( ɪɴʙᴏx. )

[decelerate]

DALLEN S. TEXT/VOICE/MMS

Yo. Obviously I'm not here right now, so leave a message, etcetera. If you're my sister, just dial again.

code by jerky.

Comments

[yerawizarderi]

what about people who havent moved away

[decelerate]

uh i dunno. youre prolly better off asking someone else on the network. did someone forget it?

[decelerate]

ill buy you an entire box.

[yerawizarderi]

aint somethin i want to make a public spectacle about so ill just leave it be
forget it

[decelerate]

thats fine. you okay though?

[decelerate]

[ it takes him a bit to answer, like he doesn't know how to proceed. ]

I dunno. Will it go away if I say it was?

[ dallen gets what she's trying to do here. she's trying to make sense of it, like she always does, and usually he'd agree with her, but it's like something syncs them up. it makes him wonder the same things she's asking herself right now: what if this was the start of something even weirder?

if it is, then they're better off not sweeping it away, right? but he'll go with whatever harper wants. he always will. ]

[yerawizarderi]

i dont know not sure how im supposed to feel about this at all
i mean it aint like he aint here no more he IS but it just feels so odd for him to just forget it all and not be able to see the network or ANYTHIN

[decelerate]

probably for the best though. shits getting real shady with this thing i dunno.

[duette]

[ Maybe it's because he's her twin that she feels it immediately. Not agreement, necessarily, but a kind of harmony that was hard to describe without experiencing it. She'd never try to anyway — it was just special. But whereas it'd be a comfort before, now it was just another thing to think about. Did he feel that way because it's how she felt, or did he have his own reasons...? Surely not, she tells herself. Surely not.

As the elevator chimes to signal their floor, she's left contemplating why that is, on top of everything else. ]

I want it to.

[deludings]

deal
ur my best friend from here on out

[decelerate]

because im giving you candy?

[deludings]

wat
is that weird

[decelerate]

maybe a little but its not a big deal.

[deludings]

now ur getting with it!!!
see and one day ill pay u back the same way
its a win-win

[decelerate]

sure. i dont see how i can lose with an arrangement like that tbh.

[deludings]

its settled then
when r u gonna get me the candy

[decelerate]

idk when do you want it

[decelerate]

Then we'll make it go away.

[ simple as that.

dallen doesn't know if it'll be that easy, but he'll try. maybe it's because of how she looks, how worried she sounds, that he really wants to make this work, and he's her little brother. he'll always attempt the impossible, if it's for her sake.

he steps out of the elevator and waits for her to follow. they can talk more about this back at home. ]

[deludings]

[oh this is an actual dilemma]

idk man
how about whenever u got something 2 celebrate about

[decelerate]

but its your candy?

[deludings]

its more fun when its unexpected

[decelerate]

then that can be arranged.

network text; 3/9 late evening

[gh0stly]

[ Now for the other boy she should contact. His network number is easy enough to find again, although Aria is at least aware that this message will be...startling. Unlike with Soren, she's entirely aware of what Dallen knows about what happened to her earlier in the day.

He was there.

Before she addresses the Network as a whole, however, she intends to address him. Some part of her seems to think this is necessary, and the rest of Aria does not feel strongly enough to disagree. ]

dallen
are y0u there

[ Wait...he didn't like the zeroes, did he? Oh well. She'll try to edit them out next time. It's harder now to catch herself than it was before, for some reason. Harder to remember. ]

[decelerate]

[ dallen doesn't think he'll ever get over it, to watch someone die right in front of him. it's not a good feeling to know it's your fault, that you could have prevented it but his sister did a pretty good job of reeling him out of that hole before he dug himself further in.

still, the bad feelings linger long enough to stagnate, and it's all he can think about once the excitement has died down. it doesn't help that there's a ping from the network for him, and it contains a message from someone he never thought he'd hear from again. ]

is this some kinda joke or

[gh0stly]

n0 n0
wait
sorry
you told me to stop that

[ It's harder to keep herself from doing it right now for some reason, but Aria makes an effort. She'd turn on video if she thought it would help, but she strongly suspects her webcam won't show anything and her voice won't make a sound. ]

im sorry about today
i lost count