wingstosee | ic inbox (reverie)

How are you doing?

fine!!!
just great!!!

actually really badly!!!!!
but i'm glad you're alive at least???

[ah okay so this is going to be literally the polar opposite of the problem with hinata.]

Thanks for the honesty. I'm glad you're alive too.

You can stop by my room anytime if you want. I'll be here for a while.

what else would i say???
"oh cool people are dead let's go drinking"
no that sucks!! this sucks!~!!!!!!

[ and then, a few seconds later- ]

maybe later??
god. im sorry
i have so many people i have to check up on
are you okay?? do you need a hug
or is that like too much

I'm fine, relatively speaking. I thought you might say something like that so the offer is open for whenever.

If you give me some usernames, I can ping their comms for a quick check. Hank and I tried contacting a few he saw disappear and got failed connections.

[ venus doesn't even know what half of this means. but she knows erika is basically a computer wizard, so she doesn't even hesitate before- ]

alucard
dabil
skull
gallowsCalibrator
palpatine
nanatsuya
fairchild

thank you for this

palpatine unreachable. The rest are fine.

[She waffles over something like "Go hug your girlfriends" or "Don't forget to breathe" and gets so mad about how condescending it feels that she just sends the message naked.]

oh, no... :(
that was ezra.
ezra... bridger?
yeah. ezra bridger.

he was a really nice guy

[...maybe she is less fine than she thought she was.]

I'm sorry.

that's okay.

no it's not. it's not okay?
it's so far from okay it hurts to even think about it.
but i guess it's how things are right now.
akechi says it's probably not, like... actual death.
and i want to believe him?
but it's still someone i'll never get to see again.

I'll ask him about that later.

Yeah. You kind of summed up how this goes. There's not much to say to that that isn't a cheap platitude or something that just makes it worse.

Think about what's still here. Not in a sappy way, unless you want that. Facing forward and staying in the present doesn't make it hurt less but it keeps you out of trouble.

that's probably a good idea.
i don't know if he really knows that? but maybe he's seen something like it before.
who knows.

...hey
thanks for. all of this?
you're a lot better at this than you probably think. haha.
i'm not, like, actively freaking out? so. you did good.

i mean it. thanks.

It's not much use if I don't know how to do it consistently. But thank you.

I'll be in my room most of the day.

doing it sometimes is way better than doing it never.
i mean, my dad says to never half-ass something?
but if it's that or nothing, i kind of always thought half-assing was the better option.

i might come find you later.
if you're okay with that.

I can't argue with that.

Wouldn't have offered if I wasn't.

haha. yeah. fair enough

[ and for about an hour, that's all that she says. right up until she knocks on erika's door. ]

Uh- hey. This is Erika's room, right?

[The answer comes as a near-immediate chirp from Venus' communicator, and if she checks her texts instead of taking it as an affirmative, one that says Yes. It's unlocked.

The pile is still intact and in use, and Erika is, as usual, diverting herself with something very technical-looking.

A few iridescent bubbles hang in the air around the room. Botamon is perched on the desk, producing a lot of froth and the occasional free-floating bubble; if one survives for more than a few seconds, it flaps its ears delightedly. When Venus enters, it stares at her owlishly, vibrating a little trying to meet all her eyes at once.]

Hi.

[Erika doesn't stop typing, in that half-attentive way where she glances aside for a moment and keeps glancing, idly, alternating her focus between examining Venus and finishing whatever it is she's working on.]

[ she opens the door, and- yep. yep, this is erika's room. she could tell from the pile, and the tech, and the weird- thing? on the desk blowing spit bubbles.

her own eyes stare back at botamon, wings unblinking as smiles like the dork she is. ]

Oh my god. It's way cuter in person? [ she doesn't bother commenting on erika's background work. it'd probably be distracting? not that this is any better. hm. ] I kind of want to pick it up. Is that a thing you can do?

[Botamon loses its goddamn shit when it hears "pick it up", bouncing in place and spewing bubbles.]

Sure. It's friendly. [And curious, etc. Erika finally stops what she's doing to watch Venus approach Botamon, and maybe tell it off if it froths in her face too much.]

[ she's going to die. she's going to die from how absolutely adorable this weird... lump of thing? is. she picks it up without a second thought, balancing it delicately in her hands like someone who has Absolutely Never Held a Baby before. ]

Oh my god. [ that's really all she can say, as she looks it in the eye with a few dozen of her own. ] It's beautiful?

[ and then, biting her lip, she says with a dumb grin: ]

You're a beautiful little... thing, aren't you?

[It closes its eyes bashfully! And relaxes, sagging a little into Venus' hands. It's soft all the way through, velvety to the touch and feeling like a thick-skinned bag of jelly.]

It's called a Botamon.

[She can almost image Venus in EDEN...or Kowloon, rather. She'd probably prefer the run-down undercity. Cradling one of Chitose's malware carriers, petting it between the ears.

Alive and well. No threat of imminent death. Not - hers, anyways.

...

Everything is so fucked up.]

Venus?

Yeah?

[ for a moment, the veneer cracks. venus isn't smiling, the stress of the hour showing through all too clearly in the way she flinches- her eyes looking up to erika, wide and panicked. but they relax, almost forcibly, as venus keeps her head pointed towards botamon. she reaches down with a wing, running the joint gently over botamon's head and cooing a bit before responding again. ]

What is it?

[She'd been winding up to feel selfish and guilty. That look jars her. First into uneasiness. Then hesitation. She can't corral the expression that creeps onto her own face, brows pulling together, trying to...read, understand, predict? Searching for some track to take, finding nothing immediately promising.

Something occurs to her then. Sort of a gamble. Helpful, if true.]

Do you - [mnope] Can - [canceled.]

[She fumbles visibly, gaze creeping to the floor and everything else frozen in place. Rolls some words around her mind with slippery hands.]

I changed my mind, [very quiet voice and very quick follow-up,] can I hug you?

[ when erika starts to speak, venus stops- actually stops, listening to what she's saying. and when she asks her question, venus's shoulders sag down, the tension in her finally leaving her completely. ]

...yeah. [ the chipper cheeriness just... drops from her voice. she sounds quiet. tired. like she doesn't know what to sound like ] Yeah. If you're okay with that, I'd- really like that right now.

[She wins the hand and feels like shit.

And - she'd phrased it like that, can I hug you, so Venus is probably expecting her to get up and all that. Erika gets her bony legs under her and stands awkwardly, still holding Memetan. Realizes she's still holding Memetan, two steps forward, and almost trips for realizing it, and lets the stuffed animal drop out of her arms, carrying it by the tail like an afterthought.

She stops a few short steps away, free hand hovering somewhere by her sternum, uncertain, and asking silent last permission of the eyes across Venus' wings with a strained expression.]

un: hudie; after that one post.

un: aphrodite

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