thisavrou | 01 | [Video]

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[The video opens with a myriad of dizzying images: a few quick, blurry shakes that indicate the owner of the TAB has no idea how to turn it on, a couple of glimpses at the ground as they spin the device to try and find a button, a palm as it strikes down on the screen.

Clearly someone isn't used to such technology. They even mutter a:]

Jesus, how does this thing--?

[Sam jumps a little as he turns the TAB to face him, only to see that it's already recording. And what a sight he is to behold, with dirt on his clothes and blood on his nose and down his left arm. He looks like he could go for a nice hot bath, or like he's just come out of a jungle.]

Holy shit, okay. Okay, uh--hey.

[That's what you're supposed to say, right? Sam gives a small little uncommitted half wave with his free hand, like he's not exactly sure if that's what he should do.]

I'm not sure if anyone is actually on the other end of this, but if there are others out there, I could use a little help. I mean I realize I'm not exactly in Kansas anymore, but space? A whole other planet? Come on, somebody's gotta be busting my balls here, right? At least buy a guy a drink and let him have a cigarette first before you throw that at him.

[He pauses as if expecting some kind of laugh track or other response, but then continues shortly after.]

Also, I--[He shifts uncomfortably, considering what he should say. It takes him a little longer than before to speak again, but once he does, he looks directly at the camera.] I'm looking for my brother. He's about this tall, he's got bro--oh, shit!

[Which is the last curse everyone hears as he accidentally loses his grip on his TAB and it tumbles to the floor and turns off. He'll get the hang of this eventually.]

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[They're probably being real inconsiderate now, stopped in the middle of the sidewalk like this, blocking other people, but he doesn't give a single damn. Nate had known Sully would never lie to him about Sam, he'd believed that he was alive, but believing isn't seeing.]

Am I all—? Jesus, Sam.

[And then he's the one striding forward, taking the last few steps to yank Sam into a hug.]

Woah, woah, woah, all right, take a--take an easy there, Nathan.

[He chuckles as he's forced to take a step back to keep his balance, but reciprocates the hug just as readily even if they do get a few annoyed looks from some passerby. They've just been kidnapped to space. Anyone who gave them weird looks could go screw themselves for all he cared.

It's a hug that is a few seconds longer than it normally might be, but when it starts to feel like it's been going on for eternity, Sam pats his brother on the back before slowly pulling away.]

Come on, pull it together here a little bit, huh? [He leaves his hands on his shoulders though, holding him at arm's length.] You sure you're all right? They didn't do anything funny to you, did they?

[Pull it together. Right. In this moment, Nate feels like every part of him is coming apart, but you know. In a good way. God, it feels good to have a brotherly hug—something he thought would never happen again.]

What, funnier than space kidnap me?

[He laughs. Normally the subject wouldn't be so funny, but he can't feel anything negative now. He grins so hard his face hurts.]

Nah, I'm all right. I've had more time to to get used to it, though. How long ago did you come through the Ingress? Shit, you haven't been here a while and I just missed you, did I?

Well, you know, I heard you had a glass pinkie toe. Just making sure you still got the important parts in tact.

[He laughs as well, giving his brother's shoulders a little squeeze before he lets his arms drop down to his side.]

No, no I just came through about an hour or two ago. Gotta say, this is a lot harder to swallow than pretty much everything else we've had to deal with. I mean, lost pirate civilizations I can handle, but space? I'm still waiting to wake up from my drunk slumber at a bar somewhere.

[Glass pinkie toe, what—oh man, he is late to the party if someone's already told Sam about that. And he has a suspicion about who that might be.]

I know, right? The whole thing is really—wait, lost pirate civilizations?

[The impact of Sam's words catch up to him and for a second he's lost. But then the likely meaning catches up to him and it's Nate's turn to grab his brother's shoulder.]

Are you talking about Henry Avery's treasure? Does that mean we find it? Sully told me about that, but—oh man, is that a relief!

Wait, wait--Victor's here?

[But he stops, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.]

Uh, yeah, Henry Avery. You know, the guy we've been searching for for pretty much our entire lives?

[He chuckles, leaning back a little and looking at him like he can't tell if he's being serious or not.]

