IC Contact Post

[therushingsky]

"Heyyyy, you've reached the head office of the Atlas Corporation, leave a message and your number, and one of our people will get back to you."

Comments

[therushingsky]

Why, what have you done?

[His tone is easy, not dismissive, exactly, but he sounds more content than he has been in a while.]

[biocomposer]

...I wasn't exactly present after Betelgeuse left.

[therushingsky]

You don't have to be sorry for that. I-- I wasn't exactly raring to talk about it.

[Pause]

I should probably be the one apologising. I know I kinda disappeared on you.

[biocomposer]

If you needed to be alone, then I suppose there's nothing else to say about it.

Would you like to have dinner with Betelgeuse and I tonight?

[therushingsky]

Thank you. I'd really like that.

Hey, you know who reached out to me wanting to play board games?

[biocomposer]

...

Jasper did that?

[therushingsky]

Yepppppppp.

Is she doing okay? I feel like she'd have to be pretty lonely to actually ask to hang out with me.

[biocomposer]

...Between ourselves, I think the only thing that's changed is some willingness to do anything about it.

[therushingsky]

Meaning that someone persuaded her that her entire life doesn't need to be spent in a constant state of misery?

I knew you'd gotten good at this.

[biocomposer]

I...honestly don't think I did anything much, beyond being present while she figured it out for herself.

[therushingsky]

That's doing something. Being present. Staying present after someone stamps on your head.

[Not his fondest memory, but his tone is warm all the same.]

[biocomposer]

I as good as invited her to do that. I'm still sorry you saw it.

[A slightly brittle pause.]

...We spoke more during the flood than I expected us to. I hadn't realized that my lack of emotional expression frustrated her so much.

[therushingsky]

Huh.

I guess that makes sense. She's kinda big on emotional expressions herself - probably feels a little adrift not being able to read yours.

[biocomposer]

Almost certainly.

I'm...mostly mentioning this because I don't know if you've minimized your own concerns, on that front.

[therushingsky]

[A brief pause, then, firmly:]

I haven't. Yeah, you can be kind of hard to read, Elijah, but if you need me to know what you're feeling, then I trust you to tell me. And if I need to ask you, then I will.

I trust you.

[biocomposer]

Thank you.

...Stay over tonight?

[therushingsky]

My pleasure.

What time shall I come over?

[biocomposer]

After dinner? Nine.

[therushingsky]

I'll be there. Shall I bring anything? Do you want to watch a movie or play a game or something, or should we just hang out?

[Hang out being vague enough terminology that it could cover a multitude of options...]

[biocomposer]

Let's watch a movie and then...see how we feel.

[he's not scheduling sex but you know what it's definitely happening]