video; un: v | cw for creepy dolls i guess?

[mehanizovati]

[the video starts focused on a shelf, and on that shelf is a doll. absolutely the kind that just exudes 'listed on ebay for having the spirit of an angry victorian child in it' vibes with its dead eyes.

when viktor speaks his tone could not be more dry.] Some of you might have noticed the unpleasant dolls that, when ignored instead of bought, come to life violently. This is a matter our household is not entirely aware of because Palamedes continues to gladly buy any unpleasant doll he sets his sights upon.

[offscreen, but not like, very far offscreen (it is not a big living space), palamedes chimes in with a pointed, 'While I respect your aesthetic tastes, you're wrong, they're delightful,' that viktor will pointedly ignore as he continues.]

He will not stop bringing them. Some of them vanish after a week or two. He calls this one Sensible Bethany.

['She calls herself that, actually, I explained this already,' from the peanut gallery. the camera shifts as viktor turns to address him back]

Is this entire place not haunted enough without ugly dolls, I ask again? There is a limit, Palamedes.

[in the unfocused corner of the camera the doll absolutely turns its head to stare directly at the screen.]

Comments

un: eudaimonikos; voice

[eudaimonikos]

Could be worse. It's not a clown doll.

[mehanizovati]

Gods, do not give him ideas. I do not need a clown ghost here on top of it all.

[eudaimonikos]

I made up this whole series of clown-centric art one time. Paintings, mostly, but there were some sculptures as well.

[mehanizovati]

I suppose I should apologize in case you are an eh... enthusiast but truly, with my whole heart I must ask why?

[eudaimonikos]

I was torturing someone with them.

[He says like that's a normal thing!]

I was particularly proud of her bedroom doors. They were sliding - when you closed them, they'd form a giant picture of a clown while playing circus music. There were child cheers at the end. Really awful to witness!

[mehanizovati]

[well.

it takes him a moment to admit,] That is rather ingenious, really. Hostile architecture brought to a truly unfortunate conclusion. Why was she being treated to this exactly?

[eudaimonikos]

...it honestly wasn't a very good reason.

[Nothing in particular. Eleanor wasn't great, sure, but none of it warranted that.]

But it could've been a lot worse.

[mehanizovati]

In terms of torture? Oh yes, I think it's more agonizing prank level.

[he kind of assumed that was the point. hm.]

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah, that's what I was going for. The object was just to make her whole life a constant haze of stress and low-grade misery. It was a...whole thing, sounds kind of weird now.

[mehanizovati]

I admit I would love to hear an explanation that makes it less odd. [please, he is morbidly fascinated.]

[eudaimonikos]

[siiiiigh]

I was trying to revolutionize the torture industry. Because I was bored with physical torture and thought, "hey, you know what sounds fun? Screwing with people emotionally and mentally!"

[It is, in retrospect, sort of embarrassing.]

[mehanizovati]

[given the trench he wants to think things like, ok this guy is fucking with me. but. given the trench he knows in his heart there may be an actual world with a torture industry.

and he is speaking to a man who brought clown interior design into it. that's... better? which is not something he thought he'd ever say.]

I have to say, out of every world 'the torture industry' does manage to be the oddest one I have heard yet, which is impressive.

... I am very much hoping are no longer in the torture business, yes?

[eudaimonikos]

No one is now, I actually got it outlawed. There might still be clowns...but those are very tame.

un: warden; voice

[megatheorem]

[know that he had to trenchgoogle what a clown is]

Is a "clown" supposed to be more haunted by default...?

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, yeah. Don't ask me why, exactly - I'm pretty sure humans used to like them.

[megatheorem]

I was definitely about to ask why. I've never seen a real clown before; this picture I've conjured up just looks like colorful, friendly face paint. Not too sure about the shoes.

[eudaimonikos]

I'm not sure. There was a book, or a movie, about a killer clown that got big for a while, but I think they were considered scary before that. That's why it was in the book to begin with.

[megatheorem]

A killer clown.

[....]

I suppose if somebody really didn't like children, and made exceedingly poor career choices... I don't know; it seems silly to me. I think my doll is supposed to be some kind of 'angel,' are those terrifying, too?

[eudaimonikos]

I think the clown in the book was secretly an alien. Or a demon, or a spider.

[All three? He didn't actually consume any of the related media!]

Angels just sort of suck. All the ones I've ever met were the sort of people who like to act like they care about everyone a lot, but don't actually do anything for anyone.

[megatheorem]

I think I could object to a clown-spider. Wholeheartedly.

[The other two are probably fine? Yeah.]

As for the angels, is that a self-serving inaction or a 'helpless idiot' inaction?

[eudaimonikos]

Honestly? Hard to say. I think a lot of them were...incredibly incompetent and hiding it, but after a while that is just self-serving.

[megatheorem]

After a while. [hmm...] I believe it. Even a powerful mind has a limit on how long it can pretend to be something else, probably. You've met a lot of angels?

[eudaimonikos]

More than most. I took over doing their jobs for them. In theory we were working together, for a while, but they never actually did anything.

[megatheorem]

And you're not an angel or a human, by process of elimination, so are you going to make me ask? Now I'm curious.

[eudaimonikos]

I feel like you did just ask.

[.....]

I'm a demon, though.