Come on, Nathan, they take your memory when you came or what?

[A faint sense of unease passes through him at the thought that no, he hasn't been searching for Avery, he gave that up a long time ago and getting hung up on a single treasure doesn't lead to anything good anyway—but it's far from the most important thing to consider now, so the feeling passes.]

He was, but the Ingress scientists sent him back—but they didn't take anything from me.

[Hoo boy. It's the time thing again. Always a pain in the ass.]

Listen, Sam, the Ingress just doesn't pluck people from different worlds—it gets different times, too. The stuff you're talking about is in the future for me—years in the future, from what I heard.

What--years? What the hell are you--?

[He cuts himself off, staring at his brother like he's lost his mind. He thought seeing Nathan from 1990 was weird, but now this Nathan is telling him that everything they've been through is years in the future for him? How does that even work? How can there even be two Nathans here? And how can they both be from the past?

All of this is making his head spin; he takes a couple of steps back.]

Jesus. Some scientists, huh?

[He chuckles quietly, forcing it out. Then, after a pause, he looks back at him.]

So, hunting down the treasure, Madagascar...you don't know anything at all?

[Some scientists, right. All the same, he can't be too mad at whoever oversees the Ingress complex here, because the thing's allowed him to see his brother again early.]

Sully told me some—about you being alive, about us going after Avery's treasure to get you off the hook. When the Ingress grabbed me, I was on his plane coming back from Yemen, but he said he was from a few years later, when we were on the way to King's Bay.

[It's a sobering reminder that there's more to seeing Sam again than a joyful reunion. But he's not going to lose his brother again, ever. He'll do what he has to to keep him safe.]

I swear to you, Sam, I would have come for you if I knew you were alive—and I'm gonna help you stay that way whenever we get home. Elena, too, she's here and she knows all about it.

[He doesn't know what to say. He's not sure which is worse, the fact that Nathan doesn't know that the tale he spun about Alcazar was a lie, or the look on his face when he did find out. His stomach clenches and twists in the similar way it did back on the cliff and he knew there was no way Nate was not going to find out that he had lied to him.

Should he tell him everything, or put it aside and hope that it doesn't come up again? He can barely bring himself to look at him, but part of him also realizes that he hasn't spoken yet, so he makes himself say something.]

Well, unless Alcazar is out here in space too, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter anymore. Maybe he'll forget about it by the time we get back.

[Maybe they all will. Maybe there won't be a need to elaborate on it. It's not like they can find Avery's treasure out here anyway.]

And hey, Nathan, look, you don't--you don't have to say anything about that, all right? I know you would've come back. [He offers a small smile, resting his hand back on his brother's shoulder.] Let's just try and make it through this whole being in space thing for now, okay?

[It's possible that it's only so easy for Sam to brush aside his guilt and forgive him so easily because he's had more time to come around. For all Nate knows, half of their renewed pursuit of Henry Avery is spent with him apologizing.

But he doesn't think so. They're still brothers, best friends. And something that's been clenched tight in his gut for years now begins to relax.]

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

[He smiles again, a grin, and lets out a little delighted-sounding laugh.]

It's been a ride so far. Jesus, there's so much to tell—and not just the space stuff, there's everything that happened back home, everything that's changed. I'm married now, did you—

Shit, of course you know, you've heard about it from future-me already. Probably most of the good stories, too. That's kind of unfair to current-me.

[It's easy to get swept up in the excitement Nate exudes, even if he still feels incredibly uneasy about everything. Sam chuckles, his smile growing into something a little more genuine as he lets his hand drop and searches his pockets for his lighter and pack of cigarettes he received from Flynn. The distraction is good, and having the physical activity helps to calm his nerves a little. Once located, he takes out a cigarette and sticks it his mouth.]

I don't know, that story about the glass pinky toe sounds pretty good to me right now.

[ He pauses to light up and put the lighter and pack back in his pockets.]

And I heard a little something about a space ship crashing into this planet? [Are these words even coming out of his mouth right now?] I mean, not only do cliffsides crumble beneath your feet, but you also had to go and crash the only thing that was maybe getting us home?

