Look Closer [Countryhumans x Marble Hornets]

TWO: agitation

Entry #9

I have never seen Singa act the way he does in the following raw footage of Marble Hornets.

The camera cuts to the inside of the familiar gazebo that was near the small stream. Judging by the lighting, it seems to be only in the early afternoon and the tall leaves blocked off most of the sunlight pretty well, and the weather looked calm today. It gave the scenery of the scene a much lighter and pleasant atmosphere, despite how amateurish the camera on the stand, in the middle of the gazebo, positioned its glassy gaze over two colleagues who Mal have yet to contact, and whom he haven't contacted since he graduated.

One of them was crouching and leaning against the railing as the seat lining the railing of the gazebo prevented him from standing up straight. He donned his novel hat over his messy, unkempt white hair which Mal remembered it being called an ushanka, and wore a loud-looking shirt. Beside him, who stood normally but constantly fidgeted with a tiny strand of her hair wore a casual T-shirt and shorts, her straight hair held up in a ponytail.

Despite not keeping in touch with them ever since college passed, Mal still remembered at least who these two were, as they were both actors in Singa's project. They were quite the odd string of connections Singa managed to get through to participate in his project, and Mal never really communicated with them outside of the project much either, except for icebreakers but that was pretty much it, so he never really got to know them that well.

"He seemed really distant ever since he came back, you know?" Rus, leaning against the railing, said, though there was a look of pure disinterest on his face.

"...And?" Mexi implored after a two second silence.

"Well, have you tried talking to him? At all?" Rus asked with a bored gesture of his hand. It immediately struck Mal that they were acting out one of the scenes in the script. Mal had forgotten this particular bit existed, but he was sure he wasn't present during that time. There were several shooting moments he didn't attend due to his summer classes.

Mexi's attention seemed to have shifted from her hair to her nails as she started fiddling with them, "No..."

"Did he come back and see you at least?" Rus continued, "'Cause he never really told me why he was here."

"Doesn't really matter, does it?" Mexi said, and Mal noticed how her tone seemed to be lacking interest as well, "He left me when he went off to the city, and that's that."

"...Yeah, I guess you're right," the other nodded, as he reached his hands into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"So... I mean, what's the plan for you now, what's next?" He continued as he took one out, putting it in his mouth. As far as Mal knew, he was notorious for being a heavy and active smoker back in college for some reason, even though smoking for college students was nothing out of the ordinary.

Mexi stretched her back a little, "I'm not really going to do anything."

The sound of Rus attempting to light the cigarette was accompanied when Singa's voice interjected from off-screen, "We're gonna do it again. The pacing still feels weird, it- it doesn't sound like a real conversation."

This received an inaudible sigh from Rus as he plucked the cigarette between his fingers, his attempts a second earlier a failure, and an audible one albeit barely from Mexi as she turned away with an annoyed eyeroll.

Singa walked into the frame, his back facing the camera, "You two still sound like you're reading off the script." If he noticed the blatant irritated looks on both the actors' faces, he ignored it. From the sound of his voice, he sounded like he didn't want to deal with this for far too long either.