Disembodied Recordings A-Foxtrot

[MN]: Yeah, what's up.

[Br]: What did you want during that Christmas party, really?

[AM]: I'm gonna assume you just wanted to remain a mystery in the most blunt way possible. Beats me how you do it.

[MN]: And how far did you get in that little nostalgia project after all, huh? You know once I leave, neither of you two can find me unless I want to be found.

[AM]: Unless you know where to look.

[Br]: Everyone thought I was going to destroy time and space at the moment, so my car broke down "somehow" when I was rushing to get that final piece of the puzzle in. Of course I failed, my time window of completion being gone for another seventy years or so.

[MN]: I wanted the past to stay in the past, I know we all move on.

[AM]: Sometimes I wish I could just say goodbye one last time, but by the time I muster the courage to it's too late and I've already gone ahead.

[MN]: It all depends if you return.

[AM]: I'm gonna miss you two.

[Br]: I'm sure we'll meet again.

[MN]: Not me, I must go. Go and live my life normally. Before encountering you group of fools ruins my chances of living life without any of this bullshit.

[AM]: Take care of yourself.

[MN]: Yeah.

[AM]: Goodbye, "Labschnemagl".

### **688 [KF] and [NH]**

[NH]: Hey, something's been in the back of my mind for a while now and I gotta finally ask.

[KF]: Uh, ok. Go on.

[NH]: What happened between you and Tyler to have him kill the rest of your squad?

[KF]: If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

[NH]: Huh, good one.

[KF]: Yeah, I'm joking. But for what really happened, it's best you don't ask.

[NH]: What?

### **788 [AM] and [AsM]**

[AsM]: Glad you agreed on this, I thought it'd be hard from how Nate put it.

[AM]: He's not exactly at the same eye level as me anymore, of course his perception of it ain't right.

[AsM]: I understand there's quite a few of us who are, for lack of better words, afflicted in our own ways.

[AM]: By science, by fate, or by the gods. Myself and a few others by science, then you by the second, and Ren by the latter.

[AsM]: I just wanted to ask, is there really no way to get rid of it.

[AM]: Well, no. Not for any of us. Although Nate and Ren can die, it's just much more difficult for Ren to die. She's got her own kinda skillset for that. Nate does too, don't get me wrong, but just not as obvious in its fascination. He's peculiar, it makes him an interesting partner.

[AsM]: I guess then I have another question, since you've actually lived a century.

[AM]: Sure, shoot.

[AsM]: Would it be best for others to be "afflicted" too, or to just move on and find someone else?

[AM]: As hard as it's gonna be, it's best to move on. No one deserves to live forever. Death is the equilibrium for our existence. As the ancient Egyptians viewed it, life built up to the afterlife. Like a long crescendo until the drop. Without the key fact of human mortality, there's nothing worth doing anymore. You have forever to do whatever, it's something I wouldn't wish upon my greatest enemies.

[AsM]: I just needed to confirm my stance on it, just with someone with some credibility on the matter.

### **000 [RK] and [NH]**

[RK]: I'm glad you could accept my invitation on such short notice.

[NH]: Had to be the place I first met you, huh.

[RK]: Only appropriate.

[NH]: So I understand if you have any reason to talk to anyone face to face, then it has to be important. What's up.

[RK]: From what I understand of you, you have put our past differences, interests, and thoughts to its appropriate place in the dusk of 2085 and dawn of 2086. For that, I want to thank you. It must make living with Kari easier.

[NH]: Believe me, I'm used to it.

[RK]: Right, your actual age.

[NH]: And from whatever religious miracle if one ever even existed, you've joined me to live for eternity.

[RK]: For a greater good of peace that I was forced to accept. Am I the pinnacle of the Four Noble Truths? No, I am not. Yet still, I have been granted these gifts to aid my travels and endeavors.

[NH]: Now you can be playing your cards with the feeling of never being busted out.

[RK]: I understand now of Kari's thoughts of suicide. Empathy and sympathy, but not action like her. Even from the beginning, I see things in her that resonate understanding. A noble truther herself.

[NH]: She's not a pathological liar, but she's good at it.

[RK]: Only words can lie. For her, it's in her movement and expressions.

[NH]: So what did you want to talk about?

