[Today you caught the coomunity resident robot medic doing…science things. He’s in a private section of the medbay, a large container with a purple liquid in front of him and a much smaller container with a green bright substance next to it. Knock Out looks at the purple one, types something down his data pad and frowns and the results he’s getting.

With a brief shake of his head the puts down the data pad and notices a third container on the table. It's even more small than the green one and it's mostly hidden by a medical tool. Knock Out grabs it and a pair of small mechanical eyes can be seen inside. Mag’s eyes, that he fixed time ago.]

Hm..I should probably give those back.

[There's a teenaged girl sitting in the middle of an apartment, toying with a long cane and sitting on a sofa. She hums to herself a bit, tilting her head as if to listen for anyone approaching. When she hears no one, she sings softly to herself -- even at a younger age, it already sounds operatic:]

Se tu m'ami
se tu sospiri
Sol per me gentil pastor...

[She seems calm, though perhaps a bit confused. When she turns her head, she opens her eyes -- revealing them to be a blind milky white.]

[The video opens in Dee’s apartment, with Mag inside his kitchen. There doesn’t seem to be anything too unusual going on, just Mag going in to the kitchen and opening the cupboard to grab a glass off of the shelf. The only thing that might seem strange is that Mag’s motions are slower than usual, as if she were doing her best to be careful with everything in the kitchen.

Off-camera, there are the faint sounds of the front door opening and Dee dropping his keys off on the table. They’re just barely audible, though - Dee isn’t really trying to make too much noise, worn out from a day on the job. Stumbling into the kitchen, he notices the woman standing there and nods to her slightly.]

Hey, Mag.

[Unfortunately, Mag had let herself focus too much on being careful and hadn’t been paying attention. So when Dee stumbled in, she was startled slightly, and the glass goes tumbling from her hands, nicking the corner of the counter before shattering on the floor.]

Oh...God, Dee, I’m sorry, I got startled. [Her expression seems frustrated, but she immediately crouches on the floor, her hands sliding across the kitchen floor -- she doesn’t immediately pick up the shards, instead sliding her hands over the tiles in order to feel for them. Her eyes don’t seem to be focusing on the floor, instead staring straight out while she tries to sweep up the mess with her hands.]

Holy - no, it’s alright, let me... [Dee turns to look for a towel or a broom or something to collect the shards, not noticing the way that she’s trying to clean up after herself until he bends to help.] Mag, what the-- [Several expressions run over his face. The first, shock - what the hell is she doing, cleaning up broken glass with her bare hands? The second was more a combination of realization and horror, and Dee reaches forward to take her hands and move them away from the shards on the ground]

...you can’t see anymore, can you?

[Mag’s first reaction is confusion, and she talks to quickly when she answers:] What? I -- no, I just was being clumsy, that’s all... [Except her eyes aren’t focused, even as they’re aimed at Dee, and even before that she hadn’t noticed him in front of her until he’d touched her hands. There’s a wirey desperation in her voice when she continues:] I’m fine, I just made a mess with your kitchen, that’s all...

((Mag's eyes have officially stopped working and she is now 100% blind again. All replies are voice.))

[The setting is a dingy bar and lounge, where glass bottles and dirty napkins litter the floor and the air is filled with cigarette smoke. It's clearly a bar on Mag's home world -- the fashions and hairstyles of all the patrons are wildly colorful and eccentric, and everyone seems to have more than a few scars.

On a small, badly-lit stage is Mag, swaying unsteadily in front of a microphone. It's clearly her, but there's certain features about her that are off -- her eyes a bit brighter, her lips a bit fuller, her body's proportions not what they should be. It's easy to tell why -- criss-crossing across her exposed skin are surgical scars, some fresh and some aged.

When she sings, her voice sounds off as well -- it's the voice of someone who never had any real vocal training and has had to teach themselves everything. She sings a melancholy song to the patrons, who mostly ignore her.]

Is that all there is...?
Is that all there is...?
If that's all there is, my friends,
Then let's keep dancing

Let's break out the booze
And have a ball
If that's all there is...

[A few people applaud and she steps off, walking unsteadily away from the stage and towards the back room, where a strange-looking man is waiting. She slips him some folded money while he shuts the door. In his hand is a glowing blue vial that he inserts into a surgical gun that he presses to Mag's neck; he pulls the trigger and Mag's eyes slip closed for a moment.]

((The virus is What If? -- what if Mag had never met Marni and gone to work for GeneCo. She would have still been a singer, but would not have had to leave her world. And, like everyone else there, she would have quickly gotten addicted to surgeries and to zydrate (an incredibly addictive type of painkiller). Replies may come from Mag-under-the-influence.))

[Mag appears onscreen smiling and gives a tiny little wave. She's wearing a stylish pair of glasses, which she pinches the side of.]

What do you think? I've been wearing contacts for a while now, but I thought I'd get a pair of glasses just in case. The contacts I can wear when I go to sing at the hotel, but I can wear the glasses when I'm at the apartment.

