Video 08 → My Mistakes, Numbers 4,926 - 5,101

[irregular]

[The video cuts in to show Ken frowning down into the camera, breathing a little too hard and too fast, and biting his lip. Clearly he is looking for something in one of the Dreamberry's menus, jabbing at the keys beneath the screen; just as clearly he triggered the video feed in the process. The image shakes: he's grasping the Dreamberry as firmly as he can, but it doesn't seem to stop his hands from trembling. Confusion crosses his face for a moment or two as he tries to work out why the screen's changed, then he mutters a frustrated curse, but the audio doesn't seem to pick it up.

[The picture cartwheels madly as he tosses the Dreamberry onto the bank he's sitting on. When it lands and the tumbling stops, the screen shows nothing but a slice of sky, thin skeins of clouds drifting overhead. Sixty seconds later, the feed times out.]

[OOC: Ken's been dead for a week after Muraki murdered him, and has lost his voice as a penalty. Replies will be in the form of text messages, or possibly charades.]

Comments

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[That makes two of us. Ken should be dead. He was dead. And--

[He can't remember why any more.]

hi ive lost my voice sorry. im gonna have 2 txt u

[Is this normal, he wants to ask. And, will it come back? But he doesn't. Here he is back from the dead and he doesn't even know what to say about it...

[So he just hits send.]

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[... He can't talk.

....

Dominic hopes that his mind's just jumping to conclusions, but...]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[Maybe this is just what happens when someone cuts your throat.]

i dont know

it mustve been like this ever since i got back

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[Don't let him be right don't let him be right—]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

yeah i woke up here about half an hour back i guess. im all right

[... I just kind of wasn't expecting to wake up at all.]

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

['I'm all right.'

...]

[1/2]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[2/2] [text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[It's so tempting not to answer that. To just toss the Dreamberry away and pretend he never saw it because what the Hell is he supposed to say? It's stupid, really: damn ridiculous. Ken knows he should be relieved, should be happy - he's alive, isn't he? - and all he feels is guilty and obscurely ashamed.

[But this is Dominic, and Ken can't do that to him. He deserves better.]

i think i mustve done.

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[And there it is—the truth Dominic wasn't sure if he wanted to see, but it's there and he can't deny it.

Not that he would've, but it's painful.]



[Like Vincent, possibly.]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[And that's another thing that's troubling Ken. Shouldn't he remember? The time before--]

not really

he was a big guy i think

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[There's a seething anger inside at whoever murdered his friend, but right now... Dominic is far more preoccupied with hoping that he's not at fault, somehow.

'A big guy'—not Diva or Road, then.]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

i mean really big like 6 ft maybe more. & there was a lot of white & i think he mustve stabbed me

i guess i hit my head i can't remember so well

[Sorry.]

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[White? Probably not Vincent, then.]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

yeah... same here

sorry for worrying you. but dont tell anyone please? i dont know what the others said while i was gone but theres some people id rather didn't know about this. if they dont know already

[People like Alice, people like whoever killed him. That guy - whoever he is - doesn't need to know he's not dead any more.]

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[The police-- Ken sighs. It hadn't even occurred to him that they'd get involved. Who'd notice the death of a dead man?

[Javert, apparently. Oh, great.]

thanks

i didnt even think of that. maybe i should go see them myself before they can make an issue about it

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[That's exactly what he was worried about.]

does it really have to be him? there isnt anyone else i can talk to is there?

[text]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[text]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

but i gotta talk to someone about it right? the police need to know theres someone like whoever that was out there

[... and why, Ken wonders, does it look like he's trying to convince himself of this?

[Old habits - or habits from home, at least - die hard, he guesses.]