[Accidental Video]

[batteredog]

From: Nicolas Brown
Date: Sept 22

[ The video turns on showing a black cat pawing at the device. In the background, a young boy can be seen on his knees digging through an overturned trash can in the alleyway of a familiar bar in the Farshore. Between the cat swiping at the device in play, snippets of his movements can be seen. He finds a piece of salami, cleans it up and feeds it to a cat. Next, it's a piece of chicken from a pasta dish which he feeds to his two other feline companions. Then lastly, he finds a half eaten sandwich which he quickly consumes before ripping open another garbage bag to continue the process all over again, except this time, there's a noise up ahead as someone opens the back door to the alley and Nico swiftly looks up before quickly gathering up the three cats and taking off. A small, gloved hand manages to swipe the device off the ground as he passes by barely escaping detection.  ]


[ ooc; nicolas woke up this morning in the middle of an open field with three cats. the temple that was once his master's is now gone, along with his god, Noctis, leaving him with three cats to care for. ] 

Comments

[sing_for_me]

[Alex almost dropped her phone when she saw the video. What the hell has been happening? She recognizes the bar, heading over right away. What was he doing rummaging through garbage?!

It takes a moment to try and find him since he ran off, bur she eventually spots him.

Alex runs over, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.]

Nic..!

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas doesn't hear her approach but he does sense her. He shifts his shoulders to the side, staring at her as she runs in his direction before putting a hand on his shoulder. Dark eyes flick to the limb but deeming it not a threat, he looks back up at her with a questioning gaze. ]

....?

[sing_for_me]

[He doesn’t look hurt or anything..that’s good.]

[What are you doing?]

[batteredog]

[ He simply stares back. No response. ]

[sing_for_me]

[Why. Eating. Trash?]

[batteredog]

[ He signs a simple answer.

Cat. Hungry.]

[sing_for_me]

[But trash was a little..He could ask Noctis for money for cat food, can’t he? Noctis doesn’t seem like the type that would mind. Unless Nicolas wasn’t comfortable asking him for things.]

[Get. Cat food. With me.]

[She gestures towards the stores.]

[batteredog]

[ He looks in the direction of where he knows the stores are and signs a quick - 'No money.' ]

[sing_for_me]

[My money.]

[She walks towards that direction, looking back to gesture for him to follow.]

[Feed cat.]

[batteredog]

[ He hesitates for only a moment, before he's walking behind her, katana held in front of him. ]

[sing_for_me]

[They walk into the store and start browsing the cat food aisle.]

[Why not ask Noctis?]

[She gestures to ask him. He seemed like a nice guy, and she was sure he wouldn't mind helping out with the cats.]

[batteredog]

[ A quiet shake of his head. ]

[sing_for_me]

....

[What's wrong?]

[batteredog]

[ Another shake of his head - Nothing. ]

[sing_for_me]

[Alex grew more concerned. She crouches in front of Nic, signing again.]

[Something happen?]

[yasei]

[ How to alert a person that can't hear that their phone is running a video feed?

After a few moments, he decides that it's easier to just go find the kid. (Which means he'll just go ahead and steal the stuff in his shopping bag from the grocery store.) It's easy enough when you can just take the birds path across rooftops and lampposts. ]

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas is in the forest near the tree line of where his gods temple used to be. He's sitting on the ground, back to a tree with his katana on the ground within grabbing distance. Beside him is a cardboard box he managed to scrounge, inside are three cats sleeping all over each other while he keeps watch. ]

[yasei]

[ Nicolas might see the leaves on one of the other trees shake a little, before Obi lands on the ground. Not directly in front of him, he doesn't want to startle him too badly, though he knows that he probably won't get out of startling him a little. ]

1/2

[batteredog]

[ Twilights don't startle that easily. Even if he looks entirely too small and thin for his age, Nicolas is no D rank Twilight. The moment those leaves start shaking, he has his katana out, intent on protecting Noctis legacy. By the time he lands on the ground, the young Twilight is already moving in to cut him down. ]

2/2

[batteredog]

[ But the blade stops a foot from his throat, the shinki recognizes him. It's enough to stop his blade from landing the killing blow, but not enough to have him lower it. Talk fast. ]

[yasei]

[ Obi has very fast reflexes and was pulling away. But he stops, and lets his body language show that he's not about to attack him, nor that he's upset over having a blade so close to his throat. ]

Hey, I just wanted to see how you were doing, sorry for showing up without warning.

