withtheoldbreed | d-day + 22 ✯ video

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d-day + 22 ✯ video

[Gene's on deck when he clicks on the video feed, and although he fumbles with it a bit, you get a decent shot of a skinny red headed kid who's probably about seven or eight, completely swamped in a ugly sweater and his older self's utility uniform jacket, which is long enough on him to look like a trench coat.

... Basically, he looks kind of like an idiot, but he literally owns no other warm clothes, which means he's also without gloves or mittens.

And he needs them, because there's snow on deck, so the grin he flashes at the camera is wide and genuine. His cheeks are flushed pink, and his teeth might be chattering a little, but he's having fun.]

I've never seen this much snow before! Are we gonna-

[Whatever he was going to say gets temporarily interrupted. His face scrunches up and he starts coughing into the shoulder of his jacket, deep and wet and rough, and when he's finished, his smile is apologetic and sheepish.

(He'd been real sick a couple days before he got here - wherever here is, although he remembers enough to not be utterly terrified of what being here means - and he's feeling better, but the cough lingers, and that's so frustrating. He doesn't understand why he's sick so often, why he can't just be normal.)]

Sorry.

I guess we can't go sledding, but can we do the other stuff? Are we gonna have a tree? It's not all gonna melt, is it?

[Open Spam, throughout the flood]

[Snow's still as novel a concept the second and third day as it was on the first, which means Gene winds up spending a decent amount of time on deck, wearing his ridiculous get up and shivering as he builds snowmen and makes snow angels with other kids, or by himself, or any grownups who feel like helping. He keeps coughing, but he doesn't feel any worse and so if no one tells him otherwise, he stays out playing until he's just too cold to do it anymore.

Which, honestly, happens pretty quickly when you don't have gloves, or snow boots.

When he needs a break to thaw out, he heads to the mess hall, where he happily and politely accepts whatever food is offered at that meal time. He's a little shy about sitting with people he doesn't recognize, but he feels strange sitting by himself, too, and nervously shuffles around trying to decide where to sit before picking anything.

Aside from the deck, his favorite place is the library, and he wanders around looking for books about birds and the Civil War, very carefully pulling his selections off the shelves and carrying them back up to the front desk to check them out. At least once, he finds a comfortable chair to climb into and start reading one of them but winds up falling asleep instead, curled into the cushions with the book held protectively on his lap.

And, of course, he does plenty of wandering around in between.]

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There's a tree downstairs that's growing out of the floor!

[wait wait wait -]

[Gene does the video conference version of a double take.]

Dillon?

Yes! How did you -

[GASP]

Are you my long lost brother???

[WHAT AN ADVENTURE]

I've got a brother, his name's Edward.

[Mostly, he just looks confused, because he's pretty sure his parents would've mentioned another brother or something.]

Did you already think you had a long lost brother?

Nuh-uh. But I don't have any or any sisters and that's kind of weird, isn't it.

[Suspicious.]

An' you look just like me!

When's your birthday?

June first!

...or that's what my parents told me.

[If they really ARE his parents!!!]

Mine's November fourth. But my parents definitely didn't kidnap me from anybody.

Mine must have, then. It's prolly why we live way out in the desert. To keep the cops off their trail!

[Totally unconcerned. His parents must love him a lot to steal him and keep him and never trade him back for a ransom or whatever.]

You live in the desert?

[He sounds pretty impressed. He's never even seen the desert.]

Yeah! Not everybody likes it but I think it's really pretty.

I've only ever seen it in pictures.

[Merriell has dressed himself pretty similarly to Gene honestly, because it's cold and the snow demands to be played in so whatever clothes are around are going to have to do. He's actually kind of delighted by his own rude ugly sweater and so he's wearing it over the uniform jacket, which hangs out from underneath and makes the sweater bunch up lumpily at the neck where he hasn't pulled the collar out properly. He notices Gene's outfit when the other boy pulls himself up from making a snow angel.]

Hey, we got the same kinda coat.

[It takes Gene a second to recognize the coat, partly because it's not something he's had long enough to instantly recognize it and partly because the other boy's got his sweater covering a decent amount of it. But when he does, he grins and shakes snow out of his hair, shivering violently before brushing snow off his own coat.]

I haven't seen anyone else with 'em. Where'd you get yours?

It was jus' there in the room where I woke up. [He grins, shrugs and crosses his arms with a little shiver. It's definitely colder than it ever really gets in Louisiana, not that he's not enjoying it.] Why, where'd you get yours?

[The other kid's accent is a little different from what Eugene's used to, but he's more or less understandable. He already wants to know where he's from, since it's not like he's had a whole lot of reason to travel outside of Alabama over the last either or so years.]

In my room. There's a buncha other stuff I don't recognize, but it's my bed and everything. [But the bed is his, and there's some other stuff he recognizes, and some stuff he doesn't, so he knows it's his room.]

What's your name?

[He eyes him for a moment or two, like he's trying to decide whether or not to introduce himself. Then he nods, like okay, sure, we can be friends.]

Merriell. What's yours?

[There's a second where the smile wavers a tiny bit, like he's worried the other kid will decide he's better off playing with someone else. But he doesn't, and so Gene smiles without hesitation again.]

Eugene. Do you wanna build a snowman?

[Ah, shit.]

Hey, pal. You doin' okay over there? [he wasn't brought here to be a responsible adult, Admiral. Why are you doing this.]

I'm alright, sir! [Well, he's cold, and his teeth are still chattering, but being out in the snow is kind of worth being uncomfortable, in his opinion.]

Do you get snow where you're from?

