IC Contact (Snowblind)

[rubikscomplex]

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[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie dramatically drops his hands to his sides and groans. Wow they totally had a super cool secret code thing going and House ruined it. But having someone cool to make music with is more important.]

You can pick the song if you wanna, then.

[rubikscomplex]

[Charlie, if he can talk, he'd going to use his mouthpiece to ask for the music he wants.]

Know any Pink Floyd? Eagles?

[mightyratslayer]

[Fine!! Pink Floyd it is. He plays a little bit of "Wish You Were Here" before looking back to the camera.]

This work?

[rubikscomplex]

[Wow, hello, depressing music. But sure. House begins to sing, voice a little breathy as he's walking along, but a clear and solid baritone, and he certainly knows all the words to sing along with Charlie.]

Well, that was depressing, but satisfying. How's about "The Sound of Silence," ace?

[mightyratslayer]

[Color Charlie impressed. House is a better vocalist than he gave himself credit for the first time they talked.]

Nice singing, dude. And, yeah, that was kinda sad, wasn't it? Oops. Not like your pick's any better, though. Charles already had me play it once today. I guess it's kinda fitting for this place.

[But he's happy to play it again, especially if House is gonna sing. Here you go, bud.]

[rubikscomplex]

I'm competitive by nature. [Enjoy your light dose of sarcasm, Charlie.] Pick a sad song, I gotta one up you.

[When the music starts, House begins to sing. It would be better if he could get Wilson to join in for the harmonies, but that's not happening. He does glance ahead at the other man as they walk, wondering if he's enjoying the free concert of sad music.

Probably. He's a loser who likes movies that make him cry, anyway. When they finish up, House huffs a bet.]

Your pick, C-man. You've got good taste. I'll give you that.

[mightyratslayer]

[C-man, hell yes. Charlie is Cool.] You too, bro. Hey, you're the guy that did the map, right? House? [Charlie can't be bothered to network stalk the weirdos that mostly talk in text, especially since he's been alternating between various health problems since he landed here.]

Any chance you'll be around the school sometime soon? This duet stuff would be way cooler in person.

[Also, it's his pick, and he picks "Wild Horses" because he is also competitive by nature.]

[rubikscomplex]

Yep. That's me. The guy named House who does houses. I'm surprised no one's made a joke about that, yet.

I'm nowhere near the school and not heading back any time soon. In case you missed the memo, all the cool kids are heading east.

[But it is on Charlie. House sings out the lyrics for the song, voice growing stronger as he becomes more comfortable doing this little back and forth, as pointless as it is. It's a way to pass the time while they walk. Nothing more. If Wilson is enjoying the impromptu concert, he'll do better to keep his mouth shut and not comment, of course.]

You know "Changes" by Black Sabbath? [It's a song he'd played and thought about a lot after Stacy. Not that he's going to mention that. Ever.] Impress me on that with your piano playing, and I'll think about calling you back for the next piano I find.

[mightyratslayer]

Ohh, yeah, to that place Tadpole found, right? Bummer, man. You're like, the only one who's any good at music around here.

[That's not entirely true. Some people did manage to jam with him on his public post, but he's yet to meet anyone else that simultaneously rocks and likes the same music as him.

When he hears House's next request, he just gives the other guy a smug look.]

Pfft, that's all it's gonna take to impress you? No problem. [And he starts up the song.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House will sing along. It's... a more heartfelt performance on his end than some of the others he's gone through with Charlie.]

Not bad. Might give you a call, then. How old are you, anyway? Did you grow up with this or are you one of the johnny come latelies?

[mightyratslayer]

Might? Jeez, dude. I mostly grew up with this stuff. I'm 38. How old are you?

[rubikscomplex]

[That's actually older than he thought. You're officially less of an annoying hipster, Charlie.]

Might. B+ for the playing. I only go absolutes for A's. And I'm 46, which is apparently ancient around here.

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie would be offended by the B+ but he's never gotten a B+ on anything in his life. Plus, he knows he's not on his A game right now. He'll take it.]

Huh. Yeah, I guess so. Now that you mention it, most people around here are pretty young. Weird, right?

[rubikscomplex]

[Weird. Irritating. Unnerving.]

Yeah, that's the weird part. Not the different universes crap.

[mightyratslayer]

[He makes a face.] Well, that's weird too. More than one thing can be weird, bro. Just, like, if you're gonna pick and choose a buncha people from a buncha different places, it's weird that most of 'em are basically kids. Like, what's the pattern, here?

[rubikscomplex]

[The pattern here is one that House doesn't like.]

Maybe it's one of those dystopian sci-fi schticks where only the young have minds versatile enough to deal with the challenges facing them. Dunno what that says about us. Maybe we're just 'young at heart.'

[There's sarcasm dripping off that last line.]

[mightyratslayer]

Uh... Yeah, I guess. ["Dystopian" goes right over Charlie's head, and he doesn't really like sci-fi stuff unless it's that shoot 'em up stuff like Star Wars... But.] So are you saying we're like, in a movie? They usually get hot young people to be in movies, right?

[Does that make him and House the Yodas? Well, House is older so that means he's Yoda. Charlie will be Obi Wan. Yeah.]

[rubikscomplex]

[Charlie if you want to be his music bro, you need to expand your horizons.]

Or hot old people. Can you say Clint Eastwood? George Clooney? Harrison Ford? Helen Mirren? I'm saying this place is playing out like a mishmash of movie tropes. Which is why I think it's all an experiment. The set-up is too perfect for it otherwise.

[mightyratslayer]

[How is he supposed to expand his horizons House there is only one horizon.]

Uhh... Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren. [He counts them off on his fingers as he speaks. There, did it. He can say those things, yes.]

I guess that makes sense, though. So you think somebody set all this up on purpose? Like a movie set? What's the point of that if this isn't a movie?

[rubikscomplex]

[Charlie, you're a moron. As this is an understood constant of this universe, House skips mentioning it for the time being and just gives his tablet a Look. One that Charlie can't see given that House is using audio, but the Look is there in spirit in the brief silence.]

To test something. Maybe their fancy new gizmo that brings people here from other universes? They clearly screwed that up considering they've got all these anomalies, too.

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie nods like that makes sense. It kind of does, actually. There's gotta be a gizmo somewhere bringing them all hear from different places, considering they're all... like... from different places...

Speaking of which, that reminds him.]

Hey, you were the one who that the theory about like, this place being the Matrix, right? Like, uh, this whole town is fake and we're in a computer or whatever?

[rubikscomplex]

I was one of them. What about it?

[mightyratslayer]

[Oh.]

Really? 'Cause like, that, um. Well that sucks if it's true, y'know? If this is all some kinda virtual reality thing or whatever. Like, that makes everything way freakier than it already is.

[rubikscomplex]

[House raises a brow.]

This probably isn't entirely a simulation. A better theory's some sort of augmented reality. Some of it's real, some of it's just crap the nanomachines in our brains throw up for us to see.

[mightyratslayer]

[What! That's so way different from the Matrix. Still scary, thinking about how he might be hallucinating because of that weird blood stuff, but definitely less scary than being trapped in a computer world where everything and everyone is fake.]

Oh! Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. [He pauses.] D'you think that's how people die and come back? Like, maybe they don't really die at all. It just feels like dying. [Which would also mean he doesn't really know what it feels like to die, and he would be a-okay with that.]