doing something

[unbr8kable]

Who: some kids
Where: the dead zone
When: Day 335, after graduation

[After many a tiny finger food and many more tiny glasses of wine and one overblown and completely not sad at all!!! graduation ceremony, what better place to go than the dead zone? What better thing to do than climb up the giant, golden chain up to the crack in the sky? Sure it burns to the touch, but what's a little more pain on the pile--that's the point of all those tiny glasses of wine, right?

So never mind the slight sizzling sound, nor the uncomfortably familiar odor of burning flesh all the way up. There's a goal at the end; one that--in theory--will make this all worthwhile]

Comments

[crossmyheartandhope]

You didn't force nothing, dude.

[He catches up - nudges against her, a little clumsy]

Better to get it done, yeah?

[unbr8kable]

Better not to pass out in a place we know security likes literally tossing people out of...

[She leans back against him as well, however, clasping at his hand, hers a little clammy]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I dunno... 'pparently Sativa slept up in that one tree for like a day and a half and they missed him.

[His hand is a little clammy, too, though,]

[unbr8kable]

For real? Guess he got lucky...

[She trails off, gripping a little more securely]

...A-anyways. Could look around for some Heaven pub mix or something...

[crossmyheartandhope]

Yeah... least he got to sit out the exit party.

[Squeezing right back]

They got, like... fruit here and stuff? But for real, I'm good.

[unbr8kable]

[Leans in a little more]

You sure? I mean. Not just everybody gets to chow down on forbidden fruits.

[crossmyheartandhope]

I took some, last time.

[He's leaning on her quite a bit,]

M'gonna - gonna plant em.

[unbr8kable]

Mm... Whatserface was talking about that, too.

Anyways-- Even if you're ending up laying around in a tree for a day or two, you better eat at least one thing what ain't fermented grape.

[Picks him a pomegranate, since it is conveniently in reach]

[crossmyheartandhope]

I ain't hungry.

[He waves a hand, vague]

...who's whatserface?

[unbr8kable]

You don't gotta be hungry. You gotta make it back down the chain without gravity's help.

[Plops the fruit into that hand, sorry friend]

Cardinal's woman. Amaranth. ...Dunno if she got a chance before she got transferred again.

[crossmyheartandhope]

She ain't on your team no more?

[He takes the pomegranate, though he rolls it between his palms instead of making any move to eat it]

[unbr8kable]

[Checks the tables for anything that looks edible too, since she's not actually sure how pomegranates work tbh]

Who knows? Maybe she needs more magical cat tears to stick around, whatever.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[There's a whole lot of kinds, some real and some not]

...cat tears?

[unbr8kable]

[Just touching the fruit feels--comfortable, somehow, moreso than the conversation or most things she could think about--so she wanders a bit, past apples and bananas and something that looks like faintly colored strawberries, even though she's pretty sure those aren't meant to grow on trees?]

...Amaranth jumped outta Heaven, apparently. But the power of hopes and dreams or whatever called her to us, not Lilis.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Hopes and dreams, huh?

[He's still turning the pomegrate over in his hands - looks down at the place where his fingertips are glowing slightly, dusted by lgiht]

[unbr8kable]

[She looks over at him as well, from his face to the glow playing around his fingertips]

The pull of Avante's wish to see her not pancake into bad-Hell was apparently stronger'n Lilis's was. Guess it's something about how you gotta be connected to identity or something...

[crossmyheartandhope]

What, like... like you gotta know who you are?

What's that got to do with pancaking?

[unbr8kable]

Like how we gotta wear certain clothes, or decorate the house in certain stuff, or else you turn gray. Gotta connect to something here...I guess.

[crossmyheartandhope]

So what, like... like Avante claimed her? Cause you guys' identity magic was... stronger, or something?

[He is too drunk for this to make sense,]

[unbr8kable]

Guess so... I ain't smart enough for that kinda stuff.

[She picks a couple strawberries(?) and cherries(???), those are actual berries in trees, whoops]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[A long couple of beats]

...why're they that color?

[unbr8kable]

...Maybe this's where blue watermelon flavor comes from.

[crossmyheartandhope]

One way to know for sure.

[unbr8kable]

[Plops a pair of teal-colored cherries, joined like the Pac-Man icon]

If you see any watermelon trees, say the word.

[crossmyheartandhope]

I mean.

[A beat. He points, a little unsteady, toward one of the trees behind her]

Ain't that one?