interstellar5555 | (no subject)

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marty mcfly

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Who: Marty and YOU!
What: For some reason, he can't get the hang of smartphones...
When: 2/20 - 2/22?
Where: Out and about the city.
Warnings: I have no idea.

one

There's something about phones that Marty just can't get.

He's grown up with these things as far as he can remember. Everybody who was everybody had a phone; how did you keep in touch with the world? Being in a part of a band required constant communication, being hip with the times. You always had to refresh, making sure that you were on the tip-top of every fashion statement being made, or else you were a laughing stock.

Imagine Marty's embarrassment when a fan asks for a picture (after signing his cast, which was cute), and he doesn't know how to flip the view. After receiving a very strange look, Marty is told that all you have to do is press a button. Pressing the button turns one camera off and turns another one on, and ta-dah! You have a selfie!

Stuff like that always seems to slip his mind. Select something from this menu, press down on that button. It's like everything is being updated way too quickly for him to catch up.

Why try to keep up with something, when it was borderline impossible?

You might find a disgruntled Marty leaning against a building nearby, eyeballing his phone like it was an alien. He tosses it into the air once, twice, and oh look at that. Straight on the floor. After choosing a few choice words from his vocabulary to describe his emotions, Marty straightens up to observe the face of his phone, which is now littered with cracks. To make things better, when he powers it on the screen doesn't show anything but a dirty gray color.

So he just lets it flop back down on the floor. Not like it was much use, anymore. "Perfect." You almost had to be a scientist to figure this stuff out-

- and Marty can picture one. Wild, white hair, huge eyes, and a lot of lightning...-

but where that came from, he didn't know. "Whoa." Maybe the ghost of his old phone was starting to haunt him with these weird visions. Again.

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"Oooooh, hey! You dropped your phone!"

Pinkie was only passing, but she leans down to pick it up anyway. Turning it over in her hands, she winces at the cracks splintering their way across the screen. "Awwwwww, man. Sorry, it's kinda totally cracked." She hands it back over. "You're gonna need to get that fixed, sometimes you can use it like that, but it's a huge pain."

Well, shit. Marty kind of figured this thing would have to be fixed, but hearing someone confirming it made it a little worse. Better. It made denial kind of unavoidable, to be honest.

He shakes his head, tucking the shattered phone away in his pocket. That thing is the last object he wants to set eyes on right now, to be honest. "Where can I get it fixed at?" Marty looks over to Pinkie, giving some kind of sorrowful, pity-me look. "I can't ever get the hang of this stuff. Twitter, Instagram...I just can't keep up with it!"

"Tough break, man," Sabo says. He had been wandering around, trying to get his head back together when everything is trying to fall apart or hide in shadowy corners that he just can't reach. He peers at the phone and shrugs.

"Though if it still works it's not too bad." He picks up the phone and tries to fiddle with it. "What happened?"

Awwwww, he looks so sad! Pinkie deflates a little sympathetically.

"There's a place at the mall. But hey, it's totally not a big deal!" She reaches out to pat his shoulder. "I've dropped my phone like, SO many times. It happens to everyone!"

At the mall, huh? Okay, maybe he was being a little too overdramatic here.

"I gotta get the whole screen replaced, right?" Well, duh Marty. This is the first iPhone he's ever owned, excuse him. Technology and him don't go hand in hand at all, unless it's a little on the ancient side. Like, cringeworthy ancient.

Wait, before this conversation goes any further..."How much is it gonna cost?"

Marty gives Sabo a humorless kind of smile at that, nodding along in agreement. "Yeah. Tough break." He could add 'literally' to that, but he's already upset enough about the fact that his phone is completely dead. He's not going to rub salt into his own wounds.

At the question, he shrugs, sighs. "I, I don't know. I feel like I keep seein' stuff, y'know? Stuff that doesn't make sense."

A lot of it he feels is bad stuff, because if they find out he's been thinking about things like this, he's in for another world of shit.

"Yeah? I guess." Pinkie's not actually sure if they'll pop the screen out somehow or just give him a new phone. But they should be able to transfer all his stuff anyway, so it's about the same thing! "It probably won't be as much as the phone was! Unless you're ready for an upgrade, and then it might be easier to just get the latest version."

An upgrade...

