entranceway | Entry #88

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Entry #88

[The video feed clicks on to feature an unassuming shot of the crisp gray sky, accompanied by the restless crunching of footsteps drawing closer. Abruptly, someone picks up the thing and spins it around with a faint flare of static that's gone as quickly as it flickered up.

There is, briefly, a face visible on the screen, dark hair and dark eyes and brows knit together in an expression puzzlement and concern. Then the feed flips around again and starts panning around the area in a slow sweep, handled in the same way someone might a handheld camera. It's both too familiar and too surreal, and he fumbles at the last second, dropping the angle so the network instead gets a lovely view of scuffed sneakers crunching through a patina of fallen leaves.]

So seasonal change sure is a thing. Like, really a thing. Place doesn't mess around.

[His tone is dry, the words drawn out with a slow, weary indolence. He doesn't seem to realize he's actively broadcasting at the moment. He's just taking video in the same way - how Jay would, and even now the memory is painful and sends a pang of regret thrumming all the way to his bones. It's just such an easy, obvious reflex. Practically instinctive.

The crunching of his footsteps halts abruptly as something seems to occur to him.]

So I can post now instead of reply, is that it? Wait, why now? What makes this so -

[The feed snaps out, evidently by mistake.]

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[Chloe sort of chuckles at Tim's exasperated tone. People in this place are usually so agitated and practically ready to bite each other's heads off. It's amusing to meet this guy who seems... so normal.

Well, except for the fact that he's currently out in the woods in almost freezing temperatures. But then again, Tim does have a point.

Chloe rubs her chin thoughtfully.]

Hm, that's actually not such a bad idea. I've been her for months and I've barely left my room.

[She suddenly gets an idea of her own.]

Want some company?

[That's...not honestly what he was expecting. He could also say something like no, go away, but that would kind of make him a dick and there's really no tactful way to dismiss her so - ]

Uh, sure. If you want.

[He stops moving through the leaves, giving his phone a quizzical look that isn't visible from how he's holding it.]

Bring a jacket, I guess?

[Except Tim, filthy hypocrite that he is, totally isn't wearing a jacket whoops]

See you in 5, then.

[Chloe switches off the video feed and gets up from her bed. She grabs her leather jacket from the floor (because no, she's not gonna freeze to death like Tim) and heads out.

Chloe makes her way through the mansion, all the while thinking sure Chloe, let's meet up with this complete stranger, in the middle of nowhere and away from everyone.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, Chloe has always been downright reckless and spontaneous back in Arcadia Bay and Wonderland is proving to be the worst teacher in discipline. So, instead of rethinking her decision, which is something Max would do (good thing she's not here right now, otherwise she'd flip), Chloe zips up her jacket and hurriedly exits the mansion. So many things to check out in this place and she hasn't been paying enough attention. Shame.

Time for a little adventure.

She walks towards the woods, using her device as a flashlight. Chloe can see her breath, a white puff, just like Tim's.

She calls out into the darkness.]

Tim? You there?

[It's true that, honestly, if she was meeting anyone else from his world - Jay, who would probably end up endangering her life just because he doesn't know when to quit and not out of any sense of malice; Brian, who - who'd probably end up abducting her or something twisted like that; Alex, who'd do something so much worse and yep, okay, he's done entertaining hypothetical scenarios here - it probably wouldn't go well. Tim isn't even sure this is remotely a good idea. Well, no, he's pretty solidly sure that it isn't. She doesn't know him and he doesn't know her.

Tim answers the call easily, even if raising his voice to call back runs counterpoint to the instincts that kept him creeping soundlessly in the shadows for years.]

Yep. Over here.

[He flashes the light on his phone so his silhouette is at least vaguely visible, and waves.]

[She approaches the dark figure in the distance, fighting off branches while almost tripping over a bunch of roots. The light in her hand is barely doing anything to help her see shit. Leaves go crunch crunch as she picks up the pace, determined to no longer be alone in this darkness.

Finally, Chloe reaches Tim. She accidentally shines her light on his face, potentially blinding him for a moment.]

Oh, shit. Sorry.

[Chloe lowers her device but not before getting a glimpse of his white face and dark eyes.

I should have brought my gun, Chloe thinks immediately after seeing Tim. The realization that she doesn't know this guy at all is starting to sink in deeper and deeper. She had just walked into the darkness with someone who could be fucking crazy, for all she knows.]

Hey.

[Chloe glances around, looking for anything she could possibly use as a weapon, just in case things turn ugly.]

