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

[glitterpants]

_{[ See? Ichimatsu understood right away. ]}
Oh.. is it?
Do i need a prescription for it then?
_{[ i hate this ]}

[ichimyatsu]

[Why are you stupid. Why are you so stupid holy shit.]

PROBABLY. it's probably not legal. where are you, i'm going to kill you if i catch you trying this shit if it doesn't kill you FOR me

[glitterpants]

Says you who were willing to inject yourself with some strange drug so you could talk to your cat. Were you even taking any precaution with that?
_{[ god, he isn't fond of that cat.. ]}

He is willing to pay me to try this. Perhaps luck will even finally smile upon me then.

[ichimyatsu]

excuse you that was jyushimatsu's idea and i was NOT willing to get a shot in the ass.

no, no, no and NO. karamatsu THINK for a second, i know it's hard for you, but someone is wanting to PAY YOU to try out their EXPERIMENTAL DRUG. does that not seem like a bad idea to you??

[glitterpants]

_{[ He doesn't reply for awhile, but then: ]}
If it gets me out of this, then i do not know what i have to lose-- only gain.

_{[ what was he talking about? ]}

[ichimyatsu]

KARAMATSU GOD DAMN IT

[glitterpants]

What?? Ah do you honestly think i want to continue living life like this???
I'm exhausted and all of this is exhausting and i know you can agree with me on that.

I'm tired of so much. If something can take it away from me, so be it.

_{[ Oddly enough, he won't go into details about what he's tired of, but that's just like Karamatsu to not be upfront with his real feelings. ]}

I want to be somebody.

[ichimyatsu]

fine then!

the last time you took off and did something stupid when i told you not to was bajikan, how the fuck did that go for you, karamatsu?

[glitterpants]

<sub>[ He bristles at that. He doesn't want to talk about Bajikan. He doesn't want to talk about how he got beat up in Bajikan-- how he fired his weapon in Bajikan. Funny thing is, he never told Ichimatsu about that. He never told him how he was pressured into killing somebody.
Sure, somebody could see it as protection-- killing the enemy. Karamatsu was much too fragile for that mindset. He took somebody's life no matter how threatened he was and he feels guilty about it.

He's too soft and he hates that about himself.
His response is prolonged-- a couple of minutes, but then: ]</sub>

Why do you suddenly care about any of this?
_{[ About Bajikan. About whatever.. this is. ]}

[ichimyatsu]

maybe because you're a damn idiot and if i let something happen to you when i know better i'll feel responsible?
i'm a shit, i know that, but i have a sense of responsibility the same as every other person.
it's not usually about you, but we're the only two of us here.

[It's because he cares, he just doesn't know how to say it. It's because everything that happened on the Eluvio-- finding Rey's body, seeing Karamatsu have such a visceral response to it, fighting before Bajikan, fighting in Bajikan. And then he's stuck with him alone in another weird place and he's scared and he just wants them to be okay. Them, not just himself.]

but no, go ahead, tell me to fuck off. get yourself killed.
it's your choice, we've already seen i can't do anything when you're set on being stupid.

[glitterpants]

You can't decide my life for me, brother.

<sub>[ Everything Ichimatsu is saying is exactly how Karamatsu feels. He feels like Ichimatsu is his responsibility since he is older, he feels like he's a shit deep down, he feels like he can't do anything right either. He went to Bajikan when Ichimatsu needed him more than ever, and now he wants him to not do anything, apparently. It's really selfish-- Ichimatsu used to not be like this. Did everything that happened on the Eluvio effect him this much? 'Cause he's certainly acting different where back home he ignored him, picked on him, praised anything wrong happening to him.

Karamatsu is so angry-- he's thankful this isn't on video. Without warning, he ends the conversation without closure or conclusion: ]</sub>

I'll talk to you later.

[ichimyatsu]

[He doesn't have time to reply before Karamatsu's cut off the conversation, and just shouts, hurling his device and for all intents and purposes hoping it breaks.]

[He's not comfortable acting differently, he doesn't want to care about Karamatsu. Caring about Karamatsu meant he was admitting weakness, admitting he was lonely enough to latch on to the only sibling he had in a strange place, even with it being the one he had claimed to hate for so long. So he lets his phone stay face-down across the room, hopefully broken, and does the only sensible adult thing to do-- he crawls into his bed with his cat and doesn't move for a while.]