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video | un: falcogrice

[ on the feed and fixing the device's angle from his lap to hold just a half an arm's length in front of him is a young boy, definitely no more than twelve, with expressive, too-tender doe eyes and a certain amount of calm as he preps to speak. he's also incredibly tiny for the furs draped over his shoulders, now falling into a slant as he brings a hand up to give a little wave. for the most part, he tries for a smile, but the only thing his lips really feel like doing is subtly curving in one direction before he can't bring them to go all the way. the sorry excuse for a smile gets masked by pressing his lips quickly together in an awkward rush. talking to a camera to record these things is always weirder than text, or speaking to people in person. ]

Um, Hi. I'm Falco, and I woke up a few days ago. It's nice to meet everyone. I have a few questions? Not about The Trench, I think I'm all caught up with what's happening. [ at least close to what everyone else seems to know, by asking around, network snooping— it's no wonder that he's spent a few days just to let the information ruminate in his head and settle in. by staring at the ceiling.

either way, he clears his throat! ]

I know some Sleepers might have been in Deerington— but does anyone remember being to other places that aren't your home? Like, different worlds. Specifically South Sister, or California. Or the year 854, if that's familiar? The second thing is . . .

[ falco doesn't say anything and instead, signs: anyone understand? ]

Just curious. [ since if everyone can understand languages . . . ] And, for last. I'm looking for priests that don't use blood for their rituals. For, ah— Exorcism rituals. [ and after an inhale as if he was about to say something more, like an explanation, he shuts up and holds his breath. instead, he starts to scribble something down on spare notebook paper, ] —I can't talk about it if everyone is listening, but if someone can help— [ and then holds up the paper, showing what he's drawn: two "S" marks, put back to back. ] I'll let you know.

[ he supposes that's it, and nods— or more like bows his head. he's beyond polite and respectable as he says: ]

Thank you for watching, and stay safe.

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[ immediately, falco looks intrigued enough to pull the omni up close to her face. ]

Really? What year was it, Miss?

What year?

[ It's slightly surprising, that question, though she supposes to makes sense considering what he mentioned in his message. Something about.. 8-- Somewhere in the eighthunderds, right..? ]

It was 1998. If we're talking about that year you mentioned.. That was so long ago. I'm not even sure California existed back then. [ Ange does sound a little uncertain about it. History isn't exactly her strongest suit, especially not for an entirely different country. ]

Oh— [ he scrambles, just a little, ] Oh, no, It was 1961 in the California I was in! All the time, actually— 854 is the year I'm from.

[ and after a short pause: ]

I know that's a really long time ago, compared to a lot of people . . . I just wanted to make sure if anyone else was close to that year, wherever they were.

Hmm.. I think that most people here probably aren't.

[ She seems to give that some serious consideration, judging by that hum. ]

Or at the very least, most people I meet here are used to the kind of technology I'm used to as well, or stuff that's even newer. It's rare for people to come from such an old time with less technology..

[ Ange shakes her head. ] But who knows? Maybe you're lucky, and there's someone you know in this place. Is there anyone in particular you're looking for?

. . . Anyone.

[ he misses everyone. there is one person he wants to see the most, but falco doesn’t feel entirely ready to pour one out with a stranger. it’s clear from his expression, though— that sort of lonely longing a kid (or anyone) who doesn’t want to be alone feels. and if they’re as expressive as falco, looks. ]

But, I’m staying with one person I met in California? [ which sounds like isn’t enough, and that feels horrible. ] I just miss the others.

[ At least Ange doesn't blame him for looking like that. After all, she does get how awful it can be to feel lonely in a place like this. It's exactly what she felt like at first back in Deerington. And he is so much younger than her on top of it - what kid his age wouldn't feel lonely at the thought of missing so many people he had grown accustomed to?

The worst part, Ange thinks, is that there's technically nothing she can say here.

Nothing makes that feeling better. ]

Who are you staying with? [ She asks, curiously, but then seems to realise something that makes her shake her head. ] .. you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.

