one! video

[vinovidivici]

[The NV has been propped up on a desk to film the interior of one of the starter apartments, or more specifically the occupant who has just switched it on. He leans back into his chair and seems to be taking everything in his stride; it’d be hard to tell he just got here if it weren’t for the streaks of pitcher’s mound dust on his coat and one of

Comments

video;

[stoicloyalty]

[ His voice is more recognisable than his appearance, and his actions hover on the middle ground between the two. It only takes a second for the three combined to yank Chane attention away from the brief doubt and apathy of watching a person who is not him on the page. Both times she had encountered him in the past, his words seized her harder than any physical attribute ever could (another person being drenched in blood is not a trait for other assasins to mind).

Now, she gauges and remembers his movements with a steady eye, and his final words-- they leave her silent, more silent, as though her pulse and breath and thoughts all ceased before the image of this man. Rail Tracer. He confirmed it himself so she would not have to.

Without a moment longer of hesitation, her fingers tap at the yet-unused video function of the NV, and she gazes earnestly into the recording device, suddenly unsure of what this function requires (even such a motion as blinking seems lively and animated, coming from that man). She does not leave words for the time being. She waits for a second confirmation. ]

Video 1/2

[vinovidivici]

[For a moment he just breathes. He was prepared to search the city, to scour it for a girl who might not remember who he was, who might have been made anew in this world in some strange and unfamiliar way which he would make familiar. He was prepared to will her into existence there, to become the Pull for her if she could not be found, for the sake of that promise. He wasn't ready to see her image projected into the air in a decrepit room which he had only just arrived in, with that expectant look on her face.]

Video 2/2

[vinovidivici]

... Whaddid I tell ya? Guess I just can't imagine a world without you anymore, Chane!

video; 1/2

[stoicloyalty]

[ Just as she could not have closed hers off and expelled the memory of him. The moment of her appearance in the video recording before he responded nearly gave way to her doubts-- is this too risky, am I now vulnerable, what if my world no longer has a part in his-- but for now, she lays them to rest, softens her expression.

Soon it feels as though she's gazing at him too intensely, watching him while she can, and she turns off the video before an uncomfortable sense of self-awareness can settle in for long, instead favouring her pen for communication (even if she remembers how well he can read her looks). ]

text; 2/2

[stoicloyalty]

You found me.

Video

[vinovidivici]

[He leans forward quickly as the video cuts off but before he can protest the text comes through. It dies in his throat. Just like her, to be so elegant, so precise with her words, as if they were her blades! Just like that they evoke all his memories of her. He can read so much into those three words that they're almost equivalent to the three he spoke to her not too long ago, in a warehouse by the Hudson.]

... But he's getting ahead of himself and what she says is not quite true. Last time he knew exactly where she was, the exact building - took that informant for a ride to find out. It seems almost like cheating this time, to just come right out and ask. Then again, maybe it won't be that simple, he thinks. In this place there might be a dragon guarding the way.

He'd quite like that. A dragon wouldn't stand a chance; he wouldn't let her down now.]

Where are you?

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[stoicloyalty]

[ The fact that he came to her-- to the same world as her-- even though not in person is enough to qualify as 'being found'. It was only a matter of time before such a tenacious person as him would swoop in at some dramatic moment, regardless of city, country or reality.

His question is as simple as her statement, and she hestitates. Playing games and cheating at them do not come to her naturally; withholding information, even now, is always a safety precaution (no matter who she writes to, the information could be read somewhere else by somebody else, she believes), in face of the Rail Tracer, too. Not for his safety or hers, however. By now that precautionary measure is an instinct, and taking responsibility for what occurs if it is not obeyed is second nature.

And yet something as irrational as belief in another human has won her over, and her pen touches the paper without another second to lose. This particular human has earned it. ]

Sector 4. The same as you.

Video

[vinovidivici]

[He scoops the NV up and sweeps out the door, giving her a running footage of his feet and the stairwell in Tower Apartments instead of the giddy look on his face. The stairs he takes two at a time, or just drops down over the railing to land at the top of the next flight when he gets too impatient. Somehow he finds himself too nervy to make small talk, but he reasons that away with the logical thought that he couldn't read her responses on the move anyway.]

[At ground level he checks the NV for messages.] Tell me when I'm getting warm, okay? [He sets off in the direction he feels is right, holding the camera up so he can see any responses and she can see his surroundings.]

text;

[stoicloyalty]

[ She nods, regardless of the fact the video feed is no longer on to relay it. Her heart starts to race, not from the wild motion of the camera down the stairwell or the bouncing steps, but from watching such a spontaneous journey unfold. No doubt this is similar to the one he took in Manhattan, minus the information-gathering-- finding that she now has a part in his journey as well as being the end to it only adds to the anticipation. That doesn't affect her words, however much attention she gives to the video. ]

The walk to here from where you are took me thirty minutes.

Video

[vinovidivici]

I'll do it in twenty with you steering. [ He strides off, grinning into the collar of his coat. The world should always be this fast-paced. ]

[ His gaze is soon drawn upward by the sight of the city and he points the camera up to show her some of the architecture; it's modern enough to be unfamiliar to him. ] There ain't much here that's normal - the buildings are almost as strange as the rest of it. Maybe not almost, I mean I talked to a guy who could change into a wolf!

text;

[stoicloyalty]

[ The sudden swing of the camera towards a sky framed by buildings gives her the impression of watching a film, with the narrator sitting by the screen and the pianist not far away. Enough time has passed for the style of buildings to become merely the background of this place; the people, on the other hand, are an aspect of the port that never cease to surprise her.

--She has to remind herself to write back; listening to his voice is making her slip back into expressions and nods, something he cannot see like this but can read exceptionally well. ]

Could or did?

Video

[vinovidivici]

He did! It was incredible, I saw it over the camera but it musta been real. One minute he was just some surly fella and the next - And that was the first guy I talked to! Right outta the blue.

-I guess that kinda thing might be old to you by now? [ He realises a little guiltily that he hadn't asked her how long she's been here - or anything beside her location. ]

text;

[stoicloyalty]

[ So far nothing of that nature had unfolded before her, although many residents in strange forms and species who could talk showed themselves on her NV. Seeing them going about daily business in the street was something else. ]

One of the first people to greet me was a cat with blue fur.

[ When your father creates other living beings as a pastime, when he is immune to injury, physical forms cease to shock you. ]

Re: text;

[vinovidivici]

[ He blinks at the screen, still keeping his brisk pace. ] A cat? Talking?

[ He can't gather anything about her lack of surprise from her text, which he figures would be this succinct whatever her thoughts on the oddity of talking cats are. Instead he offers his own opinion. ] That's just crazy! At least the wolf guy was gray.

text;

[stoicloyalty]

Yes.

[ Face-to-face he could probably glean more from her than from these words, but for now it shall have to do. It is not as though she has much to offer in return, in terms of conversation, although his surprise at a blue cat over a werewolf is-- interesting. The video feed takes her attention again briefly. ]

Turn right here. Keep to the main road.

Video

[vinovidivici]

[ He skims across the road without breaking his pace, although at one point that's travelling backwards to avoid a car - another thing he's not used to in these designs and this quantity. ]

[ He says something when he gets to the sidewalk but it's drowned out by a car horn. ]