maskormenace | 1 💣 VIDEO.

[ The feed turns on to show a blonde, mustached man in a white dress shirt — the sleeves rolled up to his elbows — and blue tie, currently attempting to juggle holding his communicator, lighting a cigarette, and holding his suit jacket in place (slung over his shoulder) all at once, because these are all clearly equally necessary tasks. When he speaks it's with a twangy Southern accent — recognizable as West Virginian to those who would — seemingly not all that perturbed by his situation. Maybe just slightly inconvenienced, but that's all. ]

So… I guess this is pretty weird, but let's be honest— while I may barely know of any of you, I feel like I can still speak for most of us when I say things could easily be weirder. Personally if anything, I feel like it was only a matter of time before I ended up in some alternate dimension... it's like eventually you just reach that stage in life when everything else crazy's pretty much already happened to you, so all you can say is, "Sure, why not?" Makes perfect sense. [ That might just be sarcasm. Although maybe not? An even mixture, probably. ] But the best part is—

[ This is about the point where Ray proves why it can be dangerous to record yourself and walk, because as he starts to cross the street the video suddenly bounces, his communicator flying as he is struck hard by a car, shattering the windshield before he's tossed off the vehicle with a shriek. Oh, not a car; the screen shortly reveals that it was, in fact, an ambulance. Ray can be heard yelling, cursing, and making all sorts of noise as then the ambulance bumps over something -- maybe the curb or maybe Ray himself -- as it moves to pull over. Audio somewhat muffled, he shouts after it: ]

Jeezus! Y'all call that driving?! [ Then, pained and more to himself: ] Dukes. Well that's gotta be some kinda record. But maybe pain's a good sign in this case... okay--

[ He groans from still-mostly-off-screen, straining as he tries to determine if he can still move his legs, let alone get up. ]

Oh, wow, they still work!

[ After Ray's gotten back up to his feet he reaches for his communicator again with his singularly gloved hand, looking surprisingly pleased for a man who was just in a traffic accident. And whose face is bleeding and lacerated by glass, some shards still stuck in it. In the background: sirens, so he's gonna walk... as quickly as he can away from the crash site. ]

All good! I'm good, it’s all good, just a little— [ He cracks his back, hissing in mild discomfort, then exhaling in harsh relief. ] Whew. That's better. Boy though, could that have been ugly… especially since that ambulance sure isn't going anywhere in a hurry now. Some welcome wagon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well... [ He's not so sure, but relents: ] I guess so, every now and then. But it sure isn't very common-- I can't even think of an example.

No one's ever saved your life?

Not heroically, no... that can't be the only standard.

It can be when everyone else is trying to kill you.

To one person, maybe. But it's still not, like-- a title or anything, it's just a matter of opinion.

Being a hero to one person is still more than I've done.

Trust me, there's more important things than that a person could aspire to.

In any case, I haven't done anything important enough to deserve this second chance.

Well if that were true, you wouldn't even be here in the first place. So since you are, you might as well just make the most of it.

Or someone made a mistake. I do try to make the most of it though. We can do so much here.

Someone like who? [ He mulls on that briefly, then adds: ] Yeah, but I guess we can, though. Admittedly I can't say I've really given it a whole lotta thought yet.

The porter, I guess. There's freedom here for the things we couldn't do in our old lives. It's something to think about.

Things we couldn't do... [ Hm. ] Well I hope that means you've been living it up a little, cuz everyone deserves the chance to cut loose during their teen years. I mean, at least once.

I guess so. I have a job. I can go outside whenever I want.

Gee, don't go setting the bar too high now.

It is high though. Too many people take freedom for granted.

No, actually... when you're listing things that most people have to do normally, that's about as low as the bar could possibly go. I mean, it's just what everyone already should to be doing, like, I dunno... drinking water. Even if some people take it for granted, that don't change the fact that it's supposed to be a given.

There's gotta be some things you still want to do.

That's a matter of perspective. It depends on what your life was like before. What's a given to you can be a luxury to someone else.

Of course, everyone has things they want to do.

Sure, that's true in some cases. But in other cases no, the bare minimum of what people should be entitled isn't just a matter of perspective. As in, going outside shouldn't seem like a luxury, but even if it was for you, that doesn't mean you have to settle for it now that you can. I mean if I'd've just settled for anything better than my home-life, I might've ended up a career gas station attendant or something.

It doesn't feel settling to me. And I don't see anything wrong with gas station attendants. They're working to support themselves, maybe even to put themselves through school or to support a family.

There's nothing wrong with them, but it's sure as hell not how I'd wanna spend the rest of my life.

But if you're happy you're happy-- however you live yours is really none of my business.