[ She realises it might reek a little of Stranger Danger, after all. ]

I'm just curious whether I know them.

[ luckily (at least in this case), on top of being a good judge of character, falco doesn’t see why he shouldn’t mention it. no one from his home in any conflict would think to mention a california and would’ve said something about the year, even more so to a kid like him.

plus, they’d have more worrying things to concern themselves with than going after ghosts.]

Mister Erwin Smith. Do you?

.. no, doesn't sound familiar to me.

[ She shakes her head. It's not strange to Ange though. There's so many people in this place, and she certainly isn't the most social of all of them. Of course there would be people she doesn't know. ]

Still.. I guess I'm glad for you that you have someone familiar with you. [ Especially since a place like this can get real overwhelming real quick otherwise - especially to a kid this young, she figures. ] But honestly, all the people in this place aren't so bad, even if they might come from different places than you. In fact, I'd even say some people are outright weirdly nice.

Yeah, they are. [ he nods, almost enthusiastically and it brings ease close enough to the form of a smile. he knows where to watch himself, but his heart is pure in a way that he doesn't for a moment discard any true kindness thrown his way. it may have been mildly strange in south sister, but it was genuine and he longed for that sort of relationship with just about everyone rather than the injustice he was used to in marley. santa rosita, on the other hand, ] It's how I met my friends. And even the people who live here, they aren't . . . [ he looks for the word: ] Artificially nice? That's creepy.

[ robbies begone! ]

[ Artificially, huh.

That word stands out to her. ]

Was that what people were like there? [ She mostly means that California place by saying 'there', but she's leaving it vague enough, just in case that was actually in the first place he was in instead. ] They were like--

[ Robots, she almost says, but then realises his time period doesn't line up enough to know what robots are. ]

Like fake people? [ Better. ]

They . . . [ he needs a moment to think on that. his morality feels bad for those people, surely, because they were possibly tampered with the same way when either of them showed up robbified. even falco’s felt it once— and it’s nothing of a good time. ] They acted like it.

More than— “androids”, right? Is that the word?

[ to anyone’s surprise, falco had grown to have a couple, exactly, of android friends on the island of south sister (except for one, that was a bit of a nightmare experience).

though his pronunciation might be off— some words and memories still feel hazy. ]

Hmm. That's right. Androids, or robots, more generally.. [ Though 'androids' is even more accurate - and also much more advanced. Even just the idea of those was still pretty new in Ange's own time back home.. ]

Deerington had that too.

[ Since he hasn't been there, and she has, she might as well draw some parallels between that place and the one he was stuck in. Maybe it might make him feel like he's able to relate more to the people in this place who were in Deerington before. ]

Except the people there weren't artificially nice. It's more that they were artificially mean all the time.

[ he’s a curious little bugger— so consider him interested. ]

Like— Poison your food, type of mean?

[ Ange kind of wonders what sort of thought process this kid has that his mind immediately goes to poisoning your food..

Maybe he's seen a lot. ]

Not most of the time. Usually they'd just yell at you on the streets though. Or get into a fight with you, if you agitate them enough.

Though they did try to kill us too, at least during one month.

[ She shrugs though, not wanting to let him worry about it too much. ]

The townspeople here seem to feel much more neutrally about our presence.

That's good, at least . . . The people from Trench, I mean.

[ as for the people from deerington— not so much, but there is a but. ]

It was harder to tell in Santa Rosita. Robbies weren't so . . . Direct? They'd smile too much and act like your friend— but they'd give you cakes with knives and glass in them. [ or, rat poison. ] Not that either is better than the other.

..

[ Sheesh, Ange thinks. How many of these crazy places are there out there? It's as if someone is purposefully creating pocket dimensions just to mess with people.

(Even when, for once, it isn't those dang witches.) ]

You know.. you've been through a lot. [ Which she figures he knows too, considering he's the one who went through all of it. But Ange thinks a little validation of that fact can't hurt, especially at that young age. ]

Oh . . . I guess, I— [ a soft affirming sound, though one that’s a little lost on what to do with such a considerate remark that he’s hardly, if ever, heard with his own ears in his whole life. with a nod and pressed lips, falco’s brows worry themselves into a slight kink of concern. ] You all must’ve been too, right?