Edited 2017-04-02 05:41 (UTC)

[That catches him by surprise maybe as much as Sam's sudden appearance. Okay, not really, but the glass pinkie incident shows some pretty detailed knowledge.]

Okay, that was not my fault. It was the fault of the time warp and the monsters that attacked the ship and god knows what else. [He shakes his head.] The camping trip after the crash was pretty terrible, but I'm glad to be on the ground permanently.

[Except when he's climbing.]

You wanna tell me how you heard about my glass toe? Did you already talk to Elena?

[He doesn't think anyone else knew about it. Besides Adrien, but he can't imagine the good doc bringing it up.]

Uh-huh, sure. You know, that sounds like an excuse someone who crashed an entire space ship would make.

[What could be worse than time warps and monsters?

Sam shifts his weight, exhales slowly.]

Yeah, she was the first one I talked to actually. Helped me out with the...[He gestures to his bandaged arm and face quickly.] Pretty sure I made a memorable impression on her.

[To put it lightly.]

What happened during the camping trip?

Really? Jesus.

[Nate shakes his head, wishing he hadn't chosen today to go off-planet. Wishing he were more of a mobile device addict like These Kids Today and checked his TAB immediately when he got back. He'd have loved to have been the one to introduce his wife to his brother—the two most important people in his life, with Sully gone home.

He's incredibly glad he told Elena about Sam's existence months ago. Imagine him walking into the room with her clueless, still. That'd be awkward.]

The camping trip was just a lengthy trek to an Ingress facility that could bring us back to civilization. It sucked. You know I don't mind roughing it, but there wasn't even anything interesting to explore.

[Or climb.]

Since then we've been getting by, putting down some roots, which is weird as hell since the scientists could send us back any day. So far, nothing doing. [He shrugs.] And now you show up.

Yeah, and lucky for you I did show up. I mean, you crash land on an alien planet, in space, and still couldn't find anything interesting at all to explore? You've been living a sad, boring space life, little brother.

[Honestly, it's space!]

Come on, Elena said you've been here for a year? Still not sure how that's possible, but you've been doing more than just building homes here, right? Give me the details. Catch me up on stuff here.

Nothing interesting on that planet. That planet sucked. Also, we were in a survival situation.

[It never got that desperate, but let him whine a little.]

All right, let's go find a place to have a space beer or something. [Because they're kinda blocking the sidawalk.] Jesus...where do I even start.

Space beer. Never thought I'd ever have one of those. What's it even made out of, fermented alien juice?

[That would be gross. Hopefully not. Sam takes one more drag on his cigarette before stomping it out on the ground.]

Lead the way, little brother. [He steps closer to indicate he'll follow him, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a small squeeze.] And, as for where to start...well, just start with the best part.

It's beer, it's in space, therefore it's space beer. And it's made with hops.

[Space hops.

In a neighborhood with foot traffic like this, it's easy to spot a bar less than a block away. The patrons include humans, aliens and at least one robot, but it's early enough in the evening that they're able to get stools without immediate neighbors, on the far end of the bar like always. Old criminal habits are hard to break.]

The best part, huh? [He laughs and shakes his head.] That might be the part where our first stop was basically Vacation Planet and we all got unlimited money. Made up a little for getting space kidnapped in the first place—when they grabbed me, I was ready to go home, not on another adventure.

Oh, thank you, getting real creative there.

[Good to know space beer isn't totally outlandish, though.

Sam follows closely, unable to help himself from looking around. Initial shock of being in space somewhat worn off, he can focus a little more about the pretty amazing part of being here. He eases onto the stool as he glances around at the other patrons briefly before turning his attention back to his brother.]

Unlimited money? Holy shit. Why couldn't we stumble upon something like that back on Earth? What did you even do with all that cash? You didn't get to save some of it did you?

Don't I wish. Nah, it was more like a credit card with no limit that we never had to pay off.

[Which was incredibly handy and would have been nice to have during some of their leaner days, but also would have taken some of the fun out of the hunt, in his opinion.]

I got some essentials—clothes, books, art supplies. Elena bought me a new ring since mine didn't make it through the Ingress. [He waggles his wedding ring finger.] We had some good nights out. Nothing big and expensive, though, since there was limited living space on the ship. And since the ship crashed later, I guess that was the right call.

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