hadriel | #1 | Video | Forward-Dated to the 26th

[Sssssomeone is leaning a bit too close into the video feed that's just flicked on!

It's not Zoe. It's a man, though the resemblance is more than null, at least - scruffy, same huge, sunken blue eyes, wide over the kid-on-Christmas-morning smile ticking up ever more on his face as he holds the phone up 'n away a little bit, turns it horizontally, vertically, horizontally with two hands...

He snickers to himself, licking the inside of his cheek and bringing the phone down to a reasonable-ish position.

A high-pitched stage whisper.]

Hey!

[He gives the camera a poke and tap. Volume up a couple notches with a singsong and a side-to-side wave:]

Are we live?!

Damn it, Lucas, gimme that back...

Hee hee -- ! [Quick look over to Zoe offscreen!] Will when I'm done borrowin' it, just gimme a minute or two!

[There's Zoe's... side, as she comes up behind him, reaches in and over to catch 'im by surprise and yank it out of his hand, but...]

Mmmmwoop!

[There he goes, and there the video feed goes. It ain't aimed anymore; it'll be everywhere, up, down, waved.]

No, ya don't!

[And Zoe blows out a sigh and raggedly, wearily calls:] Daddy?!

Mama! Mama, look look look look! I can hold shit now, ha ha -- !

Zoe? Lucas, what's going on --

[Sharp:] He got my phone.

Ahhh, dear... [Binding exasperation.] -- Honey, would you please give your sister some rest now...?!

That's enough.

[And wope.

With the clamp of a hand around a wrist, the video feed fixes stable again. Aimed up at another fellow, a big guy in his fifties. He looks down at the phone. Swipes it up with his free hand, palm mostly-covering the camera, and passes it over to Zoe.

She mutters "thanks, Daddy", turns her back right on the scene of the two men startin' into an argument - "Don't you steal from your sister again." "She's gonna have to share for a while."]

That or I'm gonna have to nail this down...

[And with a lift, there Zoe herself is onscreen.

Looking like a woman who hasn't had anywhere near enough sleep for this.

She can't even fake a smile for the moment, or look into the camera; eyes are off to the side, listening to her parents and brother talk. About the revelation that kicked the little spat off, actually, trying to process the development.]

Sorry you all had to see that. [Tacking on an... obligatory explanatory note.] My... family, can be a handful.

[Not as bad as it could be. Alas.]

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[Jill can't help but watch what appears to be a fight between siblings. It's like they're a couple of kids, even if they're obviously grown. When the feed stabilizes, Jill smiles.]

It's alright. Must be good to see your family again, though.

[The smile is actually... a little of a spirit-lifter, on Zoe's end, though her own little smile, nod down, and faint, breathy "hhhh..." are a little rueful in return.]

I've missed them.

[She'll admit that!

And... bah. At this point, even she doesn't know whether or not this is just a joke, but she drags a breath out, and says...]

Maybe my brother a little less than the others.

[The younger o' the two men behind her... seems to hear that! Eyes darting over wide before he lowers his brow in a "hhhuh...!" sort of fashion, glimpsing between Zoe and their father, taking a step to edge over with the beginnings of a grin.

As the older of them steps right between the two siblings to head him off -- ain't done with you yet, boy.]

[Jill can only imagine Zoe must've had a difficult childhood at times with such a pesky brother. All siblings tend to get into each other's business, though, from what Jill understands.]

I was an only child, so I can only guess.

[Ha, indeed, and it's not like she's never gotten into his, either - in fact, once they hit a grown-ish age, it was... mostly her. He withdrew right when she'd gotten wise to the way he liked to play.

She softly "ha"s, shakes her head...]

No idea what that's like.

He's the older one.

[She... wishes that she hadn't felt the inclination to say what she'd said, though, on that answer, not out of the fact that she made it sound bad, but that it had gone bad.]

Hope you kept yourself busy, any way.

[Clearly, it wasn't an easy childhood for Zoe, even with what should've looked like a nuclear family.]

I tried. Was kind of boring a lot of the time. I didn't have a lot of friends. We moved around. I spent a lot of time taking piano lessons. Hardly exciting.

[Sure came in handy, though.]

Sounds awful lonely.

[Not without a kind-of-sorry look in her eyes and trace of wry, tone-crackling humor at... herself, mostly. Thinking back on it, she would have looked back at growing up with a sibling with a distant fondness if it weren't for...

Well. How he'd turned out.]

It could be at times. A person can feel lonely in a big family, too, though. Depends on the family.

[She hopes that Zoe is at least getting some joy out of seeing them again.]

[ It would be an endearing video if it weren't for the intent of the deities of this city. She's witnessed too many people speaking to ghosts and now many of those once invisible beings have come to light just as the light of their anchor's slowly go out. ]

...Families can sometimes be a handful; it's all right. Has your family been here with you long? [ A subtle way of asking if they're real. ]

[Ha, if Alice had expressed that first part, Zoe might've caved and remarked that that's "only if you don't know my family", but things do feel different from the outside in.

And she... lets her head sink a little, on the question; she gets what's being gone at. A tired smile of acknowledgement - doesn't hit her eyes. Voice is a bit dry.]

No.

[Full stop and a shallow breath.]

-- They came a week ago.

[And, despite the earlier reprimand for his son hijacking, Jack, apparently done with Lucas for the moment, comes on in, gives Zoe a pat on the shoulder for her to look up on - she knows he knows she's not gonna really mind...

With a "hrmh" and a bit of good-humored emphasis through melancholy trailing along air.]

We already know we don't belong, here.

[ They already know and, for some reason, that makes her heart ache even worse. She smiles sadly, sincere in her next words. ]

I'm so sorry. [ As an exorcist, she's come across many ghosts, undead, and a variety of other creatures, but it's never been like this; it's never been not real. ]

They cannot stay, not... not without yourself fading away, too. [ She's felt it since the beginning, as if something were feeding off the energy and life blood of those who truly existed in this place. ]

[She appreciates the sympathy, honestly - a sorry little smile turns up in a corner, her head slightly bowed.

As Alice keeps speaking... she gradually looks up. Eyes starting to steadily widen. But her voice stays small, in a tentative neutrality.]

Then -- ...

[She gets it, but Jack gets it more actively consciously, dropping his head and wearily mumbling, rubbing Zoe's shoulder:]

I was afraid of that.

[And Lucas goes from watching the conversation through the corner of his eye to flouncing forward, the look on his face a kind of "Excuse me?!" And drawling as sharply as one can drawl in -- ]

What are you all oooon about?!

#1 | Video | Forward-Dated to the 26th

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