columbus, on the idle browsing of horror games.

[ohio]

Okay, one? The Facebook jokes aren't as funny as you think they are.

And two, I'm kind of concerned about your desire to send me off to fight zombies. Maybe you're misunderstanding just what I've been doing for the past year or so. It wasn't like some first person shooter where I ran around and racked up a million points so I could see my initials on the leaderboard, this was real life. I mean, okay, Tallahassee, I will grant you that Tallahassee is kind of badass but I'm just surviving.

So three, I'd really like to go somewhere with like. The internet, uh, maybe the devices come with WoW on them? And Wichita, since, you know, I kind of just got that fire started, don't wanna leave it un...tended... that's a shitty metaphor. But that's my desert island list. The internet, my friend who is a girl, with whom I haven't actually had the relationship talk so I'm not comfortable rearranging those words yet, and absolutely no motherfucking zombies. Jesus!

Comments

y'know i was going to wait til later to tag this so it's not so obvious i have the tag tracked, but

[cons]

[ huh. ]

That was a pretty shitty metaphor, yeah.

you are a speed demon!

[ohio]

Wow. I mean. Hi. But also, wow. Maybe I should have given you a code name, or something. A different code name. That you're not ... already using.

[ oh no critical awkward has been reached all speech will self-destruct in five, four, three... ]

.-. i just get real excited over z-land muses popping up. /o\

[cons]

Hey. [ listen ok Wichita has been on a spaceship for the last.. almost a year now, and she might be a little bit really freaking glad to see a familiar face. but. she's not telling him that because well, that might give off the impression that she cares. or whatever. which she doesn't. so doesn't. ] Mm, nah. I don't think it would have mattered much. I mean, the whole 'pretty much everybody's dead or a zombie' thing would've narrowed it down for me.

understandable!! sob it is my favourite movie.

[ohio]

[ nodding, because, yeah. he's an idiot. ]

Never know, maybe I had another group of kick-add zombie-fighting friends on the side, and one was a hot girl. Maybe we were penpals. I mean, via, the internet, obviously, since. Okay, so it doesn't really hold water.

[ pause to regroup. ]

So. How's things?

mine too!

[cons]

[ now she's just kind of grinning though, because she really was only teasing him about the whole 'fire' metaphor, not so much the, ah, meaning behind it. even though it's a little strange now, yeah. more than she's letting herself think about. which is easy, because Ohio does a great job of setting her up to move the subject right along; ]

I'd be a little disappointed to hear you had another group on the side. Especially one with a hot girl.

[ he asks her how things are and really, it should be easy to just gloss it over with a quick 'oh, y'know' or a 'fine, fine' or a 'things are great', but it's such a far stretch from the truth she can hardly consider leaving it at that. ]

Things are, ironically, kinda just like home recently. [ she's scratching her elbow now, trying to think of the easiest way to get into it without getting... into.. it. ] Where I'm at right now is usually pretty zombie free, but recently, like the past week? I've been stuck in Pacific Playland. With some really messed up stuff. [ like seeing you, Tal, and my sister, all as zombies. having to run from that. fun times. ] It's kind of a long story.

-- So, instead of getting into it, how're you?

[ohio]

Oh, I'm. You know.

[ a shrug, because what does he even say to that. her life sounds horrible, but at least it's interesting. ]

Fine.

[ to be honest, columbus feels more suited to messed up mayhem than waiting around for something to happen. boredom kind of feels like the slippery slope back to cheetos and mountain due and ten gig of porn. which is fucked up, that he feels that way, kind of almost jealous, buuuut. there it is. ]

Not going anywhere. I mean, if you wanted to tell it, your "long story".

[ that, at least, he can be sincere about. if she wants to talk then he'll listen, though since they're both sober and no-one they know has died horribly recently he prepares himself for the blow-off. ]

[cons]

[ it's weird. it's really, really weird. talking to Columbus reminds her of how she used to be, not so long ago, how she still kind of is because nobody can learn to stop pushing people away and fully trust them instead in just a few months. and it doesn't feel like she's reached that point or anything, she's not exactly running around the Tranquility telling her life stories to anybody that would listen, but... her gut reaction here wasn't to lie. that's the weird thing. and it's written all over her face. ]

Um. [ good start. her hand even moves like she's about to start explaining- something, but the words don't come out. she doesn't know where to begin. ] What if I told you that, for the better part of a year now, I've been trying to survive on a sentient spaceship? That may or may not be occupied by a few big-name fictional characters.

sjkdhg SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY i got too lazy to fix his glitch-fix-cocked icons

[ohio]

[ lbr he can't really tell when wichita is bullshitting him and when she isn't, even now. but in this case it seems too obvious to be a con. ]

Seriously?

[ which then begs the question why she'd tell the truth about something that ridiculous, which kinda puts him into loops of is she/isn't she but columbus trusts her (like a dumbass) so his disbelief is more a general whoa, more weird shit in the universe than no fucking way. ]

Space beats zombies though, right? By, like, a million points. So yeah, that's what I'd say. Space for the win.

it's okie!

