savetheearth | [Video]

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[Video]

[You're treated to an unsteady, sort of skewed moving view of the inside of the apartment Julien shares with his sister. Visible mostly are the floor, the lower edges of walls and furnishings, and his legs and bare feet as he walks nervously through, but it's decent enough. Not entirely neat but clean, at least. To human eyes. He sounds... well, he's gotten so good at sounding normal, but right now Julien's talking with two nearly-identical harmonizing voices and a sort of flange, and doesn't sound good.]

Is this even working? Shit. I don't - it looks sort of like home but this doesn't make any sense, why is - what - dyes? Ugh, god, look at this. I don't... look, what is even with that! [It's a laundry basket full of haphazardly stacked clothes. Looks totally normal.] Even my hands, that's so gross. [There's a flash of one of them. Clean, with trimmed fingernails.]

That's her handwriting. [A note in blue pen on the kitchen table, saying did the headache pass? he might be sick if he's sleeping in this late and don't you dare try to tough it out, saying she took Valerie to the daycare, and go the other way if he meets sootballs again.] Pens don't come in that... color. Nothing is that color. Shit. Am I even... in Kansas anymore?

[The view starts to turn but stops on a shot that includes the window. Blue midmorning sky, barely a cloud in sight, but his phone trembles and he sounds even worse.]

Oh my god.

Oh god.

- I can't stay here.

[So yeah! Bird vision: not like ours. If the game was a series and people RPed him, this would be used as proof that he doesn't react well stuck in jamjars.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Better than I was. Sorry for worrying you. I think I should name some of the colors... the big, basic ones, anyway. So I can actually have words and describe them.

Don't apologize for that.

So your vision has stayed the same?

[Breathy exhale that might have been his laugh.] All right.

Hasn't gone back to normal, if that's what you mean. It's just... intense. My sister's going to get back in a couple hours. ...I'm probably not going to react well.

Do you want some company until then?

If you can put up with me. Haha... Still not at my best.

[ There's a soft laugh from her end. ]

Of course I can. Anytime.

Well... you know where I live? It's - [yeah apartment in a halfway decent part of town. On the shabby side a little but clean.]

I can let you in. Um... the apartment was clean yesterday...

Please don't worry about that! And I'll find it. I won't be long, okay?

Okay. I'm... not going anywhere, heh.

[ A little while later there will be a gentle knock at the door. ]

Julien?

Coming.

[At the bottom of the apartment stairwell, near the door, there's a metal folding chair, often moved around but never absent. Julien's been sitting on it and looking up, but when Colette knocks he pulls the heavy door open, and doesn't get out of the way to let her in because... he's staring.]

[At any but the closest range the weird texture to his irises isn't visible. They aren't as purple as earlier in the day but still not quite blue. Most obviously, his pupils grow and shrink rapidly enough to notice.]

[ She's relieved to hear that he ... sounds okay? Though she's still not very sure. He's been through a lot before this; there's a good chance that he's just gotten better at hiding how he's really feeling. After all, he was good at that to begin with.

Colette waits patiently for him to open the door, fingers slung over the strap of her messenger bag. She looks up at him when the door opens but doesn't step to move inside - partially because he's standing there and not leaving much room for her to do so, but because there's... something off. She's not entirely sure what right away but it's something, enough to send a little chill up her spine.

Despite her worries she offers him as cheerful of a smile she can muster. Can he even see her? ]

Hello, Julien.

[People look like this now. Julien tells himself to stop expecting otherwise. If he doesn't go and get used to it he's not going to be able to go out, or have a conversation face-to-face, ever again.]

[But damned if it's not hard. He licks his lips, blinking the clear extra eyelids that slide out of the inner corners of each eye, and tries to pay more attention to the contours of her face. They're more familiar.]

...Hi. [Stepping backwards, he holds the door wider and steels himself to not wince.] So sorry, I... I don't know what's come over me that I forget how to treat a lady. Hahaha.

[ She's quiet as he blinks, seems to try to...focus, and she doesn't want to distract him or startle him. He still doesn't look well and her lips are tight with her worries. Otherwise her face shows no signs of it, no lines around her eyes, though they aren't laughing like they usually do. They're much calmer, reflecting her concerns. ]

Don't worry about that. You're still not feeling well, right?

[ She steps past him, glancing up at him when she's close enough, looking into his face. ]

Is it bad?

[Eyes in particular are alarming. The brightly colored shine to them, the way they move in their sockets, the texture of the irises, the curved spikiness of eyelashes, the slowness of a blink. Julien has to keep himself - pupils shrinking to points for a moment as he does - from backing away.]

[His irises are pebbled or granular-looking. 'Rough, like asphalt', Aaron had said. In the center they are a silvery pearl color, only really visible when his pupils are small.]

I...

It's nothing I can't get used to, Colette.

[He swallows and tries to smile.]

Might take a while, though.

[ She reaches up to touch her fingers against the side of his cheek. There's definitely something wrong... but she's certainly no kind of doctor, so she can't really say what it is. But his eyes... they're not right. She drops her hand after a second -- it was uncalled for, she should just touch his face like that, and her fingers curl. ]

I'm sorry.

[He sees that coming and his inner eyelids close reflexively, cutting off reflective gleam and darkening his eyes, whites and all. When she lets her hand fall, Julien reaches for it.]

I know. [Very quietly] So am I.

But, I'll get used to it. Can't just... feel sorry for myself.

[ She shakes her head a little. Feeling sorry... wouldn't help anything, not really. It'd probably only make him feel worse. ]

Right. ... Right.

[ A pause. ]

Is there anything I can do? Make you a drink, or..?

[ Something. ]

Guess you might as well... come up, come in. Not the only one in the building anymore, but I don't want to talk to the neighbors, hah, I think I annoy them and I don't go out of my way to be a pest to such people! We're on the fourth floor.

[He... chatters and mostly seems normal about it, but his extra eyelids are still closed and he watches her in a way that is half fascinated horror, half... lost.]

I'd guess everything in the fridge or pantry is still good, if it was yesterday? But I can't tell, it's - hah, it just looks gross! I can't make myself take anything, even the water's weird. [Fluoride.]

Even the water...?

[ Oh, dear. Has he not been eating? That's not good at all. She steps inside and up so that they won't bother the neighbors, keeping close to him just in case something should happen. She can feel his eyes on her though she makes no comments on that; whatever he was seeing it was new and probably nothing she could begin to fathom -- and to make him describe it... it seemed a little cruel, so soon. ]

You need to eat, though. Maybe we can find you something that won't seem so bad?

Heh... Obviously I'm taking good care of myself. You could be my taste-tester? Pretty sure none of it is actually lethal.

[When he climbs the stairs his steps are heavy and he clutches at the rail a bit, and avoids seemingly random spots. The apartment door opens up into a living room/kitchen space. Picture books and small toys adorn most surfaces, there's a basket of stacked laundry on the floor, loads of scribbles on the fridge, but it does seem clean and there are crayons in a bucket and not scattered across the floor.]

Welcome to Sakazaki House. I'd... say it doesn't usually look like this, but [this is what home looks like now. This is what it will always look like now. He spent hours in here after Aaron left trying to make sense of it, but it's still new.] well! Hah. Hope you don't mind I closed the blinds.

Thank you for having me.

[ She steps into the room and clasps her hands behind her back, nodding her head a bit. ]

Oh, no, not at all! That's fine.

[ After a moment she decides she likes this apartment. It seems very lived in, like a place a family certainly dwells. Not cold. ]

Sure, I can taste-test for you, if that'd help! Anything you need, Julien.

...okay. That, uh... [His smile is a little feeble] that would help. Leftovers? I made a chicken thing last night, and asparagus.

Sure! [ She smiles, giving him a bit of a nod. ] Do you like cooking, Julien?

Sure. I've chef-ed in a diner before... I don't like having to rush all the time, so.

[Opening the refrigerator, removing tupperware containers, and getting their contents - white rice, bite-sized chicken bits in sauce, vegetables - on a plate, those tasks all take longer than they really should. Looking at the food, Julien can't help making a dismayed sound deep in his ribcage.]

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