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]

[ Bury her out back under a pile of plant matter, please. ]

Right. Waitressing... [ The irony is strong. Oh, but: ] I talked to Kitty Jones. About the work she does.

[ Which sounds about a thousand times better than waitressing and also makes her a little jealous and also makes her budding friend crush on Kitty a bit worse (little does she knows it's going to get really overblown before too long). Anyway. Waitressing.

She doesn't need to be given anymore time to brood either. Adam and Blue: people of action. ] I don't even need to ask if you're going to take some classes.

[aberth]

Kitty's a good person.

[ She pretty much fought her way under Adam's defences until he had no choice but to accept her. Lord knows, he'd tried to keep her at arm's length but that hadn't happened. ] Y'mean the auto shop? Or the politics stuff? Because if she asks you to go to dinner with someone as a favour just say no. [ He had been stuck with three teenage girls. It had been hilariously awkward and he will never forget it as long as he lives. ]

I'll probably do something. I don't know. It's weird here. Sometimes it feels like I shouldn't let myself settle, because I could be gone tomorrow. But then other days it's like a life is passing me by because I'm just waiting. I have college back home, but what if that's years down the line. Do I just not do that now? [ It's the most he's said on it to anyone so far. But it's been bugging him the closer he gets to graduating Xavier's. What next? Where does he go from here?

It's probably not something he should be off-loading on Blue though, so he shakes his head. ] It's one of those here things. Time. It's hard to get your head around.

[oceiteres]

[ Blue doesn't mind to listen though. At this point, there's so little that actually sounds out of place anymore... well. It's not that she's acclimating well, she just has a strong sense that it'll be better in the long run if she tries. Especially given what Adam's just said. ]

She was telling me about the shop. [ She didn't hear anything about politics. Or, not in so many words. They'll discuss it eventually. Even one conversation with Kitty has been enough that Blue can easily imagine this process of relationship-building between her and Adam. She has a feeling she's going to be fond of Kitty herself. ]

There's a lot about all of this that's hard to get your head around. [ General you. She slumps her shoulders and then squares them again in the span of five seconds. ] What do you want to do while you're here? [ She puts a little emphasis on 'want.' ]

[aberth]

Yeah, the shop's great. [ Obviously he has some pride in it, considering the hours he puts in. He hadn't even meant for it to become a thing but Kitty had offered up the chance to work with honest to god alien car shit and he'd been gone. So now he splits his time evenly between the two auto-shops. ]

I don't know. [ Sleep. Eat. Make out with Ronan.

( It strikes him then, that he doesn't know if she knows about him and Ronan. He doesn't know if she knows about her and Gansey. Because they'd talked about it here, and while Gansey had told him he manages to grow a pair in Henrietta and finally kiss the boy he likes, he's not sure how he dealt with it.

Christ. ) ]

I mostly like to keep busy. [ While his list is simple, he hasn't yet learnt how to chill out and let himself have it. ]

[oceiteres]

[ Blue smiles a little there. Well, at all of that. With utmost love: ] Wow, I'm super shocked. You? Keeping busy? [ Her head tilted a bit to the side, she watches him. ]

I don't see that it's a bad thing, I guess. Trying to go on living here, I mean. Better than doing nothing, which would clearly drive us both up a wall.

[ Clearly.

Also, it might be good if they did talk about the whole... significant other thing. With one another. Possibly. Blue tugs on the hem of her shirt, then looks at Adam again. ] It's too bad you can't transfer college credit across universes.

[aberth]

[ Maybe one day! He's getting better at talking about it. Kitty knows. As does Billy. But Blue is a different case entirely. They've both moved on, but there are still ties.

He pushes those thoughts out of his head, carefully listening to what Blue has to say instead. ] Could you imagine the paperwork you'd have to fill out? [ Faking a shudder. ] That's probably why we never remember when we leave. It's a survival mechanism against having to fill out forms.

[oceiteres]

[ There are things that make it tough, but Blue's seen some things recently that have really...

How to put it.

