EIGHTH SONG ♫ VIDEO (backdated to before the deserted event!)

[hasitsthorns]

[ It's inky black when the video starts rolling. The camera adjusts to the low light and focuses on Rose. It's still hard to make her out in the dark but she sits with legs crossed and guitar in hand. It's been a while. Normally, she only addresses the network when she's got something ridiculous to share with her fellow Hadrielites but today's clearly more of a somber affair.

There's the quiet count of 1, 2, 3... and a song starts to carry on the night air. She sings in time with the tune, a melancholy lilt to her voice. ]

I found God in a catalytic converter in Topeka on a Monday night. I taste blood every time I think of summer. If that's true, I'm in for quite a treat, 'cause I'm beggin' for the sun in a mid-Missouri winter waitin' desperately to get outta' town. No, you can't keep a good man down. You've been known to obsess over the future. Do you think you'll get away from the past? As you stone yourself just to make it through 'til midnight consider what you might have found; you think you've got a good thing now.

I found God in a catalytic converter in Topeka on a Monday night. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future so you know what keeps me hangin' around. No, you can't keep a good man down. From here on, you can count on all things going the way they must've from the start. All you feel, all you feel, all you feel is the current flowing through you and seizing your infected heart-

[ There's a pause. A hitch of breath, a mistake and jumbled sound of the wrong strings. Almost immediately after, she laughs. ]

Ah, jeez. Lame. I said I wasn't gonna' cry. [ The blond clears her throat, gives a shaky breath. ]

It's been two years, give or take, since I arrived here. I'm the only one left of the Havenites. It's kind of... wild to think about sometimes. I had a lot I wanted to say, actually. A lot I felt. [ She lapses into silence again briefly. ]

I thought maybe I'd just sing instead. That seemed fitting. Despite everything, there's still... some parts of the me that came before all this. I know I've changed. Not in just bad ways, of course, but. Kind of makes you wonder, you know? A lot of what could have been, what might have been... For me, this is all there is anymore and some days I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Anyway. I just wanted to say Happy Two Year Hadriel Anniversary to me, I guess. It's been a pretty alright ride, all things considered. Here's to hoping I make it another year and however many more to come.

[ Her hand reaches out, blocking the lens and ending the feed. ]

Comments

video.

[puzzlingly]

「There is a lot of mixed feelings regarding this post. From the conversations he's gathered from Rose, he knows what she considers this place to be, but also, the truth is, Hadriel is not the best place in the world to be — but it's a place, and it's a place in which she's... here. Alive. Better in comparison to the other one she mentions at least.

It is him who has the mixed feelings it seems, he's happy for her, and yet, he know she deserves better.」

Happy anniversary.

「For what it's worth.」

video.

[hasitsthorns]

[ She's not sure about that. As far as Rose is concerned, she doesn't really deserve much of anything. ]

Thanks, dude. How long have you been here anyway? Seems like it's been a while now.

video.

[puzzlingly]

「One day... maybe.」

Hmm, something close to a year.

「He goes quietly thoughtful, usually he doesn't think much about it.」

video.

[hasitsthorns]

Dang, that long?

There's more of us old-timers here than I thought.

video.

[puzzlingly]

Haha... Honestly? It's not long at all.

「Given his circumstances, but she might not know them, it's a little strange, given how much he seems to know about hers.」

Though... yeah it feels like a lifetime.

「Maybe because he hadn't been alive for millennia. Getting used to it was a bit of a challenge.」

video.

[hasitsthorns]

[ To that, she can only give a hum of agreement. Yeah. ]

I feel you. I'm three-hundred forty-two, give or take, and I still feel like these past few years have been intense.

video

[am_i_a_monster]

I like some of those lyrics.   Every sinner has a future.  That's a nice idea.

There's nothing lame about crying.  Everyone has the moments. I think we all wonder about what could have been too.

[She gives her a small smile.] 

Congratulations on making it two years.

video

[hasitsthorns]

Yeah, I like the message of it too. Kind of nice.

[ She appreciates being told that its alright to cry. It's a lot to unpack, honestly. ]

Thanks. It's kind of an accomplishment in this place, I guess.

video

[am_i_a_monster]

I think it's an accompaniment anywhere from what I've heard about other worlds, and what I know about my own.

video

[hasitsthorns]

Well, hey. Fair enough.

Surprised I made it out of Haven sometimes, honestly.

video

[am_i_a_monster]

Sometimes I do things to remind myself that I'm here and safe. Safer.

[Audio][Private]

[drabsolutelynot]

When you say 'hoping you make it to another year'...do you mean another year here? Or...are you referring to something else...

[Audio][Private]

[hasitsthorns]

A little bit of both, honestly.

Who knows what the future holds?

[drabsolutelynot]

Well none of us...but that's different from what we might want the future to hold.

[hasitsthorns]

[ At that, Rose only gives a thoughtful hum. ]

Guess I'm pretty alright with however things go, really. Can't say I've wanted a lot these days.

video

[unphase]

[this video opens on a fifteen year old girl sitting neatly in a chair, back straight with a curious, yet empathetic look on her face]

You sing very well. I liked the song, I've never heard it before. And there's nothing wrong with crying if that's how you feel.

You've been here for two years?

video

[hasitsthorns]

[ Rose has to blink. Gods, she's so young. ]

Hey, thanks. I appreciate that but... I probably still won't make a habit out of it or anything, if I can help it.

But yeah. Give or take. How about you? New around these parts?

video

[unphase]

[young and completely new to the ways of Hadriel]

That's okay. But you shouldn't hold things in.

[says the girl who's in complete denial of the likelihood of her own death in her world.

she nods] Very new. Very . . . unsettled.

video

[hasitsthorns]

[ Ah. That's advice she will absolutely never take ever but it is appreciated, so. ]

You'll get used to it. Or maybe you won't and be gone before you know it. One of the two.

video

[unphase]

[her eyebrows raise in surprise]

People come and go so quickly here?

shows up super late lmfao, video!

[sciencelizard]

[She'll answer with a little bit of clapping, just as she should commemorate.]

I, uhm-- I'm coming up on my two year, too. Not next month, but uhm, the month after. I think. It's... hard to t-think that it's been so long.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Oh. Hey. ]

Yeah, I was gonna' say- You've been here almost as long as me, huh? I remember when you first showed up and Newt and Hermann were still around.

My Newt, anyway. New one is cool but- Still kind of hard sometimes.

[sciencelizard]

[She nods, a bit somber.]

Yeah. I remember. Sans introduced me to them.

[It's part of why she protects the Lab so much. That's their legacy. She spent months listening to Newt's recordings when she was alone, like listening to podcasts to simulate having friends. Except these were way sadder.]

I didn't know him as well, so, uhm. It was nice to get to know him now, a-at least. But I think about that sort of stuff a lot. The people I might never... you know.

[hasitsthorns]

[ 'You know.'

Does she ever. ]

Yeah. So do I. It... It hit me harder than I realized, I think, when Wade disappeared. I'm the last one from Haven now.

[sciencelizard]

I'm sorry.

[She means it, too. She knows how it feels to meet people, make friends, and then see every one of them taken until there's no one left.]

I've been the only p-person from my world here for a long time now. Ever since Mettaton disappeared more than six months ago. It's... it's a lot. To sort of think about, and deal with.