video | 004 | day 54

[retrograding]

[Because the broadcast is a video, Jet Star comes on the screen with his hair somewhat tamed and his eyepatch in place. His expression is as calm as ever, and the video is steady. The only evidence that there might be something wrong is the sound of clattering and a somewhat distressed voice in the background - but Jet ignores that for the most part to address his audience.]

I have one very simple question for the people of this town today, and I like to think it isn’t an unreasonable request. Two friends of mine, Party Poison and Kobra Kid, have not been home for a while. Has anybody seen either of them? They’re rather hard to miss. Party Poison has red hair, and Kobra Kid is blonde, the former is short and the latter is tall --

[Fun Ghoul suddenly appears over Jet's shoulder, scowling at the communicator.]

One's fuckin' stupid, and the other one's twice as fuckin' stupid. Give 'em the real facts, Jet. Two days! [He holds up two fingers in front of Jet's face just in case you assholes forgot how to count.] Never gone this long without sayin' shit, ask that raccoon-eyed piece of work what she did with our boys--

[And he cuts himself off to disappear into the background again, sending something else crashing to the floor. Jet watches Ghoul stomp off with a sort of sad expression, and when he looks back at the communicator, the look sticks.]

We aren't accusing anyone of anything. But if you are out there, either of you - or if anybody knows where they might be, please let us know.

Please. Thank you. [And the feed cuts off. Jet has some calming to do, excuse him.]

Comments

[magnets]

[ It's easy to imagine Jet being so zen about something so big, and it's getting played out right before his eyes. It's not shame that Jesse feels for his actions in the past, not exactly, but Jet's definitely not the one of the two who broke down in tears when it came to a clash, the back of Jesse's skull and a gun barrel. ]

[ He raises his chin at Jet, regards him questioningly. ] How come?

[ How come you accepted death, how come it wasn't terrifying or hard, take your pick. ]

[retrograding]

[ He thinks about that, trying to come up with a good answer. ]

Our crew. There were four of us here. [ ow. ] But there was another, from home. A little girl. She doesn't have a name yet. She hasn't picked one. But our Girl was the fifth part of our crew. [ Our family. ]

She was taken from us. And we were prepared to do whatever we had to do to get her back. We knew we were going to die going in. It didn't matter, so long as she was safe.