3- [Video][Locke City]

[billkiller]

[Arlene's surroundings have changed. She's no longer in a grimy and sweaty 24-hour diner in Gateway City; she's dressed nicely, with her hair and her makeup both done nicely and a brand new professional-looking outfit.

She's on her knees with a hand at her head.]

I was shot. I was shot in the head...

[She knocks against the side of her skull, and there's the sound of flesh and bone against a metal plate.]

What the fuck? Is this happening to everyone?

Comments

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

I'm unusually hard to kill.

That's... not good. Not good at all.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Not good? Hello, I think most of us would really like to get that kind of echo. Mine have been next to useless so far. Those dinosaurs attacked me? I got a bridal veil.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

I meant the way your echo happened isn't good. Mine's... alright I guess. I lived through major brain trauma I guess.

[He barks a surprised laugh.] A bridal veil? What the hell? But don't worry, I felt the same when I first started getting echoes. Got stupid colored hair and an attitude problem. Real helpful stuff.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Oh, sorry. I get it now.

If there's some kind of god handing these things out, I'm starting to think that he's just a colossal dick.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

You're telling me. Picks the least useful and most obnoxious ones first. Pfeh.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

You think there is someone like that putting us through all of this?

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

I don't think we're that lucky. If it were, it'd be something we could fight. This? I'm not so sure.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Heh. Kind of like a disease when you put it that way.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

You know... that's kinda not far off. When you think about it.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

You think we're terminal?

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

It's been two years for me, I think we're doomed. Still no cure in sight.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Two years, huh? Anyone been around longer than that?

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Not many, but a few. And really only by a few months, I was pretty early on.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Even if you lost your echoes, though, your life would still be tough. Think about just losing all that.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

It'd fix a few problems.

[He wouldn't want to start fights so much for one.]

[Voice]

[billkiller]

It'd create a few, too. Nothing that's been a part of you for that long would just vanish without a trace.

Pretend it happened. What's the first thing you'd do?

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Apologize.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

That's not the answer I was expecting. You do someone wrong?

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Someone. Everyone close to me.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Honey, if they're all that close to you and worth it, they'll forgive you.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Yeah, well. They're going too easy on me if that's the case.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Sounds to me like you've been hard enough on yourself already.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Not yet.

[Voice]

[billkiller]

Honey, I've been around for a few years now, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can beat yourself up and beat yourself up, and the only thing you get for it is beat up.

[Voice]

[oncedevil]

Yeah, well. It's what I deserve so might as well get to it.