heavens bbs [video]

[neitherdevilnordeath]

Date posted: June 13th, midday
From: Yoon (even though he's holding Ran's phone.)

[The video feed starts on Ran, still very bandaged but clearly able to move on his own power again, unlike at the end of the Black Parade - a full 18 days ago.]

"There, it's turned on now. You're lucky I figured out how to work this thing while you were laid up."

[The voice comes from somewhere 'behind' the microphone. The phone is being handheld too.]

"I'm still not doing it. That was your decision, not mine. "

"Just thank your coworker for helping you back to your temple and be done with it. You owe him that much and it's long overdue with how long you took to heal up. Most pain-in-the-butt god power ever, I swear."

[ Really, it's not Ran's fault that he landed himself with an ability that injures him, and he doesn't hesitate to make his displeasure at the entire situation known, outright glaring at the shinki standing behind the scenes. In the end though, he grits his teeth and averts his eyes, tone curt despite the words themselves.

Yoon = 1, Ran = 0.]

"...Thank you."

[ A short pause, a raised eyebrow. Please don't make him repeat that? ]

"Good. You can have this back now."

[And the feed flickers briefly as the phone is handed back to Ran. Now the top portion changes: ]

From: Itzpapalotl

Comments

Video

[cryptaesthesia]

[Although it's obvious who it is, the video tag still says "Anonymous." Crawford is sitting in a coffee shop somewhere, probably on the Near Shore.]

How fortunate to have such attentive coworkers.

[He offers a mock salute with the coffee mug]

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery.

[neitherdevilnordeath]

[ Now there's a face that makes him want to shove his fingertips straight through the phone, injuries be damned. Unless, of course, the man is a shinki, in which case, that would be cause for laughter.

What he'd like to ask is 'when the hell did you get here', but if he's a shinki, that could be bad, so instead he's forced to tiptoe on eggshells. ]

Attentive? The kid probably had to force him to do anything.

[cryptaesthesia]

[Strangely, that seems to be a common reaction...]

You think he would have left you to bleed out?

[neitherdevilnordeath]

Perhaps not...

[ But it's Youji. ]

...but I can't say I know him well enough to say for certain.

[ The Youji he knew hadn't looked like he hacked his hair off with gardening shears, so there's probably a good bit of time between them. ]

[cryptaesthesia]

['...doesn't know him well enough?' Interesting.

Crawford shrugs with smug amusement.]

No honor among thieves then? That explains a lot.

[neitherdevilnordeath]

Thieves have honor.

It's just a question of with whom that honor lies.

[ Ran's loyalties, for instance, are to his sister and to himself. With the others... it's a matter of shared pasts and common goals. ]

[cryptaesthesia]

Then with whom does your honor lie?

[C'mon Abyssinian, don't set yourself up like that...]

If it's clearly not with your associate here.

[neitherdevilnordeath]

Sorry, I'm not a thief, just a former florist and current Aztec god.

[ He won't give it up that easily. ]

[cryptaesthesia]

[You can't blame him for trying.]

Of course.

Action

[handsome_genius]

[Have a confused shinki.]

Do you know him?

[neitherdevilnordeath]

Not particularly, though it would help if I knew what he was. He doesn't strike me as the sort to come out and provide that information, though.

[ Technically not a lie! He really doesn't know Crawford outside of the few times they'd fought, and even then the man didn't seem the type to just drop information unless it could be of use to him later. ]

[handsome_genius]

What he is?

[But Yoon's a smart cookie about some things.]

You mean whether he's a god or shinki? Considering you think he recognized you, I'd think he's a god... right?

[neitherdevilnordeath]

He was a bodyguard for a politician, but aside from a few chance encounters due to employment causing us to cross paths, I honestly don't know him.

[ And just to be safe... ]

While I would like to say not to trust him, he would probably say the same about me, and neither of us would be lying.

[handsome_genius]

[Well that does sound very worrisome in context, but he doesn't know one big word.]

Bodyguard for a... what now? A poli... tician? That's a kind of noble?

[He knows 'Politics' as a word, and -ian for a person who does it, but... where he's from that's a job reserved for nobility exclusively.]

[neitherdevilnordeath]

No, nothing about that guy was noble. He deserved his fate, and I don't regret killing him a second time here, even if it meant bleeding out for a while.

[ As for Crawford, that's a whole 'nother story. ]

But this guy... we don't exactly get along.

[handsome_genius]

[Ah... this is a side to Ran he hasn't seen yet. He's not afraid, more just taking it all in.

So he just nods quietly in understanding and then looks back down at his phone.]