one - [video] - i'm stronger than all of this

[videocamera]

[The screen clicks on and Andrew appears, his face extremely pale except for the reddish patches of scabs and scarring on the right side of his face. There's remnants of blood below his nose and on his chin, like he just had a nosebleed and didn't wipe it off completely. Which is exactly what happened. He speaks quietly but his tone hints at both fear and anger.]

What is this, huh? What did you do to me? I can't-- [He interrupts himself with a more frantic note in his tone] Is this some kind of, of joke?

[His voice gets flatter.] I shouldn't be here. I'm stronger.

[The journal starts to shake, the picture jittering slightly. Then Andrew's nose starts to bleed again and the shaking stops, position slightly changed, now angled to give a shot of a messy bedroom behind Andrew's shoulder. His face is mostly off screen now but you can see his hands held up to his nose before the feed shuts off]

Comments

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[voluntaryapnea]

A lot of people care because they've been where you are. Others are just...empathetic, I guess?

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[videocamera]

Were you? Where I am when you first got here?

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[voluntaryapnea]

[He pauses, then shakes his head a little.]

Not exactly, no. I wasn't in the best physical shape when I arrived, though.

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[videocamera]

So... what happened?

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[voluntaryapnea]

I pretty much had my ass kicked by a demon, basically. [It's close enough to the truth, anyway. He doesn't use the word possession this time.]

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[videocamera]

A demon?

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[voluntaryapnea]

Yeah. Lot of weird stuff in my world. [He tries to smile but doesn't quite manage it this time.]

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[videocamera]

Jesus. No shit.

So you're like... You're a warden here?

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[voluntaryapnea]

Yeah. I haven't been assigned to anybody yet or anything though.

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[videocamera]

[He almost asks if you're trying to make a deal to get rid of the demon or something, but then settles for a smaller question.] So, how long've you been here?

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[voluntaryapnea]

[It's a pretty fair guess at his deal. And pretty damn close to right.]

A couple of months now.

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[videocamera]

Does it get, um. Like, easier? Less weird?

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[voluntaryapnea]

[He hesitates for a second.]

It's not always pleasant. There are these things that happen called floods? But it's not about water. It's when really weird and sometimes dangerous stuff happens.

But the day to day stuff is...you get used to it pretty fast. Most of the people here are good people.

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[videocamera]

What is the day to day stuff? Like... What am I supposed to do now?

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[voluntaryapnea]

Mostly just..try and recover from whatever was going on back home. Meet people. Make some new friends.

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[videocamera]

Right, okay. [Because that's so easy.] New friends on the prison spaceship. Cool.

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[voluntaryapnea]

Yeah. Sounds kinda crazy, I know.

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[videocamera]

Yeah, 'kinda' is an understatement.