victory_road | |17| [Video] [Text] Backdated to 7/29

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|17| [Video] [Text] Backdated to 7/29

[The video opens up on a boy shrieking and crying, and from the camerawork it's definitely a Pokemon holding the 'Gear. Regal the Braviary is trying to calm him down, but it doesn't look like it's working. Tobias is just curled up in a ball, trying to get himself to stop screaming, but it doesn't look like that's working well, either.]

[The large furry paw passes it over to something with large blue claws, who types carefully.]

Our young Trainer needs some aid
Some comfort here indeed
So if you all have some ready made
We have a most great need.

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[His smile's more tired and worried than anything.]

Nicest thing anyone's ever said about me. Keep concentrating on the room, okay, man? What's the floor, carpet? I can't tell from here.

Kind of... kind of bland. It's some kind of... tan? It looks like some kind of motel room.

Could be an apartment. Anything on the wall to your right?

N... no. Just a door. And another bed.

Why don't you just tell me everything you see in the room. Go slow. Concentrate on the details, you're not being timed. Sight, smell, feel, whatever you notice.

[This poor kid needs grounding bad.]

I... the weird animals. It's pretty quiet. I'm on... on a bed or something... it's... it's comfy. It smells a little weird, but there's a lot of animals around so... so I guess that makes sense.

Hah. Well, maybe you can convince them to take a bath if you ask real nice.

Nothing's gonna hurt you. You're safe. Okay, Tobias? You start feeling more scared again, you just concentrate on what's around you so you stay grounded.

[He's silent for a few more moments, before looking away from the screen.]

Until they start the machine up again, and this hallucination turns terrible.

[York opens his mouth, closes it, and then shakes his head.]

Not if I come get you, it can't. You trust me?

... We can't trust anyone. We can't. Just us.

[...Right.]

Fair enough. Fair enough, kid. I'll stick to my side of the screen. Maybe if you concentrate, keep talking to me, we can keep this hallucination going longer. I'm fairly innocuous as far as those things tend to go, right?

Y... yeah. I had one where I was... getting shot down... a memory... it wasn't mine. So... it was a hallucination, but it wasn't because I know it happened, but... not to me...

[But to see it from that side... was something different...]

... I know I yelled at them to stop, to talk, but... but they didn't. I'm...

... I'm not dead, am I?

No. No, Tobias, you are definitely alive, okay? And nothing's going to make it so that you're anything but, all right?

... I talked. So they'll kill me. Or worse, infest me... make me track down the others...

They won't. They're not here. How can I...here, you won't be able to hurt your friends if you can't--shit, what do you call it. The thing where you turn into animals. They'll be fine if you can't, right?

... They'll still know if they infest me... and that's where I was. I was - they needed to think the thing didn't work, that's why I let myself get caught...

[York closes his eyes and breathes out. There has to be a way to get through.]

They're not here. And the animals with you, they'll protect you. They won't let anything infest you or hurt you.

... But this... this can't be real. Back there... this isn't... Pokemon aren't real. Not... as far as I've seen, at least...

But would Pokémon really be something you'd hallucinate? I mean, I'd figure your birds would be more accurate, at least.

[... That gets a weak laugh out of him.]

True, and Ax prefers soap operas to cartoons. They're easier to understand in some ways... and don't usually violate the laws of physics. So I can't blame his influence for that.

[He starts to ask about Ax, to get him to think about something more pleasant, but no, the kid was worried about telling his torturers about his friends. Pull it back, dude.]

What kind of soaps? Tell me he's got better taste than the ones in Spanish, at least.

Usually The Young and the Restless, though sometimes he's got to get told that yes, he has to wear a shirt even though he is young and is occasionally restless. Just because the guys in that show can't keep their shirts on doesn't mean he gets to walk around shirtless.

Hey now, if he's comfortable in his body, there's no reason to constrain a guy to the tyranny of shirts. Or a gal, for that matter. Everyone's got a right to take their guns out when the sun's out.

I mean I guess that's true, but it's a problem when we want to go to the mall. No shirt, no shoes, no service and all that.

Oh, man. Looks like society's puritanical values stifle freedom of expression once again. Maybe you could just get him a T-shirt that says Young and Restless on it, then everyone wins.

[Video]

wing_attack - 2016-08-23 15:58 (UTC) - Expand

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