fluxnet | Evening, Video

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six of crows - kaz brekker

Evening, Video

[There's a lot of spinning, as though someone hasn't figured out how a phone works yet, and the view briefly of a white snowfield. After the spinning stops the camera shows a boy, no older than 17, who is glaring back at the camera. He has black hair that's shaved on the sides and left long on top to go with equally black eyes. His voice has a rocksalt rasp to it, as though he gargles with whiskey and broken glass every morning when he does eventually speak;]

I know already this isn't Ketterdam anymore and the snow isn't bad enough to be Fjerda. So if this thing works the way the rest of these machines do, then someone tell me where to get a stiff drink. Nobody will want to be around me sober.

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I think the legal drinking age is eighteen. How old are you?

[ There's a long pause before Kaz speaks. There's probably a legal drinking age in Ketterdam but that's never stopped Kaz. ]

...are you saying I look too young to find a drink?

I'm saying the legal drinking age is eighteen. It's not really about looks. It's just a heads-up.

[ Note to self: steal a bottle of whiskey and avoid the drinking-age headache altogether. ]

If that's some sort of rule about this place, it's silly.

Probably. But it's their rules and, until things change, we're their guests.

They do have a lot of rules, and most of them are actually for valid reasons.

[ Kaz raises an eyebrow. ]

"Until things change?"

[ He's staying quiet on the subject of validity of rules. ]

This place changes every so often. Like...a whole world-wide make-over. When a lot of us first arrived, it was a beach town. Recently it was a city. Driftcrest is really new. It's been this place for a month.

[ The second eyebrow joins the first but apart from the eyebrows, Kaz isn't showing any reaction.]

There's something disturbing about the idea of the world being casually rearranged at random

Oh, it gets better. The locals aren't aware it changes. Right now, to them, it's always been Driftcrest. When we were the big city, it was always Wechester City. Before that, it was always Beachville, when we were a big beachside resort town.

They adapt when things change, meanwhile the rest of us scramble for footing.

[ The guy in the hoodie and glasses regards the video for a moment, trying to get a read on the guy. But without sending his angels out to spy (and he won't, not with the creatures in the snow that people can't seem to spot, even when they're being chased and threatened), he won't get much. So Eugene goes for patient. ]

Just be careful how late you stay out. There's a strict curfew, and for valid reason.

[ Good luck with that. Not even the very few people that know him best can get a read on Kaz. Right now half his mouth twists in a grimace. ]

I'm not much for observing a curfew.

Neither are some of us, but we've learned it's actually a really good idea. The guys on the border walls? They're armed with incendiary weaponry, but it's not to keep us in. It's to protect us from something.

A bunch of us already have experience with whatever these things are and so far, we've learned that somehow they exude fear and paranoia and a sense of danger. And they're really, really good at remaining unseen. I've tried as many methods as I know of to spot one of these things, but I've never even seen so much as a footprint.

Places lock up at eight, because the whole town is afraid of whatever these things are.

[ Now Kaz's expression turns neutral; his eyes having the same flat, black look of a shark. But at least he's listening to Eugene. ]

8 pm. Got it. So when is it safe to go out in the morning?

When the sun comes up? That's roughly five, five-thirty AM.

So is 8pm sunset?

The sun starts setting about 7:15. Stores start closing at 7. It's full dark by 8.

So whatever comes out at night, it's definitely avoiding the sun. Might want to try using lights somehow. Not fire or anything but light. The closer you can get to sunlight, the better.

I think people tried that. Before we got here. Because I mentioned it and a guard said it's no good. The creatures just eat through the cables and find ways to avoid it.

Not to mention the locals weren't fond of it being bright out all the time.

[ There were once creatures that avoided light and were actually frightened of it in Ravka, so it seemed like a comparison. ]

What were these things attracted to, then? Not what they did when the lights were out, but what they did on their own.

[ Ronan nearly chokes on his cocoa at the image. He thinks he's better looking, but can't deny he's thinking long lost relative. Lost being the key word here. ]

Good luck getting someone to sell anything stiff to you in this town. Unless it's an ice sculpture in the shape of a person and then my advice is to run the other way.

[ He has a fake I.D. that is more real than a real I.D. so he can get what he needs and stores it around the house. ]

[ Kaz would admit to a resemblance, but that's about all. As far as attractive, that was entirely Ronan's call since Kaz didn't care one way or another. ]

Are ice sculptures often on the shady side around here?

[ Not mentioning the lack of need for an ID fake or otherwise right now. ]

Edited 2021-01-30 19:06 (UTC)

Best guess is they're dead people, frozen into ice statues by some strange monster stalking everyone after dark.

[ Ronan pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen cupboard. ]

Want to share a bottle and see if we can lure this thing out of the shadows?