[She pushes the glasses up her nose.] Do they look alright?

[The video shows Mag sitting in Dee's apartment, looking at a book. She doesn't seem to be reading it, exactly, because she moves the book further away and closer to her, frowning slightly. You can see the irises of her eyes swirling as her pupils expand and contract a bit, trying to adjust to each new distance.

Eventually she puts the book down, still looking a bit anxious.]

[text, added later]

I think I may need to get glasses.



((Part 2 of the Mag's Artificial Eyes are Breaking plan.))

[The video opens in Ryo's apartment, focused on two sleeping figures laying in bed. Let the record state that they are both fully clothed.

Ryo is sleeping peacefully, unmoving; 'Dee', on the other hand, stirs sleepily, sitting up and blinking. 'He' seems confused, looking down at Ryo and frowning, then looking around the room, then back at Ryo.]


Ryo? Why'm I....


[And then 'he' stops. And blinks. And blinks again.

And then looks own at 'his' hands, and knees, and torso, and a realization seems to kick in.

And 'Dee' lets out a very short, very high, very girlish shriek.]

[Mag is sitting on the edge of her bed, facing a mirror, her hands gripping her knees. She stares forward, her face tight, and then her irises begin to swirl around her eyes, the usual sign that she's about to project something.

Light sputters from her eyes, appearing in short, indistinct bursts. And then nothing, even as her irises spin about.

She frowns, her eyes returning to normal.]

Why aren't they working....?

I should have known home could follow me. Even after being here so long, I thought I was free from the place, but...

When I went to work today, I thought I had a cough but that I could pull through, but then I started coughing up blood in the middle of singing...

My lungs aren't right. I caught the epidemic from home, and it's been building up these last few months.

I'm at the hospital now, but since the illness is from doesn't exist here...I don't know what they'll be able to do.

I have such a bad feeling about this...

[Mag is sitting on the edge of her mattress in Dee's apartment, facing the window. On the ledge sits a small mockingbird, perched so that he faces Mag. With a low male voice, the bird begins to sing:]

Green finch and linnet bird
Nightingale, blackbird
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate
Sitting in cages
Never taking wing?
Outside the sky waits
Beckoning, beckoning
Just beyond the bars
How can you remain
Staring at the rain
Maddened by the stars?
How is it you sing anything?
How is it you sing?

[Mag claps enthusiastically when he finishes, and the bird bends his legs in a small bow.] That was wonderful!

((Italics = Mag's daemon speaking))

...I think Ryo's forgotten about this place.

When he came home from work, he didn't remember who I was, or understand what I was doing in his apartment. Even when Bikky tried to explain it to him, he just seemed very confused.

So, if anyone else was friends with him through the community...I'm not sure he's coming back.

I'm so excited! Today was the last dress rehearsal for my debut. Everything looks so beautiful...I just hope I do really well.

Mr. Largo's been so nice about everything. He's said it's going to go beautifully. I just hope he's right.

I talked to Marni earlier. She's too sick to get out of the house right now, especially since the baby's almost due. But she says she'll watch it on the GeneCo television screen.

Lord, I'm so excited I can't even think straight!

((Have a 19 year-old Mag, just before she began singing.))

[Mag walks into Ryo's apartment, wearing her work outfit. After she pockets her keys, she looks to see that no one is in the apartment. She takes off her coat and walks into her room, closing the door behind her.

A few minutes later, Ryo opens the door to the apartment, clearly just getting back from work. He puts away his coat, glancing around to see no one is there. He walks through the apartment and goes into his room, closing the door behind him.

Mag walks out of her room wearing a bathrobe, carrying her clothes and a towel under one arm. She walks into the the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

After a few moments, Ryo walks out of his room, wearing a towel around his waist. Without thinking, he goes to walk into the bathroom.

There's a sudden, very feminine screeech before you can hear Ryo yelp "AHHH I'M SORRY MAG I'M SORRY!" and quickly exits the bathroom. You can catch a quick glance of Mag trying to cover herself with a towel (badly).

And, as soon as the door is shut, Ryo adds unhelpfully, "I SWEAR I SAW NOTHING!"]

Happy New Year's, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed it.

Has anyone made any New Year's resolutions? I haven't, but I feel like I should try to make one.

I was thinking: I know this community has quite a number of singers and performers, and Christmas is only ten days away. So I was wondering if anyone would be interested in getting a group together to go caroling? We could pick a world or two and go singing from door to door sometime before Christmas Eve and spread a little cheer.

Anyone interested?

[There's a young girl, aged around ten years-old, sitting in what's clearly Ryo's apartment. She's fumbling with the computer, trying to hit the right keys but having difficulty -- this one doesn't have Braille, like she's used to. You might notice that she never seems to be looking directly at the screen, that her eyes are milky and glazed.]

ddaddyyy

aarte yopu att workl rgiht nowq?

wheere am i? didd yoouy chnage teh apratmnet?

imm confussedd annd itssd hrad to wriite weithhoutr braillee

clall my watcch soonm plewase

magg