justanexpression | Video 1: A Challenger Appears!

[The angle when the gear turns on is... strange. Like it’s being held by someone too distracted to pay attention to where it might be pointing. There’s part of a chin, a shoulder, and plenty of scenery. The top of a whitish blob flops past the bottom of the screen. From the sound it makes, it must be a Seel.]

This is really weird. You know that?

[The Seel gives a cheerful affirmative from somewhere. Suddenly, the picture shifts, moving erratically until it stops with a soft thud as the gear is dropped and lands in the grass. At least it has a good view, now, framing most of a boy in his teens, crouching on his toes next to a backpack as he rummages through it, occasionally pulling things out for a closer look. His blue hooded sweatshirt has seen better days, and his pants don’t seem to be from quite the right century. Together with the ice-white hair, it makes something of an odd picture.]

If this is... Naw, it’s way too cutesy to be one of Pitch’s tricks.

[He looks up, past the gear at where the sounds of the Seel are coming from. His smile grows, just a bit.]

You sure you’re not a Selkie?

[A negative. The gear is nudged closer, and he laughs as he reaches for it.]

Okay, okay. Remind me to introduce you to Sandy sometime.

Now what am I supposed to do with it?

[Cue the random pushing of buttons. Electronics-abuse is always the answer, right?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Fortunately, it does-- and the scruffy girl on the other end of the line grins.]}

Juuuust a bit.

Don't worry.

We were all there once.

Yeah, I'm kinda getting that. Nobody seems to have that much of a problem with it, either.

Well, it's not that complicated...

Unless you're from a time without stuff like this, which happens, I guess.

I met some lady from the Victorian era awhile ago. She must've been pretty freaked to see, like... the motion-sensing glass doors at the Pokemon Centers. I wonder if she was like, "WITCHCRAFT!"

Anyway.

You're wearing a hoodie so you can't be from THAT long ago.

[Ahaha... yeah, there's no good way to explain that. He glances down at his hoodie and chuckles.]

It's complicated. But don't worry, I'm not going to start accusing doors of witchcraft. I just never had much chance to use technology, back where I'm from. [Thus, the buttonmashing. He knows they do SOMETHING, just not what.

...And motion-sensing doors are awesome once you figure out how to open them despite being invisible. He may or may not have been responsible for a few "haunted" stores because of that.]

Makes sense. Well, you get to use it now at least, right?

_{[You go, Jack. Heather would approve, if she knew.]}

Name's Mason, by the way. Heather Mason.

[Sounds like Heather is his type of person, then!]

Jack Frost, at your service.

--pft. Jack Frost, seriously?

Your parents must have wanted you doomed to a life of being teased at recess.

_{[Obviously she doesn't know he's... LITERALLY Jack Frost, so the first thing that comes to mind is THAT'S LIKE NAMING YOUR KID 'DONALD' WHEN YOUR LAST NAME IS 'DUCK'. ... Well no okay it's not actually that bad, at least 'Jack Frost' sounds cool.]

[haha get it, frost, cool]

[okay she's not gonna add that part out loud]}

[His eyes go sharp with the dig at his parents, but people don't really mean it like that when they say it these days, so he shrugs.]

It's Jackson, technically, I guess. And it wasn't a big deal when they named me that.

[You know. 300 years ago.]

_{[If she'd known, she probably wouldn't have said it at all. Given her own parental woes, making genuine DIGS at other peoples' family situations isn't something she likes to do. But the look on her face makes it pretty clear she wasn't trying to be malicious.]}

Well, in the end, I've heard much weirder names.

Met someone named "Kazooie" once, no joke.

[It's only a temporary feeling. It passes quickly and is replaced with another grin.]

Mansnoozie. Don't get me wrong, Sandy's pretty awesome, but that name...

... Whoa.

Wait.

Mansnoozie?

You're serious?

[It's really not nice to laugh at people's names, especially when he got tired of people not believing his name, but... well, Sandy wasn't here, right? And what he doesn't know won't hurt him.]

Seriously. Sanderson Mansnoozie, the Sandman. Goes by Sandy. [He holds up a hand, imitating the Boy Scout sign. Not that he ever was one.] May the Man in the Moon strike me down if I'm lying.

All right, I can't say I've ever heard anything better than that. That takes the cake.

What is that, even? French?

Heck if I know. Sandy's... old, though. Like super old. Like pre-France old, I think.

... Pre-France?

... I thought you weren't from... you know.

How d'you know some guy from before France?

Video 1: A Challenger Appears!

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]