nonscriptum | hadriel { ic inbox }

I didn't think you were suicidal, Nate!

[Knowing he doesn't actually plan to die doesn't appear to have made her less upset.]

Have you thought about how this would actually work? Forget photos, they might want to examine a body!

They won't. It would mean exposing themselves, and they made a point of specifying that people should reply to their post with evidence. You making some kind of announcement would only corroborate it, since I'm willing to bet you weren't exactly cooperative with them either.

[He knows her, the rigid moral backbone that holds her upright. Nate doesn't reply to the first statement, because years ago it might have been this side of true.]

We figure out which of our friends isn't already on the list. Get one of the twins to- cast an illusion, or something. Make me look...you know.

[She wasn't, but she was mildly more polite. Years of faking it in pursuit of a good story make that easier.]

Guess what, Nate, the twins are both on the list too. You don't think this would be suspicious at all? Someone we trust just happens to decide to kill you to get on their good side, and we just happen to know people who can do illusion magic? I don't know what those things really are, but I doubt they're stupid.

No, that's not-

[He collects himself for a second, knowing he's way too defensive and she has every right to question the idea. It's not a safe one.]

I mean we get more people to help stage the murder. Somebody else can be the one who takes responsibility, and it doesn't have to be anyone we're really close to. Everyone knows everyone here, who's to say I haven't pissed somebody off at least once, right?

Then who's to say they wouldn't take the opportunity to double cross us and kill you for real? We don't know everyone here that well, and it'd be the easiest time—you wouldn't be expecting it. And even if nothing goes wrong there, it's down to whether I can pull off the grieving widow routine.

You're asking a lot of me.

[He almost wants to snap that he's nearly died a handful of times, and that here they apparently get resurrected after a few days so it isn't really as big a deal as it could be, but he reels that one in and holds it inside his chest.]

I just wanna help, Elena. And we don't have many options right now.

I know you do. So do I.

[She's not willing to act as Nate's bodyguard, turn her back on everyone and pretend nothing is going on. But there's a bone-deep dread that grips her at the idea of Nate fake dying that makes her fear it could become the real thing—something she's already seen maybe a hundred times when everything reflective decided to show her his corpse. She's not sure he gets that, gods or no gods.]

But if you want me to say yes to this, it needs to be a real plan, not what-if this, maybe that.

Edited 2017-10-30 16:19 (UTC)

Well, I'm taking suggestions!

[He says defensively, throwing his hands up.]

I don't like sitting here with my thumb up my ass because these are- these are kids. It's not a list of felons.

[Irritation visibly crosses her face but she reins it in. It's not his fault that any of this is happening and she understands the frustration. Even if he is being kind of a dick right now.]

Don't do that, Nate. It's not fair for you to get upset if I don't instantly have an idea that's slightly less reckless.

I know they're kids and I want to protect them too, but that doesn't make you being targeted any better, and I just—I'm really tired of seeing you dead, okay?

[Okay, she's way more upset than he thought she might be, especially given their ability to come back to life here with (seemingly) no problem at all. Elena is right, anyway: he's being a jerk out of impatience, and cows to her point with a clenched jaw.]

Yeah.

[They haven't spoken extensively about the reflections from weeks prior, what each of them saw in any gleaming surface, and that's fine. Nate doesn't want to talk about the divorce papers with her signature neat and tidy at the bottom line. Elena probably doesn't want to talk about whatever she saw, though this makes it sound grisly by comparison.

He ducks his head, too intimidated by eye contact, thinking.]

Yeah, okay. I'm sorry.

[Elena lets out a breath slowly, more relieved than she wants to admit. In the back of her mind, that strikes her as wrong—she and Nate have argued before and they've always worked it out. Why should she be afraid of what might happen if he doesn't back down? But she brushes it aside.]

Okay.

[She nods, more for herself than for him.]

Come home, all right? We'll sit down and try to think of something together.

[That's how they do things best, right?]

[He pushes his luck. It's something he's done for years and while it's gradually slowed down to infinitesimally-occurring events like stretching the last five minutes of his air supply on a dive, it still happens. Nate would rather paint himself a target than have anyone go after children.

But it's not fair to Elena.]

Okay.

[He says again, quieter.]

I'll be back soon.

[He'll get back, and they'll put their heads together, and whatever they come up with will be better than what either of them would think of on their own. That's got to be how it goes.]

See you soon.

hadriel { ic inbox }

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;

PRIVATE video;