video

[aglonby]

[ the feed comes on to show a boy with very tall hair and a much shorter girl with scratches on her face over her eye, one looking rather cheerful and the other less so. ]

Hi hi hi everyone, I have an important question. [ he holds up a finger, tilts his head as if a thought had just occurred to him. he's so preoccupied he was going to launch himself into his spiel without even introducing himself. ] I'm being rude. I am Henry Cheng, and we were wondering —

[ the not so tall and in fact very short girl interrupts. ] We're looking for someone we know! [ she pulls a little face, looking over at Mr. Henry Cheng. ] A few people, actually. [ okay, maybe that was a little rude. she murmurs something unintelligible and takes a step back. please, proceed. ]

And that was my lovely friend Blue. [ he gestures with a flourish toward her, shoots her a wink, absolutely unbothered by the interruption or her outburst. ] As she said, we are looking for someone. Multiple someones. I'm sure this place has a list of sorts, yes? A quick way to CTRL-F a friend's name and find out their status?

[ he looks a bit more serious, then, like underneath the cheerfulness he's exhausted. his next words are very earnest. ]

We would appreciate any info. Thank you.

[ in the background, Blue begins tromping away, shedding dead leaves for some reason, and can be vaguely heard to say 'maybe we should've mentioned Gansey by name' before the video ends. ]

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty's head tilts to the side. ]

Yes, actually. A bit. You do get used to it, I promise. Within a week or two, you'll feel positively sane again.

[oceiteres]

[ Blue looks like she decides this is reassuring, then not reassuring at all, then she's back to reassuring again. ] I hope so. I'm not getting anything accomplished, being confused by all this. [ Congratulations, Kitty, you sort of brought her back around to her no-nonsense, get it done, Blue Sargent self. ]

I guess I'm probably going to have this conversation a few more times, aren't I?

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty nods in approval in response to that practicality. ]

A few. Gansey will know the people you knew before. So no one will be able to lie about you being friends or anything.

[oceiteres]

Right, that's a good point. Thank you. I'll talk to him about it. [ They have... a lot to talk about. A whole lot. ] You mentioned Noah, Adam, and Ronan too. But you don't know Henry?

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty shakes his head. ]

Is he from that school of theirs, as well?

[oceiteres]

[ Her lip twitches a little. That might's been a split second of a thing resembling a smile. ] He's a student there, yes. Am I the only person from Henrietta who isn't a raven boy?

[rathercommon]

[ And Kitty answers with a smile of her own, encouraged by that tiny bit of friendliness. ]

Is that what you call the boys from that school? Well, I should think that Adam would want you to consider him a raven man. But - no. No one else that I know of.

[oceiteres]

[ Okay, that evokes something like a proper smile. ] With varying degrees of affection. [ She gives a brief shake of her head. It's a 'oh Adam Parrish' head shake. A 'I'm undoubtedly becoming one of those people who says "raven boys" and means it affectionately, in spite of trying very hard not to be' head shake. ] I guess they could become raven men when they graduate. That's not too far off, back there. But it's already June here, right?

[ Nope. She doesn't wanna linger on that. She's feeling a bit better about this and about her ability to fuss about it later when she has more information, so. ]

[rathercommon]

June eighth. Honestly, though, I think they're a ways off from being raven men yet. I've seen the condition they live in.

[oceiteres]

I kinda shudder to think. [ She heard about The Meadows. Or, you know. Sort of vaguely. ]

[rathercommon]

[ With a little grin - ]

God, you're going to be exposed to it soon, I'm sure. Gansey is so proud of all of it. I'm sure you'll be dragged there straightaway. God, brace yourself.

[oceiteres]

[ Her smile goes a bit wry. ] I'm sure he is. Considering how he lives most of the time and the fact that he can't stand not to be doing something...

[ Should she feel weird saying that? Hm. A question for later. ]

[rathercommon]

Yeah. For a while, he was building this replica of - oh, one of the cities. I can't recall which one. I think De Chima.

[oceiteres]

Out of cereal boxes or something else?

[ She does not look sappy, but she does look the Blue Sargent approximation thereof. ] He must've eaten a ton of cereal back there. [ "At home" feels weird to say. ]

[rathercommon]

I'm pretty sure they were cereal boxes. Yeah. Is this a habit of his?

[oceiteres]

[ She shrugs while smiling a little. ] Apparently it is. I can't say I'm surprised he kept it up here.

[rathercommon]

He's on the hunt for ley lines here, too.

[oceiteres]

[ One of her brows, the one opposite the side of her face that looks like she might've gotten in a fight with a very large cat, rises delicately. ] Is he now?

I can't even pretend to be surprised...

[rathercommon]

[ A little giggle - ]

Nope. You know, there was some magic cast a few months back that made most of us into younger versions of ourselves, so I bumped into him when he was ten years old or thereabouts. And practically the first thing he asks me is about ley lines.

[oceiteres]

[ Her mouth sort of drops open. ]

You saw him when he was ten? [ Wait... ] How was he? Aside from the usual. Way too curious for his own good.

[rathercommon]

Ridiculously cute. Actually quite brave, too. I think I probably threatened to hit him at some point, and he stood up to me. And he was very keen on me having a right to read, which was awfully noble of him. [ A beat - ] Sort of a prat, though.

[oceiteres]

[ Her expression goes a bit frowny at the part about hitting and the part about reading, but then relaxes at the end. ] That's about right then. [ Minor hesitation. ] You know him pretty well?

[rathercommon]

[ A nod. ]

I'd consider him one of my very good friends here. Adam, too - Adam works in my shop. The others I know a bit less well.

[oceiteres]

[ How to explain what happens here? "Blue Sargent experienced a twinge of something weird. Jealousy? She wasn't sure, but it was weird and she didn't like it. It was at odds with her impression of this girl who had really been very decent to her so far..." Something like that. ]

Oh. [ She has a few questions. ] What kind of shop is it?

[rathercommon]

[ And Kitty, meanwhile, tries to exude unflagging bubbly charm. Because she knows that the whole situation is uncomfortable, and so she'd like to just trample that with sheer force of will. ]

A car shop, if you'd believe it. We take cars and fix them up to sell, and then donate the proceeds to local public transit. [ She smiles, then, her face lighting up with an honest and ferocious sort of pride - ] Heropa has enormously expanded its bus network thanks to us.