hadriel | video;

[There are probably a lot more important things going on...but the amount of stress and tension that said important things seem to be evoking is the exact reason Sal decides to make a post sharing his self inflicted predicament instead of sitting around trying to come up with something himself. He mostly just wants to talk — it doesn't matter if he doesn't find any information or help, it's just...for lack of a better word, a "mask".

Speaking of masks, there's now one masked and pig-tailed teenager peering into the phone as he makes sure it's working, sitting back when he thinks he has it. He's not used to using phones or devices this fancy. He doesn't even have a cell phone of his own back home.]

Has anyone ever like...built a birdhouse before out of something that wasn't blocks of wood? A two story birdhouse. With a couple of rooms, decent space. Uh, nothing too crazy and extravagant, obviously. But something still totally cool. Because I kind of want to do that.

You know, even if you've never done it before — because I sure as hell haven't, ideas would be neat.

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You're a good person, you know.

[moving on!]

It sucks that we don't have wood to use. Maybe you could cut open cans if you're careful with 'em?

[Oh, well shucks.]

Thank you.

[He just has to get that in, okay! But yes, moving on.]

Cans could be useful! He might be too big to fit into a standard cut open can but they make good building blocks. Something futuristic looking.

[cue the blushing and mumbling]

Oh. Yeah, sure.

[back to normal]

Yeah, if they're all put side-by-side and stacked on top of each other. It could work.

[Oh no what did he say?? Is she not used to 'thank you's? He hopes that's not the case. Everyone should be thanked for whatever it is they do or say. You know, the good and helpful things.]

I might have to glue some things in case he lands a little too hard and knocks everything over. [Even though he chuckles a little at the mental imagery he doesn't want that!] But yeah, sweet idea.

Cans can kinda make a weird house shape like the rest in the city too, huh?

[she's not only unused to thank yous, she's unused to people seeing her as a good person or even one that they want to have around]

They've got glue at the shops? Not the shitty glue, either, Gorilla Glue.

Exactly like the rest of the city. So it would feel at home. Speaking of, where did you end up?

[Sal will help her get used to both!]

Oh, I just recently settled down in Spire one. I was kind of floating around and figured I should actually pick something permanent.

[Once it finally sunk in that he really would be here a while.]

[it will take a long long long long long time]

It took me a while to settle down, too. When I first got here. Settling kind of made everything seem real.

[that's always a sinking feeling]

Yeah, I...yeah.

[He falters in his speech for a moment. It's the same reason it took him so long, and it was one of the more difficult things he's been dealing with.]

I guess it's good not to get too hung up on that, though.

[she gives him a sympathetic look because she's been there, done that, and got the tshirt. "hello, my name is George and it took me X number of days to accept that this shit was real"]

Yeah, you do that and you're gonna drive yourself nuts. I've been there.

I'm sorry.

[He'd be giving her a sympathetic look if he could. Well, he can, she just can't see it. It's definitely in his voice though. He's been there too..."going nuts", more times than he'd like to admit. Sometimes he still wakes up and for a good few seconds he's not sure if he's dreaming or if this is real...and that's not even exclusive to just this place.

This is why accepting this reality was needed, honestly.]

At least it means we can move forward from here...and that's always a good thing.

It's cool.

[she can hear the sympathy in his voice and appreciates it. unfortunately, her usual reaction to such things is to play it down. she doesn't entirely believe that she's worthy of sympathy or consideration]

Yeah, I guess so. It's hard to believe that I've been here for a year and. . . six months? Close to it, anyway.

I'm still struggling with the fact that I've been here for two months already, so I can only imagine.

[Time seems to go by so quickly, he wonders if he'll be here long enough to say "wow, a whole year already."]

With any luck, you won't have to. [she heaves a sigh] It's weird. I've mostly gotten used to the weird, but every now and then a new weird pops up that I wasn't expecting.

[it does go really fast. she has a hard time believing she's been here so long herself]

I kind of learned that no matter how weird life gets always expect it to get weirder.

Not that it ever stops me from being surprised.

Probably a good motto to live by. Even when you're technically not alive.

I feel like I've seen everything. Or at least everything this place can cough up.

I've had moments like that too. "Now I've seen everything." I usually find out shortly after that that's just not true.

Ugh. You realize that I'm jinxed now. You know that, right?

[said in a tone with no rancor whatsoever]

Whoops. At least things will keep being interesting though, right?

[Said with zero seriousness, though maybe he's a little serious. Maybe.]

Yeah, isn't that supposedly an old curse? "May you live in interesting times?" I'm not exactly alive, but fuck knows I live in interesting time. We all do.

We sure do. We should all learn to bond over it or something.

[That could be taken as a joke but he's totally serious.]

We really should. It would save us a fuckton of problems.

[she's heard worse ideas]

I know, right? Not everyone has to get a long but a little bit of bonding goes a long way.

Yeah. I mean, we're like a small town. Everybody knows everybody else's business, might as well put it to good use.

Man, I'm still not used to that. I mean, in school sure, everyone kind of has to know everyone. But this is way more close knit than any place I've ever lived.

I guess it's not totally a bad thing. Maybe, eventually, that'll help us all get on the same page. Or uh, at least in the same book.

Me, neither. I'm used to knowing either nothing about anybody or everything. This constant everything is an--an adjustment,

One would hope, anyway. People here tend to throw the book out, though.

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