O2 👶 VIDEO;

[pillz]

[technically, baba marta was a month ago and in another country. but it’s april fool in the united states which is close enough. according to his companion, this is better than shooting homeless people with paintball guns. when the video shudders into view, 10-year-old richard gansey iii stands on a heropa beach lit by mitsubishi headlights. the little boy is festooned in birds, a hilariously tall stork standing on his left shoulder, half a dozen tiny swallowtails running down his right arm. he looks very solemn and alarmingly adorable. from behind the cellphone camera, a voice (kavinsky’s) (drunk) (not more than usual) calls out:] Okay mini-Dick, telling your loving public what gives.

[ Dick is, in fact, more interested in the swallows than the camera. He seems relatively at peace with the stork, even when it starts to climb from his shoulder to the top of his head, but the swallows are running along his arms, and he has to keep moving to give them somewhere to go. ]

Are you sure the birds won't be scared of the fireworks? I don't want to make them -

[ Then he does look up, and sees the red light on Kavinsky's phone. His eyes widen. ]

We're already live?!

[ Concern is instantly replaced with the kind of smile that hints this is not his first photoshoot. ]

Hi, everyone! Joseph wants to tell all of you about the Baby Martha.

[ He pauses, looking expectantly at the boy offscreen. ]

Motherfucker I said no name-- fine. Fine, [kavinsky's disembodied voice is annoyed, but cussing at a smol child is just regular kavinsky. he never got pr lessons.] Baba Marta is a celebration of Spring. Life and renewal, bitches! March is a grandma who spends all winter fucking, shakes out her broke-ass mattress to make the last big snow, and the sun comes out when she smiles. [this is not the version you’re going to find in an encyclopedia. It’s also not child-safe. but everything is still mostly ok.] Me and homey here are bringing the Goddamn season.

[ Dick is wearing an expression of strong disapproval every time Kavinsky curses. It’s the kind of look you might see from your dad, which roughly translates as We’ve talked about this, son. But if they have, Kavinsky was clearly not listening, and Dick is not about to be put off by words alone. There are, after all, going to be fireworks. He was promised. ]

Okay, okay! Show them. Oh, wait.

[ One hand waves at the stork, getting it to fly, and then Dick starts to gather the swallows into the relative safety of his hands. ]

Fuckin’ sweet. [and then the camera fumbles. kavinsky clamps gansey’s little head between his elbows and puts his hands over his own ears, so that the camera winds up with a weird, skewed shot of the sky. the next instant, fireworks rip out of the mortar embedded nearby in the sand and up into the night overhead. deafening. red and white. the imports of heropa might even hear it, the distant pop-pop that goes with the flash of smoke and color over the seaside sky, punctuating the boardwalk lights and saturday beach club music. birds soar! the video goes out.]

Comments

[inmyothertights]

This cannot possibly end well-

Kavinsky, right?

Jeez.

[incipit]

[ The flying boy. ]

Hey!

[ Dick's voice is too loud now. The fireworks have not been quiet. ]

Did you see? They're so cool, he made them out of nothing!

[inmyothertights]

[Great, someone who can create explosives who Gansey's friends don't like. Great.]

Looks like you're getting your fair share of magic.

Uh. Is Adam with you? Or Ronan?

[incipit]

What did you say?

[ There are still fireworks going off in the background. Dick is also on his own phone by now. He more or less knows how to work it, but the shot is even more shaky than when Kavinsky was in charge. ]

No, I'm in Heropa. At the beach, see?

[ The camera swings wildly around, taking in the shoreline again. ]

It's okay, Joseph will take me home later!

text;

[pillz]

kvinsky right

waht up billkap
u want 2 come out i got more 40s

text;

[inmyothertights]

i might

i didn't know you could make explosives

audio only, trying to hide from Kavinsky

[dreamkid]

If you go can you get Gansey, bring him home? Please?

[ This post makes Matthew exceedingly anxious and he sounds it--hasty, stumbling, nervous. He needs a grown-up and you happen to be right here, Billy. Friend of Gansey. Reality bending person. ]

[pillz]

i only started adveritsing pretyy recently lol
hey
do u know who dis other bich on audio crpapin his pants at u

[he doesn't, apparently, assign the same significance to matthew that matthew assigns to him.]

video;

[earnedmystripes]

Oi, oi, watch it with your language!! There's a kid with you, and a bunch more on this network!

text;

[pillz]

ehy youre that old man whos been on my ass right
not gonna lie readin over the texts was a lil creepy.
its ok
the kid is tough

text;

[earnedmystripes]

[He blinks. and blinks some more before switching to text.]

uh
what

[Maybe you should actually consider checking out what's in your phone, Kotetsu.]

