008 [Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris smiles and gives a small wave at the camera when the feed starts, then turns his hand to show Hope's blessing on the back of it.]

So uh, who else got one? And are they all from Hope, or...?

[This is so cool you guys he wants to see who else got what. And for something else slightly less important by still cool--]

Oh, also, my iPhone was up and working for a bit thanks to Pell, and I managed to get some music off it. I'll share on the condition no one makes fun of my taste.

[The last comment is a joke--he's really not going to be too hurt by jabs about his choice in music--but the offer is serious, and attached is a download of the music he's copied off so far. It's kind of a slow process, so there's still more on the phone that he can transfer later.]

Comments

[thechoiceisyours]

I guess not.

[Other than leading to different preparedness--or lackthereof--to deal with this place, maybe.]

[bekommen]

At least you get it. Shit like that used to go right over my ex's head.

[thechoiceisyours]

Was she just um... Oblivious?

[bekommen]

Kinda. Her parents were rich - like, send your kids to boarding school abroad, mansions on multiple continents rich. She couldn't really wrap her mind around the concept of not being able to afford things - like, I had some trouble with my wisdom teeth coming in, right, hurt like a motherfucker. She was like, "Nick, just go see a dentist." Didn't occur to her that I literally couldn't because I didn't have money to pay for insurance, must less fronting the cost of surgery to get 'em taken out. Hell, she never even had a job until after I met her. [Nick laughs quietly.] And me, I've been working since I was fifteen. I dunno why she ever thought we were a good idea together. We didn't really have a lot in common, outside of music and Andy.

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris is quiet while she talks; he can't exactly relate to her problems--his parents aren't that kind of rich, but they're well-off enough that he's never had to worry about basic needs or even some pricier luxury items like his technology interests--but he does know it's a reality for a lot of people. He's had friends at school from all extremes, from Josh's insanely wealthy family to kids who couldn't afford lunch.

So he can sympathize, even if he can't empathize.]

They uh, say opposite attract and whatever. Not sure how true that is, but...

[Maybe that was Kennedy's thought, and maybe she and Nick could've--or did--learn something from each other.]

[bekommen]

Maybe. I dunno, maybe she just liked the idea of slumming it with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks for a while to get back at her parents.

[thechoiceisyours]

Maybe, but if doing something edgy was all she cared about she should've just taken up underage drinking like I did.

[He grins a little, trying to lighten the mood a bit and only half serious. He really can't imagine someone going through the whole effort and emotion of dating someone just to get back at their parents, though.]

[bekommen]

Yeah, well, she mostly grew up in Europe. Drinking age is a lot lower there, I guess.

[Kennedy was incredibly fickle, and childish in a lot of ways. She absolutely would do something like pursue a girl who was in almost every way her opposite out of spite to her parents for the perceived punishment of sending her back to the States. Nick's been thinking - and talking - about Kennedy a lot more than she has since before she left Chicago, ever since that public display of drunken idiocy. Maybe this is a good thing? She just doesn't know.]

Anyway, enough of my dumb sob story. Thanks for the music.

[thechoiceisyours]

I think it's eighteen, same as Canada. The only good thing about Canada, actually.

[Never getting off the screw Canada train.]

No, it's um... It's totally fine. I don't mind.

[Any time she wants to talk it's okay; he thinks it's really good her her on top of that.]

[bekommen]

Yeah, well. Fuck Canada.

[Choo choo; Nick's on board that train for life.]

I dunno what else there is to say. I started talking to that Ushahin guy a while back, and he was sayin' a lot of stuff that sounded like shit she used to say, and I just. Started remembering everything again, y'know?

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. I know how that is.

[There have been a lot of things brought to the surface for him recently as well, and he thinks it's the same for pretty much everyone at his house.]

[bekommen]

[There's also the fact that Nick didn't really deal with her feelings about the breakup - Kennedy leaving her segued right into Andy's rejection, then she left Chicago and ended up in Vancouver. She barely had time to adjust to learning she was a Nightbane before she ended up here in Hadriel. Bottling up emotions only works for so long.]

When I was a kid, I used to wish I had a tape deck for a brain. Then I could just switch out the tapes whenever I didn't wanna think about something.

[thechoiceisyours]

[He's right there with her on that; he's only just beginning to try to deal with the events of the night on the mountain instead of ignoring them, let alone everything else that's happened since then.]

That'd be pretty convenient, yeah. Though maybe not tapes, since you have to like... Rewind those. And it's kind of tough to pick specific tracks.

[It's said with a small grin.]

[bekommen]

Don't tell me I gotta school you on the fine art of making a mixtape, now.

[thechoiceisyours]

You still totally can't pick a track. Fastforwarding to song four sucks.

[bekommen]

That's the whole point of making a mix, duh. You pick songs that go together so you don't have to fast-forward.

[thechoiceisyours]

There's always at least one song on a playlist that you start out really liking but then end up skipping every time.

[He knows this for a fact, Nick. An unarguable fact.]

[bekommen]

Then it sounds to me like you gotta up your mix-making game a bit, 'cause I can't say that's a problem I've ever had.

[So there. Facts schmacts.]

[thechoiceisyours]

I don't believe that like, at all. And my world has cannibal monster spirits flying around in it.

[So if he doesn't believe something, it's unbelievable. And never getting sick of a song on a playlist or mixtape or whatever she wants to call it is completely unbelievable.]

[bekommen]

What, good music is harder to believe in than monsters? Shit, if I had a tape deck here, I'd make you a mixtape and prove it.