savetheearth | [Video; Laptop]

[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.

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[ 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.

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.

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?

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

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!

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

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.

What, you saying I'm predictable?

[He smiles]

And--thanks. For everything.

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

[ Her expression mellows. ]

...You're welcome.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Th--ah.

[Why does he always get pulses when he's about to eat? He sways in his seat as the memory plays in his mind, frowning]

Pulse. Again. I swear, you and Skyler...

[ Blinking over at him once she's able to stop at a red light, her eyes are wide. ]

Another one? [ A beat, before she smiles a little. ] ...I suppose — no, I am grateful that I'm not the only one to have told you that.

You and Skyler give me more pulses than the doc, and we're from the same place.

[He laughs weakly, digging around in the glovebox for any sign of painkillers. Pulses give him headaches]

Yeah, though...it wasn't aimed at me? But with this group of people I was with. Something about a guy who didn't belong coming back to help us get our home back--remember that song I got back when we first met? I think that's related--but he came back because he had a home and we didn't.

[Killian sighs]

Nice to know some things never change.

How could I — what do you need? Ah, look here — [ she taps on the compartment between the seats ] ...yes, I remember. It was beautiful. And meant you were looking for a home?

Painkillers. Those stupid pulses give me a headache.

[He digs through it]

Yeah, I mean, I'm assuming that the home mentioned in the song is the one we were going to get back. Makes sense, right?

[ Humming, she keeps her eyes on the road and turns off onto a side-street. It's still a little before the dinner rush, so the diner there, which had a bit of everything, was still mostly empty. ]

It does. Helping you find the place you belonged... whoever it was must have been brave. That's not a small thing to do for someone else.

Yeah, I...I got that feeling from the guy in the pulse. Someone wasn't too impressed but you can't please everyone.

Accepting help from someone is also a form of bravery, wouldn't you think? [ Chloe turns into the parking lot. ] Knowing you have a path to walk is different from asking someone to walk it with you.

[ She cuts the engine and smiles. ]

Here we are! Still hungry?

[He doesn't respond to the first, but he nods at her question]

Yeah, maybe food'll help kill this headache before it gets bad.

Then, let's go get you that burger. I heard this is the best place to get one on this side of town!

[Video; Laptop]

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