[He flinches, eyes screwing shut as the bright light momentarily hits his retinas. He blinks rapidly to clear away the eruption of phosphenes behind his eyelids, even if it takes a moment for the odd colors to clear from his vision.]

Hey. So, uh, maybe we picked a bad time for this. 'Cause all I can see is, um - trees, trees, and more trees. And shadows, can't forget those.

[He shrugs tiredly. His own appearance is pretty unassuming - a heavyset guy in a shirt and jeans, phone still in hand. The light might throw the dark circles beneath his eyes into heavier relief, but seeing as he's tromping around out here when it's dark, that might be self-explanatory.]

[Chloe stares at him, with a slightly annoyed look.]

Are you serious? You're telling me this now, after I just fought off a hella lot of stupid tree parts just to get here?

[Sure, Chloe's a little worried being with a stranger right now but she's way more interested with exploring than being scared for her life. After all, she's had a few life-and-death situations. Chloe's sure she can find her way out, if things don't end well here.]

And besides,

[Chloe nods at Tim.]

that didn't seem to bother you since you've been practically camping out here all this time.

Hey, you're the one who wanted to come along.

[It's not like he's got a flashlight on hand, so he just swings his phone around, panning at the surrounding area, letting the arc of the light illuminate the bark of trees, fallen leaves.]

Yeah, but I live in Alabama. The pipes freeze like, daily in the fall and winter. [Lived, he should maybe say.] And, you know. Storm knocks out the power, so you gotta go hunting around for a fuse box. Guess I'm just used to it.

[Chloe shrugs.]

Well, we're already here. So might as well go through with it.

[The light on her hand slightly wobbles as she searches her pockets for a cigarette to keep her warm in this cold. Finally, she finds one and pulls it out. Chloe always has a few sticks in her pocket, just in case. She pops one in her mouth and looks for a lighter this time.]

You want one? I'd say it's for the cold but well, I smoke whenever, wherever anyway.

[Oh hey, literally the first other person he knows who's got the same shit habit as him. He regards her curiously for a second - too curiously, maybe, because it's not so weird to see someone else who smokes, before nodding.]

Yeah, actually. Here, uh.

[He digs around in his pocket before retrieving his lighter, flicking it on and offering the flame to her.]

[Chloe stops fumbling and looks at Tim. She's never met a fellow smoker in Wonderland before... or maybe because she just spends too much time either with Max or in her room. She leans in to light the cigarette in her mouth. A thin string of smoke appears as the stick is successfully lit. Chloe leans back a bit ths time and exhales a white puff of smoke above them.]

Thanks.

[She puts the cigarette in her mouth again and uses her free hand to get another stick from her pocket. The light wobbles again. Finally, she manages to pull out another cigarette and offer it to Tim.]

Here.

[He accepts the proffered cigarette, setting its end alight with the click-click of a lighter and a bracing pull of nicotine into his overtaxed, already-weak respiratory system. A guy with these kinds of lung problems shouldn't be smoking, the doctors say. That'll shorten his lifespan by years.

Good, he'd thought viciously, and left it at that.]

Thanks.

[His nerves weren't anymore frazzled than usual, but they start to smooth over almost immediately, if only marginally. It's only ever marginally.]

Would you believe you're the first other smoker I've met since I got here?

[Chloe breathes in the mix of cold air and white smoke. How intoxicating. She looks at Tim with interest.]

No shit? I've been here for months and I've never seen anyone smoke.

[She lightly taps her cigarette, sending bits of ashes on to the forest ground.]

Maybe they all just smoke inside their rooms, like me.

At least leave a window open, c'mon, [he says with mock disgust, but he undercuts the words with a snort and a shake of his head. Chances are he's done precisely the same.]

Guess it's down to us to teach all the insufferably good kids here these terrible habits.

[She waves her hand absentmindedly.]

I'm too lazy to get up and open a window. It drives my best friend crazy. She can't handle all the smoke.

[Chloe laughs at Tim's remark.]

That could work, if you and I were popular enough to even get them to listen to us.

[Because really, who would listen to a newbie dude and to a girl who practically lives in her room?]

Yeah, nah. Don't think I'm one for that.

[He sweeps a hand up and down in self-deprecating supination, as if to say: just look at me. He doesn't look much like the "popular kid" and never much was. Too heavyset with a face too sunken and eyes too haunted, stubble chasing his jaw, clothes smelling of cigarette smoke.]

Guess we'll just have to be the rebellious loners.

[Why he's trying to assign film archetypes to himself and someone he's barely met, he's got no clue.

