wildestlands | making your insomnia everyone else's problem [video]

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making your insomnia everyone else's problem [video]

[ It's late, like, super late. Like 'if any of us had a clock to go off it'd probably read 3am' kind of late. The stars are shining clear in the sky and the only light on the feed is from the Heartstone, not even a fire. Wherever Cammie's settled, she's not right next to anyone else in the group for some reason or another.

Cammie is also, notably, not on any watch rotation. Also also, she's totally human, aka: neither nocturnal, nor able to get by without sleeping at all. She's fastening her ears back around her ponytail, as the live feed starts, which means she probably at least gave sleeping a go—there's even some makeshift blankets wrapped around her shoulders—but she's awake now, looking tired as anything but perky, too. Only the particular observant may note the slightly haunted look beneath the teenage bravado and energetic way she speaks. ]

Christ, I'm bored. What's a girl s'posed to do around here when it's too dark an' cold out to go on a walk or somethin', eh? Call me addicted to technology all ye like, but the Ether's a blessin' when—

[ She coughs, does not finish that sentence. She admits she's up because of nightmares and precedent from home tells her someone will stage an intervention. ]

Anyway. Some of youse must still be up, aye? Anyone wanna play like— what did people play before the Ether... —2 truths 1 lie? Truth or dare? Hell, I'd say 20 questions but I think the multiverse makes that kinda complicated. Imagine someone picks somethin' only found in their universe. Practically amounts to cheatin' and ye might not even know ye doin' it.

...but, seriously, I'm goin' out of my mind doin' nothin' right now, surely I cannae be the only one?

[ There's a nonzero chance this broadcast wakes up people who weren't, actually, already awake at 3am, but Cammie's decided that's worth the risk right now. Sorry everyone. ]

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Nah, it’s sixteen of them, and I lost count of the misdemeanors. Hunting ghosts is a real illegal business.

My old flame was the Loch Ness Monster.

Your turn!

Ol' Nessie? Like, the actual Loch Ness Monster? ...amazing. Not even takin' the piss.

[ She shakes her head. Good bait and switch, gotta give him that one. ]

Alright, uhhh— 1. I've actually eaten a deep-fried mars bar. 2. My dad was a motorcycle racer. 3. I once spent like, a month hoppin' instead of walking as a kid.

She's quite the kisser. If I weren't so happy in my current relationship, I'd still be pining for those slippery scales and smooth flippers.

[The rapture with which he says that makes it clear that he isn't actually joking. He rests his chin on his knuckles as he considers hers.]

I'm going to guess that it was your mom that was a motorcycle racer.

Nope! Try again. [ grin ] It was dad. He raced in the European circuit 'til he got injured too bad to ride, mam went around decommissionin' the old oil rigs.

[ The grin doesn't falter, even though it sometimes hurts to think about them now they're gone. She thinks both her parents occupations were well cool, even if her mam being away a lot sucked, her work was important. ]

[Oh, Dan likes to be surprised by that, and he grins.]

Alright. It was a year hopping.

[ She makes an approximation of an error buzzer noise. ]

0 for 2, I lasted a month before I hopped off somethin' and nearly broke my ankle. Dad an' Gran helped me design an' build my ears to fulfil my bunny rabbit dreams after that. Safer, an' the coolest hearing aid replacement like, ever.

I joke about the deep-fried mars bars to people to get a reaction outta 'em mostly, Gran never woulda let me eat somethin' just that unhealthy.

Well, you tricked me, and that's high praise. [Dan's not kidding, and he's going to chalk it up to being a little buzzed, because while he loves to be surprised, being very observant is a survival skill of his. The idea that he can be easily fooled makes him uneasy.]

Honestly, my problem with deep-fried mars bars is that they ain't sweet enough.

I can be slippery when I try. Runnin' in hacker circles teaches you a thing or two about half-truths and lies.

[ She doesn't always hit the mark, she can be kinda bad at dealing with actual people, she's not been as successful with Tim for example, but! She'll take that praise. ]

Sounds like I'd probably agree with ye there, got a pretty big sweet tooth, me.

Folks don't realize that it's a skill. They think it all comes natural.

[Dan's been dismissed as just a talentless prettyboy in the past at his work, and after a while, it grates.]

Let's hope we find a Candyland around here, yeah?

So stupid, it's for sure a skill. People underestimate shite like that so much.

[ She gets underestimated in everything she does, because people see the youthful face and bunny ears and just assume she's got nothing to offer. Makes it satisfying to show them otherwise, but god if it isn't frustrating. ]

Man, that'd be the day. Haven't had nearly enough sweets in far too long.

