route666radio | [Video+Action, post moon-warp]

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[Video+Action, post moon-warp]

Hello all!

This is Jack, from my little nook in the convoy where I make and repair clothes.

[He smiles at the camera, showing off the fluffy little fox ears he is now sporting instead of regular ears, and the white streaks in his blue-gray hair, then turns his radio device around to show the little shop. It is, frankly, less like a shop and more like a workspace, with fabric in cabinets on the walls and a pair of tables and some chairs, with more fabric strewn across them, some in good condition and some in less-good condition.]

I just wanted all of our new people to know that if the moon warp ruined your clothes, I can probably help. I have mostly figured out trousers, I think, and I am still working on proper shirts, though I can make, um, cloaks and drapes and things.

[He sets the camera down on one of the tables, and sits down to face it.]

I did want to, er, also tell everyone something else. I know we are all... changing. Into something we might call monsters, some of us. I just wanted to say I was a monster before I came here. Not a-- not a bad person, no, not a cruel person, but a werewolf. I turn into a beast once a month on the full moon, like moon warps here.

So. So I just wanted everyone to know, I have done this before. This changing, this becoming something else for a time. I don't know if it will help anyone, but if it can-- I wanted everyone to know.

[He has "come out" piecemeal to various people, here and there, and it's gone well. But now he's doing it to everyone, to people he's never talked to. It's a little scary, but he's doing it.

And now that he's done it, he hesitates, then fumbles for the radio to turn it off without further comment.

He will be available in his shop most evenings, for people to come by to get clothing repaired or measured for, or for people to ask questions, and of course he's around the convoy or in his van during the day when they're on the move.]

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[For arms that might be easy. For a face... hmm. Though he can also see why SecUnit won't actually want his hands up by its face.]

Okay. You will need to hold the tape in place a moment so I can see the number. I'll let you know when to move it.

[He offers the tape measure and gestures how to wrap it around its head, first.]

Did you lose your helmet in the moon warp?

[Donnie winces. True, he and his brothers normally run around in nothing but a pair of biker shorts on a normal basis but he can understand how inconvenient having holes in your pants would be, especially depending on a tail. Tails? Right. Wow.]

I'm fine with going barefoot so long as we're not running through briar patches again. And I guess there's these things...

[He gives a small flutter of his wings, still largely uncertain about how he feels there.

Once he's closer, he sets his foot on the sheet of paper, close to the edges to take up the least amount of space so the rest can still be used.]

The answer to the question is immediately obvious before Serph replies; the small smile fades, crestfallen.

"My officer was shown what had happened before. He turned against us. Against me." He tenses. "I... allowed him to kill me."

Oh dear. Apparently it was in fact just as bad. He gives Serph's hand a little squeeze in sympathy, covering it with his other as well. It sounds terrible that someone would simply let someone else kill them, but-- well, if you thought they had a good reason...

There is not a good reason Jack can think of that would make him want to kill Serph, so he says, "That is one thing I can promise you I am not going to do. Okay? I do not kill people." A quick pause, then, "Well, the werewolf might try, but not because of anything like this. Did he not even tell you why? Your officer?" That doesn't seem very fair.

It got clawed apart.

[Terse and lacking detail is SecUnit's usual when it comes to itself, but it's leaning hard on that right now, as it takes the tape and does a first pass at the measurement, making sure to hold the tape in the spot that Jack indicated.]

I'm fine. [Sure there are a few more tears and stains on its clothing, but - those could definitely be dirt, right? Or from the thorns.

its performance reliability hasn't gotten above 85 since this started but that's a completely unrelated problem.]

What is it like to know you would not kill of your own volition, no matter the reason? He can't grasp what that kind of life is like.

Serph shakes his head. No, Heat hadn't told him why. But, "I can guess."

Serph had said he thought he'd killed his friends. In truth, it's a bit more than just merely killing.

"I think... I devoured my comrades when we were human. Including him." His wings tense with his shoulders as he speaks with an unusually agitated cadence. "Heat is his name. He's the most protective of Sera, our creator. Whatever he was shown, he must believe I was going to hurt her. Maybe I had, back then. I don't know, but I wouldn't-"

Serph cuts himself off before emotions get the better of him, letting out a long breath as he calms down.

"Whatever happened before, we're comrades." Even if Heat doesn't believe him worthy of that title any more.

[ actually . . . it'd help. ]

What could you do if I have, [ awkwardly, ] a tail?

