Case #8: Video

[19centconstable]

[George is COMPLETELY DRESSED. So dressed. He also looks slightly pink and wrinkly, like he's spent too long in the bathtub.]

I've been in the tub.

[For two days, apparently. And still so unclean. His hair is also not parted and slicked down as usual, and is currently making a sort of wild, fluffy, dark halo around his face. The ends curl a bit. George's hair may eat combs. George is too sulky to do anything about it. This flood has tested even his unwavering positivity.]

I want to apologize for...

...

...everything.

[A curt nod, and the camera is switched off.]

...

[Then switched back on again.]

I would just like to say, also, just so you know, that I am never...unclothed, not even underneath my clothes.

...I'm getting back in the tub.

[The camera is switched off.]

...

[Aaaaaaand switched on again. He's here, he might as well. George clears his throat.]

Who...does...the art?

Comments

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

That's disappointing.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Why?

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

Because you really are acting like a Yellow now. Believing the Rulebook just because it was given to you.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

And perhaps I'd like to believe it as well.

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

There are people who believe that I can't do what I want because I can see Green.

Because the Rulebook says so. And they want to believe that, too.

It doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

That's completely different. There's nothing ridiculous about believing one shouldn't murder people or try to run off with a neighbor's wife. Because one shouldn't...those things.

And perhaps I would like to believe that if I'm a good man, I will go to a better place after I've died, because otherwise...well otherwise: what's the point of it all?

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

What's the point of what?

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Of anything.

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

Wait.

You're only living your life so that your soul, which might or might not be some kind of invisible butterfly, will go to Heaven?

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

No. I just feel that there's got to be something more. Hasn't there?

And my soul is not a butterfly. They have bird wings, if anything.

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

No. Why would there be?

How do you know? You've never seen it.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Because...because.

That's how they always are in paintings.

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

You should live because...there is nothing else. Just...oh.

[Private]

Just the Green Room. And the Mildew.

Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

"The Green Room"?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

Yes. Where people go when it's their time.

[Pause.]

And you're not supposed to repeat this.

Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

What's there?

And of course.

Re: Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

It's just a room with painted walls. The colour is called Sweetdream. Sometimes people go in there to Chase the Frog.

Most of the time they go in there when it is their time, like I said.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Yes, but what happens there?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

Well. They...die.

That's what Sweetdream does. To any colour that's not Green, that is. Because...Sweetdream is a green.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

But...wouldn't they have just died anyway?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

I said when it was their time. I didn't say they were sick or already dying.

Sometimes they had outlived their service to the Collective. Sometimes, they had been seen as useless. And sometimes, they were made sick.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

I don't...is it like the noose?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

[Pause to look it up.]

I...I don't know. It's a room, George. And the colour inside is one that will kill you if you look at it too long.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

But the people who are killed: have they done anything wrong?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

Not usually. There's always a celebration of some sort beforehand for them. The people who do things wrong either get the Mildew or Reboot.