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

[brushoff]

Christ...over a hundred and fifty or so? This is a pure stab in the dark, by the way.

[oceiteres]

That's a lot. So if both things you're saying are true, they must bring in a lot of new people pretty often. [ She's not that bad at math. ]

[brushoff]

We usually get around twenty to thirty new people every month. [ Dorian, on the other hand, is a bit iffy at mental math and is just guessing out the whoa. ]

[oceiteres]

So what does a person do to get sent home? [ She did say a thousand questions and he's answering, so. ]

[brushoff]

[ He's answering because he's a nice polite person and CERTAINLY not someone who almost made Noah cry that one time. ]

You don't really do anything. People get sent home at what seems like a random basis, with little to no actual explanation.

[oceiteres]

[ How and why. That's all she's going to be wondering. What kind of person would make Noah want to cry? Aside from Blue herself or maybe Gansey, which is probably in a totally different context. ]

"Seems like?" So no one's been trying to figure it out? [ She is judging you, mom. ]

[brushoff]

I'm sure some people have, [ said in a dismissive tone of voice and with a dismissive wave of his hand. ] But personally, I'm in no hurry to return back to my world.

[oceiteres]

[ Squinting a little. ] You don't want to go home. Or you don't want to leave here?

[brushoff]

The latter. [ And Dorian can't help but grin as he continues talking ] I'm getting married in a week, after all.

[oceiteres]

[ Well, that's surprising. ] Married? [ Okay, don't be rude, Blue. Now is not the time for the 'marriage is a societal construct to which all humans should think twice before binding themselves. You're your own person and don't need anyone else to validate your identity' spiel. ] Congratulations. You met here or...?

[brushoff]

Toby—oh, that's his name, by the way, Toby. Anyway, we actually met back in my world. But...circumstances made it so that we decided that we'd get married here. [ circumstances = back home, Satan's taken over Toby's body and ahahaha NOBODY'S GONNA KNOW THAT. ]

[oceiteres]

[ You and me and Satan makes three? Three's a crowd? Not keen to be an extra on the Exorcist? There's a lot of material there. ]

Oh, well, mazel tov. [ Read: what are "circumstances in your world" like if you want to get married here in the Twilight Zone instead? ] So your plan is to stay here forever.

[brushoff]

[ look if you're gonna have a third wheel in the marriage, there's a lot better people one can choose before Satan ]

I suppose it is. Of course, if things go horrifically pear-shaped then I suppose both of us will look for a way back home. But as it is? This place is actually rather nice.

[oceiteres]

[ Yes. Like, literally anyone. Ever. In the history of existence! Dorian, are you sane? Blue would like to know. ]

They basically kidnapped you, but it's 'rather nice?' [ Never mind, she got an answer to her question. ]

[brushoff]

We're treated like stars in this place, [ in a tone that's pure "duh, Blue." ] Of course it's rather nice! Granted, about every month or so someone messes something up in a spectacular way that inconveniences the rest of us, but c'est la vie, I suppose.

[oceiteres]

So you're fine with someone taking you against your will to a strange place because it's popular to be taken against your will to a strange place? [ She furrows her brow. ] And on top of that, inconvenient things happen a lot.

[brushoff]

I'm fine with someone taking me against my will to a strange place partly because I've had time to adapt, partly because Toby's here, partly because I've found people here I can actually tolerate which is a miracle in itself, and partly because the locals adore imPorts. Yes, inconvenient things do happen, but I'm particularly resilient and can bounce back quite easily.

[ get it, get it, get it, it's because he's immortal ]

[oceiteres]

[ Yes, that was a good one. ]

That can't be everyone's experience though. [ Yes, but you were just calling him out specifically, Blue... ]

[brushoff]

I never said I was talking about everyone's experience. [ bam, suck on that Blue Sargent ]

[oceiteres]

[ Grr. ]

Well, what about people who aren't so resilient? There's bound to be people who'll have a hard time no matter how long they're here.

[ She doesn't actually assume she'll be one of them, because her friends are present and they'll work together and it'll be okay somehow, even if it's distressing and weird and all she can really think about it what happened at home, not all this... nonsense. ]

[brushoff]

Then I can't speak on behalf of them, can I? [ Dorian just frowns for a moment before continuing. ] I'm glad to see you're talking with Kitty Jones, by the way. You're both the same sort of combative that you'll either get along wonderfully or terribly.

[ what happened to being nice........ ]

[oceiteres]

[ Now it sounds like she's talking to a person that Noah might not get along with. ]

I'm only combative if I think I need to be. If someone's hurting my friends, for instance. [ A beat. ] Do you usually listen in on other people's conversations?

[brushoff]

This is a public forum, you know. What the two of you are talking about is hardly a secret.

[oceiteres]

A coffee shop's a public place and I don't go there to listen to everyone's conversations. [ So there. ]

[brushoff]

But the intent of a coffee shop isn't conversations. The intent of a coffee shop is to get coffee—and plenty of people go to a coffee shop and take note of other's drink choices.