snowtop | 003. (v2) [video]

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003. (v2) [video]

[At first, there is no sound; there is only the image of Xanth's forearm. Lines of letters curl around his fingers, twist around his hand, and spiral onto his arm. The ink, jet black, is stark against his pale skin.]

Th-this-- it means I-I've been-- t-too quiet, right? I-It... it wants me to-- t-to say... s-something.

[It's been a while since he's checked in, made sure people knew he hadn't vanished, but there is nothing to say.

The feed remains set on Xanth's arm.]

I'm... o-okay. I'm s--still here.

A-Are... are you guys... o-okay, too?

[He heard that crack some days ago. No one has called for help on the journals, so no one was hurt in the expedition that came after, and no one had been hurt during the initial bang.

Or so he hopes.]

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[Xanth feels the urge to pull his arm back, but he ignores it. It's nothing against Claudia, it's just... he feels a little like a specimen.

But then she actually sounds worried, and that feeling dissipates.]

N--No. Th-they don't... really f--feel like a-anything at-- at all. I-I... I can't even f-f-feel them... move.

[But he'd be more disturbed if he could.]

I guess that's good. I mean, that is good.

[She lets go of his arm.]

The guy I told you about. You could read every word on him. Those marks really hurt him. He was unconscious after an hour.

How long have you had these?

[OK maybe, just maybe she might be willing to admit this could be something different. Maybe.]

[Oh. Well. Xanth is especially glad it's looking like Claudia's wrong - that sounds extremely unpleasant.]

A-A... a while. Th-they showed up th-this-- this morning.

[For a while, he thought they were ink smudges. For a while longer, he couldn't muster up the effort to make an entry.]

B-But they-- they never h-hurt, even when they s-started a-- appearing...

You should be hurt.

[She says to herself. Realizing how that sounds, she quickly tries to recover.]

Uh, I'm happy you're not!

... m-- me too.

[AWK-WAAARD]

Um.

[...]

S-So, do, d-do you... s-still think it's... the-- the artifact th-thing?

[She doesn't exactly like admitting she doesn't know anymore. Especially since she'd been so insistent on coming into his room and messing with his stuff. She bits on the edge of her lip.]

I, I'm not sure. Maybe I just haven't found the right book but

[She trails off.]

[Xanth rubs his arm, fingers running along the letters.]

W-Well you-- y-you can-- keep trying. I-If, you know, you'd-- l-like.

I'm gonna... t-try to-- to wash this off a--again.

[She smiles at him.]

Yeah like that would work. But what I'm going doesn't seem to be all that helpful.

[Xanth shrugs.]

H--Hey, it's, i-it's worth a-- a try.

[And that's why Claudia's over here in the first place; it was worth a try.

Xanth makes his way over to the tiled alcove, then fiddles with the shower to get it working. A small trickle of water pours from the spout. The water pressure here sucks, but it's all Xanth needs to get his arm wet and start scrubbing at the letters.

The ink smears, then flows with the water down the drain.]

[Claudia moves to get a better view. When the ink actually does wash off her jaw drops. She stares at it for a moment.]

Seriously? Come on! Water?

It-- i-it's not-- that simple.

[Xanth frowns down at his arm, despite the fact that the ink is so easily washing away.]

I-I, I-- I tried this, before I... w-went to the journal. I-It... didn't work. N-Now, it does.

It's... w-weird.

So what? The journal gets lonely, and doodles on your arm til you write something?

I--I don't know. I-It's-- it's some kind a-alert, I-I think, that-- th-that you're supposed to... t-to talk. Or write. O-Or something.

The-- the place I was in b-before, it, it had something like this, b-but that just... spat water a--at you.

[The last of the ink washes away and Xanth turns the shower off. Then, he goes for a towel from his closet and begins to dry off.]

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003. (v2) [video]

[Commentlog] aw no worries! welcome back \o/

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