"I might be due. I can't even remember when I got this thing." That sounds like a really good idea, actually. They were coming out with new stuff for phones all the time; if he did get this one replaced, it would probably be out of date in like, a second. Why settle with the old when you could have the new? "I think that sounds good."

He tucks the bum phone away in his pocket. "What kind of phone should I get? Which one do you got?"

"Totally! New phones are great - just like new clothes, or new whatever." Pinkie's not exactly sure that those things are as fun as they used to be. But new things can make you feel better sometimes. She takes her own phone out of her pocket, fumbling a little before she finally frees it.

"Mine's not the latest-latest iPhone. I think there's a newer one out now?" She starts it, turns to let Marty see the screen. "That one's bigger. So the screen is nicer, but it's harder to fit it in your pockets!"

He honestly didn't mean it as a pun, but now that he thinks about it could be. But he holds back from smiling because he doesn't want to take it the wrong way. Anyway it seems the phone is still operational... Or at least it still turns on. Getting it to do anything... might be a challenge.

At the guy's statement, though, he blinks.

Seeing things that don't make sense?

"On your phone?" Because if that was true he was kind of wondering where this guy was browsing.

Nicer screen, pocket troubles...Marty's going to have to think about this.

"'S a hell of a lot nicer than what I got." He kind of mumbles that, looking down to his old phone that probably won't even turn on anymore. "I feel like I wrung the life out of mine. It's hardly got anything on yours! See?" Marty holds it up. Yeah, it'a few gens back.

He shakes his head. "I think I'm gonna update."

Marty shakes his head at first, looking through the web of cracking that's shown through the screen. If that's not a depressing sight, then nothing is really. "Nah. I mean, kinda? It's not like anything bad, but some stuff I see just makes me think of stuff. Stuff I haven't seen before."

He goes to switch on his phone to give him an example (because maybe it's not just him!) but oh right. Bad screen. Marty gives an annoyed kind of sigh. "Okay, so I'd see a picture of a clock. And the clock would remind me of lightning. And then the lightning would remind me of, of...-"

How to explain it?

"Einstein? Or somebody."

"Yeah... I know what you mean..." He's not sure about Einstein... Though something with wild hair. No... not wild just... big. Very very big. What did that even mean.

"It's like... when you try to remember a dream, isn't it? You can only get..." he holds his hands out, flexing his fingers, as if trying to grab the air or lift it. "...emotion.. or... a sense of...being there before."

He laughs somewhat sheepishly, scratching his cheek.

"But I guess that doesn't make much sense right?"

"Ooooooh, yep! That's a pretty old one!" Pinkie holds it up next to hers; it's smaller, but also thicker. Funny how they just keep squashing them every generation or so. "Cool! That's a great idea! All you have to do is go into the store and ask!"

At least, she's pretty sure that's how it works? She can't recall ever actually having to do it for herself. But either way, the people at the store can help!

This guy is nailing this more than Marty is. His eyes light up and he nods a little wildly. "It does! That's it! I mean, I try to remember the shit that's comin' back, but I can't ever get it, y'know? It sucks!" Annnnd, he probably shouldn't be talking about this so loudly. Who knew who was listening?

"So you've been having this stuff too? How often's it coming?"

He offers an excited kind of smile, cocking his head to the side. "Do you see people too?"

Old, oh yup. That probably explained a lot of things.

"I'll see what I can do. I don't even know why I have this thing around. It's probably no good anyway if it's super old, right?" Technology was like music; it was always changing. And getting better. And if you weren't updated on it oh boy, you were bound to get buried. "Maybe that's why I can't do stuff like Snapchat right either? It's gotta be my phone."

Not Marty. Of course, never Marty.

"Hey, thanks! Maybe I can give 'em your name and see about getting you a discount next time or somethin'. Can they do that?"

"Oh! Y'know, I have no idea?" Pinkie giggles. She doesn't really need a discount; the managers usually let them get new phones whenever they need them, if only because the social media exposure is good for business.

Still! That's super nice of him! "But you can try! My name's Pinkie!"

He nods slowly. Then shakes his head.

"I see shadows of people. More than that it's something I have to do or...something that I shouldn't have... let go of." He's glad he's not alone in this, though. That he's not quite as crazy as he thought he was.

"It comes in flashes. When I least expect it. It seems pretty arbitrary --but mostly when people talk about family." He laughs a little. "But I guess my background would be enough to give anyone a complex." Right?

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