[Video, with voice-over]

[1800deadguy]

[The NV is pointed as a piece of paper on the desk with a pencil sitting next to it, held upright in what looks like a modified lamp neck. This shot continues for several minutes, until finally we hear Sissel's voice.]

Okay. Here we go.

[The pencil wobbles, moving the device here and there to mark on the paper.]

Comments

[ Video ]

[of_frell]

You're getting better, Sissel. [ She can actually tell what that might be. Ah...assuming it's his name. ]

As for what happens... when you die, you die. You don't come back.

[ ... no matter how much you wish it. ]

[1800deadguy]

I am. I was looking at my other attempt and this is much better... though it might be backwards, I am starting to think.

Huh. I guess I'm a little bit spoiled with my powers then... but what happens to you when you die?

[of_frell]

A bit, but it's hard to get a perspective when you're inhabiting the object you're writing with. It must take a lot of concentration to do even that much.

[ Pause. ]

Me personally? Do you mean here, or home?

[1800deadguy]

Honestly, when I look at the letters in the book and the letters on the page, it's hard for me to see why they're different. They all look a bit like squiggles to me. I'm getting better at knowing the differences between them, though.

I mean, when you die, your body dies. But what happens to your soul-- the part of you that thinks and feels?

[of_frell]

I think when the first person began to read, they saw the letters as squiggles too. You'll catch up - just keep at it.

[ A pause. ]

That I don't know. Mandy always told me that after you die, you ascend to heaven, where you can look after the ones you care about. If you die and have regrets, sometimes you become one of the Walking Ones. Ghosts that can't pass on, so they haunt the places they're familiar with.

[1800deadguy]

Hmm... I guess that makes me one of the Walking Ones. I wonder what my regrets were?

[of_frell]

Well... according to stories, it's usually something like not being able to see a loved one - or being killed unjustly, or having a message you aren't able to pass on.

[1800deadguy]

Being killed unjustly. I think that's probably my best bet.

If only because if I had a loved one or a message, I'd hopefully remember it after I died, if that was the case.

[of_frell]

You think you were murdered?

[ Who would murder a sweet gho--er, guy, like Sissel? ]

Well the stories say that some Walking Ones, if they die in a traumatic fashion, or suffer a traumatic shock before they die, they might not remember why they died. Which is why they restlessly wander the mortal world.

[1800deadguy]

I think so. There was a video that I found that showed me being shot, though the circumstances around the video don't make sense. That, and I'm not so sure that I really am the person in the video.

Besides, I don't know what else would have killed me. [Then again, if he did know, he would have forgotten it.]

Hmm... that sounds familiar. That would make sense in my case, wouldn't it?

Let's play match the icons!

[of_frell]

Wh... that's awful Sissel... I'm so sorry. [ She's a little reluctant to ask since it might be a sore subject. ]

What do you mean, they don't make sense, and you're not sure you're the one...? Doesn't it look like you at least?

[ She nods slowly. ]

I'd say any kind of murder would be traumatic enough ... yeah, it'd make sense.

[1800deadguy]

It's all right. It doesn't bother me that much.

The circumstances don't make sense because the person who shot me in the video is someone who would never, ever have done such a thing. I think they were manipulated into it, somehow.

And I'm not sure I'm the one because this appearance I use... isn't really what I look like.

[of_frell]

[ Grimacing slightly. She's ... always uneasy when she hears something like that - not that she thinks the manipulated person is anything like the situation Ella herself was in, but ...all the same, it was a fear of hers. Being manipulated to kill someone. ]

I see... does your world have ...er... unique abilities like this one does?

So you remember what you look like?

[1800deadguy]

There are other ghosts besides me who can use the powers of the dead, though they are very rare. All ghosts' powers are a little different. I can manipulate inanimate objects, move through phone lines and turn back time. My little friend can teleport objects that are the same shape, and he can turn back time as well.

The other one can manipulate people into doing whatever he wants them to do. He's a criminal and I was trying to help stop him before I was brought here.

[Sissel pauses a moment.]

This is his appearance, the one I'm using.

[of_frell]

...

So you were a police officer of some sort on your world - before you... died? I wonder if there's a connection between what you were, and the ability you have.

Is your friend here too? The one that can turn back time, I mean.

[ The latter is a bit of a shock. ] W... why would you... why would you want to use the appearance of the one who was responsible for your death?

[1800deadguy]

No. I did all of this investigation while I was a ghost. My friend, Lynne, is a police detective and I was trying to help her. She's not here and neither is my other friend.

When I first woke up, moments after my death, I saw a corpse lying on the ground. I naturally assumed that it was me, so I took on that appearance.

As I started investigating, though, it became apparent that the man in the red suit really wasn't me at all. I don't know what I really look like or where I even fit into the manipulator case at all.

I guess I just haven't bothered to find something else to look like.