001 | voice

[comic_relief]

Hey, wait. Not yet, hold on. You can't come yet, I have to call somebody fir--whoa! _{[A stifled intake of breath. A pleading note.]} Oh, come on, give me a break. Not yet!

<sub>[The message starts with a Jack's voice drifting in and out of range, like somebody caught between talking away from the receiver and turning into it. Urgency threads through the words.

There's a distant squeak of bed springs, another hissed breath.]</sub>

Ohhhh, I see something! _{[That urgency ramps up to something closer to awe and terror of the unknown.]} It's pink in there! I can see it moving around! I forget what I'm supposed to do! I was just getting used to having Eggbert around and now he's falling to pieces on me.

_[Faintly:]

Oh, shit...

_{[Even fainter, the sound of a delicate, barely audible cheep.]}

What the hell is that? You gotta come over and bring the dog food or something-- Wait. _{[Now there's a sudden silence as a perplexed somebody realizes this isn't the private call he thought he was making. Goddamn phones, where's a moogle when you need one?]} This isn't even the right line! Lemme try that again.

_{[That there is the definitive 'click' of a hang up.]}

Comments

[comic_relief]

<sub>[Jack's room has an unlived-in air about it, more or less still staged the way the Pines' Happy Home Association had left it. Writing desk bare beside a small stack of books. Bedding tucked in with military neatness. On the floor beside the bed, though, is the cobbled-together incubator made out of a cooler and heating pad that's been Eggbert's home these past few weeks. The blanket the egg rests on is sprinkled with flakes of eggshell, the source being a quarter-sized hole that's opened up near the top.

Just as they're entering, it emits a rustling sound, shifting ever so slightly. Jack steps to the side, letting Nyx have the run of the room. His high energy hides a fair amount of apprehension.

His mother should be here handling this. She leads, he follows, that's how it should be.]</sub>

See, it's getting all frisky.

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx places the bag down, entirely distracted by the sounds coming out of the shell. This is the most exciting thing to happen in a long while, not counting their accident. Jack isn't the only one with nerves now that it's right in front of him.

He moves to crouch next to the cooler, peering closer.]

You're right. Little guy must be impatient to stretch. [There's a quiet awe in his voice, and he's suddenly reminded of his first few memories of his sister. She'd been equally as precious.]