2 [anonymous//video]

[smokedout]

[The video starts up a bit like an old 70's VHS tape; grainy quality, washed-out colors, that weird lilt in the music as it starts up. The specific music that plays is a bright and cheery tune from the 50's, like something one would find on the shopping channel back in the day.

What it actually shows is a crude puppet, with a scribbled-on baseball for a head and googly eyes that have weirdly realistic irises. It seems to be made to exist in a permanent state of shock, or... terror. Everything about the image is just a little bit wrong.]

Hey you! Yes, you!

[The words appear on a sort of title card, like a silent film, as if the creator hasn't mixed around with his vintage inspiration enough. And then the puppet can be seen spinning to look at the screen, its eyes jostled in their plastic sockets. Gross.]

Are you in need of PROTECTION AGAINST MONSTERS? Do you suspect someone isn't TELLING THE TRUTH?
Do you enjoy the RUSH OF FEAR? Do you seek to TEST YOUR LOYALTIES?
Do you wish to DEEPEN YOUR BONDS? (Or LIVEN YOUR INTIMATE LIFE?)

[In the style of certain vintage-themed video games, the puppet can be seen in between these pitches engaged in actions related to each question. Pointing a spear at a stuffed animal of some monster. Crying at his bedside. Hiding from shadows in a corner of a room. Shoving another puppet off of a cliff. Hugging another equally not-quite-right puppet... and then a very crude display in the last clip (but at least they're not anatomically correct).

Finally the brand name flashes across the screen, in bright, rainbow, neon letters.]

LAMPYR
is here for you.

Enroll below for beta testing of this sensational product!

[At the very bottom of the screen, very small and blurry text flashes by very fast; if one goes through it frame-by-frame and squints they may notice the words "Test subjects will be selected randomly. Experiments will occur when subjects least expect." Some frames also seem to be replaced by arcane symbols and satanic imagery, as if to scare those trying to read the small text. If one is watching at normal speed, this all flashes by in the blink of an eye before the video suddenly cuts out. Hmm...]

Comments

[smokedout]

i was having fun.

cards on the table, i didn't mean for it to look this fucked up but after my shitty attempt at making the puppets i figured i'd just run with it.

scare campaigns tend to get people talking, yeah?

[antietam]

Yes, but not necessarily buying.

Unless we also start marketing an antidote for the effects.

Which I'm not against.

[smokedout]

if that was true no one would buy heroin.

other me got the idea of mixing nicotine into the formula to boost the addictive qualities. if we pay people to beta-test, we'll soothe them just enough to get our money back from junkies.

[antietam]

Seriously? No way. I'm not becoming a drug dealer.

We'll have enough business without resorting to shit like that.

[smokedout]

if you get down to the basics this IS a drug.

besides, there's no reason for it to have negative effects if the fireflies themselves didn't,
right? so, no harm.

[antietam]

If there's nicotine in it, you have to inform people of it prior to consumption. Let them choose if they get addicted.

But that's only going to make people not want it. We can do better things with it. Make it into perfume or something edible.

[smokedout]

if you start worrying about morality, you're going to run into the same problem every business man does. morals don't make money.

the perfume's not a bad idea. i imagine making something edible that can affect someone as well as an injection, though, is going to be a bitch on our resources.

[antietam]

There are some lines I'm not going to cross. If the business isn't successful, we'll re-evaluate. But you haven't given it a chance yet.

We can probably start off with pills and work our way up if that's where we want to go. Point is, there are already plenty of ways to make it appealing.

[smokedout]

you can be such a stick in the mud sometimes, y'know that?

if you've got ideas for making it appealing, you're welcome to market it to the common populace. but i'm an addict, and i know my side of the market better.

[antietam]

Then you should know that sort of thing isn't something you should be tricking people into. [ Tricking them into being beta testers? Totally fine. ]

Not unless they deserve it.

[smokedout]

fine, fine, i'll leave the nicotine out for now. The power will get enough people addicted on its own.

but i still wanna play around with it if we find someone you think deserves it.

[As for Dodger? Everyone deserves it as far as he's concerned. The only people who don't are the people too smart to get conned into this sort of thing.]

[antietam]

That's what I'm thinking.

And that'll be fine. We can also test it with different substances like caffeine to see if they'll negate the effects. Depends on the people who sign up for this testing.

[smokedout]

hey, at least if we're dealing in nicotine it's something i'm immune to.

[Or at least, he's addicted anyway. It wouldn't make a difference.]

if we don't get enough test subjects, i can always take a few off the streets. grab, inject,
watch for an hour or so. same as when the fireflies were loose.

[antietam]

Seems a little hands on. It'd be safer to inject people from a distance.

I'll see if I can make something we can send out to do it. A RoboFirefly. [ Who would have thought his experience with a RoboBee would help him in this way. ]

[smokedout]

see, NOW you've got my interest.

how long would that take to make?

[antietam]

I've never made anything robotic before. But with the technology and books here it shouldn't be too hard to learn.

Give me a few weeks and I should have something to show for it.

[smokedout]

keep it on the back burner, then. i think some of those crossbreeding trials might be a better immediate goal.

think we might get something in the ballpark of 'calm' if we mix what we got in the right doses?

[antietam]

Calm would be a best-seller if we could figure it out.

My initial thought would be mixing the love effect with the honesty... maybe with some sadness, as something of a depressant.

[smokedout]

i've got some personal interest in it myself. friend of mine wants to use it to combat a phobia - so we'll get a pretty clear answer if it's working the way we want.

got a request for confidence, too, but mixing honesty and affection and giving it at a high enough dosage should lower inhibitions enough for that.

[antietam]

As long as they don't mind being the guinea pig for whatever side-effects might occur.

It'd be interesting to mix things together randomly and see what comes out, though some might require strapping a person down. In case there's too much anger in the mix or something.

[smokedout]

iunno, that sounds fun. slip a few people an overdose of anger and see how long they can last trying to kill me.

[Dodger, what even is your definition of fun.]

jokes aside, i think these two are desperate enough to put up with the side effects while we figure this out. but the end result might do them some good.

[antietam]

Does that mean you're actually interested in helping people?

[smokedout]

don't get ahead of yourself. i'm doing this for my own benefit - money, sex and power.

[And maybe curing the phobia of someone he's close to. So he can sleep with him. And totally no other reason.]

[antietam]

[ OK, so he agrees with two of those, but... ]

I don't think you need the fireflies for sex in a place like this. Maybe focus on the other two.

[smokedout]

trust me, i can get sex without them. just happens in this particular instance i'm after someone who can't handle being touched. if he gets over that with help from the fireflies, then that's another added bonus for me.