video | i was one of those preteen backstreet boys fans and i am living

[axemeaquestion]

[The video is shot from someone's seated lap, legs in dark jeans crossed, Rochelle doing her best to hide that she's recording. Across cameramen and a news van, a Level 2 local news anchor is interviewing a young deer Prismal in a *BTSB shirt.

The Prismal is very excitedly going off into why Lecter is their favorite fox boy. He's hot, he's talented, he LOVES cats, and they saw him in the gym the other day and oh my god look at this selfie they got??

They take out their phone and start waving their selfie in front of the camera, jumping up at down. After a point, they just start rambling. Rochelle tilts her phone up to her face. She grins behind a hologram script, expression equal parts exasperated and fondly amused.

She switches to text not long after.]

back where i'm from we had a couple big boy bands like this with a LOT of fangirls like these. i was sixteen when they got really big. i was also pretty dumb. somehow thought i was better than everyone else who liked them because i liked 1980s new wave and synth pop more. like i said, i was sixteen.

so anyone seen these BTSB guys around? Backstay Sailor Boys or something? because wow. i thought the Midnight Riders was a bad name for a band.

then again, the latter literally saved my life after the infection hit. had to blast crappy old guy rock music and fireworks and fight off zombies on a fairground stage to get a helicopter's attention. so what do i know?

anyway. people are saying i should use this network thing to talk about my thoughts more so uhhhhhh. work's interesting lately? management's pushing a lot more fluff and celebrity stories. this station's already small and kind of directionless and now

well

here's hoping i don't end up in tabloid journalism i guess.

Comments

arrives 500 years late; un: allstar

[meteorman]

Serious question: did having the music playing make fighting the zombies easier?

I only ask because I've found the only reliable way to kill (re-kill?) them is via a perfect three part harmony, but I've been led to believe that may be something unique to my dimension.

[axemeaquestion]

uh

[Hang on. Sometimes she forgets she's not the only one who's dealt with zombies.]

that's pretty unique yeah

noise attracts zombies were i'm from. noise was necessary and/or unavoidable sometimes though. like starting a machine or opening something loud and squeaky.

or....you know. starting a rock concert so you can get rescued.

tbh i think harmonizing at them wouldve just made them want to kill me more.

[meteorman]

It may be a difference across realities, then. Or a difference in specific zombie biology. You mentioned an infection. I assume your zombies were more 'fresh' (for lack of a better term), meaning their skulls were likely strong enough to withstand concentrated vibration but perhaps more susceptible to things like brass knuckles and bullets.

[What is delicacy and tact, it's fine.]

Mine were the result of necromancy and thus at a much more advanced stage of decay. If you ever build a house, be sure it isn't positioned directly on top of a mass grave.

[axemeaquestion]

can we slow down a second?

[meteorman]

[Ah, shit.]

I apologize. I'm primarily a researcher of the paranormal and sometimes I forget that's not a subject everyone wants to hear me wax poetic about.

[Classic Ford Pines blunder, substituting scientific theory for actual... like... normal conversation. Normal conversation scary.]

[axemeaquestion]

[Pfft.]

it's okay, mr. researcher. i don't mind waxing a LITTLE poetic, but i only dealt with ONE paranormal thing for, like, a collective week.

not that it didn't feel longer tbh.

[She's not exactly shocked paranormal researchers actually exist in a place like this, though.]

[meteorman]

[Your definition of 'normal' definitely changes once you live in a place where you get a government-assigned fursona.]

A week of apocalypse is more than long enough even without the human brain's tendency to distort the perception of time in stressful situations.

[Wait. No. That's probably still too 'I have twelve PhDs' on main.]

By which I mean, I imagine this place is a welcome change of pace even if the work isn't all that highbrow.

[axemeaquestion]

[Don't worry, Ford. My other character has You're not the only dude with 10+ PhDs around here.]

i get the idea. and kind of. it's relatively normal? relatively. but tbh i'll take any kind of normal at this point.

[It's more complicated than that, but she's not about to spill all her apocalypse-based anxieties to this guy.]

to answer what you were talking about though: yeah, my zombies are from an infection. not undead. they used to be just movie fiction until recently.

[meteorman]

[Not even ten comments into a public network thread is definitely not the place for deep anxiety talk. That's absolutely fair. Maybe way down the line, if he keeps his foot out of his mouth.]

Relatively normal is better than nothing.

[That's safe. True, too. Much as he loves the strange and unusual, he was kind of looking forward to settling down in his native dimension and having more mundane adventures. And now surprise! This nonsense!]

The differences in the native 'normal' for the huge variety of different people drawn here is something I'm eager to get more insight into, which is why I asked the questions I did. Compared to some of our outliers, myself included, you're doing just fine.

[axemeaquestion]

something like that.

[Again: long story.]

if you're trying to get insight, i'm guessing this place is paradise for... what did you call it, paranormal research?

[meteorman]

[That's something Ford is rapidly realizing. Everybody here is nothing but long stories. That seems to be part of the criteria for who gets kidnapped and stuck on the moon.]

I would say so. Between the incredibly unique native magic system and the fact that there are centaurs and aliens among the moonblessed, I'm spoiled for choice.

Admittedly research has taken a back seat to work lately. Food doesn't buy itself.

[axemeaquestion]

huh.

i figured something like that would actually be in demand here.

[meteorman]

If I had to hazard a guess I would say that no one needs to read my musings on the subject of the native magic when there is at least one university here with an entire curriculum focusing on it. And I cannot base a study on centaurs around only two examples of the species.

None of my current academic work is publishable; my art is.

[axemeaquestion]

kind of like going to another country and making the locals listen to someone parrot their everyday life i guess. ... wait, centaurs?

also, you do art?

[meteorman]

They prefer to call themselves 'jinba', I believe, but we do have a few in residence. It surprised me too.

I do. In my travels I've found people are more interested in paying money for a good zine or portrait than they are in paying to hear about inter-dimensional paradigm theory.

[It sure hits a wider demographic, and when you're on an unfamiliar planet and need cash fast, you get less picky.]

[axemeaquestion]

huh. robots, centaurs, mermaids, winged lions, and zombies. okay.

[getting used to it]

makes sense, that's usually the case

[meteorman]

It gets easier to accept with time. If I could swap with you I would, honestly. I miss the days when finding out two of my neighbors are centaurs would still have some punch to it.

[axemeaquestion]

i'm getting used to it. i had to adapt to the mutating zombie thing pretty fast. then i got kidnapped into space.