[ The idea of dead people interspersed in the living gives Kaz a shiver, though he tries not to show it. ]

I'm not much for sharing.

[ He's not being a smartass, Kaz just doesn't like sharing food or drink. ]

It's a better idea to figure what's being lured, first. I'm not wild about the idea of being caught off guard.

[ Ronan pulls out a second bottle. He's Irish. He has more than one bottle at all times in the house. ]

Your loss. I have a secret weapon.

[ He pours himself a glass and drinks it down. This is something he's been working himself up to actually doing and now that he's managed to complete the cloth he's been calling the 'invisibility cloak' he might just drink an entire bottle of whiskey to celebrate. ]

[the whiskey is being ignored for the moment in favor of Kaz's gaze sharpening on Ronan. ]

Really? Pray tell, then.

[ Another glass and it's the only tell tale sign his plan makes him nervous. Not that being nervous has ever stopped him before. ]

Invisibility.

[ He smirks slightly and finishes his second glass. This isn't something he can tell Gansey or Adam. Not yet. They would be pissed and would stop him. And they are the only ones who could stop him. ]

[ Well he's picked the right person to confide in since Kaz isn't likely to stop him, even if he could. Of course, that also comes with a thick helping of skepticism right now as Kaz raises his eyebrows. ]

"Invisibility".

[ Ronan remembers the first time he told his friends what he could do. That he'd dreamed the Raven he'd been raising. He's not sure he's ready to be that honest with a complete stranger. ]

Sort of like camouflage. It'll make me invisible to whatever this thing is so I can get a good look at it.

[ The skepticism remains. Likely it would still remain if Ronan mentioned dreaming.]

I just met you so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Let's say you can be "invisible", what's your plan?

I have a theory I want to test. No one has seen it. A couple of kids were chased down, but the only thing they could say about the experience was it scared the shit out of them and it was colder than cold. Then you have all those creepy ice sculptures in the field.

[ Ronan talked while moving through the house, upstairs to his room, closing the door and pulling a box out from under the bed. He sat on the bed and put the box next to him. ]

I think the cold they felt was this thing trying to freeze them to death. Or...suck the heat out of them. [ Which sounds weird, but it's a working theory. ] So this... [ He pulled the cloak out the box, invisible in his hands except for the occasional peek at the underside of the fabric. ] will get me close enough to see it without being hunted down and turned into a popsicle.

[ Kaz will admit to being somewhat surprised the invisibility cloak actually exists, but he doesn't show it. His voice doesn't hold skepticism anymore though. ]

So these things come out at sunset. Are you going to be under that cloak all night?

If that's what it takes. I'm working on an emergency distraction.

[ The distraction he's thinking about will be something like a fireball than doesn't set things on fire, but radiates the heat. ]

[ Kaz's tone stays neutral, but that sounds ominous. ]

Better be some distraction since you're talking about leaving yourself hidden but defenseless.

[ Ronan just smirks and keeps the details of the distraction to himself. ]

If it's attracted to heat then it should work. If not I'm fucked.

As tempting as it seems, drinking isn't going to change anything.

[Not that Adam had ever tried, personally, but he had no desire to.]

Not that I'm going to stop you, I'm sure there's a liquor store around here, but our situation will still suck.

I didn't think it would change a thing. But when things turn really shitty, having a drink will cover up the shittiness for a while.

[ Kaz shrugs. ]

Apparently, I look too young for shops anyway. So looks like I have to go to the next phase; finding a way out of this trap.

I guess so.

[Adam didn't usually go for temporary solutions, himself. Not when it came to this place, at least.]

You get teleported back in if you try to leave. I tried walking out of here when this place was a beach town and it didn't work. Now with the walls, it's a little harder to just stroll out, but I doubt it would work anyway.

So walking out doesn't work.

[ Kaz rubs his eyes with one gloved hand. ]

Where's the highest place to climb around here?

That you can climb? I don't know, actually.

The ski lodge, maybe. Are you aiming to see over the walls?

No. Just trying to see all of wherever I am. Or as much as possible anyway.

You can see all of it from just walking around, too.

That's what I've done.

[He imagined it was easier than climbing up on top of something, too.]

I'm wondering what kind of machine you're referring to.

The one we're talking on right now.

[ Duh. ]

[ One never knows, and Bruce has learned to let people tell him things--while still being entirely paranoid. ]

Ah, the phones.

There should be a few bars closer into the city. although, depending on when you leave, you might be stuck at the ski resort over night.

[ Kaz has already come to the conclusion that he'll need to steal his own bottle of whiskey. ]

Does the ski resort keep people inside by force?

[ Whiskey, oh that's a good idea. ]

The people who run the ski resort seem to. Seven o'clock? It a ll shuts down. No one is allowed in, no one is allowed out until the morning. Seems like they have quite the pest problem.

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warning for language, but it's Ronan soooo

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