|4| [Video]

[wing_attack]

[The video clicks on, and there is... well. There's a Rufflet and an Ursaring in colorful party hats.]

[In an inn room. He finally sprung for one tonight, yeah. Tobias turns the camera around and grins, though it's a little bit of a crooked grin. His last birthday... didn't go so well. Or was that the birthday before? The last birthday he paid attention to the date on, at least. Anyway.]

What kind of stuff do you guys do for your birthday where you're from? I never really did much for mine, so I decided to get a room for the night. It's kind of nice here, though it's sort of expensive...

[... He's probably going to go back to sleeping outside tomorrow night. Oh well.]

... Maybe we'll go out to eat or somethi -

[Aaand the Ursaring tackles him, and Tobias is left flailing under a pile of brown fur.]

Rachel! You're too big now! Get off!

[The Ursaring just laughs and Tobias crawls out from under her, turning the video off as her party hat falls and bonks him on the head.]

Comments

[lieutenantantichrist]

[A laughing bear is a kinda disturbing thing.

Blake has the phone set up on the kitchen counter as he tosses around some stir fry in a pan.]

Once you outgrow the cake and party hats crap, usually the tradition is get wasted and go to a-

[He pauses, and for a second there's just the sound of sizzling.]

Wait, how old are you, kid?

[Meanwhile, on a table behind him, his Clauncher is writing something on the small chalkboard he insisted on Blake buying for him. After a moment the little lobster finishes and holds it up to the camera. It reads: HAPPY BIRTHDAY]

[wing_attack]

Fifteen? No. Sixteen. I think.

[He glances over at Felix and grins a bit.]

Thanks.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake takes a hard left from where he'd been headed] In that case, cake.

You're supposed to keep track of these things, y'know. Most kids around now are getting excited about getting their driver's permit.

[Blake twists around to see what he's looking at, and see Felix lift a claw in salute.]

You friends with my lobster? He's a weird little guy. Got him that chalkboard like he wanted, and he keeps using it to tell me to read books.

[wing_attack]

I lose track of the date a lot. I'm not in school, and I don't exactly have a home that has a calendar.

[He nods at the question, though.]

I told him a poem I remembered from a while ago. It was a Shel Silverstein poem.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Nobody's in school around here. You mean back at home, too?

[Blake adds that up as he adds some bell peppers to the pan.] Living on the streets, huh.

[His Snubbull waves to the young man before going back to check the rice. That is her job and she takes it very seriously.

Blake runs the name through the list of poets he knows. It doesn't take long.] Never heard of him. One of those fancy bastards who went around comparing shit to a summer's day?

[wing_attack]

At home. I was living on the land behind my friend's farm.

[What a cute... dog-thing? He doesn't even know anymore.]

No. He wrote kid's poems. Like...

[... Can he come up with another one - right.]

Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird —
But if you’re a worm, sleep late.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Runaway? [He grinds in some pepper.] Your friend's kind of an asshole if they didn't let you come inside.

[She is indeed a very cute dog-thing! Her ears twitch when she hears the young man recite.

She applauds when he's done. The corner of Blake's mouth quirks.] Heh. Beats crap about sunsets, or a hundred pages of shit nobody can understand.

[wing_attack]

No, it's... kind of complicated. She's one of the kindest people I know, though. My situation is weird.

[He nods at that.]

I used to read a lot of poetry, and fantasy books, and science fiction. I haven't had much of a chance to read lately, though.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake grunts to himself.] Someday I'll meet somebody here who's got a normal situation. I can bet you it won't be anytime soon.

[Blake's guessing it's the parents will flip the fuck out if they find her harboring a runaway type of complicated.]

If it's books you want, there's plenty of libraries around here. My lobster keeps hassling me to go to one. What's a fish want with books?

[wing_attack]

I am not the person you want to go to for normal, believe me.

[He does have to laugh a little at that.]

Hey, these guys have as much personality as any person does.

['Person' being a broader definition to him now than it is to most. Welp.]