Wanna try another set of lies an' truths, or?

[ Just chatting's good, too, really. The argument with the grumpy pants definitely amped her up more, she could feel the urge to snap at him that maybe if he dreamed about having his head ripped off every night, too, he might not begrudge her some quiet chatter with some teammates. Close call. Talking to everyone else is winding her back down, at least.

It's just nice to not have to lay there in silence, trying not to wake her friends. She loves them all, she does, but they always assume the wrong thing about what she's doing when she's up late. It's frustrating. Only Chase knows the full truth, and she hates talking to him about it 'cause he has it so much worse. ]

Shit yeah I do.

[It's either keep chatting, or go back to listlessly pacing in the dark, chewing his knuckles and progressing from a little drunk to irresponsibly drunk, and Dan knows which one he'd prefer. He figures Cammie's in the same boat.]

Alright. I first fired a gun when I was three years old, I'm a professional artist, and I'm fluent in five languages.

[ Well she knows which one of those it'd be nice if it wasn't true, which probably means it is, unless he's shifted the age around a bit. Hmm. Her ears cock sideways, one more so than the other. ]

...the languages? Might be personal bias, don't know a lot of folks who learn so many these days, tend to rely on live translation software. That's how we talk to my one teammate, he only speaks Japanese.

Now, I rely a lot on voice command- [you have to when you're illiterate, in this day and age] -but I do actually speak five languages. English, Spanish, French, American Sign Language and Common Tongue, which is what the monsters and ghosts in my world speak.

[While he says that, he's signing it as well.]

Common Tongue was the hardest to learn by a country mile. Half that ain't even made for human mouths, but I might wouldn't have seduced Nessie otherwise, so it was worth it.

Huh! I technically speak BSL, but I've kinda gotten rusty over the years since gettin' my ears, but 'specially since I got the implants for mixed reality. Translation software picks up spoken English, too, just have to set it right.

The Common Tongue thing sounds cool, though. That's a whole different level.

[ She is truly fascinated by other people's universes. Much as she wishes she were home, war or not, not everything about being in these new worlds sucks. ]

Alright, ye might be gettin' me on another technicality here no matter which I say's the lie... professional artist?

I could teach you a little, if you like. I'd love to learn a little BSL, ain't never run into nobody who could teach me, and I always find teaching a language helps me find my groove with it again.

[Dan, too, loves to learn about other people and where they came from.]

Nah, I make money as a boardwalk caricaturist whenever I'm anywhere that seems a possibility. It's a good job, pays in cash, low investment, flexible hours, no boss. The only thing I got to worry about is apparently you need a permit to sell services near the beach, so I always got to clear out fast if I see police.

I first fired a gun when I was two, with supervision, of course. [That might be a little young, Dan realizes. If he had kids - and he thanks goodness he doesn't - he'd probably start them shooting around five.] Your turn.

Edited 2021-11-26 00:28 (UTC)

I'd like that! I spend most of my days in America these days anyway, so I might actually get some use outta it. I can probably at least teach ye the basics of BSL in return.

[ She tries to keep the flash of 'holy shit' out of her face at the two year old and firing a gun, thing. Tries. But she doesn't say anything, at least, 'cause that seems like it's probably rude? Especially if Dan doesn't seem to think it needs to come with any disclaimer that isn't 'with supervision'. ]

Okay, that makes sense, the art thing. I think I was thinkin' like— the more tied down kinda artist, but that makes way more sense.

[ She has to think for a moment for 3 more things. ]

Hmm, how about: 1. The first hacks I ever did were exploitin' a bunch of games so I could win more stuff. 2. I use an rabbit avatar in the Ether 'cause blokes don't try an' flirt with me so much if I do. 3. I once jumped through a wall like the Kool Aid man in my Holon.

I look forward to it. [And Dan's big smile makes it clear that he's being genuine.] I don't never get tied down nowhere. It's been a pleasant surprise in my adult life, being able to make some pizza money off of nothing but a big sketchbook and a marker.

[Dan's whole adulthood has been a long chain of different stopgaps and entry level jobs to keep gas in the tank. There are very few skills he has that he hasn't been able to turn into a moneymaker.

He taps his lower lip as he thinks, wishing he knew more about technology, one of his perpetual blindspots alongside science and basic literacy. The first one sounds...reasonable? He didn't realize you could win prizes out of videogames. The rabbit avatar also makes sense, but he knows more than many that rabbits are very capable of being flirted with. He doesn't even know what a Holon is.]

