.01. ANOTHER TANGENT UNIVERSE

[tangentdarko]

[VIDEO: Donnie is sitting at his desk, hunched over his computer a little bit and occasionally emphasizing his point with his hands. The technology is a bit beyond his time and he doesn't seem to realize it's a video function.]

What would Dr. Thurman say about this? Frank said the world would end, but it didn't. [His tone is almost whining for a second, then it switches to intellectual and excited.] It was just the end of that parallel.. of the tangent universe. I think this is a new one though. I don't think Grandma Death's book talked about this? [He seems to look around for a moment, then returns his attention to the computer.] I don't really know how closing one would create another..

[A pause, then he's complaining.] I don't want to live through October again.

I don't want this calendar. Someone take it. [A hint of desperation as he glances at the calendar on his wall, to his right; another pause, then back to a neutral tone.]

I hope wherever this is is better than the shithole I lived in before. [He laughs a little, not quite a genuine or sane laugh. Then his tone is falsely amused.] I don't really know how it couldn't be.

Comments

[vampish_aleera]

Grandmother of death?

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Nooo. This old lady we called Grandma Death because she was so old we thought she should have died already. I mean, I wasn't the one to start calling her that. I don't even know who was. It just kinda stuck and then no one even knew her name for a really long time.

[vampish_aleera]

She numbered amongst the undead?

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

What? No!

[vampish_aleera]

What is wrong with this?

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

She wasn't undead! Besides, things like vampires don't even exist for real. They're just like, stuff people write about to make a good horror film. Where are you from anyway that you don't even know how dumb it is to think someone old is automatically a zombie?

Plus she was outside like, all the time in the sun and everything and I heard vampires are supposed to be attractive and she wasn't attractive at all. I think she might have even been religious too and that's kind of weird for a vampire. She was too fat to be a skeleton. And I found out she used to teach at my school and she wrote this book on time travel, so she couldn't have been a zombie because she was too smart. You see where there's like, a lot of flaws in your idea? Not to mention it's just illogical to call someone "grandma" if they're undead unless you're related to them.

[vampish_aleera]

I am tempted to toy with you, I think... To speak of such things as trivial fancies. To say, why, yes! We should mock them together!

Only to induce terror at a later time.

But no... This would disappoint others who know of me. Instead, I shall teach you only one important lesson.

I am vampire, Sir.

And so, too, are others who dwell here.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Are you always this full of shit?

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

I think it's June.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

What?

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

You said you didn't want to live through October again. It's June, so it's a few months before you have to.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

No. I know I only went back to October 2 because that was when Frank saved me from the engine crashing into my room. It couldn't really be any sooner than that or else the world would have ended in 28 days like Frank said.

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

Well, you probably went back...and weren't saved this time...uh...but you're in a new dimension? And here we agreed on the month being June. It might not be the past though. It might not even be the future, it might just be like...an interdimensional time zone thing.

1/2

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Well that makes no fucking sense at all.

2/2 awhile later

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

So, wait. Are you saying I'm in the portal? I mean, I thought that was only a gateway, but I guess it's possible to get trapped there. I know I didn't get saved the second time, but that's what was supposed to stop the world from ending. I never thought about the possibility of getting caught in between universes.

[He looks around for the missing book again, then stops suddenly.] Wait. This is my room. October 2. I never got the book. Do you know if we can get books here? I mean, not any books. I'm looking for a specific book.

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. You're stuck between universes.

There's a library with...I don't know if the books were restored, but it has/had books from various worlds.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

How do I get out?

Where is it?

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

You have to be redeemed, then you get to leave.

Fifth floor, end of the hall.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

What do you mean redeemed?

Thanks.

[tadwizard.livejournal.com]

It's different for everyone.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

But, so, you didn't answer my question. What does that mean?

[requiresssacrifice]

[STAAAAARE. Congrats, he thinks the plague is making him hallucinate.]

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Are you okay there man?

[requiresssacrifice]

[NO, STILL STARING. Then he holds up a finger to say "WAIT" and walks off screen to grab something. When he returns, he has a thermometer under his tongue and is flipping through a book. SYMPTOMS OF THE PLAGUE, OKAY...]

Hallucinations aren't a symptom.

[He yanks out the thermometer and looks at his temperature, then at Donnie.] Who are you?

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Did you stop taking your pills too?

[It's an amused question as Rex is flipping through pages and mentioning symptoms.]

Donnie Darko. Who are you?

[requiresssacrifice]

[He shakes his head, deciding to take it LITERALLLLLY. He figures Donnie's asking about his antibiotics.] I don't have to take them for another hour.

[He takes a breath, which is interrupted by a coughing fit.]

Rex Lewis. Doctor. [Wrong order.] Dr. Rex Lewis.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

[Donnie takes it as medication for the crazy like he has and gives Rex a small smile of empathy. His tone is still amused, maybe too much for the situation.]

Whoa. Are you okay there?

You're pretty young for a doctor.

[requiresssacrifice]

[He coughs again, covering his mouth with his hand, then nods. His voice is scratchy and hissier now, thanks to all the coughing.] Just... the plague.

[No big. He drops his hand.]

I always... excelled in my lessons.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Apparently I went farther back in time than I thought if there's vampires and the plague.. [Donnie laughs at the ridiculousness of the situation.]

That's pretty cool that you're a doctor. I would say it's kind of ironic that you have the plague, but I guess the medic would be the most likely person to contract the disease since they're the ones treating the patients that probably contracted the disease in the first place.

[requiresssacrifice]

Unlikely. What year are you from?

Would you believe, I got it from another doctor?

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

1988. What year is it here?

That's not very good medical conditions, or really poor sanitation.

[requiresssacrifice]

...that's the year I was born. [WELL, NOW HE FEELS A LITTLE WEIRD.]

It varies.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

Well that helps to solidify the parallel universe theory. Did you die? Because I think that if you died, you might have been closing a tangent universe.

[requiresssacrifice]

Hm. A fan of theoretical physics?

Death is a condition of arrival for many inmates, but I-- [He starts to cough and grabs a glass of water that's nearby] don't think I'm dead.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

They aren't really theoretical. I've seen it. But yeah, I am.

How do you know?

[requiresssacrifice]

Elaborate?

Because somebody told me I was still alive in their timeline.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

If you find a wormhole and you have a vessel, you can travel through time. If you change something that's not supposed to be changed from the primary universe then you create a new path or what's called a tangent universe. You can change the way time unravels. Some people will become manipulated living and some will be manipulated dead, but when the portal meets up with the primary universe again, you have to set it right or the world ends. Maybe you were one of the manipulated dead from someone's tangent universe.

I mean, there are other ways to see the future and to change it too without a portal. If you can see the like, the spears that come out of people.. [Donnie disappears from the camera, then comes back with a small, rainbow slinky. He holds one end to his chest and extends the other out in front of him.] It's like this liquid that comes out of people's chests. It shows the way they're supposed to travel according to God's channel because all time is pre-determined.

[wichita-kansas.livejournal.com]

Hey, dude-me.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

What?

[wichita-kansas.livejournal.com]

This one time, everyone on the ship switched genders, right? You and I looked pretty much exactly the same. So, if you were a chick? You'd be me.

[tangentdarko.livejournal.com]

That's pretty weird. Are you sure you weren't hallucinating? I mean, I hallucinate sometimes too when I don't take my pills. You should really be more careful about that.

You're pretty hot, though, so I guess I wouldn't mind if I turned into you.