4 [@dodger//video]

[smokedout]

[When the feed switches on, he's fixing his phone's position. His face isn't visible, but it is possible to see the outline of the wraps on his wrists, and the tattoos stretching up across his forearms.

Then he moves back to a stool set up in the room, perfectly lit and angled so that he's just barely obscured enough to show his silhouette without much detail in his appearance. He's not wearing his favorite hoodie for once, just a black band t-shirt with his silver necklace pulled out to be visible over the shirt. His gold necklace is still hidden under it.

The figure is in the middle of Eichi Tenshouin's bedroom, in the Tenshouin estate. Behind him, though the room is rather dark aside from a light he set up to light him from behind, the audience will be able to see a room that is mostly barren aside from a few posters of Wataru Hibiki, a bed and a desk covered in neatly-organized music sheets. It's a place that's really only recognizable if someone knew the original owner, and otherwise looks like a set rather than somewhere that someone lived.

For those who have yet to meet him, the figure in the video is Jamie Dodger. He's missing his right eye, there are deep scars across his face, and there are gauze wraps over his wrists that hide half of his forearms. For a man of only 25, he looks like he's walked through hell, but for once he isn't trying to boost up his street cred by threatening the network as a whole.

Instead he simply pulls out a guitar from behind the stool, and begins playing. The song he sings is slow and melancholy, a tribute for the man that he has spent nearly three weeks now mourning and is trying so hard to get over. Eichi had never gotten to hear him play... so he guesses it's sort of wishful thinking that playing publically would make him feel better about that, even if Eichi is no longer here to know it.

Though most people won't know the struggle that brought this song around, at least the music is good. Dodger is a skilled musician, and his voice is deep and gruff without sacrificing much range. More than anything, there's a lot of emotion in his singing. And when the song is over, he is silent for several seconds before getting up and wordlessly shutting off the feed.]

Comments

[onblackwings]

No, I only ever heard singing. [ a thoughtful pause. ] How old are you now?

[smokedout]

Twenty-five.

[He tips his head to the side.]

Took you long enough to ask. How old are you?

[onblackwings]

[ She offers a shrug, realizes he wouldn't see that, and instead goes with: ] I'm not sure. How old do I look?

[smokedout]

[He think for a few moments before shrugging.]

Pretty rude to ask a lady her age, y'know?

[Says the man who's tried to convince people to kill themselves for his own entertainment. Yes, this is what he considers rude.]

If I had to guess, maybe twenty-eight. But you're not human, so for all I know you could be a couple thousand.

[onblackwings]

I'm human. [ dodger! this is public!!! here's an attempt at a save, more smoothly delivered than some of her lies, in a longsuffering tone like she's had this talk with him many times before: ] Just because we're from wholly different worlds, you don't need to insist I'm not.

But in any case, I could be twenty-eight. I may as well pick a number.

[smokedout]

[Does he look like he cares??

The answer is yes, a little. There's a small, apologetic grunt in response to being corrected.]

You wanna come over? It's too quiet here.

[onblackwings]

Go there? [ There's a cocked brow in it, as she studies the background behind him. ] I don't even know where you are.

[smokedout]

[He texts over the address.]

It's called the Tenshouin estate. Front door's unlocked, I'm on the third floor, fourth door to the right. Don't come here unless I invite you.

[That last part is given pointedly, like he's talking to a child. He may not care about who he brings back to his regular apartment, but the estate is something close to a holy ground. He doesn't want to taint it too much with his own life.]

[onblackwings]

[ She prickles at the last point, disliking as ever to be commanded. ]

Maybe you should come here.

[smokedout]

...Either come over or don't. I don't need you enough to argue.

[True love, ladies and gentlemen.]

[onblackwings]

Then later, maybe. I'm busy. [ this is the attentive and caring girlfriend you ordered right ]

[smokedout]

Onyx. [His tone turns a bit exasperated.] Don't give me a maybe, just come over. I wanna see you.

[This is exactly what he signed up for, it doesn't mean he has to be happy.]

[onblackwings]

You said come over or don't, I picked don't.

[smokedout]

And now I'm saying I want you to. So what do I need to do to make you come over?

[onblackwings]

I told you, I'm busy. If you want to see me, come to me.

[smokedout]

What are you even doing?

[What's more important than soothing his dramatic broken soul??]

[onblackwings]

Organizing.

[ housekeeping, that's what's more important ]

[smokedout]

Onyx.

[This time it's not even annoyed, it's more whiny. Like he's teasing for candy.]

...Fine. Where are you?

[onblackwings]

My room, in the housing. [ and since she's... rarely there, and they've never actually been there together: ] On the first floor.

--> action;

[smokedout]

I know where it is.

[Because he's fucking weird like that. But she can expect him to show up about two hours after this conversation. He smells more like liquor than usual, and he's smoking what is likely his 20th cigarette of the day as he knocks on her door. Because Dodger is great at self-control.]

[onblackwings]

[ And Onyx is, as promised, organizing. She's got her entire stash of what she would consider valuable things spread out on her bed, being carefully cataloged, gathered, and prepared. It's everything from pretty but ultimately useless trinkets, to undoubtedly expensive jewelry that it's doubtful whether she actually bought. There are even a few weapons thrown in -- at least 15 large steel broadswords, and here and there slimmer and more delicately made daggers or smaller swords. She doesn't even glance over from it at the sound of the knock. ]

It's open.

[smokedout]

[Well... considering what he knows about her, this doesn't really surprise him. When he teleports through the door, he checks around the room and just shakes his head slowly with annoyance.]

This is more important than seeing me, huh?

[Interesting that she seems to be hoarding valuables, though. She really does like shiny things.

With a soft huff, he slips his hands around her waist and leans against her back, briefly moving her hair aside to kiss her neck.]

Didn't you miss me?

[onblackwings]

[ Every time they're apart, the fact that she enjoys Dodger's presence and their time together starts to fade from her mind. It had done so again, more than usual in his longer absence, and so at first she ignores the arm around her waist, the kiss at her neck. But then she remembers how warm he is, and eases into it. ]

I don't miss anyone.

[ She lifts the object she'd been holding at about chest-height, cleaning with a rag. It's a skull -- a little bit larger than human, not quite human-shaped but close, and lacking a jawbone. She could never make the jawbones stay on, once the skin and muscle were gone. She regards it with a thoughtful frown, in particular the jagged hole punched in each of its temples. ]

Bone can be so fragile. Isn't there a way to... reinforce this? I'm afraid it might disintegrate around the holes, given long enough.

[smokedout]

Dip it in resin.

[He grazes his teeth lightly on Khisanth's neck, a little annoyed at her not giving him much attention. But as starved as he is for it, he's happy just to have her there to accept his affection.]

It's like a natural glue - it solidifies around things and makes them tougher. Sort of like how amber is made, yeah?

[He thinks so, anyway. He has only a general sense of a lot of things regarding science and the natural world - nature isn't his forte.]

[onblackwings]

Resin. [ She makes a thoughtful noise, still studying it. ] Do you have any?

[ The teeth on her skin is always nice, and she enjoys it for a moment, but she's busy. In a moment more she pulls forward and away from him, leaning to drop the skull into a bin next to the bed -- filled with other skulls. 14 of them, in fact. ]