( ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ )

[mantlepieces]

[ It's dark -- mostly because it's late, but there aren't an excess of lights on, either -- though Reggie's face is faintly illuminated by the light of his communicator screen and also something off-screen that might be a TV or bedside light. Either way, he's recognizable enough, and though he's smirking faintly his expression is otherwise somewhat blank.

He's been staying out of most of the current drama as best as any survival-oriented, cowardly narcissist can, which is pretty damn well. All things considered. Basically he hasn't been leaving the house if he can avoid it, for which has his reasons. ]

So, all right. Hear me out. Anyone else ever noticed how once you're here, you have to just start believin' in everything? Like that any kinda crap is possible and you just gotta get used to it... after a while you don't even have to think about it anymore. [ Which is, you know, nice. In his opinion. ] Nice thing about that is not having to worry so much about whatever happens, I think. No matter how bad things have gotten here, it's never been the end of the world.

... Well, not yet. [ And his brow crinkles at that, but only briefly. ] Kinda makes you think, huh? Like what's the best way to take advantage of being stuck in some world that actually takes okay care of us? Don't even bother arguing with me about that part, it's true and everyone oughta know it. We get a lot of free, fake time to kill being here, so I say it should be obvious: we can do whatever we can't do back where we came from. Anyway, what I actually wanna know is--

Anyone here made a bucket list yet?

Comments

[mantlepieces]

The gist of it, anyway. Doesn't have to be written down, it's just like, symbolic so you can cross things out as you do 'em.

[ A pause. ]

Let me guess, it involves travel?

[oathkeeping]

Maybe a little. I dunno—I've been to a lot of places, but I never used to get to decide where I went. Going places would be cool, but what I really want is just to try new things. And I want to be surprised. Does that go on one of these lists?

[mantlepieces]

Technically it could, but it's sorta, you know... vague. Doesn't matter so much as long as you know what you mean, but you might as well not even bother with a list if you don't got specifics.

For example: What kinda new things?

[oathkeeping]

[That's a good question. An important one, really, since if Roxas can't answer it, he doesn't have a list at all, that's right. He gives it the consideration such a question deserves.]

I'd like to try all the different kinds of food you can get here that I couldn't where I came from.

[Which is, like, all the food.]

[mantlepieces]

[ The nosy, deflective part of Reggie does appreciate the thought put into the answers in a detached sort of way, even if he doesn't exactly relate to them. Like now; he raises his eyebrow. ]

Man, a lot of people love to eat around here. Do you just not got food where you're from? One of those places where it's all scarce or nasty, like that?

[oathkeeping]

We had really good ice cream, but the rest...the people I lived with couldn't cook much, and I never got to learn. It was pretty much sandwiches all the time.

[And the Dusks had some weird ideas about sandwiches. Egg salad and jelly. Yuck.]

[mantlepieces]

Well, you're in luck, bein' in the land of the All-You-Can-Eat now. Seafood and everythin' too, if you're still in Florida.

That's a sad list, though. You gotta think up something else besides stuffin' your face, gluttony's no way to live a life.

[oathkeeping]

Speak for yourself. I can spend a lot of good times that way.

[Though actually, now that he thinks about it.]

Hey, what about you? Don't you have something on your bucket list?

[mantlepieces]

I am speaking for myself. I got a trim figure to maintain, after all -- can't go screwin' up my work-out regimen pigging out.

[ Reggie's only just a little bit of a judgmental jerk, obviously. Just a little bit. ]

Yeah, a few things -- not that food's involved. I got a love life to consider.

[oathkeeping]

Oh. You have a...heh, I don't know if that's something I'd want to worry about.

[Life here is complicated enough without worrying about that stuff, he figures.]

So you like someone here? What happens if they go back to their world?

[mantlepieces]

Oh -- well, I don't mean that. It's not about liking someone, it's just about havin' a good time. No stress of separation anxiety involved, I don't get attached to people that easy.

So, yeah, we're entitled to enjoy ourselves while we're here. Better not to get super serious about it, though.

[oathkeeping]

I guess so.

[Actually, he doesn't get it. Maybe this is something that normal teenagers just know? Hmm.]

I don't think I could make any friends and not be sad when they left, though.

[mantlepieces]

How come? I mean, none of this is meant to be permanent. So everyone says, at least. Making attachments seems kind of stupid, then; you're just askin' to be disappointed if you don't keep it chill.

[oathkeeping]

Something doesn't have to be permanent to matter. Maybe nothing lasts forever. You're still losing something.

I'm sorry for the delay, had to take a sudden hiatus!

[mantlepieces]

Mmn. [ Not a very articulate noise, no, but Roxas isn't wrong and Reggie doesn't like hearing that shit. ] I mean, yeah -- that's life. But this is even less than that. When we go back it's like nothing ever happened.

no worries!

[oathkeeping]

But it did. [He's not trying to be a jerk, but he can't let this go.] I haven't left this world since I got here, but I've forgotten things before, and didn't even know anything was missing. But they never stopped being important.

[mantlepieces]

I haven't left it either. [ He pauses. ] What do you mean? How would you even know?

[oathkeeping]

It's hard to explain. I didn't know for sure until I came here, and I remembered again...but some of the things I did where I came from, the decisions I made—they were because of what I lost. It made a difference to me.

[mantlepieces]

I can tell you right now that if I ever go back, nothing I did here is going to make any difference with what I do there. I mean, yeah, if you remember it even a little bit, it'll have some effect. Maybe. But all this?

[oathkeeping]

Maybe you're right. I don't know more about your world than you do. [Or anything, really.] I'm just saying—if something is important, it's still important even if you forget. It still mattered.

[mantlepieces]

Hard to see how. If "forgetting" in this case means it's like it never happened.

[oathkeeping]

But it did.

[He sighs]

Never mind.

[mantlepieces]

It did but we don't know it did.

[ He exhales impatiently. ]

I mean you gotta know that makes no sense, right?

[oathkeeping]

I know it doesn't! But lots of things don't!

[In his life, anyway. But here too.]

Imports coming here and going home without memories and coming back here remembering again doesn't make sense either. But it still happens.

[mantlepieces]

[ He's starting to feel a little turned around and confused. ]

That's totally different. We don't remember this place 'cause we aren't supposed to even be here -- remembering if we come back doesn't make the rest of it actually important in the long run. It's still just borrowed time.