Hi, it's Ken. If you can hear this I'm not here, so... uh, leave a message or something and I'll call you back when I get it? Bye.

[This isn't so much an accidental video as it is a deeply impulsive one, because some people never learn. The feed clicks on to show Ken, still dressed in a coat and scarf with snow melting on his shoulders, standing in an apartment kitchen surrounded by brown paper shopping bags, holding the camera about a foot or so from his face.]

Hey, guys. I have a question.

[Serious face on.]

Is it starve a fever and feed a cold? Or is it the other way round? See, my roommate's sick and I just got all this stuff and I don't normally - I don't get colds so I'm kinda... what do you do for them? Should she be eating or not and is packet soup okay, I'm not that great at cooking or anything so I don't wanna poison her and - and maybe I should call a doctor.

Okay. Is there a doctor out there? Who isn't Muraki? I think I need a doctor. Not for me!

[Well, someone isn't looking too healthy.

[Ken looks like he's been fighting, and quite possibly up all night. One of his eyes is swollen shut, there's an obvious bruise on his jaw and a cut on his brow. Honestly, he should just stop trying to walk to take-outs. Nothing good ever comes of it.

[As to what he's doing now, he's trying to prise a purple stone off his forehead with his fingernails using the Dreamberry camera as a mirror, because it shouldn't be there and it needs to go and if he was in the bathroom he'd have to stand. The obvious downside to this - that if the camera's on he's being recorded - doesn't seem to have occurred to him. Maybe if he didn't feel so damn tired--]

Ow!

[He rubs at his brow. All he's done is give himself a rather nasty-looking scratch.]

Dammit.

[Ken sighs. Rubs one eye with the heel of his hand. Clearly this isn't working and he needs a better plan. Getting up, he wanders around for a moment and returns with a pair of craft scissors. He slumps heavily back down before the camera, carefully opening the scissors so the blades are bared. On that note, the feed times out.

[Somebody save this idiot from himself. Please.]

[Ken's set the Dreamberry up against a book; he's slumped opposite it, chin resting on one wrist. The picture is slightly crooked, and he reaches out to steady the screen.

[Then he glares at it, as if it personally has done him some grave disservice.]

So, these dream... post things. What right have we got to be seeing this stuff?

[I'm looking at you, Dreamberry. Ken glares a bit more, then sighs.]

This ain't TV, right? It's... someone else's head in here. It's private and this thing's dishing it up like it was a stupid drama or something and it's - you're all, why not watch it if it's there? Like TV. And everyone does it and it starts seeming so normal and... and what the Hell's with that, why's that supposed to be okay now just because it's everywhere and--

Look, I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, I do it too and I don't know why I ever figured it was just fine to, it's not a show and... and... Damn, I hate this place!

[And off.]

Dream Effects: A slight feeling of disconnection. Confusion, lots of it, and the dawning awareness that you're having a (rather weird) dream.
Warnings: Rampant symbolism. Forgive me.

( Decisions.Collapse )

[Ken wakes up with the lingering feeling that he's missed something; he's not entirely surprised to realize that the stupid Dreamberry didn't miss a thing. Well, he probably was overdue for it. Could have been worse, he guesses. At least this time it wasn't stupidly embarrassi--

[Wait. What the Hell date is that supposed to be?]

... damn, how long was I asleep?

[Ken's already clicked the feed on, but he hesitates for a moment before speaking, trying to compose his thoughts.

[He's not really sure on the protocol for situations like this. He's not even sure this counts as a situation. Dominic's a grown man and he can look after himself and it's not like it's unusual to go a while without hearing from him. Ken's being an idiot over this whole thing, but--

[--but something just feels strange, that's all.]

Has anyone heard from Dominic lately? That's Dominic Sorel. He's a, uh... [Dammit, what does he do again?] We're friends. I went to drop some stuff round and he wasn't in and it's kinda weird, so--

[You're babbling.]

Well I kinda wondered if anyone's heard from him is all. I-- thanks.

[OOC: Takes place after this post of Dominic's, for obvious reasons.]

[Unfiltered. Let's see how long it takes Ken to realize this.]

[Ken sits on the edge of the fountain in Espoir, frowning into the camera in aggrieved confusion, as if it personally has done him some disservice.]

Uh... this is probably gonna sound dumb but Does anyone know what kind of stuff you get a girl you like that isn't totally stupid or creepy?

[The head and neck of a toy giraffe are just visible in the lower right hand corner of the frame. Ken glances over at it as he speaks, then shoves it quickly down in an attempt to get it out of shot, without any real noticeable success. An awkward look flickers across his face. Great, so he's already seriously regretting deciding to ask this question and he hasn't even finished saying it yet...]

And I'm not gonna do flowers.

[The feed cuts off quickly.]

Huh.

[Ken stands in his living room holding the Dreamberry. He checks it's recording, then sets it on the arm of the couch. He picks up a small hi-bounce ball and throws it overarm against the living-room wall. It bounces off; he catches it in his palm. He repeats the process a couple more times just to be sure, then pockets the ball and picks up the Dreamberry again.]

Okay. Okay.

[He walks up to the wall. Taps it. Leans against it. Scrapes at the paint with a fingernail. Sticks his hand through it. Takes it out. Looks at it. Looks at the wall. Repeats the process a couple more times then - clearly bracing himself - walks forward.

[For a moment the recording goes black. When the screen flickers back into life, it's to give everybody at home a good view of the corridor outside his apartment.]

Is anybody else having problems with their walls?

Warnings: Spoilers of a not exactly critical nature for the fifth episode of a ten-year-old anime series. Head canon. Nowhere near as angsty as the title might imply.
Dream Effects: A mixture of happiness, regret and love.


( 'Do you enjoy being a florist?'Collapse )

[Ken smiles in his sleep, turning onto his side and knocking the Dreamberry to the floor, where the recording cuts off. He doesn't wake up, so doesn't notice that the small cut flower on his nightstand is glowing faintly.]