[ speaking of awkward, his is that of a stag's, but unlike, jack's fan of appendages, his is a single tuft, hidden under the fabrics of his slacks but buldging out in a way that made it look stuffed and clumsy. it was weird to sit on, and sitting his waistband below it was just way too low for him. it was difficult to walk normally as is, including both hooves and brace. ]

In the wake of the Moon Warp, things are... uncomfortable. The silence in their shared room, their shared bed, grows oppressive. Jack sleeps elsewhere more than he had before, and those nights are the most starkly silent. John merely pretends not to notice: those long nights lying between the pair, listening to their breathing, gives him far too much time to think.

He doesn't know how much Serph confessed. How much Jack knows. Before, he'd been privately relieved, cruel though it may be, that Jack remembered nothing of the Moon Warp— nothing of John in the shape and flaring temper of the King.

Every shower unravels his form again to curling tentacles and the damned white mask. It sours his mood every time. Better to spend more of his days hiding from himself in Arthur's stolen skin, so he showers less often and lingers close to the Convoy far more. He would not deign to call it sulking. Brooding? Perhaps.

Perhaps that's why Jack offers him the new cloak: as a kind gesture, a peace offering. A gift. John has had so few gifts in his long life that each one remains a joy, and so here he is at Jack's van, waiting eagerly for the stew to be ready while Jack goes to fetch the finished cloak.

"It smells marvelous," he says grandly, and means it. "What did you put in it?" He has been learning about ingredients.

[Ugh. She hates it, but she knows he's right. Unless there's another food source somewhere... she sighs and leans her head back against the wall of the van.]

Place is gonna make us all cannibals, cuz it didn't screw with us enough already. Fab

[She closes her eyes, hisses a breath, tugs absently at the scarf that's too-tight around her neck.]

God, I'm sorry, you don't need this crap. I'll- I can just-

[She gestures to the door.]

[Jack circles it to get the number, then directs it to measure the length of its jaw, from the ear. One hand flexes a little, frowning at a phantom memory that he's not sure is real or imagination, before writing down the next number.]

Did you, er, run into some monsters out there during the moon warp?

No, no... please stay.

[Jack frowns at her, but it's more one of concern than anger. He turns the burner down a little, gives the stew one more stir, and then comes to crouch in front of her.]

Faith, what is wrong? You are more twitchy than usual. Is there something I can do?

Here, look at mine.

[He turns, looking over his shoulder at Jayce and showing him the way he's created a seamed cut in the back of the trousers for his multiple tails, and a strap that goes over the top of them to keep them on. It keeps the fit at his waist where it should be, but allows for freer movement. Given his incredibly active tails, swishing restlessly even as he tries to keep them still to show off his handiwork, it's pretty necessary.]

It would be much easier for you, I think. Yours must be much smaller than mine. You should not need as large a cut.

[Jack crouches to start tracing around his foot, keeping the pencil from actually touching his skin, but getting a close line.]

Do they work? I mean-- do you fly with them? My friend Serph has six wings, but I have not seen him try to fly yet.

Jack pets his hand soothingly. If they weren't sitting, he'd probably have already hugged him again, but right now it's just awkward to try. "Sometimes we do things in our pasts that we are not proud of," he says. "For reasons that no longer apply to us. Even I have done things, not just things that the wolf has done, but things I decided to do that were not good things." He looks up at Serph's face, expression fond but also determined. "But Serph. That does not mean we cannot try to be better than what we have done before. To choose different things, better and braver things. I believe that you would choose a different thing, now, than as that human you were before."

Jack is unfolding it from the basket he'd kept it in, between the bucket seats in the front of the van. "Hmm? Oh. A lizard thing with fur and blue scales. It was very interesting looking, but I think it will probably mostly taste like chicken. The meat had that kind of smell. There is also pepper and something that looks like potato but tastes like squash. I think it tastes pretty good."

He's just glad John is talking, because not-talking is so much worse. He's mostly reconnected with Serph, he thinks, but John is still uncertain. Especially when John has clearly not been bathing much. It concerns him that John isn't taking care of himself. Feeding him is, at least, as much of an attempt to look after him as a way to re-established some kind of normalcy.

[It still feels weird, even not with the pencil touching, but Donnie holds steady.]

They do. I...am not sure how I managed, but I was using them. Back when things started getting crazy around the tower.

...it might have been instinctual.

[His snout wrinkles, not at all liking how weird Leo had been acting then, and he'd clocked moments when his own thoughts seemed foreign to him.]

John wonders, with a visible flicker of worry, whether the lizard had been human. Before. But if it's not human now, perhaps he oughtn't draw attention to that possibility. It's not as though they have other meat on offer, and Arthur's body is still skinnier than it should be. Even though he's been eating a frankly excessive two meals a day.

He's never had chicken, but nods along belatedly as though he knows the smell Jack means. It was said in that way of a relatable mundane truth, and John is in the habit of playing along.

