genessia | Video

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★ jezebel disraeli

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[The man in the video is clearly new if his bundle of 'new person' items was any indication. However, the background when he finally gets the video functioning shows he's somewhere in the city, not the docks. Probably because it took him a while to even figure out how to work the thing.]

What the hell kind of a coma did I fall into?

[His voice is low and soft, but smooth, like a man with years of a soft life, but his accent and tone screamed 'street-born.' But the confusion and disbelief were clear enough despite anything else.]

Did I die and miss it?

[That would probably about sum up his life right now, honestly.]

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[Jezebel has been, slowly but surely, adjusting to his surroundings in Genessia. It isn't a place he entirely understands, not yet, and it bewilders him more often than not. But he's begun to accept it, taking in the oddities of such a strange new place.

And yet, when he sees the video on his device, he is briefly struck mute, staring in shock at the screen.]

...Cassian?

[It's like someone had grabbed him by the neck and choked him when he hears his name. His name from that voice.]

Je-

...Doctor?

[Maybe he had died and missed whatever had caused it. In this moment, he couldn't care less. What he didn't want was for this to be another dream, no longer a reliving of his failure in that crumbling building, but a new dream made by his mind to make the unhealed wound worse.]

Are you real?

[For a moment he just stares, willing it to not be a trick of this place, willing it not to be some cruel joke.

Eventually, he speaks, his voice hesitant, quiet, and yet somehow hopeful all the same.]

Yes. I am. Or, at least, I think I am.

...are you?

Last I checked.

[It comes out as easy as though they were just talking like normal, like things hadn't gone the way of the disaster they were always going to go.

He wants to see him for himself, but he doesn't know how to form the words to ask, nevermind he doesn't know this city or where anything is anyway.]

Are we dead? It's not what I was expecting.

[It wasn't bright and shiny or fiery and awful, so he's not sure how he's supposed to tell. But considering the evidence, it was the best guess he had.]

I don't know. I died. I remember that. But you might not be. Not everyone here is.

[That thought suddenly crashes into him -- had Cassian died? Had he been trapped in that tower, too?]

Cassian, did you make it out of the tower?

[Okay, well at least he didn't have to ask 'do you remember that you're dead?' because it was a question in the back of his head, but not one he wanted to voice.

But if he wasn't dead and it wasn't a dream...it didn't really matter, did it? What did he have left back there to care about how he got here?]

Yes. But I think I might have been one of only a few. I left with..you, after, and I didn't go back to check.
I haven't been back to London much at all.

How long have you been here?

So you're alive, then?

[That answer removes a great weight off of him. Cassian survived. Even if he was here, he not arriving as a ghost or a specter.

He doesn't dare ask who else made it out alive. His father's face flashes across his thoughts, but he puts that aside.]

A few weeks. Not that long. This is a very odd place, but not so bad, I suppose.

Yes.

[Alive, but maybe not living. But that wasn't the question.]

I'm glad. Anything's probably better.

[There was no Cardmaster, which meant the doctor had been living for himself for a little while. Probably more than he had in a long while.]

I'd...

[He hesitated, a strange thing for him.]

I'd ask where you are right now so we could meet, but I'm afraid the answer wouldn't mean much to me.

[His heart races for a moment at the thought of seeing him again -- at the thought of Cassian alive and well and here.]

I can find you. I can -- I'll figure it out. Are you still near the docks? Or are there any street signs for where you are?

[His heart lerches with Jezebel's determination. The fact he says it so assuredly rather than waving the half-asked question away...it put a tight grip in his chest he couldn't shake.

He could see him again. Alive. Well. Free.]

No, I went into the city...though I'm only a few blocks from the docks.

[The question about the street signs makes him hesitate and he looks around. It's futile, what he can see is nonsense to him, but it gives him a chance to see if there's anything else that could help.

He sees a large blue-grey building and moves so it's visible on the camera.]

I don't know about street signs, but there's this.

[He watches the video, and when he sees the building, his heart soars -- the commonspace, good. That makes this all the more easy.]

Stay where you are. I'll come meet you. I'm not far away, so I will be there in a moment.

Okay.

[Good, he wants to say, but it stays buried with all the many things he never says.]

I'll be here.

[And he turns off the feed as best as he can figure the damn thing. But, true to his word, he hasn't moved by the time Jezebel finds him.]

[Jezebel walks like a man with a purpose, striding down the sidewalks with his long legs carrying him as fast as they're able. It doesn't take him too long to dash over to the corner where Cassian is waiting, only stopping when he's a few feet away so that he can look Cassian over as if to make sure that he's real.

When he arrives, Jezebel looks alive, and well, and whole. The only change is a long scar slashing across his neck, and even that looks long since healed.]

God, it really is you, isn't it.

[The world tilts when he sees him, a ghost dashes towards him and Cassian can't think. Instead there's feelings he didn't dare name and thought himself incapable of feeling, but all that escapes from his iron grip on himself is the overwhelming relief.

Out of anything else he felt, relief at seeing those eyes full of life again, took over. Cassian's eyes ran over Jezebel's face and fell to the mark on the doctor's neck. Haunted concern flitted in his expression and his hand came up to brush at Jezebel's collar as though moving to touch the healed wound.]

You came here with that?

[Was it healed when Jezebel arrived or was it bleeding and open? The fatal wound flashed in his mind, open and clean and deep.]

[He nods vaguely, though his eyes are still wide and glancing over the sight of Cassian's face. Truly, he does not seem to be able to believe this is real. And yet there Cassian is, real and whole and looking over him in concern in a way that does truly seem to be like him.

There is a suicidal urge to touch his arm to make sure he isn't a dream, but he holds back.]

Yes. I had it like this when I came here. It -- it was already healed when I awoke. It doesn't hurt me.

[He didn’t reach further, as much as part of him wanted to. His fingers itches to just make sure there wasn’t warm-and-cooling-blood there, but he curled his fingers back and pulled away. He wanted to push, to make sure Jezebel wasn’t lying or pretending it wasn’t actually a big deal to get Cassian to stop asking...but, at this point, he’d take a lie or dismissal or anything...anything over the nothing that had haunted him the last few months.]

Good.

[He wished he could promise nothing would ever hurt Jezebel again, but he wasn’t so foolish or niece to think that was even remotely possible. The best he could do was try. And try harder than he had last time.]

Before, I’d planned to get you away from that life, whether you thanked me for it or not, and try to help you find something better. I guess you’ve already done that.

[So what now? How did he say he still wanted to be in Jezebel’s life when the one reason they’d even been with each other was gone? What else was there?]

I’d- [A pause of consideration.] Delilah’s gone, but I’d like to stay. [A smirk slid easily onto his face.] You’re hopeless by yourself anyway.

Edited 2018-12-14 03:13 (UTC)

[There is a deep ache in his chest at those words, a heavy weight settling on his ribs. Jezebel isn't good at knowing how to name feelings like this, emotions he really has not had reason to experience -- but he knows that one of the strongest is gratitude. He owes Cassian impossible debts and yet he still wishes to look after him, and even if he cannot fully grasp why, it bowls him over.

He wears an expression that is meant to be a wry smile, but it is soaked with thankfulness.]

As if you would ever really let me keep you away. You're too stubborn.

[Jezebel glances downward for a moment as he says it, and he holds his gaze at the ground for a long moment, fighting to arrange the words that trip off of his tongue.]

I would have. Eventually. Thanked you, I mean.

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