video | un: clouded.judgement

[calmness]

[The video starts with a shot of the snow covered ground, foliage overgrown but peaking out from under the white powder and very much of a hoppy nature. The person holding the camera is walking through it, lower half clad in pale blue and white robes embroidered with cloud patterns.

The camera spins, catching a glance of the run down farmhouse before settling on the man holding the smartphone. For someone with sticks and snow stuck in their hair, he still manages to look put together and the forehead ribbon he's wearing is not out of place and while there's a crease in his brows there's also an upward turn to his lips. Unfortunately for the protagonist of this story, he also really has no idea what the phone he's holding is or that he's recording and will soon be blasting a video out to the whole of the network.

Fortunately for him, the tumble he took earlier is not recorded. At least it hasn't started snowing. What luck.]

For a nightmare, this feels horribly tame... [There's no rain or snow suddenly falling but Lan Xichen is. The camera broadcasts the video, flies into the air, and then cuts out with the blue clad protagonist of this tale sitting in a lotus pose in a pile of snow. No scream and he nailed the landing, but is definitely worse for wear.]

Comments

video; @bombshell

[bombshelled]

[ Lana starts her response just laughing her head off. ]

Ohmygod, fucking RIP.

[ But don't worry, she's not entirely cruel. ]

Uh, you okay there, Snow White?

[calmness]

[The laughter is a shock, a piercing sound in the eerie quiet all around him.

Xichen frowns, eyes narrowing slightly at the screen as he looks at the video again. The person seems concerned, at least once the laughter has died down. While he has no idea who she is, it would be foolish not to respond and lose potential assistance if she seems trustworthy. He has no reason, yet, to believe she is not.] Pardon?

[Still, she may as well be speaking another language.] I am alright, thank you, but I am afraid you have me confused for some one else.

[bombshelled]

[ ....Great, another one of those old timey asian guys with no sense of humor. ]

Eh, don't sweat it. You sure you're okay out there? The snow's not as bad as it was last month, but it's still fucking Siberia or some shit out there.

[calmness]

[Half of that registers, really, but he can guess from context clues what Siberia is and that it's good enough to slip it into conversation. To adjust, to feel like he can blend.

He shudders from the cold, barely holds back the instinct to sneeze.] I'm alright. Uninjured, at least, even though it is... as cold as Siberia out here. Where is out here?

[bombshelled]

Uh, that's kind of a complicated question.

[ Can she explain their full situation before he freezes his balls off? ]

We're in a sort of... giant cage, kept prisoner by these people calling themselves the Technicians. They're basically trying to kill us in all sorts of new and exciting ways every month. If you can find your way to one of the cabins or apartments, there's a pamphlet that sort of explains everything.

[calmness]

Ah... [Well fuck.

A nightmare would have been preferable. He sighs, wishes for a moment that he'd remained withdrawn from the world but knows it is unlikely that that would have helped. ] Is surviving those exciting new attempts even possible?