▓ ０３ Ｐｔｓ．► video/voice ► g!ve a 'you tried' st@r 2 the sh0rtie

[throwsdown]

[>>video]

[Takeshi was pretty bad. Two weeks ago, he'd been under the heaviest effects of a mask he hadn't wanted in the first place—and yet it drove him into the darker hallways, made him leave 'missing' posters of loved ones, cry all alone, hurt people... He felt so badly about that. Lately he's kept mostly to his comm, but he's finally roaming freely again. He hasn't regained the same confidence he used to have... and it would be quite an effort from him to rekindle the magic his father spawned. It certainly doesn't help that he's still sheepish around his own friends, fleeting around unintentionally impending figures.


But things are better.

The screen turns on to reveal a hallway floor—the whirring little contraption that appears to be on screen is one of those good ol' roomba self-cleaning robots, rolling away from the boy holding the comm. He's following it, almost cinematically (most definitely, even). Meanwhile, Takeshi makes exploding noises with his mouth, swerving this way and that. The audio isn't distant, but it's not spoken at the screen. He didn't have the intention to film it, really, but there's only so many things he can use as a jet plane screen.]

Mecha-godzilla is getting away!! Pshrrr!! Whirrwhirr! Blam! If we make a shrink ray, we can stop him from stepping on people! Crak-cow!!

[It cuts a few times, leaving broken-up pieces of a child's imaginary game. One short excerpt is in his (much cleaner) room, where he's set up cans. He's apparently taken the roomba robot ransom, and has it topple cans he's collected over time. Finally the video cuts out entirely for a while, and an hour or two later, there's an audio entry. On purpose, this time.]

[>>voice]

I...



[Okay, it's not that easy like it was before. He has to muster up what he wants to say. He's been thinking of how to do this for a while now...]

I was bad. I should've listened and made the mask go away... I should've been good. I promise I'll try my best now; I'll be someone good. 'Cus dad's always watching... in—[he slaps his hand over his chest, unseen on the audio-only reply] in my heart, he'll always be there for me, so I have to make him proud. I have to make all my friends proud.

If you have friends, you should... 'stick with them'. It's really important.

I'm sorry if I hurt them before, when they tried to help...

[shuffle. silence.]

... I'm really sorry.

[mainly for you, kazama. he's not sure if you even wanna be his friend or talk to him anymore...]

Comments

voice.

[ironsights]

[ times like this, he almost envies his allies from back home who talked to kids more easily and actually did a good job comforting them. as it is, the best he can manage is to keep his voice quiet and completely free of anger. just sounding a little tired, really. ]

What did you do with your mask?

voice.

[throwsdown]

[He's quiet for a moment from his end of the comm. It's Kazama, after all. He couldn't help but feel nervous... and sad. It was mean, what he did. He just wanted to help, Takeshi thinks. Even if the mask made him think otherwise...]

Someone took it. They said I didn't need it... They made it go away.

voice.

[ironsights]

[ sounds like someone got through to him, then. good. better than takeshi still running around in terror. hopefully whoever it was that took the mask disposed of it. ]

And you're not hurt?

voice.

[throwsdown]

[He shakes his head, and then realizes the other really can't see that.]

No, I'm not hurt...

I'm sorry for what I did. I shouldn'ta did that... I shouldn't hurt friends.

voice;

[redhotsummers]

...being sorry isn't enough. You know that, right?

voice;

[throwsdown]

I... I want it to be. What should I do?

voice;

[redhotsummers]

Atone for it.

Find a way to fix your mistakes.

voice;

[throwsdown]

How should I do that? Should I do something nice for the people? I can do good things; I'll help them if they want my help...!

voice;

[handelaar]

[He's paying attention as soon as he catches those first few snippets - who else's voice could that possibly be - and though his scowl goes unseen it grows deeper throughout the entire post. Goddamn it, he should've kept better track of the kid from the sound of things. But he thought - ]

The fuck happened? Thought ya destroyed that thing.

[Netherlands lives under a rock: Episode #569835

Also, four points to the first person who gets why he's back to using voice with Takeshi.]

voice;

[throwsdown]

[A lot happened, Ned. Tons of stuff.]

I did, but it was on my door again... S-so I tried to not touch it, but someone said it was for Halloween and I could go trick-and-treating...

[NEVER LISTEN TO THE BIG KIDS.

THEY RUIN EVERYTHING]

[handelaar]

Who.

[Because they're either an idiot or malicious, but either way he'd like to kick their ass and sounds like it too.]

[throwsdown]

[O-oh... uh...!]

He's... I don't 'member his name... but he had a sheep mask and he and Wee-chita put theirs on and said for people to go have halloween.

voice;

[logicunlocked]

Hey, it's all right to make mistakes, kid.

voice;

[throwsdown]

I was still... bad. I pushed you and ran away.

voice;

[logicunlocked]

You can't learn unless you make mistakes. God knows I've made a lot of them. And I got over it. You were scared, right?

voice;

[throwsdown]

... Yeah. I was—I was really scared.

[He still kinda is. He knows it's not all... all logical, and that sometimes he's scared for no reason, but he just can't stop that staggering sensation of fear.]

[voice]

[biffail]

H-hey, kid...that's okay...

...

What'd your mask do?

[voice]

[throwsdown]

.... It made me scared of them.

I didn't wanna talk to them anymore. I don't... wanna make my friends feel bad like that.

[voice]

[biffail]

Scared of...the people you saw?

[rebelled]

[no. stop that. you're meant to go back to being that happy child in the video.]

What's Mecha-godzilla?

[it's far easier to focus on the part where takeshi actually seemed to be enjoying himself.]

[throwsdown]

Mecha-godzilla... He's a big metal robo dinosaur. He's one of the strongest bad guys, and he almost beat Godzilla once in a fight. He can shoot things like missiles and lasers and stuff.

[rebelled]

There are dinosaurs made out of metal in your world?

[thatsaflaregun]

[Oh nonono. Don't hit him in the daddy feels, small child. Now excuse him while he tries to be extra soothing.]

I'm sure whatever it was, it wasn't that bad, yeah?

[throwsdown]

No, I think it was. I hurt their feelings, and I hit someone, too. That's a very bad thing to do... so I wanna make them happy again. I don't wanna' lose anymore friends.

[thatsaflaregun]

[Yes, those are.. bad things.] Right, but the important thing is you recognize you made a mistake. That's the biggest step. If you're genuinely sorry and you show them that, they won't be angry with you, anymore.

[If anyone can be angry for very long at a child. Children make a lot of mistakes.] And you learned something from all this, yeah?