brass and inches-thick glass. The window is an ordinary one now, square and framed in wood, and the bank of television monitors is gone, leaving the wall bare, though there are still a few tattered cords that the Mansion has yet to reabsorb

Comments

Text

[forevercapslock]

[He was going to respond to the first half, then got distracted, and when he came back, look what had happened.]

FUCK. JACK. WHY ARE YOU DESTROYING THINGS AND CRYING SAD HUMAN TEARS?

vid

[forevercapslock]

[SIGH.]

OKAY, YOU KNOW HOW LITTLE TROLLS ARE WIGGLERS? WELL, BEFORE THEY'RE WIGGLERS, WHEN THEY FIRST HATCH, THEY'RE GRUBS.

vid

[kindly_done]

And they live in a cocoon?

vid

[forevercapslock]

THEY MAKE COCOONS WHEN THEY'RE READY TO

OKAY. YOU KNOW WHAT. IMAGINE THE LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH. THAT IS BASICALLY WHAT A TROLL DOES. EXCEPT WITHOUT THE WINGS AND FLYING INTO BRIGHT LIGHTS ONLY TO DIE, AND WITH A LOT MORE FUCKING INTELLIGENCE AND OPPOSABLE THUMBS.

vid

[kindly_done]

I...see.

[This is Jack-code for 'I am going to look that up in the library in an hour or so.']

So what you mean when you say we're like those is...

[...No, he's got nothing.]

vid

[forevercapslock]

I MEAN, OUR LIFE CYCLE IS INITIALLY SIMILAR TO THAT OF AN INSECT, JACK.

vid

[kindly_done]

I don't really know much about insects. I meant the part about sharing the cocoon.

vid

[forevercapslock]

I MEAN THAT WE'RE SHARING AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATION.

vid

[kindly_done]

Oh. [He smiles a little sheepishly.] I told you I wasn't good with words.

vid

[forevercapslock]

IT IS STRANGELY REFRESHING, AND ONCE AGAIN, CONSTITUTES A STRANGE AND FOREIGN SENSATION THAT I'M NOT ALTOGETHER COMFORTABLE WITH.

vid

[kindly_done]

The person who left...I know I'm too old, but sometimes I felt a little like he was my...lusus thing.

vid

[forevercapslock]

MY LUSUS DIED TOO.

vid

[kindly_done]

That must have been hard.

vid

[forevercapslock]

THE SITUATION WASN'T REALLY NORMAL. HE GOT TO COME BACK, KIND OF, AND THEN I COULD TALK TO HIM. NOT THAT HE SAID A WHOLE LOT THAT WAS VERY FUCKING HELPFUL, BUT IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM HIS USUAL BULLSHIT.

vid

[kindly_done]

...They can't usually talk?

Sinclair talked all the time.

vid

[forevercapslock]

THAT MAKES SENSE BECAUSE HE IS A HUMAN. A LUSUS IS AN ANIMAL.