IC CONTACT.

[osreborn]

(555 - 888 - 3010)

"Norman Osborn. If you're calling about a job interview, hang up now and call [ business phone number ]. Otherwise stay on the line and leave a message. I'll get back to you when I can."

beep!

calls | voice mail | text messages | email

Comments

call!

[osreborn]

Wrong.

[ He even makes a buzzer noise. ]

A word of advice, young lady; if you really want to adapt yourself to reality you need to understand that reality does not merely start and stop within your own mind.

call!

[idontdoyay]

[That, also, seems to catch her off-guard and there's a soft intake of breath followed by a long silence.]

So I should just suck it up and believe all this crazy shit, is what you're saying? The paraphrased edition.

call!

[osreborn]

No. You should adapt.

call!

[idontdoyay]

Yeah. And how do you suggest I do that?

call!

[osreborn]

Isn't it obvious?

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get a move on with your life.

call!

[idontdoyay]

But my life isn't here, Norman. This is a freak show.

call!

[osreborn]

[ He exhales impatiently. ]

Your life is here now as long as you're here and you're alive.

call!

[idontdoyay]

[soft but not sad.] And if I weren't? Alive?

call!

[osreborn]

You are. What good does 'what if' do you?

Re: call!

[idontdoyay]

The whole contemplating suicide thing kind of comes as one, big 'what if.'

call!

[osreborn]

Then don't. It's incredibly simple.

call!

[idontdoyay]

[Not even Dogg, her suicide coach, talks to her like this. It's incredibly puzzling.] Then...don't.

Why didn't I ever think of that? [sarcasm kills]

call!

[osreborn]

A good question. I'd almost think it was out of your own control, listening to you.

call!

[idontdoyay]

Maybe it is.

call!

[osreborn]

But it isn't.

call!

[idontdoyay]

...Dogg always says we have to be a different person than the person who tried to kill ourselves the first time. I guess it doesn't get much more fucking different than a superhero version of myself.

call!

[osreborn]

There you go. See, you're learning already.

call!

[idontdoyay]

What do you do, Norman? Other than picking up calls from strangers, I mean.

call!

[osreborn]

I'm a businessman. The CEO of OsCorp, specifically, though I also dabble in the sciences.

call!

[idontdoyay]

OsCorp. [a beat] What sort of sciences?

call!

[osreborn]

I'm a chemist primarily, and an engineer second.

call!

[idontdoyay]

That sounds like it could get intense.

I work at a department store, I sell makeup. I change lives.

[sudden self-conscious moment] I mean--my job can get pretty intense too.

call!

[osreborn]

Very intense.

But intensity doesn't make or break a job, either.

call!

[idontdoyay]

No, I guess not.

Do you enjoy it? Owning a company and being... a chemist?

call!

[osreborn]

It's rather fulfilling, being successful.