You happened to get a bookworm lobster. As long as he doesn't drip on the books, I'm sure he'd be fine at a library. Some people just like to read. Libraries don't exactly cost anything, so why not?

And... technically lobsters aren't fish. They're crustaceans. Calling them fish is like calling a human a lizard. They're not even close. Lobsters are way closer to any kind of insect you could think of than fish.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Tell me about it. Personalities and opinions.

I guess I might as well when there's nothing better to do...if it'll shut him up for a while. I've never understood the kind of weirdo who can sit on their ass and read for hours on end.

[Felix squeaks in offense at being called a fish, then nods vehemently along to Tobias' explanation. Blake stirs dinner and goes huh.] So he's a bookworm bug?

[Another indignant squeak.]

[wing_attack]

That's closer, though I don't think he likes that either.

[Well.]

I used to read for hours and hours. I don't really have time anymore. Or I didn't at home, anyway.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Hey, I've been called a cockroach myself more than once. [Why does he sound almost proud of that]

[He's actually kind of curious.] So what's the appeal?

[wing_attack]

Well... when things suck, you can always just lose yourself in another world. Not every story ends happily, but they never do in life. But usually the stories are the kinds that matter - at least people try to do the right thing. And in the most popular sorts of stories, the heroes always save the world. It's nice to at least think for a little while that things are going to be okay.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Huh. I guess that makes some sense. Movies are still better for it, though. Nothing like seeing Al Pacino get shot a few dozen times to make things seem brighter in comparison.

Hey, hold on a minute, kid. You're sixteen, right? You're supposed to still believe in good guys for a while.

[wing_attack]

I guess. I used to be more of a Star Wars kind of guy than a Scarface kind of guy.

[... He just stares at Blake for a moment and then laughs. It's not unkind, but more disbelieving than anything else.]

Even without everything else... how long has it been since you were actually a teenager?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake tosses in some soy sauce] Captain Kirk and all those guys?

[He shrugs at the laugh.]

Pretty long time. Back in the Stone Age.

[wing_attack]

That's Star Trek, not Star Wars. Star Wars is with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader and that sort of stuff.

[He has to laugh a little bit again. Sorry, Blake.]

Most teenagers get a handle on how the world actually is pretty quickly. Some more than others, depending on their circumstances.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake admits] Yeah, I know, I'm just giving you shit.

Y'know, I've seen all kinds. Every once in a while there's one who's already a hardened fuckin' criminal, and then a whole lot are dumb as hell. Figure nothing bad can ever happen to them, even when you're telling them, no, defacing city property is a serious fuckin' charge.

[He holds up a spoonful of stir fry to Steve so she can check whether it's done.]

You're the kind who grew up fast, huh.

[wing_attack]

Yeah. I... my friends and I kind of had to. The situation at home isn't the best. But we do what we can to have normal lives. We go to the mall, we argue about video games and comics and movies. We stuff our faces with junk food. Things like that.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Ah. Family trouble.

[Having to live behind your friend's farm doesn't point to a happy mom and pop background.

Steve gives Blake a thumbs-up on dinner. She's a good judge of these things.]

Well, so much for being normal for now. Sounds like they didn't come with you.

Least it's safer here. No wino is gonna stumble on you sleeping in the woods and steal your shoes.

Just might get tackled by bears now and then.

[wing_attack]

Yeah, but my Pokemon rotate who's standing guard. Most of them are kind of strong compared to the Pokemon in this area so I'm not that worried. And Rachel means well. I think she just wants to carry me like I carried her before she evolved.

[lieutenantantichrist]

She wants to use you as a teddy bear?

[wing_attack]

Or at least give me hugs.

... It's kind of nice. I named her after someone I care about a lot at home who really likes grizzly bears. So it's not so weird to get hugged by her.

[lieutenantantichrist]

What kinda girl likes bears? They're supposed to be into cute things, not wild animals that rip cars open and eat people's dogs.

[Even after all this time spending a lot of nights outdoors, Blake is not really the woodsy type.]