He...

He thinks Jay might've done the same thing, in some other time.]

[Chloe does look at Tim from top to bottom, as he gestures to himself. She exhales a cloud of smoke. He's right. He doesn't look like any of the rich douchebags in Blackwell, who always got what they wanted.

Like Nathan fucking Prescott.

She looks at his face this time.

Yeah, he looks nothing like Prescott. Which is an okay sign, Chloe supposes.]

Rebellious loner? That practically sums up my life.

[She pops the cigarette in her mouth again and uses her free hand to remove her beanie, revealing her stark blue hair. Chloe then gestures from her hair, to her leather jacket, all the way to her black, mud-caked boots.]

As you can see, I already have the whole rebel look going on.

[He hums out a sound that might've been a laugh if he was inclined to have a sense of humor, but he isn't.]

Yeah, wow. Next thing we know you'll be telling me you've got a couple dozen piercings or something.

[Blue hair, tattoos, boots, jacket - yep, she's kinda got the whole loner archetype going for her. He mostly just looks - well, sad, if he's honest with himself. Something tired and wrung-out and distant and empty, which isn't too far from the truth.]

[Chloe just shakes her head.]

Nope, the only piercings I have are the ones in my ears.

[Although, she wouldn't mind getting a few more, now that Tim's mentioned it.

For a while, Chloe is quiet, just listening to the forest sounds around her. There's not much to hear; just the gust of the wind and the rustling of trees. Tim was right though; there are shadows everywhere, making it almost impossible to distinguish shapes. Chloe turns her attention to her cigarette, which is practically finished by now. She is wondering if she should start on a second one; she straightens up.]

So, are we still doing this thing? Or are we gonna spend the whole night, smoking? Because that's fine with me too.

Y'know, I kinda set out to do one and ending up wanting to do the other.

[Because now that he's thinking about it at more length, setting out into an unknown stretch of woodland armed with little more than a camera is just about Jay magnitudes of stupid.]

Besides, this is usually the part of the horror movie where the dumb kids decide to keep going and end up horribly regretting it, huh?

Agreed. Although,

[Chloe grins.]

I dunno about you but the dumb-kid-who-decides-to-keep-going is usually me anyway.

[Because Max is usually the cautious one. The one who makes sure to stay out of trouble and would be pretty peeved when she finds out that Chloe's gone wandering off in the middle of the night with a dude she hardly knows.

She takes one last drag from her cigarette before throwing it on the forest ground and stepping on it. Chloe looks through her pockets for another stick, only to find spare change and a used handkerchief.]

Damn it, I'm out. You still have some on you?

[Just his luck. That was Jay too, it turned out. The kind of guy who just sort of blundered into every obstacle that was thrown at him, and even went to painful lengths to seek out said obstacles when they weren't being pitched his way.

Evidently, Tim is doomed to forever be the Only Sane Man in other people's adventures. Presumably it's a part he doesn't even play all that well. He can't even keep the people he's supposed to be protecting alive.

He digs out his pack of cigarettes and offers it to her without missing a beat.]

Jeez, man. Try to have some self-preservation, y'know?

[He might not be capable of smiling all that much, but he can tell a dry joke here and again.]

Thanks.

[Chloe takes one stick from the pack and holds it out so Tim could offer his lighter next.]

Self-preservation? Ha!

[She laughs at his joke.]

Yeah right.

[There's nothing self-preserving about chasing down a psycho artist or offering to die for everyone else. The only person who's really made an effort to keep her alive is Max. And that's something she'll forever be grateful for. Chloe's always been scared of dying. But most of the time, she's too reckless to realize that death is just a few feet away. Max was always the one who's held her back and saved her skin. She literally would not be here if it weren't for her.]

If you want a real lecture on self-preservation, you should meet my best friend.

[He lights it with a flick of a thumb and a spurt of flame, taking his time in finishing his own. He likes to think he's cut down since everything ended, but he hasn't. At all.]

Think I already did. Max? Brown hair, joined in to mock me about nitpicking your slang?

[He mostly sounds amused, or amused as someone can sound without actually cracking a smile.]

[Chloe grins and takes a drag, eager to start on her second cigarette.]

Yeah that's her. Although she doesn't really mock people. She's too nice for that shit. She usually tries making jokes but they're mostly corny and just fall flat.

[Chloe loves Max to the moon but really, some of her comebacks are just so... well, Max. She looks at Tim with a curious expression, careful not to exhale smoke right in his face.]

So, no old friends in Wonderland huh? That's hella bad luck, man.

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