[He reaches up to scratch at his forehead with the side of his thumbclaw.]
I'm not him. [Simply said.] Not really here to get into the why and wherefore of it.
[He's spent enough time feeling like the fake version, the bargain bin version, off-brand and misshapen through factory error, and whatever other metaphors he's seized on in the past. He's had time enough here to live a life removed from whatever the "real" Dave has been through, too, and enough to question how much good it does him to cling to what any Dave is supposed to be.]
[But fuck dumping that on her right now. It's hard to deal with even on his own.]
[His hand lowers.]
Don't trust everything you see. I've seen static in the air, a box of organs that wasn't there, my own body turning into a fucked up puppet monster, things like that. This place is big on messing with what you see, feel, hear—everything. Don't trust that your own mind is going to stay your own, either. I've had paranoia, got obsessed with eggs for a while, thought nobody else was real once, went spilling fears to the network with everyone one night...
[He pauses here, jaw tightening, then forges on.]
People have been brainwashed. Jade was here; she killed me one night, when everyone was running around outside and the snow was stopped in the air, and half of us wanted to kill the other half. Everyone woke up the next morning like it never happened. But if you count that time anyway, I've died five times here. Three to freezing to death. Pay attention when your tablet tells you to get inside.
And—
[He breathes out.]
If you go certain places, you'll see fucked up shit. There's a building with skin for wallpaper. Blood for paint. A house with manacles. Altars to a cult here. People got... We...
[And he pinches the bridge of his nose. He's saying so much already, but he's told people so many times that it's easier to get it out at once, no pulled punches. But what's she going to do if she knows? He still has to, or she'll ask sometime, or hear it from someone else—]
Torture. We got tortured. Some of us woke up in cells. Other people got brainwashed into doing it. Don't trust eye doodles; they're a cult symbol.
cw: past torture, brainwashing/mind control, death, unreality
I'm not him. [Simply said.] Not really here to get into the why and wherefore of it.
[He's spent enough time feeling like the fake version, the bargain bin version, off-brand and misshapen through factory error, and whatever other metaphors he's seized on in the past. He's had time enough here to live a life removed from whatever the "real" Dave has been through, too, and enough to question how much good it does him to cling to what any Dave is supposed to be.]
[But fuck dumping that on her right now. It's hard to deal with even on his own.]
[His hand lowers.]
Don't trust everything you see. I've seen static in the air, a box of organs that wasn't there, my own body turning into a fucked up puppet monster, things like that. This place is big on messing with what you see, feel, hear—everything. Don't trust that your own mind is going to stay your own, either. I've had paranoia, got obsessed with eggs for a while, thought nobody else was real once, went spilling fears to the network with everyone one night...
[He pauses here, jaw tightening, then forges on.]
People have been brainwashed. Jade was here; she killed me one night, when everyone was running around outside and the snow was stopped in the air, and half of us wanted to kill the other half. Everyone woke up the next morning like it never happened. But if you count that time anyway, I've died five times here. Three to freezing to death. Pay attention when your tablet tells you to get inside.
And—
[He breathes out.]
If you go certain places, you'll see fucked up shit. There's a building with skin for wallpaper. Blood for paint. A house with manacles. Altars to a cult here. People got... We...
[And he pinches the bridge of his nose. He's saying so much already, but he's told people so many times that it's easier to get it out at once, no pulled punches. But what's she going to do if she knows? He still has to, or she'll ask sometime, or hear it from someone else—]
Torture. We got tortured. Some of us woke up in cells. Other people got brainwashed into doing it. Don't trust eye doodles; they're a cult symbol.
[His arms cross tight over his chest.]