[pillz]

i gt texts from u
pre amensia
i think ur supposed 2 be my hot teacher :)

video;

[incipit]

[ There's definitely something smug about Dick's expression now. There's hints of the older Gansey shining through. ]

I told him not to swear. You don't have to swear to sound cool.

Especially when you can do magic.

[ The thought of which makes his face light up, because magic is real, everyone. Dick just caught it on video. Magical birds and magical fireworks, and no one can say that didn't happen because it did. It is. ]

video;

[earnedmystripes]

[HE GIVES THIS KID A THUMBS-UP AND A HUGE GRIN.]

Exactly! There's waaaaaay better ways of sounding cool than swearing.

Like magic.

[It's probably just a NEXT ability, but you don't rain on a kid's magic parade, that's just not cool.]

video

[rathercommon]

[ Frowning: ]

This is stupid. You could hurt animals like that.

text;

[pillz]

spokn like a vegan?!/

hey i know u
knew

[he's good at reviewing old texts and phone notes.

he didn't know he tended to try and pawn off guns and knives on tiny girls, though. kavinsky sort of gawks at the video on his phone for a long moment. sometimes, even he has to wonder at himself.]

[rathercommon]

[ What's a vegan, she starts to ask, but then she realizes - ]

What was your name again? [ Looking at the network tag: ] Kavinsky, is it.

video

[incipit]

[ Oh no it's the smart girl from the library. She's older than him and also pretty, and smart, and he's very invested in making sure she doesn't disapprove of him.

Quickly. ]

No no no. They're special birds, and...

I kept them safe, anyway. I wouldn't let them get hurt, I promise.

[ Don't think badly of him, Kitty Jones. ]

video

[rathercommon]

[ Being tough and scary is important to her, and so she doesn't let her frown slip even a little bit. Though...maybe it turns a little more curious as a result of what he said. So, with a wary sort of interest: ]

Special how?

( video. )

[aberth]

[ The sharp and sudden dread that fills his stomach is alarming. Adam is vaguely aware of Kavinsky, because there's not a person in Henrietta who isn't, and because he goes to Aglionby. But there paths have yet to cross ( at least for this Adam ) and so the feeling he gets is strong and strange. He's sure, suddenly, there's more to it than intense dislike.

Adam wants to punch something.

He addresses his response to the ten year old and not the Bulgarian trash dumpster, choosing video at the last moment because maybe actually seeing him will impart something of the seriousness. ]

Gansey. You need to come home.

( video. )

[incipit]

[ It's so weird to hear himself called that by someone who's not a teacher. Dick blinks, and then frowns, not fully understanding the look on Adam's face.

He looks alarmed. ]

I will soon. I promise.

Are you okay?

( video. )

[aberth]

Everything's fine.

[ Why you always lyin'? ]

Which Porter city are you in? I'll come meet you.

Action

[incipit]

[ As the fireworks die away, Dick - who had watched them with rapt attention - spins under Joseph's hands to grin at him. ]

Those! Were amazing!

[ He's talking way too loud, he can't hear properly. His ears are ringing, in fact. ]

Baba Marta's gonna love them!

[pillz]

[in the wake of the explosions, the barn swallows in gansey's hands are like jslgjlk mskglhh lsgklsf. their tweets are really hard to hear under the deafness, though, and the safety of gansey's hands should have them evening out in a few minutes.

not that kavinsky is really paying any attention to them.

he relinquishes his small companion, stands straight. swings his arms out, and lets loose a yell of triumph into the night sky. wooooooooooOOOo, something like that, more of a wolf's howl, primal and quite high than anything that belongs in the lungs of a human. once the sound breaks off, kavinsky's gelled head levels again.] Yeah, you got it, mini-D, [he says.] Baba Marta. Not Baby Martha. Baba Marta. Hey. Hey, [he looks down at the shuddering fluffs in gansey's hands.] When they chill, you can move the Mitsu. You want?

[incipit]

[ Dick soothes the birds in his hands, being very gentle with them. He hadn't thought he liked birds that much, but since waking up here, there's been so many of them. There's the raven at his house, and the chickens, and all the birds that seem to follow Ronan around. He's starting to think that birds are okay.

He doesn't want them to be scared.

He's also not completely sure what a mitsu is, so when he looks up, and sees what Kavinsky means, his eyes widen. ]

What?! Like the car? I can't do that, I don't know how to drive!

[ Or reach the pedals, most likely. But that's a secondary concern. ]

What if we crash?