Well, her perspective on quite a bit has changed. It might be strange for them to talk about it across the gap in time between what he knows and what she knows, but then again, that might make it easier. Who knows. ]

I could die happy if I never saw another form again. [ Blue just wants to romp about in the wild, like a wild thing. Paperwork is not the occupation of a tree in the shape of a girl. ]

[aberth]

I think I'd have some problem with it.

[ He's not as wild. He has to have order and understanding, things in their place and the correct way to go about life. But that's what he has his friends for. They stop him from boxing up everything that makes him him.

Adam smiles, and this time it's full. ] I'm glad you're back, Blue.

[oceiteres]

You can do all of mine if you want! [ Isn't she generous? Lady Blue, queen of the Meadows, inheritor of the position by default as she's the only lady present. And that's sometimes a little questionable.

She's of the female persuasion. And the tree persuasion, but never mind that. Lady Blue! ]

Thanks, Adam. If you say it, I think it feels like I could be glad eventually too. [ She's smiling for real now as well, so it's not like she means this in a resentful sort of way. It's good to be here, with her friends. Living together. She'll find a way to make things fit. She-- they usually do. ]

[aberth]

[ Such a generous ruler. ]

Maybe. Unless you get sick of living with five boys. Then you might change your mind.

[oceiteres]

[ She is pretty generous. And hey, she's not the one who made all the rules either. Though she might amend some to the list... ]

I don't think I could actually get sick of you. I might get into a fist fight with Ronan though, no promises.

[aberth]

[ There's a snort of half laughter. ]

Don't let me stop you.

[ Ronan can handle himself. So can Blue. And he's fairly certain any fight they do get into won't be physical. ]

[oceiteres]

[ Blue raises her brows a little, looking either amused or somewhat bemused. No, it's the former. ]

Are you going to let us duke it out? [ He'd be right about all of that. But as much as she wants to fight Ronan as of this moment, she'll want to do so all the more soon... ] Not that anyone could really stop us if we wanted, of course.

[aberth]

I'm not really into the idea of being collateral damage. [ It's a joke. There's zero seriousness behind it, such is Adam's growth even here. He knows they're both feisty and terrifying, yeah, but he also knows they care too much about this thing they're all involved in. ]

Just give me a heads up. I can do the manly thing of escaping to work on my vegetable patch.

[oceiteres]

[ Blue's expression sobers a little, though not so much as to suck all the oxygen from the room. Adam's grown, yes, but Blue has a very vivid image in her mind, a very, very clear picture of... okay, not going there. She can get into verbal fisticuffs with Ronan and not drag Adam into it, she thinks. ]

That's very manly, yes. I'll be sure to send you smoke signals.

Or just use my phone, I guess.

[aberth]

They're handy.

[ He hated being given one at first, but knowing that everyone ends up with a free phone had helped him quickly get over that. And it's better for him, knowing he can find his friends at any given moment if he has to. ]

So yeah, if you need to throw down use that. Smoke means fire and I don't think you two need anything more volatile added into the mix.

[ He's teasing, mostly. ]

[oceiteres]

[ Blue protests the general level of accessibility it gives everyone with regard to contacting her, but she loves the idea that her friends can do so, so it's kind of a mixed bag. ]

You think we're going to seriously hurt each other one of these days or something?

[ She is teasing. ] He wouldn't. He's too nice. [ Blue Sargent is brutal. ]

[aberth]

[ Adam laughs without meaning to, if Ronan could hear them then they'd both be in a serious amount of trouble. ]

Yeah.

[ Because he is, sometimes, he is nice. ] I think he just doesn't want anyone to know about his soft, squishy center.

[oceiteres]

[ Good! Blue wants to get into trouble with Ronan, in defiance of his disapproval of Henry. Which is just not on. ]

Well, he covered it up with enough tattoos and carrion birds and muscle cars, didn't he? [ Too bad the tattoo is a beautiful work of art, the carrion bird is a pet he hand-raised from infancy, and the muscle car is a memory of his late father and clearly holds immense sentimental value to him. ]