We Should Be Best Friends

thoughts on “Piano Man” by Billy Joel?

Wow, what a fantastic tune!

what's your beef with her then? why can't she just slowly recover somewhere out of your hair?

I'm simply preparing for the eventuality of her comin' back to these parts!

hi will!!!!! :333

i was wondering, is it okay to use your face or your friends faces as profile pictures? like henry, mal, tati, ect.

Figure that could get confusin’ fast! And I think some of my pals wouldn’t take too kindly to it — they’re more private than I am and they ain’t exactly used to entertainin’. Thanks for askin’, though! If you think I’m just that pretty, any of your doodlings should do just fine!

Hi guys!!!

Will - welcome back! Good to see you on tumblr again! Wahoo!

Henry - hi! I'm Dragons! I know we all seem like strangers to you, but we've actually met before, or, well, we've traded transmissions for a while (and the same is true for a lot of other people here). I think that when you tried to... unpick a certain someone, you might have lost the memories of those transmissions.

To prove I'm telling the truth, here's a recording of one of your transmissions we got (for context, I sent you some music and audio of flowers, and asked why Mal was upset with Will. We figured that one out since then).

We have more of those transmissions saved up - basically everything we've ever sent you and everything you've ever sent back, I think. Do you want us to send those to you? You weren't in the happiest place when we first started talking to you, but I think some of those memories are pretty important.

Thanks for the welcome! Nice to see you again, pal!

o h huh. well that sure is my voice, alright. it's so weird, it's like a - a little island of recollection, but i can't recall what we were talking about or why we were talking. i guess i wasn't happy. um. i didn't know we could forget things in here. if you think that it's important for me to remember. then if you put the recordings somewhere a guy like me can access, i think it would all come back. but i'm gonna trust your judgement on whether that'd be good for me or not. i think sometimes it's nice to forget. keeps things pleasant. sunny. you know.

...Thanks for bein' loyal, handsome.

Couldn't be anything else, sweetheart.

Hi Will! I remember you telling us about Tati’s boyfriend pulling out all the stops for her a while ago - what happened? What did he do?

Boy, the guy was a real cake-eater! Made his rounds on the "social medias" talking to dames. Made some kinda real connection -- and haha, virtual connection -- with Tati, and arranged for her to come on in! Built up months and months of personal details, "Snap Chats," "Discords," "Face Times" -- I mean, Tati was no stranger to "Internet friends," but this fella helped her really build up a portfolio. And, well, the rest is history. Tati got all dolled up to join us here, only for the fella to double-cross her! Don't know how someone could fall for a guy like that; obviously not worth anyone's time of day, haha! Though I s'pose he's got a few more tricks up his sleeve just from being around less, I think!

would you kind folks know anything about a wolf genome?

i wouldn't really, no. a friend of mine was into th at sort of thing. she liked to look at how different two animals were genetically, i guess? like how far an agrosythius was f rom a regalecus or whatever. it was all greek to me. or latin haha

Yeah, s'pose that dame was real interested in the biological studies! Always spoutin' off facts she'd memorized, like their scientific names or feedin' habits or preferred biomes or whatever. And she had a brother who liked wolves, but he wasn't too scientific 'bout his interest!

Kid, it was in the pages ya sent! Better make sure you know what you're sharin' before you share it with everyone next time, I s'pose.

'Sides, it ain't a great quality in the first place for a research assistant to be sharin' confidential documents that way! Even a former one. Where's your respect for the norms of a professional workin' relationship?

handing this to william Instantly

WOW! Henry, take a gander! It looks just like you!

h e y... may b e.

hellohellohello!!

Very new here and very confused and intrigued?? Something feels off (?) I guess or maybe I’m missing something…

Oh Well, just here for the ride and answers I suppose if you got any :)

Nice to make your acquaintance, pal! S’pose part of that confusion may arise if you haven’t visited us en abime yet! Or, if you have, I hear some of the other pals I've got 'round here have also been plenty helpful to newcomers. Welcome!

Hi again, guys!

Henry - here's a log of all the conversations we've had with you. We reached you through a web page that might not be safe for you right now, because it's been partially taken over by the people you tried to unpick (you guys know who I mean).

When we found you, it seemed like you were disillusioned with some things, and you felt unhappy, and you didn't want anyone to see you this way, but, well, we kind of stumbled into your hiding place and started asking questions. But you got better! In the last transmissions we got from you before The Incident, you were talking about feeling and wanting things again, and you were excited to see Will (you knew that he was coming!).

There isn't anything bad in these logs, you were really nice to us (especially considering that we just kinda showed up), but you did say some things that sounded pretty personal, so it's up to you whether to read/listen to those together with Will or by yourself.

(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1esgGK07Qeq0YDom_aj_qQCxuuG6W0_4gxgpq7jncT-k/edit?usp=sharing)

Thanks for sharin'! Darling, I won't look at a thing unless you want me to. I understand it's your own personal beeswax!

lemme take a look. so i didn't say anything too embarrassing huh.... nah, you can take a listen. might make you sad, though. i was not doing well at all.

you all were very nice, though. sorry for forgetting. i wish i hadn't. i don't know. i didn't like going through that when i was in it, but i guess being here i was worried because i wasn't perfectly happy. like sometimes i just sit and look at your little icons. or i listen to the little bits of static between your questions. and i felt bad because um, well, i've gotten something i've wanted for a long time. why can't i be perfectly happy?

but there's something nice about knowing i felt like that even when i was barely holding on to a little bit of consciousness. i think it's just part of me.

and that maybe i'm just like this. it's nothing wrong with will or where i am or what i'm doing.

it's like one of you folks said. actually feeling pain and negative emotions kind of lets you start feeling the positive ones as well. you were all so smart, and so kind to me. as much as you were strangers to me, i was also a stranger to you. and you didn't have to help me or care about me. so thank you.

Well, that was a ride, but I'm glad you're safe here with me, handsome. And for what it's worth, I figure it ain't possible for anyone to be perfectly happy, even me!

i love you. and you're right, i bet. i mean, what else would there be to do then?

I love you too, darlin'!

Do you need to go back to your old place? I know one person in en abime have grown weak and seemingly passed out from someone else.

i will

when i have to

don't worry about me

um. i'm sorry i wanted to stay here with you, will damn it i'm sorry

Hey! Sweetheart, no need to apologize. I'm here for ya. I mean, we can always set up some kinda doohickey over there to talk to the folks outside. Should we head out now?

it's ok i'd like to stay as long as possible it doesn't feel any different to me just looks strange to you i think

...All right. Lemme know if it ever starts feelin' less than peachy.