lieutenantantichrist | [11] Video/Action for Route 39

[Carter doesn't know he's gotten used to it until he wakes up alone.]

[What's supposed to happen is they get up, bitch about the cold, make some coffee and breakfast, bitch about the cold some more, pack up, and hit the road.]

[Today there's just the sound of birds.]

[When Carter sits up, the other sleeping bag is flat. There's a fat, fuzzy teddy bear thing sitting on top of it, and a crab perched on the pillow, where a head full of messy blond hair should be.]

[Both of the animals look at Blake expectantly.]

[He fumbles for his phone and hits the key that dials Dirk. He sits very, very still while it connects.]

[The prerecorded voice tells him what he already knows.]

[He drops the phone and leaves it to chirp out its message to nobody. He pulls on the nearest clothes to hand and crawls out of the tent. The bright light makes him squint. He walks toward the edge of the clearing. They'd found a good place this time. Level ground, no tall grass, surrounded by pine trees. You couldn't even see it from the road. Honestly, Carter doesn't know how Dirk knew it was there.]

[Blake rests his head against a tree and breathes in deep. The bark is cool and rough on his forehead. The air smells like pine needles.]

[Dirk had a good eye for these things.]

[He slams his fist into the trunk as hard as he can.]

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

[Over and over, and when he finally stops his knuckles are stinging and it's all silence except for his panting.]

[He turns and goes back to the tent.]

[Inside, the fuzzy thing is trying to open up his backpack. Its claws are giving it much luck with the ties. Blake unties it and dumps everything out on the floor. Soap, pokeballs, clothespins, socks. Some oranges roll away, and the thing goes right after them and starts gnawing. Doesn't even take the peel off.]

[There's something thin and white in the pile. A piece of paper. Blake picks it up and reads it.]

[He reads it again.]

[He sits there for a while as the teddy bear thing munches, and there's a low thrum and a shadow through the tent's wall as one of those ladybugs passes by.]

[He digs the little sewing kit out of the pile. He turns his backpack inside-out and opens up the seam at the bottom. He tucks the note in and sews it closed again.]

[By the time he's done, it occurs to him he's pretty hungry. Usually they'd be having breakfast by now. The fuzzy thing's gone through a lot of what he has already. Carter doesn't really feel like fighting it. For the crab's part, it's just watching with wide, unblinking eyes. It has a pair of mushrooms stuck to its back.]

[Carter remembers hearing those are edible.]

[VIDEO]

[Blake is sitting on a stump. He looks contemplative, and somewhat withdrawn. His beard hasn't been trimmed yet this morning. His pupils are a little too wide.]

Hey. You out there.

After a while here you figure things come and go. There's no point in bitching. You just gotta keep moving forward and keep your hooves on the ground.

I figure I might as well ask. I kept putting it off, thinking maybe I'd get home. But that's not happening anytime soon, and it has to be past by now. So if anybody here is from 2013 or so, maybe a little later, I got a question for you.

And all of you. Talk to me. [He thinks, then nods, and taps on the phone's screen.] Tell me something you'd want to know about what's going on at home. Wherever you're from. If you could find out one thing that's happened while you've been gone, what'd you ask?

[He looks out at the trees, his eyes a little glassy. He seems to forget the Gear is on. A moment later, he abruptly cuts the feed.]

[ACTION]

[If you venture down Route 39 today, you might come upon Blake staring out at the horizon, contemplatively chewing on some hay.]

((ooc: Blake's in a bit of an odd place right now...He'll be mostly coherent, but anyone who talks to him may get hallucinated into something unique. The Paras has one mushroom left, so you could also come join him on a spirit journey.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You know I'm not where you're from but...

Can I still answer your question?

[Covered-up eyes...something that made Blake thing of being yanked up off the ground and way high up..yeah, that's where he knows him from. Blake breaks into a broad smile.]

Sure you can, Spider-Man.

[Excuse Obito while he stares blankly for a moment, okay? Okay. Because what is that face, You're worrying him Blake.

So it takes him a moment to get his momentum back.]

If I could find someone from far enough forward... I'd ask if my actions still led to peace, even if my personal goal failed.

Which I kind of hope it does because I've heard it and it's stupid.

[Spider-Man looks surprised. He sounds reasonable though. Blake nods.]

That's a good one. Nobody ever gets world peace, but you might've got the Green Goblin in jail. That's the goal you're talking about, right?

...Nope.

[Maybe Blake is drunk? That would explain... this....]

I meant world peace.

World peace? That'd be nice.

[Slowly, a frown creeps over Blake's face.]

How come nobody ever thought of that before?

[He's going to work with this. Blake, what's wrong with you?]

I don't think that it's that people never thought about it. I think they just didn't think it could happen.

Sure it could. All you have to do is get everybody to stop being assholes for five minutes.

[The world is bright and filled with patterns of light and eddies in the air, but something about that still doesn't sound quite right, a second after Blake says it. He frowns.]

Yeah. It'd never happen.

[He can't even argue really, he's thought the same thing for years.]

That would be because the world, every world, is filled with jerks yeah.

That's for sure.

[Blake stares contemplatively off into the distance.] Wonder why that is.

Then, the one guy you're sure is an asshole down to the core...he turns out to be okay.

[You're going to get a suspicious squint for that because it almost feels like you're talking about his teammate there.]

Yeah, I know that feeling, what made you think of it?

The guy who just left. Couldn't fuckin' stand him at first. One of those arrogant bastards who thinks he's toughed because he watches too many movies. Then he turned out to be decent. Hell, both of them did.

[Blake rethinks that.]

Nah, Jayden was still an asshole. But he got shit done.

[And he has no actual idea who Blake is talking about now, but he at least gets the sentiment.]

Ahh, decent enough you're going to miss them?

[Blake's arms fold around his knees. His voice goes small and floats away.]

Yeah.

[His eyes find the screen again, wide and marked with confusion.]

What am I supposed to do about that?

You miss them, and you remember them. [His tone was very soft, gentle.]

I don't wanna miss them.

Jesus, it's easier when everybody's assholes.

[He gave a little laugh, tilting his head a bit and nodding.] Yeah... it usually is.

[11] Video/Action for Route 39 - "4 THE MARE"

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