crushed_pearls | Come Sail Away IC Inbox

Entry tags:

ic-inbox

Come Sail Away IC Inbox

Erin's voice mail message is in a weary voice: "Erin Peters. If you called in the middle of the night and I didn't answer, I'm dying. If I pick up and someone on your end isn't dying, they will be shortly. Text otherwise."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"You threatened Max?"

Clearly it didn't bother him, but still. Though Erin's right that Valdis can take care of her own boundaries.

"Ash is very respectful, if you place a boundary, he will honor it."

"Not about you," Erin reassures, Mysteriously. "Ask him about it sometime if you like, mention the carnival, oughta jog his memory. Honestly though...I like what I've seen of Ash, little enough that it is. He's kinda got rich boy energy but the ship will grind that down soon enough."

"Rich maybe, but not spoiled."

He does have that air about him, but she was also rich. Years of building up wealth and carefully moving it to the next persona.

"And I hope the ship doesn't change him too much. I like him as he is."

She knows change is inevitable, and can be good. It has been for Max and so many others.

Erin leans her head over, and rests it on Valdis's shoulder. She feels...warm, inside, and it's nice.

"...Hey. I. Really have that big an influence on you? It's kinda hard to imagine. You're...I dunno...it's felt like being invited to meet someone already there. Someone really great."

Valdis nuzzles Erin's hair.

"Well, when you met me most of my memories still hadn't returned. Now I have my past and some semblance of my present. The future could be anything, which is something I didn't have before."

Eventually she'll have to reconcile the Angel of Death with the Hellhound, but the time hasn't yet come for that.

"It'd be hopeless to think it slipped past you, what with how you can tell." But it's said fondly, not resentfully. "It's...not that I wouldn't be happy, if we were merely friends, but it's nice to be courted. Pursued, with the understanding that I'm standing right here to do things like give a proper lady's favor or be asked to dance. If that makes sense?"

"Complete sense." Erin's wings stretch idly, snapping at the edge of the motion and ruffling the air in the room. "Though I wonder...I can't say that I know Darcy well, but if they're into courting, into being the one who seeks and pursues...it might be fun for you both if you could make some opportunities to be chased, little bird. There's two dancers on this floor, after all."

"...I know you can tell, 'cause you're you and the way you are, but...you've helped me too, y'know." To calm down, to be a bit at peace, to feel safe when she's been scared, to remember the glorious pain of yearning...

A wistful sigh. "I know I can't stay, but...come on down to mine sometime soon when Max and Helena and Security are doin' their thing, yeah? I can tell you entirely too much about New Avalon and the game I'm workin' on for Tayrey and you can bully the hell outta me."

"I will."

Valdis feels it all, and partners should help each other.

"Go easy on Ashley for me."

"I'll try to keep the horror to like five point five Lovecrafts."

"There's where I'm a little stuck. I don't know what counts as opportunities - all my knowledge comes from observing others, from reading, and none of it feels applicable."

A flop back on the bed again.

"I want to get this right, Erin."

"Fair enough, my love."

"Don't we all, but people aren't puzzles to be solved. You'll make mistakes with the best of intentions, and so will Darcy. How you handle that after, that's on you, but..."

Erin hums, thoughtfully, and then: "Flip side question - do you like being pursued? Is that a role in this romance that's fun to you? Like. Not as a deep question of identity or anything here, just, are you havin' fun with it, does it make you feel good?"

"...I do. I really do. It feels nice to be sought after like that. Like I'm worth all that effort to go to. That I managed to catch the eye of someone who wants to be my champion is even nicer."

"Then the question just becomes, how do you make yourself available to be pursued." Erin almost said 'chased' and then decided, no, let's not get this tangled up in other memories for Helena. That might be.

Very bad.

"...I really hate to say it but you're probably gonna have to like, tell Darcy things you usually keep private. Like your birthday or important days in your life. Though if you're after maximum enrichment in your enclosure, telling people both of you know and like so Darcy can shake it out of them can also be fun, but...how to put this...if this were a Freehold, right, people would expect those kinds of mind games out of me because I'm Spring - deliberately setting it up like that is sorta our brand. Darcy's not Lost, this isn't a Freehold, there's no unspoken expectations that can take the place of communicating for you."

"I know that much, Erin. I wouldn't do the discourtesy of being a total mystery." Nor would she send someone who she knows wouldn't have the patience for all of that through so many loops. It would be cruel.

"...If I could convince her to learn braille, I could write many notes. Feed her sense of romance that way."

"'Convince' her you say. Helena. Little bird. My darling. My brave poet. If you have to do any persuading beyond merely broaching the topic I will grant you a boon."

Okay so I know you're already kind of having a time right now
And I don't want to make that worse
But I think it'd be even worse if you found out by accident?
Anyway long story short I kind of died and now I'm missing an eye.

Fool, you have chosen to text me during a time when I have no emotional control AND access to punctuation. How in the FLYING FUCK that is ON FIRE did you FUCKING DIE?

The flowers started like growing in my lungs and stuff!!
I think it was the forget-me-nots? When it was happening it was like it was trying to get me to forget everything about home. Sooooo.

HEY SIS IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU'RE COMPLETELY IMMUNE TO PLANTS OR SHOULD I WAIT FOR THE OTHER EYE SO WE CAN MATCH AT PARTIES?

There is a very long pause here.

Followed by:

Shit.

YOU FUCKING THINK? Christ. Tell me you're okay right now aside from the eye. Did anything else get you? I don't know if the Contract will purge an existing harm or not and I am currently completely, and I mean completely, fucking depowered, I ain't got shit, sis. Tell me you can protect yourself right now.

Nothing else got me! Or, well, I got cat ears at one point and my shapeshifting went kind of nuts but those both passed normally.
So I can protect myself now! I just! Totally forgot! About that part! Of the Contract!

Compel me not to tattle to Peter on you. God. Fucking. Holy hell my heart, Ruby.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 52 of 59

Come Sail Away IC Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Wrap?

no subject

Yes

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

text

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject