[Video; Laptop]

[youngestone]

[Another video from Killian that doesn't start with his face. This one starts with all the work he picked up in his last post spread out on a table, ready and waiting. A few pieces are wrapped but he's out of paper so.

For a week's work, it's all pretty damn fancy (and vaguely Celtic/Norse in design). Cheap materials, but fancy. His bow from before is also on the table and a set of armguards are on top of it. The bow is obviously not modern. The guards are, however.]

If you placed an order with me last week, it's done. Just tell me when you want me to deliver it or when you want to pick it up or who I should mail it to.

[He sounds much better than he did last week. He shifts the camera so he's in view.]

And...thanks to anyone who commissioned stuff. With all this and a few other sales I had more than enough to cover Mom's funeral. Which, um, was yesterday.

[Yep, still hurting from that. It takes a moment before he can speak again]

Anyway, sometime during all of this I got that bow on the table there [and here he picks it up] and I was wondering if anyone knows a place I could get arrows for it that won't ask where I got it or if anyone's had an arrow-making pulse recently or something.

Comments

[betroth]

[ Her expression drops. ]

I was... afraid of that. Whenever you're ready, you're — always welcome to say here for more than just Christmas. My house is your house.

[youngestone]

I just...

[He sighs, curling in on himself a little]

I've never felt alone like this. It kind of sucks. A lot.

[betroth]

You didn't stay awake all night, did you?

[youngestone]

...most of it.

[betroth]

Thinking too much? Or... nightmares?

[youngestone]

Both.

[betroth]

Do you want me to come pick you up? We could just drive for a little while, to clear your mind.

[youngestone]

...yeah. That'd be nice.

[betroth]

Give me a little time to get over there, alright?

action?

[youngestone]

Yeah, okay. I'll meet you down by the gate.

action!

[betroth]

[ Chloe doesn't spend very long getting ready, so it takes her a little under an hour to make it back into the city and find her way to Shou's place. In truth, she's been worried sick herself, but when she pulls up to the gate and hits the power locks, she's determined to put on a brave face.

Or about as brave of a face as she can muster. ]

Ready to go?

action

[youngestone]

[Killian doesn't wait for the gate to open all the way. He just shimmies through. He's in all black and kind of hunched up]

Yeah. Where to?

[betroth]

[ Once the car door slams behind him, she puts the truck in reverse to get the back out of the stately complex. For a moment, she's quiet. It's amiable enough, while she thinks. City lights, or lonely roads through the woods... which would help, if any? ]

Wherever you'd like. I just didn't like the thought of you being alone.

[youngestone]

I'm good anywhere just...not the graveyard. Or any of the churches.

[He glances over at her, smiling just a little in thanks]

I am hungry, though. For the first time in a week.

[betroth]

Well then, we can't just let you go with an empty stomach!

[ Tapping her fingertips on the wheel, she considers the options. Someplace too nice probably wouldn't do the either of them any good. The less eyes, the better. But she didn't want to take him just anywhere... ]

It might be a little late, but... breakfast? How does that sound?

[youngestone]

I'm not a breakfast-food type of guy, except for maybe bacon. Honestly, I'd be good with a burger.

[betroth]

I thought steak and eggs, perhaps... [ A little laugh. Something hearty — well, she thinks food for the soul is a thing. ] We can do that!

[youngestone]

Y'know, I never did like that. My uncles did, but I just wanted bacon and sleep. Steak, sure, but not with eggs.

[betroth]

Bacon and sleep. That — mm, well, that's not so much of a surprise, now that you mention it.

[ Once they make it onto the surface streets again, around the bustle of the dinner rush, she heads past the restaurant-fronts that look a bit too crowded. ]

We'll avoid the busy places, but I think I have just the thing in mind.

[youngestone]

What, you saying I'm predictable?

[He smiles]

And--thanks. For everything.

[betroth]

Everyone has things that make them unique, wouldn't you say? Predictability and all.

[ Her expression mellows. ]

...You're welcome.

[youngestone]

I...seriously, I don't think you get how much having people not my family actually give a damn about me means to me.

[He shifts, a little awkward]

S'weird, almost.

[betroth]

[ Chloe's quiet a minute, digesting that. ]

It was really just you and your mother for a long time, wasn't it?

[youngestone]

Actually, that was new. It was just us and the rest of the Ryan clan for my entire life before April, though. Never really had many friends outside of them.

[betroth]

Everyone deserves a chance, regardless of where they come from. I-I believe that... from the bottom of my heart.