alma_karma | 001 ☯ Alma [VIDEO]

[The camera lens is partially blocked when the feed clicks on, fuzzy pinkish edges suggesting fingers to be the culprit. Whoever it is holding the device is moving if the shifting light and soft padding sounds are any clue. After less than a minute of traveling the footsteps stop and a small voice cuts through the silence.]

What’s going on?... Doctor Edgar? Yu? Where'd you go?

[When no answer comes, movement begins again, slightly faster than before as a steady light source from one direction becomes apparent. Maybe a window or a door...

There's a little gasp and the camera's view suddenly blurs, the faciliberry clattering loudly as it hits the ground. A cloudy sky comes into view, as well as an extremely foreshortened view of a young boy. He's staring up at the sky with an almost disbelieving expression, apparently unaware that he's dropped his device.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

tothelastbreath

[Tim'll be zipping off, always staying just far ahead enough for them to catch a glimpse of his poofy tail rounding the corner on every landing. 2, 3, 4, 5... 8! Brb waiting outside room 804 now, you slow earth-bound creatures.]

From:

alma_karma

[Ack, so many stairs! That over-sized coat flaps behind Alma as he tackles the climb with WAY too much energy, skidding to a stop in front of 804.]

From:

tothelastbreath

[And here's Allen bringing up the rear a bit more sedately, but he's also grinning by now.]

Open the door, will you? 'Fraid I don't have hands to spare.

From:

alma_karma

[And open the door he does, peering through the frame before entering almost cautiously.]

... This is all for me?

From:

tothelastbreath

[Strolling casually past him with a murmured 'excuse me' to set the cans down in a corner, Tim alighting on his shoulder.]

Er... Yes? I know it's not much, but it helps keep the cold out.

From:

alma_karma

[It might not seem like much to Allen, but a space like this just for Alma? And nobody else?... It's a little unsettling.]

... Is it always cold here?

From:

tothelastbreath

[He's oblivious to Alma's unease, mainly because he's busy trying to sweep dust off the bed of whoever used to live here and make it marginally usable.]

I don't think so, probably only because it's Winter now.

From:

alma_karma

[Poking around a little, examining his new living space.]

Can't we just ask Winter to make it warm?

From:

tothelastbreath

[Gives up after a while and turns back, looking a little startled.]

Well... No. I don't think it listens to anyone.

From:

alma_karma

He sounds mean.

From:

tothelastbreath

[He sounds mean?]

Alma? What do you think Winter is?

From:

alma_karma

He's a mean old man who makes everything cold.

From:

tothelastbreath

[............He doesn't know what this implies about Kanda's childhood.]

It's― No. Winter isn't a person at all, Alma, it's the name of a season. There are four in a year ― Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. [his tone says, that DOES ring a bell, right?]

From:

alma_karma

...

[No bells here, Allen. Not a one.]

From:

tothelastbreath

[Head-scratch, cheek-scratch, hand on chin... How does someone who's never been to school go about explaining this?]

...Think of them as names people use to describe different periods of time in a year. Spring is at the start of the year, when everything blooms. Summer's next, when it gets terribly hot; Autumn's when it cools down again, and Winter's when it gets cold and snows.

From:

alma_karma

[They're regular geniuses, the both of them.]

... What's snow?

From:

tothelastbreath

[The thing that was falling from the skies when Mana found him and left him again― You know what, let's not go there.]

It's... something like rain, only icy. Judging from the weather these days, you'll probably get to see it soon.