[ sure, he was a kid— but he didn’t want that to mean others like herself weren’t valid with their own experiences, or something of the sort. ]

Hmm. A lot happened.

[ Back in Deerington, back home, in this place now - it's like this crap never stops, Ange thinks.

Though - for his sake - she manages to voice it in the sort of way that's at least a little bit kinder and less blunt. ]

But I'm a witch. Other people here are warriors. We can deal with this sort of stuff if we have to. [ She shakes her head. ] You're too young to have to deal with that sort of stuff. You should just.. you know. Be allowed to live a fun life.

[ she recognizes that, at least, and unlike plenty of his higher-ups (not all of them, but most of the ones who don't entirely care)— it reminds him of reiner, of pieck, even of the long-gone galliard who was, in a way, living right through him, still. sometimes falco would dream up his memories and see moments like these between brothers. things they were forced to do and not allowed to live the rest the way they should've. ]

. . . Thanks. [ for acknowledging that; even though the larger portion of marley would beg to differ that the children were ready to be warriors— just more numbers that weren't their own. ] It's not really like that back home, either.

That sucks.

[ Perhaps it's slightly too casual to just say 'that sucks' in response to something like this, but there seems to be a certain sympathy in the way Ange says it. Her usual deadpan voice is a little softer. ]

.. It seems like there's a lot of screwed up worlds out there. [ From what she's heard, anyway. Ange thinks her own world is fairly normal, it's just that she personally was very unlucky.

But some other words definitely seem more systematically screwed up. ]

I know things here suck too, because they're so dangerous, but.. well, at least the people are nicer. Maybe it'll make it easier for you to be able to have a more fun life here than you could have had back home. As messed up as that sounds, considering the occasional horrific nature of this place. [ But if Ange has learned anything, it's that sometimes you just have to take what you can get. ]

[ it felt like an oxymoron saying that, but falco could kind of . . . get it? because of south sister, at the very least. ]

I kind of feel like . . . I know what you’re saying.

[ he just wished gabi was here for that sort of fun, but at the same time didn’t. it was that push and pull all the time. ]

Does my home still exist?

[ it was a shithole, sure— but he still has important people there. ]

[ There's not an instant answer, but thankfully it doesn't take forever for Ange to answer either. ]

I mean, I technically can't be sure. [ Not like Ange can look beyond this world and into other ones, after all. She isn't on that level as a witch. ]

But I don't see any reason for our home worlds to no longer exist, just because we're not in them. Instead.. they're probably just going on without us.

[ Which can be a sad thought entirely in its own right - for people who had something to leave behind in the first place, anyway. It's why it doesn't hit Ange as hard. She never had anything there. ]

[ should he have expected a reassuring answer in the first place? anxiety spikes in widened eyes that attempt to look elsewhere. falco knows he needs to be home, he's an asset— so suddenly everyone that was on his back is now falling to their deaths from sky height? but what about the other times when that wasn't the case? he'd wake up right where he left off as if nothing had happened in the first place. and what if deer country and trench were different.

being reborn as a squid set him off, big time, but after running his hands through his hair and giving a shaky bit of silence, only finished off with an exhale: ]

I-It's really hard to tell wherever we are, huh?

[ There's a slight pause. As if Ange is considering something.

Thinking.

The reason for it becomes rapidly obvious when she speaks up, just with: ]

You're worried.

[ Ange sure doesn't have any magical emotion-sensing powers, but it kind of feels like it's radiating off the other ayway. In that tone, the stutter, his body language. ]

Well, um—

[ lies? bravado? falco doesn’t have any of that, much less a habit of it to begin with. if it’s lying, he’s either trying to save himself or someone else’s time. he’s not the sort to try and look brave, as well. either he is, genuinely, or he isn’t.

the way his frown pulls and his cheeks spread red are an open book as is. ]

I need to be home.

video | un: falcogrice

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