[RK]: I feel that, after Kari's performance on the pass, that an era, our era, is coming to a close. Everything we've built up over time together will cease. Simon, myself, you, Aaron, Ashton, Aki, Kari, and all of us in general. What we've tried to do and what we have done led up to that race, oddly. If you think about it, doesn't it almost feel like nothing changed at all? Like life will just move forward as it always will? I think back to it and doesn't it feel like you've felt this way before, being nearly a century old?

[NH]: Seeing past the joke you tried to shove in there, yes it does actually. After Aaron and I parted ways for a while, maybe for about 60 years. We had all these things going on for the longest time, and then just over a couple months we set aside our differences and parted ways. He continued to be himself as he saw fit for a while and I didn't understand where he'd go next. When you first contacted me was when everything started to form back together again. By then, I know now, Simon had already begun his reign of terror for almost a year at that point. More and more of who we know now as our accomplices, associates, allies, friends, and acquaintances began to connect to one another. Aki, fuck even Jacob, that ghost, Kari, and Scully too all fell into each and every one of our lives. Kari seemed to be the last one for a while, and then it all felt set in stone. Things only escalated from then on, either it be events we all took part in or past events that emerged to the surface. Just as I felt it when Aaron and I parted ways, I felt it when Kari drove off into the city. Except this time, unlike the last, there were more people separating with more to them. Especially Aaron and I. I just didn't know what to call it, and I still don't.

[RK]: It makes you lament and reminisce, doesn't it? Of everything you've done, good or bad. Jubilant or disturbing. Although we can do nothing about it but talk and think, I might have something to ease your mind.

[NH]: Oh really, what?

[RK]: This thing we've all formed, as a whole. Our feats, mistakes, our purpose. It's all a farce in a void, trying to trick ourselves that life is perfect and livable. That life is nothing but greatness, and haven't realized that you have to move on from happy moments to either more happy moments or to despair and not expect life to be perfect. Living with your greatest friends and loved ones. It's all about maturing and growing up, evolving. Problems change form with this but so do the fun times.

[NH]: So essentially you're saying we're fooling ourselves until we reach utopia, and in our way.

[RK]: It's my most logical explanation.

[NH]: To live life void of harmful incident, is that it?

[RK]: I thought I could live alone and do exactly that, but even the cold become lonely.

[NH]: From the way Tyler makes it to be, yeah I agree with you.

[RK]: Regardless, we all have our false interpretations of what we want in life. Rather than work to that as some form of enlightenment or jubilation, we try to force ourselves to it in our own ways. We all have failed, and catastrophic events have unfolded in return. Now our phase in our collective society has closed, and possibly forever. My point in all of this is just to say goodbye, for now.

[NH]: I understand why, the race wasn't exactly a formal departure.

[RK]: You and Kari will live out the rest of her days, and who knows if you'll take up residence in her home way far into the future. Then, I'll remain here until Tyler gets his fix of me or until he's dead as well; wishing the best for Scully and for Labs. Ashton and Aki will live a honeymoon of a life as Ashton's distraction until he has outlived her in his eternal misery, now that she has appointed an appropriate person to take her place as "president". Looking further into it, I believe she has made the right choice. Aaron, well, I don't know what's to come of him. Neither do I of Simon or anyone else. All I know for so far into the future is this: you, myself, Ashton, Aaron, Leila, and Labs will outlast everyone else. With that said, I'm sure we'll meet again, sooner or later.

[NH]: Honestly, I'm going to have to thank you for bringing me back to something I could have a purpose for.

[RK]: And as much as I may regret contacting you that day, I ultimately don't. I sparked such an unforeseeable web that day.

[NH]: I suppose while Ashton, myself, Tyler, and occasionally Alex meet up still, what will you do? I know for sure Aki will be busy with doing actual work to make herself a fortune and Kari will stay at home. She still has her job to do, but with how her mental state is, she's more of a last resort to the broken-ness of Team Rainbow.

[RK]: What I do is of no concern to anyone anymore, that is unless I'm "doing my job".

[NH]: Goodbye Ren, I'll see you soon.

[RK]: We'll be saying that until the end of time. Over the next four years, maybe we could start a new cycle. A third void.

[NH]: Who knows. Thank you, for everything. For the last three and a half years.

[RK]: Yeah, thanks me. Maybe I deserve it.

*end*