hadriel | Video

[The video opens with Jack crouched on the beach, a handful of sand trickling from the gaps between his fingers. He's staring at it like he's trying to find the catch, something that would prove that it's counterfeit.

After a moment he sighs and dusts his hands together.]

Am I the only one who liked the city better the way it was? Or does that make me a blasphemer? [Wouldn't be the first time. He glances back, eyes lifting in the direction of the skyscrapers.] This looks a little too much like the city I came from.

[Everything clean and shiny and fake. Jack sighs before he speaks again.]

I'm looking for something that I lost recently, something that I was hoping someone might've found. [Jack chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment.] It's one of those hairless little...things. I haven't seen it in days. I don't think it could see very well, and I doubt it could swim. If anyone has seen one wandering around-

[He doesn't know how to finish. He cares, and that's never been an easy thing for Jack to show. He takes another deep breath, forcing a smile to his lips.]

Return it and I'm in your debt. Maybe we could even roll around on the beach together, make memories, get sand in our underwear. That sort of thing.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I haven't seen it, but I can still help you make memories with our new found eternal sunset anyway.

I bet you can. We might even have time to squeeze in a volleyball game. What do you say?

The little rabbit looking things? There was one in my garden yesterday.... I can bring you there and maybe it'll come to you.

Volleyball. Sounds invigorating.

[says connor, who plays lacrosse]

It's having fun with balls. Who doesn't love that?

Those are the ones. [jack looks hopeful at the mention of it, even if hope is something that scares him more often than not these days. he struggles with what to say for a moment or two before finally nodding.] Please.

Sure. I might get a little turned around, though, I hope you don't mind a walk. [ The new setting has him pretty confused. ] Where exactly are you now?

I've gotten used to walking. We can call it sightseeing. [jack feels that same confusion. funny, he thinks he could give better directions if it was just rocks around him.] There's a smoothie stand. And a store with a giant inflatable duck in the window.

I swear I'm not making that up.

I'll keep an eye out for your pet while I'm on patrol.

No sand required.

[Not that he isn't attractive. It's an interesting offer, though.]

You must not like where you come from very much.

[Since he doesn't like the new look of the world.]

[ Pell laughs softly at the insistence that the duck is real. ] Okay, I know where the new waterfront shops are. I'll find the duck and then hopefully you. [ The video shifts around him like he's started walking, the light suddenly getting brighter; he's stepped outside. ] Ten minutes or so? I'll see you soon.

[ His feed turns off, then, as he's focusing on not getting lost as he finds the place. It's a little longer than ten minutes but Jack will spot him soon, a small figure with a long braid peering curiously into shop windows. When he spots the duck he stops abruptly, smiles, and glances around for Jack. ]

He doesn't bite. [which just confuses jack even more as to why he got so angry, why he now feels actual guilt about it.] And I'll tell you a thing about sand - it chafes. It always sounds like a better idea than it actually is.

[jack takes a second look around, like he might see things a little differently this time.]

It's complicated. What do you think about it?

Yes, you're a terrible, blasphemous person and you should be punished.

[She's using her super serious voice.]

[ The video shows off a nug, snuggled down on a couch and draped with a tiny, nug-sized blanket. Maybe that stubby nose looks familiar, or those big, dark eyes. ]

Is this your little fucker? [ She lifts the blanket a little and beneath a naked paw is a well-worn paintbrush, marked by the nug's teeth. ] He claimed one of my paintbrushes as a chew toy.

['Sup? Hope you don't mind a walking, talking skeleton on your feed, 'cause Sans don't seem too bothered by the fact that he has no flesh or organs to speak of.]

Couple people really had it out for animals a little bit ago.

[Just as a warning.]

Hot. But not as hot as all the sand you're going to get in places you don't want it.

[Hello, complete stranger, have a completely black video because someone is covering the camera with her fingers. Rydia still has to learn how to use cellphones properly...]

I preferred the city as it was as well... but everyone seems so happy it's hard to complain.

[somehow the duck seemed ridiculous to him. he keeps waiting for it to turn into a monster hellbent on killing him.

he moves closer to that window just to give it a dirty look, daring it to move. then he turns and rests his head back against the glass. jack starts pacing long before the ten minutes are up, and he's on the verge of contacting pell again when he spots him.]

See? I told you. [he glances at the inflatable as he walks closer to pell.] It would probably come in handy if you couldn't swim. I think I'd rather drown.

You sound like a very strict disciplinarian. Where would you start? The time-out step? Sending me to bed without dinner?

Unlucky me, I can't swim and don't particularly want to be holding on to that.

[ There's something discomforting about it, about all of this new cheery setting -- Pell hasn't quite bought the illusion but he hasn't broken it either so he's stuck somewhere in between where it all seems quietly malicious. And there's so much moving water around. Drowning is a legitimate concern. ]

Anyway. I'm Pell. Let's head to my garden and see if your pet is still around. What do you call it?

[jack shouldn't be able to tell one of those damn things from the next. they're all dark-eyed and pink and naked, like some newborn babe that didn't quite get 'done'.

but there's a sudden weight lifted from his chest, and he has no doubt.]

Where did you find it?

You're a little old for those, don't you think? I'd have to skip straight to monitoring your electronics use. No unsupervised funtime, mister!

Please, you don't think I'd put a towel down first? I'm a gentleman.

[even when the place was a cave, it wasn't that dark. it takes jack a moment to figure out what's happening.]

Either you're covering up your phone, or someone's buried you in the sand. I really hope it's the first.

Stay away from the water. Or learn.

[jack frowns. he's still not convinced of just how real the water is, but he bets it's real enough to drown in.]

Jack. And it doesn't have a name. Did it look injured to you?

What if I don't mind being watched?

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