Come Sail Away IC Inbox

[crushed_pearls]

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."

Comments

[crushed_pearls]

"Today in sentences only not dangerous because it's you..."

Erin holds her hand out, curious as hell.

[decrypter]

What she places in it is a small charm with a little clasp - a round blue gem, cool to the touch, but simple otherwise. Small enough to be hidden away, placed on a chain, any number of things.

"I thought for a while on how to find people if another emergency happened, to make sure they're alive. If the phones didn't work like on the excursion, and how I could do so without hurting you, like I did before. Not to mention not dragging everyone's focus with us. This is what I settled on - I can use my ability to find objects, and find this. So long as you have it on your person, I can find you if for some reason I need to quickly get hold of you."

And it is not a pearl, because Erin has said enough about pearls.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's fingers close on the charm. Her breathing...changes.

(Not in the hallway Peters, come on.)

Thickly, holding back a swell of emotion, Erin manages: "This is...this is so thoughtful, little bird. I - don't know what to say."

There are friends Erin doesn't check on in emergencies. People like Security, or Daisy, or Ylva, they're either fine or they're dead; her energy goes to the people who can't defend themselves. It's cold and it's ruthless and she knows none of them would ever fault her for it.

The idea that someone would check on her in the moment, rather than putting Erin in the same category...

It's hitting hard.

[decrypter]

It's not so simple, in Helena's mind. There are those she knows can and will fight back if something happens, but that doesn't exclude them from being hurt, from needing someone, from being lost. Enough times, she knows stronger people who have been taken down, had their dying screams ringing in her ears. People who she couldn't reach in time, couldn't help. And even with this trial, when she had been safe waiting for the terrible news of who had died, there were those she had worried for, out in the bloodied snow.

While this won't tell her if someone is alive or dead, knowing where they are is better than nothing. Knowing where to go, if she needs their protection, if she just needs to hear their voices to confirm you are here. And if not, then where the corpse is to ensure it's taken care of.

"You can say you'll consider keeping it with you the next time the phones aren't working. That's all I need."

It's not a tracker, it's not meant to be some invasion of privacy. She can't and wouldn't compel it being near.

[crushed_pearls]

"It won't leave my person," Erin promises in that tight voice. "...Here, hold your own hand out, I need to show you something else that's always on me..."

She takes the crab pin off from over her heart; it's just for a moment, and for Helena's peace of mind.

[decrypter]

Her fingers brush over it, committing it to memory as the pin that Erin wears. Another thing to look for, if she ever needs - something to act as a marker.

And then, more for Erin's sake than her own:

"A crab's a little on the nose, isn't it?"

Something light, to offer a path out of the emotions that this clearly has invoked.

[crushed_pearls]

A little laugh. "Ms. Adams, surely you're not accusing me of all people of possessing subtlety?"

[decrypter]

"I wouldn't dream of being so rude. She's got one too, has she?"

Because that's how these things go.

[crushed_pearls]

"Yeah," Erin says dreamily. "Same material and approximate size, shaped like an amaranth bloom. Crabb wears it on her collar."

Just in case it's relevant. Definitely not because Erin's heart melts a little when she remembers.

[decrypter]

"That's good to know. I might know just enough to look for her if I had to, though it wouldn't be easy...though I'm sure you'd know where she is."

A tiny pause.

"You've got this way you talk about her, did you know? Something in your voice goes all gentle and musical for it."

Damn OCs

[crushed_pearls]

"Sweet mother, I cannot weave - slender Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl."

[decrypter]

"That's a beautiful bit of poetry."

She approves of its sentiment wholeheartedly.

[crushed_pearls]

"It's from Sappho," Erin explains fondly, because it sounds like Helena is one of today's ten thousand. "A poet from the island of Lesbos, famous for uh, this theme. Crabb...my fierce flower makes me so happy. She's going through it right now."

There's worry there.

[decrypter]

"Does she need you by her side, or does she simply need the support?"

The implication is here - go to her, if you need. Helena would be the first to say to be there, if someone needed you.

[crushed_pearls]

"She needs to be her own friend instead of her own biggest critic is what she needs." Erin sighs. "I can't fix that for her. I'm just...doing my best."

[decrypter]

"As long as she has your support, being by her side is doing even more than your best. Time does a lot for people."

So she says, as if she is wise and not twenty years old with half a braincell.

[crushed_pearls]

"Time gave her a lot of these wounds. Time where people didn't appreciate her, or love her, or do right by her. I know the difference between poison and medicine is just dosage but it's hard to think of time as a cure here."

[decrypter]

"Time alone isn't going to help. But filling that time with better things - laughter, curiosity, love, being listened to - is the medicine that perhaps she needs." A little pause. "I don't know her as well as you do, but from what I do know, she has a passionate heart. You'll keep each other warm."

[crushed_pearls]

"...Little bird, you are as glorious and terrible as the storm, y'know that?" Erin's voice is so very fond, and even sounds a bit reassured. "One of these days if you give your heart to someone they're not gonna know what they're in for. I look forward to seeing it."

[decrypter]

Ah. There's a pause there, and Erin's too perceptive not to notice it, the way Helena wants to keep herself contained and yet has that heart-surge of a feeling, the flicker of an expression over her face before it's pressed down.

"You're really too kind."

[crushed_pearls]

Aaah, that's an interesting taste in the air. Note to self, dig into that later. For now though...

"I try to call it like I see it. These days I try to only lie for comedy - but I'll be late for hand to hand with Crabb if I linger much longer. Keep well, yeah?"

[decrypter]

"You too. I have a few more of these I want to disperse before we venture into the unknown."

And so she's off with a smile to her next appointment.