"There's a peculiar variety of options here," he says, which is admittedly a stab in the dark. But that's the sense he gets from everyone's grumbling discontent. "Better than the grasslands, at least."

Serph remains silent for a long moment, letting Jack's words wash over him. He had already long decided to do better after his conversation with Apollo, who suggested that harm caused in one life would carry to another. But after the moon warp, the familiarity of having his close friendships break around him had made him waver.

He had devoured as a human.
He had devoured so much more as an AI.
Where does that leave him now?

He can't guarantee he won't fall into violence again. Even though he craves peace, another part of him also relishes the pleasure of pain. That night with John... both of them had devolved into something primal, monstrous. He never wants to subject Jack to that. He shouldn't have subjected John to that.

He rests his other hand on top of Jack's, lifting both their clasped hands to press them to his forehead. His voice is steady, determined.

"I will." Choose different things. Choose better and braver things. And if it still falls to pieces around him, that's just payment for what he did before. "Thank you." He lowers their hands. "...Have you been alright? You haven't been around as much."

The oppressively awkward atmosphere in their shared room had been practically tangible.

[The next measurement will take longer, because the first time its hand brushes the new mandibles lining its jaw it has to stop for a full fifteen seconds as its performance reliability drops eight percentage points so abruptly that it nearly goes into an emergency shutdown. Or a false memory insertion, which might be worse.]

...Some. Mostly with backup.

[The hum is back, making its voice sound more like a whole cicada chorus than just one person.]

Jack takes the movement to run one hand back through Serph's hair a few times. It's right there, it seems like the thing to do. He's going to have faith in Serph, and in John, and himself. Even if there's violence, he trusts that they can navigate it. If the worst should happen, well, he is very good at dodging, after all.

He coughs lightly at the question. "A bit lonely, but otherwise all right. I wasn't really sure if you and John wanted me around all the time still. Everything seemed different with you two after the moon warp." He quirks a wry smile. "I think in your case, I was being too cautious. You clearly do still want me around." Maybe not for sex, he's not going to assume anything at this juncture, but at least for other forms of affection.

Most of Jack's trapped kills are too small to have ever been human, or that's what Jack is telling himself. "The grasslands had more vegetables and fruits we could gather, though there seems to be more variety of small animals here," he answers, coming over with the cloak, shaking it out. It's not made of curtains this time, but of something that may have once been a bedsheet. It hangs a little nicer than the curtains, with more weight, and a deeper shade of yellow, plus it's lined so it will be a bit more durable.

"What do you think?" he asks, holding it out to John. "Will it work for you?"

John takes the cloak with immediate appreciation, turning and weighing it in his hands. Perhaps he has little to work from, but the fabric is lovely. He shrugs it on immediately, in the same clumsy way he always seems to get dressed, his two hands never quite moving in unison: it drapes nicely over his shirt and trousers, and John spreads his arms to feel the weight on his shoulders.

"It is perfect," he declares. That strange gravitas has come into his voice again, inhuman and regal, too deep a growl beneath the words. "I will try to see this one safely through the next Moon Warp. Thank you, Jack."

A combination of confusion and embarrassment war over Serph's face. He's not sure why Jack would feel that he didn't want him around... was it because they effectively abandoned him during a time of need?

But he does nod; he does indeed still want Jack around. Still, at the mention of the moon warp... it was those events that bothered him. Not so much the sex(? What they did doesn't match up with anything he knows) but more the violence. He'd told John he wouldn't let anyone hurt him like the cult had hurt him, and yet under the moonlight, they had torn into each other. He had eaten John. A little. And he tasted sublime; no monster or demon tasted like that. He's not sure what that means.

"That night we..." Serph begins haltingly, wings tensing. "We tried to kill each other."

Which is why he'd been worrying and fretting about falling into the same patterns again.

[ oh, that. that is clever, and makes so much sense. jayce never had a tail, so, he never checked any fabrics with them with a close eye. there's an opportunity for a joke here, though, and jayce huffs some air from his nose. ]

You'll make me self-conscious like that. [ joking. he's joking. the little smirk pulling at his lips may be all the proof he needs. it's true that his deer tail is a deer tail and is, thus, much shorter than the twirling waves of fox tails jack has going on. ] Do you need to see it for the size?

I see, I'll visit you shortly then.

[She wasn't lying. Natsuhi waited a moment, finishing her drink. It wouldn't do to waste it given the situation. With that done, she cleaned up after herself then made her way over. Just calmly walking, not going to rush, not going to wander and keep him waiting too long.

She didn't go inside, even if she could she the shop from the entrance. She might even be able to see him. Instead, she knocked. ]

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[Video+Action, post moon-warp]

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>action - sorry for delay got ill ;-;