Video // un; E.A Poe

[quotetheraven]

[The video feed cuts to a rather pensive looking man, somewhere in his forties. He could be heard mumbling about odd machines, and something about not really expecting the afterlife to look like this. Quite a few people should instantly recognize him.

And without any warning he starts mutter a poem to himself.]

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Bah, whatever. Greetings to all of... whatever you all are. I am Edgar Allan Poe. Here to join you all in this fever dream.

Comments

[quotetheraven]

[You know he's just going to drop the whole thing for now, because if he doesn't then he'll probably call her insane or some such thing. He's had his fill of crazy for a lifetime thanks.]

Oh there are writers everywhere, or so called writers in any case. Some are better than others, but I've yet to meet a person who was incapable of writing in some form or another.

[In other words, girl you be sellin' yourself short, girl. Probably, she's most likely better than most of everyone else he's read or listened to.]

But I'm not interested in them as of yet. I'm more interested in learning about everyone here in general. So that I might better understand what manner of madhouse I've found myself in.

[claudiometer]

Being able to put words on paper doesn't mean they're any good when they get there. I know where my strengths are.

[Now, if you want her to write computer code, she could work magic with that before she got here. It just wasn't literal magic at that point.]

Anyway, hi, I'm Claudia. And this is, thank everything, not an actual madhouse or I don't think I would've stopped panicking yet.

[quotetheraven]

No, it doesn't, but it certainly doesn't stop people from doing so.

But I am as of yet, unconvinced this isn't some form of madhouse brought about by feverish brain in the throws of death. Or some form of elaborate purgatory.

[He obviously doesn't buy the whole world saving bit yet.]

[claudiometer]

You're not wrong there. [Some really cringeworthy stuff has made it all the way to publication, over the years.]

It's a lot to take in, that's for sure. Even for those of us who're already used to a hefty dose of weird at home. But I can safely say I wasn't on the brink of death at home, for whatever that's worth.

Probably not much while you're still in 'I just got here and this is crazy' mode, but still.

[quotetheraven]

Not exactly a lot to take in, more of a lot to understand. But you misunderstand, I wasn't simply on the brink of death. I AM dead.

[He's pretty sure he's dead anyway. That's typically what happens when your everything goes black right?]

But no matter the explanations presented, you all still remain quite insane in my own eyes... though it's also true that I'm quite mad myself, and merely suffer from overly long bouts of horrific sanity.

Are you certain that you yourself are not dead?

[claudiometer]

The exact timing on that mmmmmight depend on when you got selected for the lake dunk, but you'd probably have to ask the locals how that works. I'm still on team 'being dunked in a lake with no warning is incredibly rude,' so I haven't asked.

Of course we're weird from where you're sitting. You're probably averaging a 150-year time gap with anyone else who's even from Earth, and considering the literal horse on the network the other day I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that's not nearly everyone. So naturally that's gonna take some getting used to.

99 percent, yeah. My day job is... not the safest, but the times when you're actually in mortal peril tend to be obvious.

[quotetheraven]

There is still that one percent of uncertainty.

[And that's enough for him! Sort of, he's not really sure how the whole being dead thing works. But hey, at least he's breathing? Do the dead breath?]

...I require a drink and hot meal. Preferably something strong and filling.

[claudiometer]

Well, there's various food places around. Some of them probably even serve alcohol, but that's not something I've looked for yet.