SWITCHBOARD

[transmittable]

If you'd like to ask the Transmitter something over the phone, go right ahead! The Transmitter will answer the phone as soon as she's available. Leaving messages is impossible, given how old these phones are, but you should be able to reach her at almost all hours.

Comments are screened for privacy; all Patients are offered confidentiality, didn't you know?

Comments

[ossifragant]

I think it's more like off-century, for me.

I've been a little... preoccupied, I guess you could say, for a long time.

[transmittable]

That's a way to put it. When you're trapped, it's hard to be anything but off.

[ossifragant]

Yeah. Depressing, that.

[....]

You want to hear a story? It's nothing dreary.

[transmittable]

Sure. Color me curious.

[ossifragant]

A long time ago, in a town that's probably changed a lot since I've last seen it, there used to be nothing but a couple of farms and ranches. Big, open spaces, long miles between the different families, that sort of thing.

One of the ranches used to specialize in raising horses.

I think I used to work there-- I don't know for certain. I remember watching them, and admiring them. They can be rather fearsome beasts, when they want to be.

Anyway, there was this chestnut horse, and I think it used to run up and greet people who wandered by.

[transmittable]

...A horse?

[ Her voice lights up a little. ]

Do you remember its name?

[ossifragant]

No, I don't know--

[He pauses.]

Claudia, maybe? Clarissa? Something like that.

[transmittable]

Cla-

[ The Transmitter starts laughing. Like, really laughing. ]

Really? Oh, wow. Ohh, that's great. Of course it was! I- I love it, a great name.

[ossifragant]

[Well, that's. Really charming? Wow.]

Good to hear you laugh like that, especially after everything that's happened today.

[transmittable]

[ The laughter, mixed with a bit of static, subsides after a few moments. ]

Yeah, it's- it's nothing, it's just a bit of an um, inside joke. Is there more to the story? More to the ranch, or the horse, or...any of it?

[ossifragant]

Ah, is that so? Shame I imagine I can't be in on the joke.

[He's quiet for a while, thinking.]

....I can't remember anything else, about the ranch. I know I must have worked there, but my memory of it is... sparse; mostly just flashes of images and people.

It was an actual lifetime ago, you see. And not entirely mine to begin with.

[transmittable]

Oh, got it.

[ A little more subdued. ]

That has something to do with what you are, doesn't it? A humonculus. ...You're an easier one to keep track of.

[ossifragant]

Yeah, that's right.

Homunculi are born when an alchemist tries to raise the dead.

[...]

What's born is.... unpleasant to describe. When someone knows what they're doing, we take on a human shape, the appearance of the person who died. I wear his face, have some of his memories...

It's... odd, to say the least.

Sorry. My goal wasn't to be unpleasant.

[transmittable]

You know, it's a little hard to be anything but unpleasant today. I get it. On-days for kindness don't necessarily have to be on-days for...upbeat...ness.

What's it like? Do they feel like yours sometimes?

[ossifragant]

You know, they do. It's a strange experience.

I'd say they feel like mine more often than not.

[Which might not be a surprise, considering the pronouns he's been using while describing the memories.]

[transmittable]

...It must be rough. It's yours, but it's not, at the same time. After hundreds of years, it doesn't...get easier?

[ossifragant]

Not exactly. But I also don't think about it very often. I think that's why I stopped being someone "she" could control; trying to figure out the mystery of my memories didn't appeal to me. I wanted, want, to be me.

It's about the freedom to not live in the shadow of someone you'll never know, I guess.

[transmittable]

[ The feedback increases. ]

That's... No wonder you're the one called Greed. You sure know what you want. If it all feels so weird, why'd you tell me about the ranch? Wouldn't talking about it make things worse?

[ossifragant]

Because it's a pleasant story, I guess. Because I like thinking about it-- it sure sounds a lot more peaceful than the life I've lead.

[transmittable]

Then, thank you for sharing it with me. We all need a little peace and levity, don't you think?

[ossifragant]

Of course. I'll see if I can come up with any more stories for you.

[transmittable]

So many of you aren't what I expected at all.

[ossifragant]

I'll take that as a compliment.

[That may or may not be intentional echoing of the Transmitter's own words.]

[transmittable]

[ ... ]

Ha. It is one.