o5 | Dictated

[bustered]

[Cloud Strife]

Hey. You around?

[/Cloud Strife]


[Zack sounds a little tired and a little detached when he opens the journal. He's holed up in his room, wrapped in blankets as if he'll forget at any moment what it's like to be warm. For the moment he's escaped Angeal's mother chocoboing watchful eye by promising the man he won't go anywhere, that he'll just rest a while -- rest, and catch up on the journal. It's still a bit of a shock to think of how much he'd missed, how long he'd been trapped.]

I should probably thank anyone who took a whack at that hunk of ice in the lobby. And, uh, apologize for missing all the excitement, I guess.

Back home, I remember our chopper going down in a blizzard, side of a mountain. Me and some other guys, we survived. Started trekking through the snow. Ts-- [A pause, and a slight change in direction of the narrative.] I had point, more often than not. I remember going to scout ahead, another guy telling me how cold I could let myself get before I hit danger zone, passing out and hypothermia and all. It was really fucking cold.

This place, this castle... I wonder how it kept me alive in there.

[Because two weeks or thereabouts spent in a block of ice is certainly grounds for some wondering on the part of one's own mortality. He'd missed his own birthday even, spent it immobile in the lobby without even conscious awareness of the time passed. He supposes it doesn't really matter though: he's dead back home anyway no matter how much time he spends in Paradisa; that won't change.

It does make him put up another filter though.]


[People who are dead back in their own homes]

Hey. Anyone out there?

[/dead people]

Comments

[Dat filter]

[circleoflife]

[Welp, undeniable proof he was dead. Cool.]

There is one other to account for, at the least.

[Dat filter]

[bustered]

[Zack is the king of sensitive.]

Should be a couple of us. I just wanted to see how many. [A pause.] My name's Zack.

[Dat filter foreva]

[circleoflife]

And I am Mufasa. A pleasure to meet you, Zack, despite our unfortunate circumstances.

dictated;

[persequor]

Were you rescued?

dictated;

[bustered]

That's a good word for it, I think. A friend tells me I was stuck for a while and the ice just started to crack one day. So he helped it the rest of the way.

NOW WITH MORE READING COMPREHENSION

[akito]

Alive in where?

♥

[bustered]

There was a big block of ice in the lobby for the past few weeks. I was inside it.

Zack

[heal_theworld]

Finally making that club that you were talking about?

[Hi Zack, Martel missed you.]

Martel

[bustered]

Only if you'll be in it with me.

[Hi Martel, he missed you too!]

Dead guy filter

[jimfromit]

Yes?

Dead guy filter

[bustered]

Hey. Just wanted to see who else was out there.

Yo dead guy!

[originalcopy]

I don't really know if I count... I was dead before I actually got here.

Other dead guy!

[bustered]

So was I, technically speaking. [Okay well it's debatable how many actual minutes he had left, but there was no way he'd survive for long on that cliff, so yes.]

[Dead People Filter]

[inmylight_commander]

Yes. Kat here. What do you need?

[Dead People Filter]

[bustered]

Hey, Kat. [There's a bit of a sheepish laugh.] Idle musing, I guess, and maybe some curiosity. I've been told I'm morbid.

[Dead Filter]

[encryptedlock]

[Shoot, why can he see this?

Guess all those years of everyone who gets to the castle greeting him with "you're alive?" takes its toll.]

I'm here, yeah.

[Dead Filter]

[bustered]

[Oops?]

Hey, York.

Filtered

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike usually ignores filters like this, but he's not sure why he bothers. It's not like the castle is going to let him forget.]

Thinking about starting a club?

Filtered

[bustered]

There's probably enough of us for one, but I don't really wanna sit around sharing stories and holding hands, you know? [Don't get any ideas, Castle.]

[I Speak Dead People]

[legacydeck]

I am. I'd rather wondered if I'd ended up in the bardo when I first arrived here.

[Deeeeaaaad Peeeeeoooooople]

[bustered]

Mmm? What's the 'bardo'? [Brb, distracted by strange Earth things he doesn't know.]

not-dead filter (breaks from hiatus what what)

[youfallback]

Glad you're alive and here. [It's what she's told York way more than once, but hearing someone else's story about their own death really strikes home for her.

Still, she's a whole lot quieter than usual as she offers,] Need to talk to someone?

Carolina (/clings to)

[bustered]

Heh, thanks. [It's not a hollow sentiment either; Zack's sincere in his thanks, because he knows that Carolina wouldn't have said anything that she didn't mean.]

About dying? [There's a pause, as he thinks about it -- thinks about how to word it.]

I don't know that I'd need to. I mean, I know I'd be dead now if I wasn't here. But it's... I can't change that, there's absolutely nothing that I can do, that I didn't do.

I guess it's more that being trapped in that block made me remember some things I'd rather not think about.

dictated;

[valuedstrength]

Beats me. Did you stop by the clinic to make sure everything is working okay?

dictated;

[bustered]

I, uh, skipped the clinic. [orz] It's okay though!