( 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

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

[decelerate]

[ the fact that she's trying to get rid of the 0's helps, because only aria would know that unless this is someone trying to pull a sick joke for sure. dallen doesn't really know what to make of it. but then, she apologizes for today—

she says she lost count. (he should have paid attention too, should have noticed that there had been one other snake they didn't account for, but alas.)

... this is all sorts of messed up. ]

but youre dead
how

what

[ should he just believe this or what? ]

[gh0stly]

[ She...probably could have eased into this more, somehow. Or - no, not really. How does one ease into this sort of thing? Aria can't remember if she ever mentioned being a ghost in a past life to him. It's not that important now, anyway.

She can just explain. Sort of. ]

im a gh0st
i mean
im n0t specifically haunting y0u 0r anything
i am n0t haunting anything in particular
except perhaps the general area i am in at any given time
by virtue 0f being there

[decelerate]

[ no amount of easing into it could have prepared him for something like this. he's staring at his phone in disbelief. the explanation doesn't make much sense but he has no other ideas how aria is talking to him right now. when he'd seen her die just hours ago. ]

youre a ghost and youre talking to me. think that counts as haunting, man.

[gh0stly]

can we call it hanging 0ut instead

[ ...That just took a turn into ridiculous, let her back up the car and try again. ]

im manipulating my lapt0p keyb0ard psychically

[decelerate]

hanging out. okay i guess i can roll with that.

[ hold the phone. ]

... wait what
wait no forget it

i remember you had that telekinesis bs going for you idk.

[gh0stly]

thats what im using t0 interact
i think with0ut it i w0uld be 0ut 0f luck th0ugh

[ Since she...can't touch anything. Or be seen. Or be heard. ]

[decelerate]

makes sense. i mean i still dont get how any of this happening but yeah that makes sense.

[ there's a part of him that's sure this is all just a dream but. what if. what if it's not. ]

[gh0stly]

h0w are y0u
did y0u get hurt?

[decelerate]

im doing okay. still kinda feel bad i got you killed though.

sorry.

[ man that seems so impersonal saying it on text like this, but he doesn't even know if he can meet up with her in person. ]

[gh0stly]

that wasnt y0ur fault dallenn

[ Someday she will die and boys she cares about will not blame themselves

someday ]

[decelerate]

yeah but

i couldve done something to stop it

[ it's great that she's still around and all, but it'd be better if she was alive. ]

[gh0stly]

s0 c0uld i
i mean
it wasnt any0nes fault
except the snakes

[decelerate]

i guess

do you think youd ever come back i mean

i know thats farfetched and all but considering youre talking to me right now and thats already impossible enough on its own so maybe idk

theres a chance.

[gh0stly]

maybe
i think i did 0nce bef0re
but i cant remember h0w it happened
there was fire
and i burned
but bey0nd that i d0 n0t kn0w

[decelerate]

wait you burned before???

[gh0stly]

yes i think s0
i d0nt remember why 0r h0w

[decelerate]

dont you think thats pretty distressing?

[gh0stly]

i d0nt kn0w
i d0nt feel t00 distressed by it