The girl hadn't answered when the movie was over, and Marco absently scratched at his neck as she tried to convince him that this was a good story, when he just wanted to walk over to the DVD player and turn it off so he could put on something better. Like Star Wars. Sure, the original plan had been to watch something new, but not this. It looked too jarring. The Disney version was at least bright and cheerful.
"No, but how long until the end?" he corrected. His face twisted again as she revealed the "best part" of the movie, followed quickly by asking if he was new. He suddenly had a feeling that he knew who he was talking to, even though he didn't know anything about the girl he'd spoken to on the network other than she wasn't on any meds. He exhaled sharply, suddenly even more irritated by what he'd walked into than he had been. "I've been here since the beginning," he told her, then waved a hand at the screen. "He's not crazy, he's got brain damage from mercury poisoning! That's what happened to people who made hats. This movie's dumb."