01 ✣ VIDEO

[merespark]

[ A guy with red hair is smiling faintly at the camera. He looks a bit lost and embarrassed. The look you could easily picture on the face of a tourist looking for the restroom. ]

Can anyone tell me the way to Heaven? I must have taken the wrong turn.

[ He scratches his head and chuckles. ]

I didn't sign up for this, you know. That death was glorious and it didn't lack drama either. It all served a purpose. Did you even see it, God? A hero like me shouldn't end up in Hell – not even by mistake, haha...

[ He pauses as if he's listening to some distant noise. ]

And what's with the ticking?

Comments

[merespark]

[ that bad huh? ]

I'll have to learn about it eventually, might as well do it now. It's not like I can have a heart attack, is it? Haha... [ if he was alive he'd kill himself for making jokes as lame as these. ]

[errandry]

Guess so...

[ someday he might even pick on those awful jokes, but today he's occupied: fiddling with threads in his sleeve that aren't even loose and overthinking everything. ]

Not like there's a lot to explain anyway—we just get cursed every couple days. Most of 'em are kinda like status effects. And they all end at midnight.

[merespark]

And they work on the dead too, I guess?

That should just make the training more fun.

sorry, got caught up in stuff. o9

[errandry]

That's your first thought, huh....

it's ok i was at workkk (forever)

[merespark]

It should be your first thought too.

Have a little ambition.

[errandry]

Some of 'em just make you crazy, that doesn't exactly do a whole lot for training.

[merespark]

Most of the riders are crazy, it'll be the best possible training.

What's the worst you've gotten? [ you've got some awful experience, don't you? he can tell from the aura. ]

[errandry]

Not battle-crazy, 'get dumped in weird outfits and think you're from a whole different era with no trecks' crazy! And... the worst?

[ yeah, there's a few to sort through, but memory settles it pretty fast. his expression goes a little distant. ]

The time everybody's nightmares came to life, I guess.

[merespark]

....

[ maybe he shouldn't have asked. he can't possible imagine what it has been like, being stuck here with your worst nightmares and more. and now here he is, living dead, causing more horrors while cracking jokes about it. ]

[ making fun of the curses was a really bad idea. making fun of anything at the moment - oh god why can't he stop himself. ]

I'm sorry. I had no idea.

[errandry]

[ oh no. oh no, awkward. zero to consternated in two seconds flat. ]

... you don't have to say that, it's not like anybody di—got permanent damage by 'em. They were just everywhere until midnight. And the really bad ones don't come up that much anyway.

[merespark]

Still, I shouldn't have treated this so lightly. [ brushes a hand through his hair as if to rid those stupid thoughts. ]

Emotional damage can be much worse than physical damage.