Fourth Snapshot | Video

[expertonshutters]

[The smiling, cheery photographer does not appear to be in right now. What the feed gets is someone who is tired, frazzled, and angry.]

I'm glad to see that it looks like everyone made it out of that mess alive. I don't- I don't really know what to make of what we saw down there, but I can say this: I'm not really fond of a bunch of Gods that would put kids through something like that. That was bullshit.

[There's a pause while he tries to get himself under control.]

I need a drink. I need ten drinks. I'm going to go get ten drinks. Someone tell me if there's a place in town that has good drinks.

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[expertonshutters]

Praise be to the asshole birds I was almost killed by yesterday.

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[leadingspirit]

[Snort.]

Meet me in the center of town in ten minutes, nimrod. You can tell me all about these birds.

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[expertonshutters]

Jerks.

[He's just being petulant, now. He will be at the center of town right at ten minutes. He looks no less frazzled than he did on the feed.]

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[leadingspirit]

[And Taki is his usual lumbering friendly self, walking up behind Hayato and draping an arm around his shoulders to steer him to wherever he found alcohol in the absence of Dwarf House.]

C'mon, you need to take a load off.

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[expertonshutters]

You don't have to tell me twice.

[He goes with him.]

Nothing stupid happened while we were gone, right?

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[leadingspirit]

[He gives that a solid thirty seconds of though, scrunching his lips up under his nose.]

Not unless you count the stupid amounts of paperwork I had to file about the earthquake.

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[expertonshutters]

[He huffs a laugh.]

That's good. What's this place you found, anyway?

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[leadingspirit]

[Arm still draped over him, he turns them abruptly to a little store-front.]

This little gem. Friendly staff, decently flavorful appetizers, and good beer. Not all hope for Union is lost.

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[expertonshutters]

I'm so glad right now, you have no idea.

[He will head inside and go straight for the bar.]

this has been action for a while whoops

[leadingspirit]

[He lets him go, shaking his head and sliding his hands into his pockets to wander after him.]

I think I have something of an idea, actually.

[He settles on a stool and waves over the bartender, ordering them a round.]

So what's this about asshole birds?

[expertonshutters]

[He will kill that round pretty immediately.]

I don't know how to even start to explain what happened. It was like we were dropped backwards in time. We were suddenly in this field with all these soldiers around. One of the birds was encased in ice and they were guarding it like some kind of hunting prize.

And then the second bird showed up. It was huge. They opened fire on it while it knocked us around with the mother of all aeroblasts.

[He calls for another drink.]

Between trying to keep from getting killed by this thing and trying to figure out how to keep the casualties low, we eventually tried to free the ice bird to hope maybe the other one would back off when it had what it wanted.

[He kills that second drink, indicating things did not go that way.]

[leadingspirit]

[He's watching Hayato kill these drinks with a slight frown on his face, nursing his own first beer slowly. When he finishes talking to kill his second drink, he folds his hands together and rests his chin on them.]

No dice, eh?

[expertonshutters]

Imagine an ice beam strong enough to take out an entire platoon.

[leadingspirit]

[His eyebrows raise.]

I'd rather not, honestly.

[Takes a healthy swig of his beer.]

And you had kids with you?

[expertonshutters]

I didn't know them all, but they all looked young. I know Honoka is at least sixteen. That wasn't a fair choice to give to them. To make them responsible for the potential deaths of ...what. Hundreds? Thousands? We'll never know. It makes me sick.

[He finishes that one, waves for a third.]

[leadingspirit]

[He reaches out to set his fingers on the back of Hayato's wrist.]

Hey. I know you're mad, but slow down a little. We're not in any hurry.

I'm sorry about the kids, though. They all made it out okay, at least physically, right?

[expertonshutters]

[He at least nurses this one. He kind of wanted to feel it in a hurry and he feels like Union probably was weak alcohol.]

Yeah. Just barely. We had a lot of close calls, but we managed to come back in one piece.

[leadingspirit]

[He's gonna leave his fingers there for a minute until he's sure he's not blazing through his alcohol before recoiling, polishing off his own.]

I'd love to say it'd be a learning experience, but... That's not one kids should have to have.

[expertonshutters]

[He sips at his beer.]

No. I think that's what bothers me the most about all this. Not that I expect gods to care about a thing like that.

[leadingspirit]

I mean. At least it was voluntary participation. They probably didn't sign up for what actually happened, but they did go along of their own will.

[He's trying to make this less terrible.]

[expertonshutters]

[He chugs the rest of his drink. He probably won't not be bothered about that. Maybe it's time to change the subject.]

So how were things here? Did we get anymore earthquakes or anything?

[leadingspirit]

[He shakes his head, frowning.]

Not a damn thing.

[expertonshutters]

[He nods, waving the bartender for beer four.]

Well- no news is good news, I guess. At least in this instance.

[leadingspirit]

[He nods, shrugging his shoulders a little.]

Oh-- I did come home with a Growlithe, though!

[expertonshutters]

[lksjadl That was quite a change in subject and the candidness of it makes him sputter a little into his beer. He laughs.]

A growlithe. That seems oddly fitting for you. Thorin has one, too.