003 - [Video] Happy Birthday, Chloe Price.

[helladoomed]

[It's a little after noon when Chloe turns her communicator on. She's sitting on an old white plastic deck chair, and from the look of the buildings behind her, probably on a roof somewhere in Nonah. She's in a worn old white tanktop with a skull on the front, her jeans-covered legs propped up on something, her coat hanging off the back of her chair. She's spent the morning avoiding people, not answering her texts, just...brooding. There's a cigarette between her lips, and she takes a drag off it before she catches it with her other hand, her attention mostly on the phone.]

You ever think about time 'n shit? Like, how it hella doesn't make any sense here? Like, okay, back home, before I wound up here, it was 2013 right? In October.

[She leans back in her chair, resting the phone on her leg, tilted up so all the screen really catches is her face and neck and the clouds.]

Suddenly I'm here, it's three years and a couple months later. Just, wham, welcome to the future except it's a weird fucked up cold war version of the future. And I get like, it's way worse for other people, right? Pulled from other centuries or other fuckin' planets with their own weird-ass calendars but.

Three years.

[She's not even really sure what she's going on about, honestly. She'd been puzzling this over in her head all morning and hadn't gotten anywhere, so maybe she thought rambling out loud would help. It wasn't really working.]

So here we are, right? March 11th, 2016. Shit had gone different, I'd be twenty-two today.

[She hesitates, her gaze distant, up on the clouds as she took another puff off her cigarette.]

Instead, I guess I'm twenty. Sort of. Minus a couple months. Still my birthday though. [And then she smirks, pointing the two fingers holding her cigarette at the sky.] Fuck you, universe. Chloe Price made it to twenty after all.

[She scooped up the phone again, and for a second is framed in the picture again, the camera half-covered by her thumb as she reaches for the disconnect. Her voice is quieter again.]

Didn't see that comin'.

[Click.]

Comments

[fayzedandconfused]

Whoa, hey, I never said that.

[ Okay, yes she did. But that doesn't mean anything. ]

I just—whatever. I have boyfriends. I had a boyfriend at home! I made out with Max when we went on vacation. [ So! That's that!!! ]

[helladoomed]

[Chloe's smile is small but amused.]

Hey, if you say so. I'm just sayin', I've had boyfriends too. Yet look where am.

[A beat. Wait a sec.]

You were making out with mini-max? Do I need to give you the talk now, kid?

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Oh god now she looks pretty mortified. ]

Um. No. I think I'm good.

[helladoomed]

Oh thank fuck I wouldn't even know where to start. [A beat.] I guess you could do worse than Max, though...

[She leaned back in her chair and then pointed a fork at her.]

Okay, but seriously, you're thirteen. No sex. Nothin' that involves taking clothes off. Makeouts and hand holding.

[fayzedandconfused]

Gross, I'm thirteen, I'm not going to— [ No, okay, be cool, Breeze. ] I already lived with a guy for six months and nothing crazy happened. [ Mostly because Jack probably would have destroyed something by accident but still. ]

[helladoomed]

To what? Bang a cute boy? Or girl. Or I don't know, alien, I guess that's a thing here. You'll want to. Sooner than you think. [Chloe shrugs.] Trust me, I've been you. Except I made all those fuckin' mistakes. And it messed me up.

Just.

[She knew if she pushed it would do the opposite. It always had with her.]

Be careful. And you do screw up...call me, alright? No judging, just helping.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ She just covers her face with both hands so she doesn't have to look at Chloe. On the one hand, this conversation is absolutely horrifying and she wants it to be over five minutes ago. On the other hand, she wants to know what Chloe did that was so bad. Like, how many mistakes can one person make when it comes to this stuff? "All those" implies several. ]

Oh my god, did you get pregnant or something? [ It comes out sort of muffled, because... hands. ]

[helladoomed]

What? No! Fuck no! [Wrong word choice oops.] I've had condoms in my wallet since I was your-

[She caught herself and just groaned and slumped down more in her chair.]

Jesus kid. No. I did not get pregnant. And if you get pregnant I don't care how fast you are I will find a way to smack the shit out of you.

[Wait that was the wrong thing to say too.]

Then we'll handle it. After that.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Brianna lowers her hands, looking a little bit shocked. ]

Okay, okay. It was just a question.

[helladoomed]

I guess I do kind of give off that 'lived it hard' vibe, huh?

[She sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.]

Look Breeze, the point of all this bullshit is just...don't be stupid. Boys will try to pressure you into shit and you're gonna want to give in. Hella want to, if you're anything like me.

Just be careful. And seriously, if something goes wrong, you can come to me.

[How'd all this come from giving away cake?]

[fayzedandconfused]

You don't give off a vibe [ except "coolest ever" ] you said you made a bunch of mistakes, so I guessed. Anyway, I'm never having kids, so no worries.

[ She sighs. ] But thanks? For... whatever. Being cool.

[helladoomed]

Saying you're not having kids doesn't prevent you from getting knocked up.

[Just pointing that out.]

Hey, sure. It's what I'm here for. [That was...a weird thing to say, yet she found she didn't actually get bothered by it. Chloe Price, not running away from responsibility...what a strange birthday.]

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Well, Breeze running from feelings is par for the course, so she chooses that exact moment to get up from the table. ]

I should get going. Thanks for the cake, Chlo.