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

[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.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Re...boot?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

It's where they send you when your merits get too low.

They send you there and tell everyone that...well, it's something like this place, I suppose. And you don't see your family or friends again.

Because they kill you.

But they don't tell people that last part.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

That's terrible, Jane, terrible!

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

I know.

I was almost sent there, but...I always had a way out.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

How can they get away with that?

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

It's in the Rules. In the Rulebook.

And people, like I said, don't know they're going off to die.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Well they've got to be told!

Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

No.

Not yet. It will be done, but not all at once.

Re: Private

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Why not?

Re: Private

[thebestnose.livejournal.com]

There are too many people who know the truth right now that we have to get through.

This is so much more than just...Reboot.