video | un: NAILS

[nichocolatine]

[ the video begins with badou wearing one of his usual tees, carefully setting his phone down so the camera angle can spot him sitting on his living room floor surrounded by an array of dresses. affixed to his wrist is a little cloth pumpkin, stuck full of needles and pins. he's without his usual cigarette, instead sucking on a lollipop that stains his lips bright red. last time he made a post on the network his neck was bruised and bandaged — this time it's the same thing, but the bruise is angrier, spreading across his neck and shoulder, disappearing under a bandage and gauze that looks about ready to get changed in an hour or two. ]

Evenin'.

[ he picks up the skirt of one of the dresses, flipping it inside-out to access the pocket he'd been working on attaching. ]

So I'm sittin' here, mendin' dresses — as you do — and I nicked myself pretty good and I'm thinkin', well, shit, that's another one I gotta wait on, y'know?

[ he lifts a forefinger, displaying a bandage that looks an awful like like dora the explorer, and wiggles it in the direction of the camera. ]

It got me thinkin'—

How many of us here are just regular ol' humans? Or whatever. I'm talkin' no magic, no special augmentations, no fancy shamcy abilities that got you doin' better than the average guy.

[ he pauses to finish off a stitch, making a knot with his thread and cutting the excess with his teeth. ]

See, where I'm from, that ain't the norm. But that doesn't seem to be the case around here.

[ oh, one more thing— ]

And if you are one of the special ones, go ahead and tell us what you can do. Why not, right? What else do any of us got to hide at this point?

Comments

[nichocolatine]

[ he heaves a sigh. fine... FINE. he'll play. what else is there to do? ]

You must be feelin' outta sorts then. Not a lot of shells around here, last I checked.

[cranekin]

Eeeh... it isn't that bad!

(And he laughs. If it was a video, he'd be waving a bandaged hand in the air to show it isn't a huge deal,)

Even back home, no one has played with sea shells in a long time. It's easier to use cards these days.

[nichocolatine]

[ something clicks in badou's head. ]

Oh — it's a game.

[ did badou really just imagine this dude going around beaches, finding similar-looking shells to collect? yes. ]

[cranekin]

Huh?

(What???)

What else would it be?

(He is old and confused.)

[nichocolatine]

Nothin', forget I said anythin'.

S'that your only special skill?

[cranekin]

Of course not.

(He isn't that boring.)

I can use a sword, too. Ah, but it doesn't really matter right now.

(Considering he is sword-less.)

[nichocolatine]

Pretty disproportionate amount of fighters here, huh. Only for all of us to get our balls cut off.

[ a pause and a smile. ]

So to speak.

[cranekin]

Perhaps its for the better. Last month would have been much different if everyone was armed, don't you think?

(He knows he would have been much deadlier if he'd had his sword.)

Though, it feels like things have been getting more dangerous...

(The bank had been fine enough. The mall had been a twisted mind game. This recent Halloween experience had been much more violent, though.)

[nichocolatine]

[ badou's lips lift into something wry. ]

Sure feels that way, huh? Like they're gearing up for somethin'.

[ "they" being their benevolent hosts, of course. whoever they are. ]

Kinda silly they're forcin' us to be so violent when they got rules about killin'. It's not like they need an excuse to punish us if they felt like it.

[cranekin]

They brought so many violent people here, told us to behave, and then made so many of us act out anyway... actually, I was surprised by how strong some people here are even with their limitations.

(It's funny. He sounds amused by it all,)

Ah, and people say I'm difficult to understand. I don't really know what's going on here.

[nichocolatine]

Hell, maybe that's what they get off on. [ if his next stitch is a particularly aggressive stab, don't pay it much mind. ] Watchin' us all run around with our heads cut off.