12 ⚜ Audio

[restingstitchface]

My parole officer is blue in the face. I believe he's struggling to restrain his enthusiasm for our conversations, poor creature.

[Crane's voice is softer than before. If you've listened to his older posts, sent by his Scarecrow identity, the venom has been drawn out of it. His inflection of words is shorter. He controls himself better; sharper articulation, less energy, more subtle distinctions. Different pauses, too.]

I wonder, on a more gentle note, how you spend your free time.

What compositions spark your imagination? What beautiful works of art grasp your concentration? Cite your favorite passages of prose, poetry and drama, if you would; great books of literature that knock you out when you're all done reading.

[He sniffs and curls his lip.]

Still, most of you enjoy works that necessitate you should have been imprisoned instead of I, speaking honestly.

[If you cite Bieber or E.L. James, you're disqualified from having any opinion, ever. BYE.]

Comments

[Audio]

[timecapture]

Well, you already know who I like.

[restingstitchface]

Yes I do.

[It's not Jefferson!]

So which of Poe's works do you enjoy on a dark, wet night?

[Audio]

[sleight_of_hand]

[...wow that first part was subtle. Gee, he bet his parole officer was also just checking in by phone and not showing up at the station any more too.]

[Damn did this guy creep him out.]

Books, hunh?

I don't read as much as I used to, so nothing current. I remember enjoying anything put out by Murakami-san when I was younger, though.

[restingstitchface]

Yes, books. I also requested music and portraiture, in case you missed that.

Now, Murakami is a contemporary writer the great American public may not be familiar with. Will you educate the class, detective?

audio;

[hoboagogo]

...Man, I read enough for school to be sick of it.

When I got nothing going on, I mostly check out the westerns on Netflix. And Florida Man, but I dunno when the next season's starting.

[restingstitchface]

I cannot believe you are sick of reading, Shinjiro.

Learn to focus! Instead of lounging around in your nightclothes and goggling what's on the set, go into another room and learn how to read. Learn some discipline.

VOICE.

[mantlepieces]

Speaking honestly, I don't think anyone's gonna take what an ex-con thinks people should go to prison for all that seriously.

[ He pauses, though, as if considering how to answer. ]

Anyway. Gameshows.

[restingstitchface]

[He sucks in air. One bird puffing out his feathers, brandishing his culture like plumage.]

... Gameshows. Right.

[How the fuck are those cultured, Reggie? Huh?]

Given this is a public post, I'm not going to stop you. Should anyone care...

text

[prostheticbody]

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”

permatext

[restingstitchface]

Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment.

An excellent choice.

video;

[laruetheday]

You have a parole officer?

[ Pfft what a loser. ]

permavoice;

[restingstitchface]

[RUDE.]

It appears I've been stuck with one, yes.

I don't really care, mind.

video;

[brushoff]

"To influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him."

[ yes, Dorian is quoting Picture of Dorian Gray like the cliche motherfucker he is. ]

permavoice

[restingstitchface]

[How self-absorbed you are, Dorian.]

"An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them."

[He's quoting Picture of Dorian Gray back at him. Why not enable that vanity? It's hilarious.]

Well, you're not lacking for boldness, at least.

video

[glitterateur]

That'll do, pig!

[Surely even Grumpy McPoor Ideas About Halloween can appreciate Babe.]

permavoice

[restingstitchface]

... What?

[Guess who's the one person who hasn't seen that film? This guy.]

audio

[huntergames]

How come you always want to know these things about other people?

[ She's highly suspicious. ]

permavoice

[restingstitchface]

Curiosity.

Now, do you care to share? Your favorite novel, perhaps?

[Wow. Come on, Sasha. He's only asking a polite question, here. He hasn't mentioned fear once! You're not... scared... are you?]

text; id reads "robin"

[performance]

Well, this is a new topic for you.

permatext

[restingstitchface]

Not entirely new.

I'm simply requesting opinions, mind. Whether or not you believe there's more to it is up to you.

[acclimatized]

Did you read that book I gave you?

[restingstitchface]

No.

[It's a short answer. Sharp and brutal. Hey, he asked!]

text;

[matadorable]

sometimes
i try watching the television
or reading some of the comics
but in the end
i mostly play my own music
and write my own songs

permatext;

[restingstitchface]

[Comics again. But still...]

My, you're a creative soul.

Do you create your own works because you are dissatisfied with those available? Do you play your instrument because you are painting your own myth with your own hands? What drives you, I wonder.

[mightthinkthat]

[ Francis is a little amazed that he's not doing more of the fear nonsense, but he supposes he'll play along for a while. ]

I do favour Shakespeare, apologies to anyone wanting to shed the yoke of English stereotyping. And Rembrandt's darkness appeals to me.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger. . . .

[restingstitchface]

[Finally. Somebody who appreciates culture.

But don't think he hasn't noticed the implications of that quote, Francis.]

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect...

The bard has a quality all his own, doesn't he? The crown jewel of English culture and an emblem of national pride. Or a sacred cow. He is the greatest of all poets or the producer of spectacle and melodrama for the masses.

audio

[mousquetaire]

People might be more willing to answer you if you didn't insult them before they had.

[ As if he's answering out of desire, anyway. He's being contrary. Talking to Crane drains the life from him, but that doesn't mean he wants to give Crane any sort of satisfaction relating to it. ]

My face isn't blue, either. It's too busy looking astonished that you're talking about something other than fear.

permavoice

[restingstitchface]

Well, is that you admitting you have a problem with my conversation? I'm doing my homework, you realize?

[The fact he's abusing said therapeutic homework to leech information out of people for later abuse? Getting them to talk about death and loss? LET'S IGNORE THAT.

Also: no therapist worth their salt would assign him exercises that would bring him into contact with a traumatized public. "Write your thoughts about this topic, Jonathan. We'll discuss them at our next session." So he took advantage. Oops?]

Anyway, the fact people are thin-skinned enough to interpret criticism as mud-slinging is not my problem.

voice

[rathercommon]

I tend to think that the so-called 'great works of literature' are chosen as the classics more because of their association with rich, dead white men than because of any actual inherent quality.

voice

[restingstitchface]

Yes, you would say that.

People are afraid to acknowledge the contribution of women to literature; to art and music; culture as a whole, in fact. But I trust you realize that even amongst those classical texts written by women, there is a darth of work by women of color and - even further still - by those of the working class?

forward dated to the 6th; text

[112ounces]

[ Carl is back, after enduring what is probably the most stressful afternoon he ever had, and that's including the fall of the prison. As he flips through the network, he sees another post by Crane. He's surprised that there's not even one mention of fear.

What is he doing? Carl wonders. Men like Crane - they don't have any room for purposeless acts. Every word, every gesture is calculated. Not unlike Ron, when he came up to Dad to learn how to shoot. Asking questions that, in hindsight, was just one step closer to get back at Carl and Dad.

What does Crane gain from learning people's favorite music and books? ]

Why so curious about what people like?

text

[restingstitchface]

Well, it seemed to me that people would engage in a discussion about literature and classical works if I raised the issue. It gets people thinking.

[Gets them talking. A man's choice in literature speaks volumes.]

PERMAVOICE

[worstever]

And you're asking out of total idle curiosity? Really believable.

permavoice

[restingstitchface]

That is the truth, exactly.

[He seems to have total confidence in this statement. There's no hesitation in his voice.]

Are you going to share your tastes with the group?

[darwinatrix]

Pretending to be a functioning member of society, are we?

[restingstitchface]

Functioning implies I'm sane. Need I remind you of that verdict?

No, of course not.

[A pause.]

You can't have it both ways.