[it really isn't but he brings up his tablet nonetheless and...
taps the first one that comes up because if he tries to think too much on it, they'll never get through it but already it starts badly.
it starts with a young scruffy child with red-brown hair and a hideous, more gnarled-looking bloodred arm working busily on cleaning the items of circus performers backstage. one handedly. the video jumps forward, to the child cleaning the place, to the child doing the laundry by hand, to the child passing out food to all of the performers at their trailers before ever being allowed to have a meal of his own, and at some points, not at all.
there's yells of abuse hurled at the child, the Ringmaster noticeable for the line "You should be grateful I even took you in. No one else would see a use for someone like you," while looking spitefully at the lame arm. a clown with white-face makeup and a red star over his eye is also noticeable for how he beats the child when he knows the Ringmaster isn't watching, and then turns around and tells the Ringmaster how lazy and incompetent the child is so the other man beats him.
this is the common day for the child.
the video skips forward--a ball is missing from the equipment. a new performer's dog took it. the child panics because if the ball isn't found, he'll be in trouble--moreso than usual. it's snowing outside and the child isn't dressed for it at all and eventually he collapses into the snow and looks for all the world ready to just be buried under it... only to have the dog plop the ball right on top of him.
strangely, despite the cold, they play a game of fetch. it's the first time the child has smiled in the entire video so far.
the video skips forward--that hideous clown has pulled the child to the side and asks about that dog, how its been hanging around the child more since that snowy day. the clown places a bag into the child's mismatched hands--it's full of broken glass.
"Mix it into the dog's food," is what the child's told but instead of obeying, the child throws it down to the ground and shouts how he won't do such a thing.
it leads to a beating. more severe than any others. the picture goes black with the sound of a dog barking.
the video skips forward--there's clearly more to the story but the video is strapped for time, because suddenly there's a nicer clown sitting by a freshly dug grave with a rubber ball balanced on top of it.
"Is it dead?" the child asks and the clown confirms it.
they talk for a while--the child confessing he's not too keen on clowns at all and the clown pulls odd jokes like mock-hanging himself, until the child becomes agitated that the clown isn't crying at all for his dog who the clown Cosimov beat to death, that he barely even knew the dog but was already crying over it because it had licked his terrible hand days before it had died. it's the first time in the video that the child actually honestly and truly cries like a child should at his age.
"I see... so you were friends with Allen, too..." says the clown with a sad smile.
cw: for Allen Walker's terrible life (also dead dog)
taps the first one that comes up because if he tries to think too much on it, they'll never get through it but already it starts badly.
it starts with a young scruffy child with red-brown hair and a hideous, more gnarled-looking bloodred arm working busily on cleaning the items of circus performers backstage. one handedly. the video jumps forward, to the child cleaning the place, to the child doing the laundry by hand, to the child passing out food to all of the performers at their trailers before ever being allowed to have a meal of his own, and at some points, not at all.
there's yells of abuse hurled at the child, the Ringmaster noticeable for the line "You should be grateful I even took you in. No one else would see a use for someone like you," while looking spitefully at the lame arm. a clown with white-face makeup and a red star over his eye is also noticeable for how he beats the child when he knows the Ringmaster isn't watching, and then turns around and tells the Ringmaster how lazy and incompetent the child is so the other man beats him.
this is the common day for the child.
the video skips forward--a ball is missing from the equipment. a new performer's dog took it. the child panics because if the ball isn't found, he'll be in trouble--moreso than usual. it's snowing outside and the child isn't dressed for it at all and eventually he collapses into the snow and looks for all the world ready to just be buried under it... only to have the dog plop the ball right on top of him.
strangely, despite the cold, they play a game of fetch. it's the first time the child has smiled in the entire video so far.
the video skips forward--that hideous clown has pulled the child to the side and asks about that dog, how its been hanging around the child more since that snowy day. the clown places a bag into the child's mismatched hands--it's full of broken glass.
"Mix it into the dog's food," is what the child's told but instead of obeying, the child throws it down to the ground and shouts how he won't do such a thing.
it leads to a beating. more severe than any others. the picture goes black with the sound of a dog barking.
the video skips forward--there's clearly more to the story but the video is strapped for time, because suddenly there's a nicer clown sitting by a freshly dug grave with a rubber ball balanced on top of it.
"Is it dead?" the child asks and the clown confirms it.
they talk for a while--the child confessing he's not too keen on clowns at all and the clown pulls odd jokes like mock-hanging himself, until the child becomes agitated that the clown isn't crying at all for his dog who the clown Cosimov beat to death, that he barely even knew the dog but was already crying over it because it had licked his terrible hand days before it had died. it's the first time in the video that the child actually honestly and truly cries like a child should at his age.
"I see... so you were friends with Allen, too..." says the clown with a sad smile.
the video ends.]