WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[deadgirlslikeme]

A door opens, and suddenly the sound of a baby wailing echoes across the nearby chunk of the Nexus. A bleary-eyed Victor Van Dort steps through, bouncing said wailing baby in his arms. "It's okay, it's okay. . .look, we're -- um." He blinks a few times as he registers where he is. "This isn't. . .oh, dear, how did I manage to choose the wrong door?" He goes to step back through --

Then stops, shakes his head, and proceeds to the nearest safe-looking bit of furniture, still cradling his son. "No. Perhaps someone can help here. At least, Alice and the others will get some decent sleep for a change. . ." He looks up, an exhausted man at the end of his rope. "Is there anyone around who's had at least one child and might know why they sometimes just start crying in the middle of the night and won't stop no matter what you do?"

Comments

[lastest_ringbearer]

How does Smeagol do what? *Yeah, it's been a while since anyone was that formal towards him. A long, long while.*

[deadgirlslikeme]

[Alice blinks] Er -- live? You know, I never thought about what that was actually asking before. . .

[Victor chuckles] She means how are you feeling. It's what we say to greet each other where we're from.

[lastest_ringbearer]

*He laughs a bit too. It's kinda creepy, really.* I am doing well, then. It is nice to be here.

[save_us_alice]

[It may be a bit creepy, but Alice and Victor have encountered much creepier. Alice nods] I'm glad to hear it. The Nexus is a good place. Certainly has made my life better.

[Victor wraps his arm around her, pressing up against her] Mine too.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Is a good place, we know. There is fish! *Which is apparently his main concern.*

[save_us_alice]

[Alice chuckles] Is there now? I never noticed. But then again, I don't usually go fishing. . .unless it's Snarks.

[Victor shakes his head] Me either. I assume you mean by the beach, though?

As someone who likes BttF, have you ever seen Primer? Now there's a crazy time travel film . . .

[lastest_ringbearer]

Yes. It is a nice beach, with nice soft sand. After that long in a rocky cave it'sss a nice change, yes it is.

I have not, actually -- though I have heard that it's a pretty complicated one, yeah

[save_us_alice]

[Victor smiles] I'm sure it is. It's a very nice little beach.

[Alice nods] We ought to go down there more. When the weather warms up again. And the little one's grown up some.

Quite

[lastest_ringbearer]

Smeagol is very usssed to cold. Swimming is worth it.

[save_us_alice]

[Alice nods again] I would imagine, if you used to live in a cave. . .but I haven't, and I've had enough unpleasant experiences with cold water that I prefer to avoid it.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Unpleasant? We is usssed to that as well. Not happy to be, though, so we . . . we understand, yesss. You want to feel nice if you can.

[save_us_alice]

[Alice gives him a sympathetic look] I'm sorry to hear that. I was used to unpleasant for quite a while, growing up. I'm making up for as much lost time in "feeling nice" as I can.

[Victor nods] I think most of us are, really.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Much lost time to make up for has Smeagol. We would like to make up as much as we can, yesss. I don't know how much time we have, Precious, but we'd like to use it well.

[save_us_alice]

[Alice] I don't blame you. No one really knows how long they've got, do they? One needs to make sure it was spent well.

[Victor] At least you've got plenty to do and see here.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Yes we does! What should we do next, we wonders. What do you think, Precious?

[save_us_alice]

[Alice looks at Victor] Er -- hmm. We spend a fair amount of our free time at the Mall here. . . [with another look at Smeagol] Though I get the feeling you've probably never encountered one before.

[Victor, trying to be helpful] It's a big building with lots of places you can buy things in it. And a food court as well -- lots of different places to eat.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Buy things? *Yeah, on that topic he comes up totally blank.*

Food is good.

[deadgirlslikeme]

[Victor, blinking as he tries to figure out the best way to explain capitalism to someone who lived in a cave on raw fish] Er. . .it's -- giving people something in exchange for something else?

[Alice, trying to hide a smile] It's a bit complicated. . .but food is good. And they've got just about everything there. Have to cater to a lot of different tastes, after all.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Oh, trade! *So near and yet so far . . .*

[deadgirlslikeme]

[Victor wiggles a hand] Sort of! Just you're trading a very specific thing for the things you want. Something they can then use to trade for things they want.

[Alice] It's called "money," generally. Usually specially-made bits of metal or paper.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Because they don't go bad?

[save_us_alice]

[Alice pauses] That -- you know, that probably was a consideration. Though I think the bigger one was that people like to put value on shiny or colorful things.

[lastest_ringbearer]

Precious was ssshiny. Everyone wanted it. Don't think that was why, though. But having value is power, ssso maybe?

[deadgirlslikeme]

[Alice, tilting her head] Precious?

[Victor, explaining] An artifact of great evil power he got saddled with that some other evil power wanted. It's gone now, thankfully. . . [to Smeagol] And it probably didn't hurt. You can get a lot of power just by having a lot of money. [said in a tone that means he's thinking of his biological parents and all the bullshit they were able to get away with, being rich]

[lastest_ringbearer]

I wasss nothing much to start with, sooo it gave us little. More to work with, the worssse things get. *And with the state he's in, imagine what a lot would be . . .*