[batteredog]

[ He reads the words as easily as his intent behind them and quietly sheathes the blade back in its holster. He's not a threat so he nods at him silently. Okay. He's okay. ]

[yasei]

[ Body language is just as important as words, after all. Sometimes even more important. And Obi wouldn't hurt a child. Particularly when he likes a kid. ]

Did you notice that your phone thing recorded a video for the message sharing thing?

[ Because what are internet stuff. ]

[batteredog]

[ He tilts his head. Recording? His brows crease as he takes a moment to fish out the device from his pocket to show it to him. Is this what you're talking about? ]

[yasei]

[ Recording was a new word to him too.

Obi nods. ]

It's making images show up in other peoples phones too.

[batteredog]

[ An owlish blink before he looks down at the device. Noctis always told him to keep it with him and even showed him what it did once but Nicolas was entirely too unfamiliar with technology to understand how to use it. He pushes a few buttons now, all random and when he suddenly see's his face on the screen he quickly pulls back and looks up at Obi for direction.

'What did it do?!' ]

[yasei]

[ Obi shifts a little, so he can see what Nicolas is doing. ]

I think that's the camera. I actually don't know much about these things. The first time I saw one was a little over a month ago. But it can save images and videos in it, so you can look at it later, or show it to people.

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas just stares at him with the same awkward expression. He understands a little of what he's saying, but only a little because he's never been on the network so he has no clue his face could be seen by anyone but himself. So, when he opens his mouth to sound out the word in a grainy broken voice it's clarification and nothing more. ]

K A MR AUH?

[yasei]

[ He probably pronounces it wrong but Obi can't pronounce it properly either, not entirely. And Nicolas has an excuse, where Obi does not. ]

Yes. Look, like this.

[ He picks his own phone out of a pocket, opens the camera, and takes a picture of the trees opposite of them, then opens the picture and shows him that the image doesn't change even though the phone is moving. ]

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas stares at the picture, then up at Obi and then back at the picture before he brings up his own phone and points at it. ]

H OW ?

[yasei]

[ Obi puts down his bag and presses the button on Nicolas' phone that leads to the home screen, so they can start from there.

Then he shows him, making sure not to do it too quickly, how to access the camera, and how to take a picture. ]

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas is a fast learner, he has to be, so he carefully watches every step with steep concentration noting every screen he goes too and each button he uses to finally snap a picture. The idea of taking a picture of something without drawing is still foreign to him but he takes change well. So, he turns off the device so he can reach the home screen - it's the only way he knows how to get there - and follows Obi's instruction until he gets to the camera and not long after that he raises the phone and snaps a picture of him. ]

[yasei]

[ Obi grins at the boy and the camera. ]

Did it work out?

[batteredog]

[ He looks down at the camera and there, centered on his phone is a still picture of him. He turns the phone around to show him before nodding profusely in a very obvious way. 'Worked'. ]

[yasei]

Ooh. That's great!

[ And that's one of those strange hair ruffles, accompanied by a huge grin. ]

1/2

[batteredog]

[ He's blinking up at the hair ruffling unsure what to make of it. It's not something he's used too - someone being nice to him. So, he decides to merely take another picture of him before one of the cats in the box meows loudly at him. ]

2/2

[batteredog]

[ Nicolas sets down the camera to look over at the three kittens and stares down at the device to check the time, noting it was past their lunch time. He sets the device in his pocket and jumps up into the tree, grabbing a branch to launch himself higher where he kept his stash of cat food Alex had bought for them. When he comes back down again it's with a small backpack he'd stuffed the food in along with two used bowls. He pours dried cat-food into one bowl and opens his canteen to fill the other before letting the three kittens have at it. ]