Testrun Box

-1-


[audio]

Have you ever noticed how loud the world is?

Even when nobody is talking to me, and when I'm not listening to any music, sometimes if I stop and really listen to my surroundings then it's still almost deafening. There's the air conditioner humming, the fridge making those noises that fridges make, some kind of plant rustling outside the window, and my own breathing, which I can hear coming from inside my own head. Breathing is loud.

Sometimes when I think about this too much, I start trying to stay perfectly still and hold my breath but that's a journey with no destination.


-2-


[action]

[Out in front of some kind of computer terminal for some kind of thing! Could be anything. You could be the one having her input things on it, or a nearby friend, or just generally around. However, Rin has run into a bit of a problem with the interface here:

SUBMIT THUMB PRINT TO CONFIRM SELECTION]

I never could get the hang of computers.


-3-



[Rin is Under the Influence of something. Booze, or maybe good ol' fashioned marijuana. Maybe Yukarian space brownies.]

[She has been very quitely and intensely staring at a fixed point on the ceiling for several minutes, not reacting to any questions or attempts to get her attention, as if she is lost in her own world. Right as you've more or less given up on her being on this planet, though...]

Did you know that I've never drawn a picture of myself?

-1-


[Video: Rin, outside somewhere, lying on her back, looking at nothing in particular. The camera's on the floor next to her, and the feed is sideways, making her look like she's dangling from a window or something.]

[For a long moment, she doesn't say anything.]

I wonder if I'm a cloud.

It would make a lot of sense, really. A lot of the thoughts I have feel like cloudy thoughts, all white and fluffy around the edges. I'm always drawn to the sky. One might think that clouds don't have haircuts or one-sided conversations or fresh fruit, but I've never asked one. Maybe they do all that after they float off past the horizon.

Then again, I guess I'd know for sure what clouds do past the horizon, if I was one. Dang.

Maybe if I just lie here, I won't have to remember more stuff. I ate an orange today.


-2-


[Action! Rin is out by some building in Sirocco. Surrounding her are a variety of painting supplies, and a half-finished mural that's been slowly forming over the past week or two.]

[The mural is fairly abstract, filled with vibrant colors, and seems to hint at some greater complexity just outside of conscious perception. There are lots of pieces of what seem like familiar sights, but they're blended together in surreal patterns that defy any attempt to make sense of them. As for Rin, it's hard to tell if she notices anyone else being here or not - she has a look on her face as if she's in her own separate world.]


-3-


[To call the sound you hear from your dorm a "knock" on the door is sort of misleading. It's a single loud, fumbling thump, like someone half-falling over onto the door with a random side of their body.]

[When you open the door, Rin is there.]

Hello. I need to borrow your window.