I'm going to guess you have a different avatar.

That's totally what threw me, with the whole off the grid thing it didn't click right. Maybe I should count that under some biases about what 'professional' is.

[ She shakes her head. ]

Nope! Rabbit through and through, tiny chibi lil' thing; I'm right adorable, honestly. That it stops flirting's one of a few reasons, but it's the big reason I keep it besides also havin' a reputation tied to it. People often assume I'm a lot younger than I am 'cause not a lot of adults keep animal personas goin'.

Ye in the lead if ye get it second time. So either me bein' a cheatin' little shit, or me bustin' through a wall in a big ass robot.

As far as I know, amateur is if you don't make money, and professional is if you do. In which case, I'm a professional lot of things.

[Dan's turning out to be quite bad at this game, but at least he thinks he's got good 50/50 odds.]

I believe you're adorable. [A grin.] I'm going to guess that you are a cheating little shit - and as a fellow cheating little shit, I ain't judging - but that that ain't your origin story.

Ye pinned down the way I was lyin', but not the lie. Switch out on the wall bustin', that was my friend Kazu—his armour's red, so I maaaay have maybe nudged us towards that plan because I thought it'd be funny. And it was.

[ Kazu's pretty easy to convince to do the fun thing. She likes that about him. He is rather like a big brother she's never had. ]

I started tryin' to hack games right off, I was a troublemaker from day one. Shame those games were only for Ether credit and prizes, or we wouldn'ta been so poor off money wise.

[Dan laughs; he isn't competitive, so he isn't upset at being tricked. It just means he needs to sharpen his people-reading skills further.]

Just the sound of it's entertaining. You ever find a way to monetize those skills?

Oh absolutely, when I dropped outta school at 14 [ she mentioned that to Tim, so it's fair game without spoiling another fact she could use she figures ] it was to start hackin' for money. Was how I afforded a lot of my stuff, back then. MR implants, Ether headset, other tech... lucrative business when you knew where to look. 'til ye get caught.

Hey, at least you been to school. The only times I ever been in a school have been to clear out colonies of predatory pixies and cheshires from the vents.

[Lord, does Dan know the game of making as much money as you can doing something illegal until you get caught.]

I, ah, ain't never owned anything more complicated than a cell phone. Never even touched a computer. [Most technology isn't friendly to illiterates.] So I hope you'll forgive me not knowing what any of that means.

Sometimes I wish I hadn’t been, at least like— secondary school. It never really gelled with me. Just don’ have the brain for that kinda learnin’, and I didn’t make much friends. But dad always used to remind me some kids in Union territory probably didn’t even have the option, so— yeah.

[ She realises people who didn’t get to go might’ve benefitted. But she hung on in school until her dad died, then dropped out. ]

Oh, no sweat, my Gran understands fuck all of it too and she grew up with computers and stuff. It’s why she didn’t catch on for so long to what I was doin’. [ 2070s: grandparents can now ‘back in my day’ about iPhones ] Ether Headset’s what you use to get on the best part of the internet, by my time at least. Virtual reality, you like… well, you sort of go into the local hub as your avatar? Move around like it’s a real physical space, but you’re lyin’ in bed the whole time, just controllin’ it like a game. It’s super cool. You can do all sorts.

[ It’s an honest attempt to explain one of her favourite hobbies, but she gets rambly, sorry Dan. She hopes some of that was comprehensible. ]

I made my cash breakin’ into various corporate and government files lot of the time. Sometimes someone’d ask you to target some nobody, but those weren’t my style unless they were really high payin’.

I reckon I don't have the brain for it either, but that's fine. My folks always told me being educated by a school is just brainwashing under a more pleasant name. [Dan's parents were, in many respects, batcrap crazy. Dan hasn't totally deprogrammed himself from being raised in an underground libertarian Bible bunker. He still doesn't trust the government or any public service so far as he can throw it.]

I think I'd have to see it to really get a sense of what you're saying. I grew up on a farm. They don't teach us these things. [But the easy, warm smile and Dan's face should communicate that not only does he not begrudge Cammie rambling about his hobbies, he actually likes to hear about this thing that fills her with so much enthusiasm and happiness. It's always nice to see the way people light up when they talk about the things in life that they find joyful, especially knowing that there's been so much trauma and suffering in the last week alone.]

Honestly, stealing from the government shouldn't be considered a crime. It should just be considered reparations. If you ask me, you were doing a public service.

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