[cons]

Space beats zombies in the showers and hot food department, but there are still monsters and random shit trying to kill you daily, so I don't really think it wins out.

[ she kind of sounds like she wishes she was lying, it's that weird sort of tone where she's realizing how ridiculous she sounds as she's saying it, but that won't stop her from doing so. she's even scratching the back of her neck now, look how freaking awkward this is. ]

I know it sounds nuts, but that's the basic background story to why I ended up in Pacific Playland for a while. The ship makes you see things sometimes.

[ohio]

The ship. Makes you see things.

[ the look he is giving her right now. because you know what else makes you see things, wichita? insanity. ]

[ but despite thinking she may have lost it, he's not too perturbed, just tilts his head quizzically. ]

Is this like that conspiracy where NASA used hallucinogenics to convince astronauts they were really on the moon?

[cons]

[ boo on you she is not insane. ]

No, it's real.

... And I don't think I appreciate your attitude, Ohio.

[ohio]

Hey, there's no attitude! No attitude here! I'm just saying, okay, that it doesn't really sound ... heal..thy...

[ o ok there's a bit of attitude. he scrubs a hand through his hair. ]

But it sounds like it's been a while for you.

[cons]

Uh huh. [ ah. it's always a little bit uplifting, making Columbus all flustered. ]

It's been ten months. [ which is weird to say out loud. yikes. ] Ten months without Little Rock, without ..you, and Tallahassee. [ nodnodnod. now she's looking at her feet, hiding behind her bangs. ] I've been on the Tranquility longer than there's been zombies everywhere.

[ohio]

W-Wait, your sister's not with you?

[ He blinks unhappily at her. ]

Shit, Kansas.

[cons]

[ and that, right there, makes her blink back up at him. like he's said something surprising. but really, he's the first person she hasn't had to explain why that kind of makes things a million times worse than just being pulled from her world. which is.. weird. but it also makes her realized they've touched down in emotional territory, so. ]

Yeah, no. Nope. [ she forces a smile until it feels real, nodnodnod again. ] But I'm glad she's not there, you know, I don't want her going through all that. She shouldn't have to. It, um. People say that when we're there, time kinda stops back in Zombieland, our real worlds, whatever. So. You guys have just been there, at Bill Murray's house. You guys are... sleeping in beds for the first time in weeks, probably. Not a bad place to get frozen, I guess, right?

[ohio]

Uh.

[ columbus does his best to impersonate a deer. or rabbit. something terrified and vegetable eating, anyway. because the last thing he remembers is a happy family moment in pacific playland, and goddamn if that doesn't make the are-we aren't-we conversation suddenly a lot harder and a lot simpler. not yet. ]

[ but he finds a smile. ]

Yeah, when you get back it'll just have been like a bad dream or something. And we'll, like, make popcorn and introduce your sister to Ghostbusters.

[cons]

[ her eyes narrow a little bit during that pause, curiously though. ]

What-?

[ but then he moves on, and that squint turns into a browfurrow! she knows about memory differences, has heard all about it on the ship, so now she'll try to play this cool, figure out just what he remembers and what he doesn't. then again, she only knows that she and Little Rock went to bed that night knowing they would be leaving without Columbus and Tallahassee in the morning. morning just never came for her. ]

See! She told me you already showed her the movie. Spilled her popcorn everywhere too. Maybe she was just lying to try and get out of it. [ yup, before bed Little Rock told her about all the questions, it was part of why she thought they had to cut ties sooner than later. but she won't bring that up. what she will bring up is- ] Besides, there's no way you don't remember that night. Monopoly? [ either he'll remember, or he'll think she's messing with him. either way, she sounds quieter now, even stepping a little bit closer, as if to make up for the fact. ] We shared a bottle of wine. We talked, we danced. You remember that, right?

[ohio]

[ shit. shit. he's fucked up the timelines like a pro, and now she's gotta be suspicious. so he looks away, though that could be as much to do with her current proximity and his nerves. ]

Yeah.

[ columbus lifts a shoulder, figuring he may as well just admit the truth. after all, he's already talked about getting fires started. ]

I remember that. The drinking, and- and the dancing. And Tal ruining the moment.

[ his eyes flick up to hers again. ]

There was a moment, right? I definitely remember the moment.

[cons]

It was a moment, sure. Yeah.

[ which doesn't seem so hard to admit now, way after the fact. considering she was planning on skipping town and taking the hummer with her that night, then ended up in space for ten months... yeah, in retrospect, not such a scary thing to admit. ]

Do you remember anything after that? You can tell me, if you do. If nothing else, being in space all this time has taught me that time really is relative. And I have to admit, I'm a little curious. Kinda. Unless you watched me and Little Rock get eaten by zombies in our sleep, then you can, um. Keep that. To yourself.