☞ 034. (accidental video + text)

[wouldnotkindly]

[When the feed clicks on, it shows . . . a pair of jaws adamantly chewing at the camera lens. They retreat after a moment, revealing the owner to be a small black dragon, evidently one of those left over from the infestation a few weeks ago; it cocks its head, scratches at the camera lens, and then resumes chewing on it.

After about a minute of this, though, it's interrupted by a noise: a loud, low rumbling sound reminiscent of the bellow of a whale. The dragon's head jerks back at once, looking somewhere beyond the camera, and it makes a high-pitched trilling noise in response before it tries to chew on the camera again. Before it can do much more damage, however, the device is lifted up and away, and the feed clicks off.

A short time later, a text post follows:]

Sorry about that, if anyone saw
I dont know how he got a hold of this thing
Anyway

1 wrench, $25
4 first aid kits, $60
3 EVE hypos, $75
1 pistol, $100
36 pistol rounds, $150

This is all thats left of what i brought from home
I dont know what anything else here might be worth
In terms of money i mean
But thats all

Comments

[spotlighted]

Was that a whale?

[For some reason, Ruby is way too excited about that prospect, although obviously that doesn't show over text.]

Why are you counting hypos seperately? Shouldn't they be stored in the first aid kit? I suppose if you're listing assets, all the stuff inside the first aid kits should be counted individually too, shouldn't it?

[She's only trying to be helpful. Besides, at least she didn't ask why anyone would have four first aid kits. Maybe he just has a lot of bandaids he needs to store somewhere.]

[wouldnotkindly]

[Oops.]

No
There are hypos in the first aid kits too but EVE hypos are different
And i dont know how much the stuff inside the kits cost on their own
They were all together when i found them

[spotlighted]

Oh.

[More than a little disappointed. If there was a whale somewhere in the city, that would have been far too wonderful for her.]

Well, whatever it was, it seems like it did the job. I don't understand why anyone kept one of those scaly pests anyway.

When you ... found them? You didn't run off with some poor unsuspecting people's bandages and aspirin, did you?

[onset]

... You kept it.

[wouldnotkindly]

[It's a good thing text doesn't convey tone, because he's a feeling a bit defensive at that.]

I kept him because hes my friend
Anyway
Whoever bought them originally, they werent using them any more
Or going to use them at all even

[You know, on account of them being dead. Or spliced into oblivion.]

[wouldnotkindly]

Of course i did

[onset]

Of course you did.

[but why tho]

[spotlighted]

You must have gotten a much better one than I did. Mine tried to burn down my apartment.

And that's a little better, I guess. [Not that she likes the idea of stealing first aid kits of all things.] Well, I guess they must have kept you in one piece, anyway, and that's a good thing.

[wouldnotkindly]

Well he cant really burn anything down
So that helps

I never stole any of them
Im not a thief
And i wouldnt have taken them at all if i didnt need them to not die

Text

[rianofski]

Would it be too much to ask to hope that that noise wasn't exactly what it sounded like?

[wouldnotkindly]

[Again, with the defensiveness...]

Because hes my friend

Text

[wouldnotkindly]

[Oops. Again.]

That depends on what you think it sounded like

Re: Text

[rianofski]

Let's not play coy, shall we? It's tiresome.

[wouldnotkindly]

[If Ryan could see him fume...]

No
Not exactly

[rianofski]

[He would probably love to see him fume.]

Good. Or perhaps not good, depending on what it actually was.

[spotlighted]

I'm very envious, then. I still need to replace the curtains and the rug in my living room, the one I had burnt them to cinders. I don't know what I'd have done if Meyer hadn't taken care of it for me.

No, you're a very good bouncer and a very nice man, and anything more than that I don't care about, even if you'd got a stash of a million first aid kits. [There was a time where she'd have been far more disapproving of either thieving or looting, but with the amount of criminals she was on friendly terms with here, she'd had to relax a lot. Besides, she certainly didn't put Jack in the same category as them.] Just ... don't put yourself in that position again, okay? I wouldn't like it one bit if you died.

[wouldnotkindly]

Somehow i dont think you would actually care
If you did know what it was

[rianofski]

You might be surprised.

[wouldnotkindly]

Fine

[Part of him thinks that he ought to switch the conversation to a private setting before he actually tells him. Then again, a greater part of him is too annoyed to care.]

It was me

[rianofski]

Either you have a remarkably uncanny talent for impersonations, or you've been hiding a rather odd secret.

[wouldnotkindly]

A lot of things happened after you died
I had to make myself sound like one of them

[There's a pause.]

Its permanent

[rianofski]

[You know what his favorite thing is? Hint: It's not talking about how he died.]

I see. How unfortunate. I can't imagine why you'd need to make yourself sound like one of them, but I'm not sure I'd like to.

[wouldnotkindly]

He can probably do some damage but not that much
He might like you actually

[And then there's a pause.]

Thank you
Whenever i go home again though
I wont really have a choice

[wouldnotkindly]

[Too bad, because Jack doesn't particularly like talking about this either.]

No
I dont think you would

[rianofski]

Why did you keep the dragon?

[Changing subjects is a go.]