Yeah. Yeah, we get tons. Sometimes it gets so cold durin' winter the sea's almost freezin' over.

You need some more clothes, kid?

Wow. [Gene's eyes go wide, trying to imagine what that must be like. Even when it does get cold in Mobile, the water in the bay never gets close to freezing over.

And he's about to say no, or clarify what he's offering, but he starts coughing again, that same wet rumble in his chest, and when it's done, he looks suitably apologetic again.]

This was the only coat in my room. All the other clothes are too big.

[Although so are the sweater and coat...]

[He winces when he hears that cough-- he doesn't know a lot about children's health, but that's not a good cough for anyone.]

You wait right there, I'll come bring you somethin' warm to wear. [He keeps the communicator on, wanting Gene to know he's still around. He opens some drawers, finding a scarf, gloves, one of his old woollen vests. They're gonna be too big for the kid, but it's gonna be better than nothing. After that, he carries his communicator with him as he goes down to Gene's level.]

You ever have a snowball fight?

[Gene nods and does as instructed, dragging the sleeves of the sweater and coat down over his cold hands so he can hold the communicator and be a tiny bit warmer.]

No, sir. It snowed a little last year, but me'n Sid didn't get out in time to play in it. It melted real fast.

Call me Jimmy, pal. That sounds like a waste of an adventure. Sid your brother?

No, he's my best friend. [Although lbr they hang out enough that they may as well be.] My brother's name is Edward.

You like havin' a brother? [Gene might recognize the view as Jimmy rounds a corner. As Gene replies he knocks on the door, waiting for the kid to open up.]

He's okay. Sometimes he doesn't want to play with me'n Sid because we're younger. [Gene shrugs, and then glances towards the door as Jimmy knocks, setting the communicator down to answer the door. You might hear more uncomfortable sounding coughing before he pulls it open, smiling.]

Hi.

[He smiles a little, though it's tinged with worry. The Gene he knows might be kinda scrawny but he never sounded sickly like this kid does. He ruffles Gene's hair a little, then holds up the clothing he'd found.]

It ain't much, but this oughtta warm you up a little more. You doin' okay?

[Gene doesn't try to shy away from the hair ruffle and beams at the sight of the warmer clothes. He's about to cautiously reach for them - the gloves and scarf in particular seem appealing - but hesitates a beat, still grinning.]

Yeah, I'm okay. [Er, well.

His smile falters a tiny bit, something like guilt flickering in, especially when he starts coughing again. At least he covers his mouth when he does it?] I was sick a couple days ago, but I'm doing better, honest.

[He was about the hand the clothes over, but the coughing makes him frown in concern. He bends down a little, resting one hand on his knee as his other feels Gene's forehead. He's honestly not sure what he's supposed to feel, but he's seen Ma and Angela do it countless of times. When he thinks there's nothing to really feel he pulls back, still frowning.]

You been to a doctor yet?

[It's something Gene's all too familiar with, and again, he doesn't protest. Well, not quite, because there is sort of a vaguely irritated tilt to his mouth for a moment before he smiles again, maybe trying to convince him there's nothing to worry about.]

My dad's a doctor. He says I'm doing better. [And that he should probably be in bed taking it easy for a day or two more, or until the cough clears up, but there's snow.] I'm feeling better, honest!

[Which is definitely being said in a way that suggests Gene has tried to convince many adults that he's doing okay when he's really still been kind of sick.]

[Children who cough like that can be annoyed all they want, they're still gonna get fussed over.]

He is, huh? Well, if a doctor says so... [He may fuss, but he doesn't coddle: if the kid wants to go out in the snow and wear himself out, that's fine by him. He can make sure he's warm enough, though, so he hands Gene what little clothing he'd been able to find.] I'll be believe him.

[Gene beams and accepts the clothing eagerly, secretly very pleased while also feeling a little guilty about not quite lying to the guy. It's not really lying if he does actually feel fine, right? He just keeps coughing.]

Thank you! I'll take real good care of 'em, honest.

[He smiles and sticks his hands in his pockets]

Alright, kid. Plannin' to play in the snow, huh?

Yeah! [That smile clearly isn't going anywhere, because Gene still looks bright and happy and is practically vibrating with excitement at this point.]

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Sure. But I gotta warn you, I'm really good at it. So don't get jealous, alright?

You've probably done it a lot more than me.

[Aw geez, kid, he was joking. Don't be so earnest at him.] That's true. I could teach you, but you're gonna have to give it your all, alright?

Ah! You need a hat if you're going to be out in that. I'm sure there's one somewhere here.

There wasn't one in my room, ma'am. All the clothes are too big anyway.

I'll see what I can do, then. In the meantime, you can do whatever you like as long as you don't get hurt. Make sure to come in every once in awhile to stay warm!

Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

Of course!

[ Aya isn't used to spending nearly so much time away from her twin brother, but she's easily distracted by all her other potential playmates. So distracted, in fact, that she hardly pays attention to who she throws the snowball at. She simply throws it and giggles madly. ]

[Fortunately, Gene doesn't seem to mind. He laughs and wipes the snow off his jacket sleeve with bright red, wet and totally numb fingers, glancing over at Aya with a grin.]

What'dya do that for?

[ She tries to stop the giggles by covering her mouth, but it doesn't work. ]

You're it!

[ She points at him before turning and running. ]

I'm not gonna throw a snowball at a girl.

[He says it like "because that'd be mean", not "girls can't" or "girls are terrible".] Do you wanna just play tag?

[ She just cackles even more, gathers up snow and throws another snowball at him.

Not gonna throw a snowball, are you? Then prepare to take some punishment. ]

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d-day + 22 ✯ video

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