secondconflict | IC Contact for noctiumrp

{What, you mean like you yourself? I imagine you look just like you're used to looking.}

[He actually chuckles at that, raising a hand to cover his mouth.]

{Some people call it an aura, what I see. Matches your speech - it's broadly steel grey, with interwoven lines of silver. So, a bit shiny. The sound I hear, though? That's a deep red, sort of raspberry red.}

[Shrug!! He doesn't make the rules.]

[Kerry seems to think that's all cool, though. He smiles and nods.]

All right. Well, if anything we do here overloads ya, you just tell me. I can quiet down and give you space.

[He knows not all people that experience sound like this get overloaded, but it's common enough that he wants to make sure Ethan is comfortable.]

For now, let's listen to some tunes, yeah?

[It's always funny, seeing different people react to it. Honestly, Kerry's a breath of fresh air here, given Ethan's getting a little tired of re-explaining the whole... everything, with himself.]

{I'll let you know. Don't think I've ever actually overloaded myself with one other person, though.}

[... Then he just stares off for a moment, considering that.]

{Well. Not in any non-intimate setting. Anyway, you can pick, if you'd like - either let me know and I'll select it or I can register your hand to use the screen. I have favourites, but I'm curious what you'd pick.}

[He's proud of the things he makes, okay, and the HUD is one of those. Really, he's more at ease than he thought he might be, but Kerry's got that force of personality - a showman through and through.]

Can do.

[Kerry is curious about music he's not heard. He searches for anything made after 2077, to see what kind of rock music is created in Ethan's reality during an era after where Kerry currently is back home.

He notices there's none of his music though. Means Ethan is probably from a reality that is removed from his. He checks for colors that are similar to the ones that Ethan described from him too, wanting to see how the colors relate.]

[There are a lot of options, as he might expect - Ethan is absolutely one of those people who just consumes media to get a feel for it all. What Kerry will notice is that there's a particularly sharp drop-off in the 2200s, and it's something that takes almost a century to pick back up.

A lot of the rock music in question rests on the purple spectrum, and there's an interesting variance to be had in the difference between decades. Outliers here and there, the normal story really.

Reds, especially deeper reds, tend to lean toward genres akin to power metal, and grey and silver both mottle almost all genres.

And the music? Well, it varies a lot from decade to decade, branching to more experimental instruments and complex styles after the late 21st up until that break in options. Song titles never really seen to change though, implying something about the song with some fairly rare exceptions.]

[Kerry settles on a silver rock song from right before the drop-off in the 2200s. If something traumatic happened to humanity during that time, he wants to see what musicians were doing in the time leading up to turmoil.

Once the song starts to play, he settles back to listen to it. He closes his eyes to get a feel for how the music is different than what he knows.]

[Ethan flicks a dial on his headphones to swap the input to output when Kerry picks a song, and again to adjust the volume.

The song itself is a slower rock song, leaning on dissonance and heavy ambiance to set the mood. It's probably not a surprising subject matter - that close to the Calamity, things get really heavily into the anti-war sentiments. The artistry is a pretty decent blend between synthetic and natural, sometimes leaning into that space where it leaves one a little uneasy.]

[Kerry finds himself really appreciating the sound of the song. It's familiar and yet not. Even the uneasiness helps fit the theme of the song. When it finishes, he settles into the silence for a moment before considering Ethan.]

So, some real bad shit went down right after this, yeah?

{Easy to tell, isn't it?}

[He can't help but be a little amused - there are some things that just don't change, aren't there? Music is something so universal, and even time doesn't quite change it to completely unrecognisable measures.]

{The Chaos Calamity happened in 2238, yeah. Short war, but it basically ended in 80% of the population's death and a lot of nuclear fallout.}

[As to why... well, why is it ever? Humans are humans.]

Holy shit...

It took that long for humans to wipe most of themselves out?

[He just kind of blinks and stares at Kerry for a moment, processing that question.

It only takes a moment more before he just laughs, rich and deep.]

{Seems like it. If the history books are to be believed, it was coming for about 50 years prior. 'Course, all we have is anecdotes left anymore.}

Shit...

See, my world? We started goin' downhill in the '90s. 1990s. Your the first who I've spoken with who seems to have the same level of destruction, just way, way later.

Guess it says somethin' that you and I are still standin' though. Humanity likes to keep on keepin' on.

{I'd have to see what we had to reference for much before that, there's not a whole lot other than some music and such that survived it all. That early, though? Damn.}

[He gestures vaguely, head shaking.]

{Humans are a bit like cockroaches, clinging to life against all odds. Kind of comforting, in some ways.}

At least we're prettier than cockroaches. [Kerry teases with a smile.]

It's reassuring to me to think that some o' the music survived though. That's all I wanna do with my life, so thinkin' that hundreds of years from now someone in my world might still be able to hear my music matters.

Who knows if the timeline will go that way though. My world likes to fuck itself, after all.

{Sometimes. I get pretty terrifying when I've gotten really sick - you'll probably see it if we meet up more.} [He looks amused nonetheless.]

{I think it's just too detrimental to think it wouldn't end well, myself. Music's something to reach people, even without the question of language. As long as we're around, something in that's gotta stick.

My world's arguably pretty peaceful, on the surface. I don't know that I can say we're not fucking ourselves over, though.}

Mind tellin' me about it? I'm real curious about it being so far in the future, but if it makes you homesick I get it.

{I wouldn't say I get homesick. I miss having things to do, but I didn't really have anyone or anything to go back to.}

[A bit depressing, but he doesn't mind that much.]

{What would you like to know about it? Mostly, the government keeps us under the idea that things are peaceful and bad things only happen rarely, mostly as accidents. The average person spends their leisure time with others or in some VR joint or another - sometimes also with others. Musicians tend to upload to the same couple of online locations, and there are as many who employ VR bodies as not.}

[Without a doubt, there's also plenty of electronica and the like, too.]

Sounds like how some folk get addicted to BDs... [He comments thoughtfully. BDs are really more like fully immersive movies more than complete VR, but there are some who get too invested in those fictional worlds.]

{BDs? That's an acronym I haven't heard.}

[Ethan hums curiously at that, shrugging a shoulder. Kerry is someone he'd trust to know at least somewhat. They still have plenty of differences, but things like up surprisingly nicely for the most part.]

Stands for 'brain dance.'

Uhhh... Kinda a virtual reality you can watch and experience someone else's emotions and sensations? Used like movies, but can also be therapeutic. And, of course, there's a huge porn industry 'round it.

I even made a few BDs. Regular ones. Not porn ones.

Ah. {We call them Immersives, yeah. Requires a little more hardware than the average VR junkie, but like you said - porn industry's still booming. Let alone the other applications of a complete connection to something else.}

[It's ended with a little snort, and Ethan leans forward slightly, bracing his weight on a leg.]

{Nothing wrong with either type, unless there's some inequality there for you. But what kind, then? Music-related, or?}

IC Contact for noctiumrp

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