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

[oceiteres]

[ She half-squints, half-glares at the screen. ] Are you registered?

[brushoff]

Indeed I am. [ free stuff, yo. ] But I hardly buy into the party line.

[oceiteres]

You don't believe in what they're doing, but you go along with it? That's pragmatic. [ She says "pragmatic" like it's a synonym for "that gross thing I found on the bottom of my shoe the other day." ]

[brushoff]

I'm never one to turn away a free meal. Registration comes with room, board, a little bit of a stipend, and a whole host of other benefits. If you don't give an ideological damn one way or the other, why not register?

[oceiteres]

[ That's too practical. ]

I'd need to know more about what the "party line" actually entails before I said more, I guess. [ She shrugs aggressively. ] If something's hurtful, it doesn't matter if it doesn't hurt me personally, I still wouldn't want to do it without a good reason.

[brushoff]

Really, the government here seems more incompetent than outright hurtful.

[oceiteres]

So that's going to be familiar at least. [ Yay. ]

[brushoff]

The more things change... [ and Dorian trails off with that implied 'the more they stay the same.' ]

[oceiteres]

[ Her expression clearly says she doesn't like the sound of that. ] And you're still okay with that?

[brushoff]

When you've lived as long as I have, you learn there are some things it'd always best not to challenge. [ Governments are always inept, people are stubborn, just accept things and simply keep living ]

[oceiteres]

I guess I can't really argue with that. [ She'd love to. She's riled and ready to go. But she has this thought and whatever it is, it seems to change her tune a little. ]

[brushoff]

[ There's a small pause before Dorian frowns. ] Ah Christ, I never gave you my name, did I. Dorian Gray—sorry about that, it's a bit rude.

[oceiteres]

[ Okay, here's a Look. ] You're immortal and your name's Dorian Gray. [ ... public school has not failed her that badly, okay... ]

[brushoff]

The one and only. [ and just look at Dorian smiiiiiiiirk oh how he LOVES that reaction. ]

[oceiteres]

So, what, the book is your biography? [ She sounds skeptical, but not aggressively so. Well, she's heard weirder... ]

[brushoff]

Except for the bit where I die, it is. In my world, I knew Oscar Wilde. And, oddly enough, it seems that Wilde's text permeated multiple universes.

[oceiteres]

It is sold under the fiction section. [ Whether this is meant to address the death part, the part where he knew Oscar Wilde, or the multiversal thing is unclear. ]

[brushoff]

Of course it is, do you really think Oscar would be able to sell a story about a magical painting under biography?

[oceiteres]

[ She shrugs lightly, clearly trying not to look affronted. ] I just meant it's strange for someone to tell you a pretty popular work of fiction really happened.

[brushoff]

Want me to burst your bubble with regards to other pretty popular works of fiction?

[oceiteres]

There's more? [ Dangit, she laughed a little. Curses. Fiddlesticks. Fudge a duck. ]

[brushoff]

I've met Mina Harker and Henry Jekyll before. [ just casually saying this like you know, no big deal ]

[oceiteres]

Next you're going to tell me you met Dr. Frankenstein.

[brushoff]

I wish, [ Dorian can't help but muse, with a small little grin of his own. ] I'm sure I could have helped the good doctor...ah, loosen up a bit.

[oceiteres]

[ She raises both brows, though one less so than the other because of all the nastiness on her face. ] Right.