IC Inbox for Asgard Genesis

[lethechained]

Hello. Thank you for calling, and I'm sorry I wasn't here to answer.

[Pause.]

--Leave a message, please, if you want to.

Comments

[lethechained]

[ A lot of things, probably, but 'stupid' is a very general sort of description, and not particularly helpful in clearly defining Lalli's concerns. Not that she expects to get clearly defined answers about any complicated feelings of Lalli's, since he seems like more of a sledgehammer than a chisel type of guy where words are concerned. That doesn't stop her from trying, and yet here she favors instead the simple, ]

I know.

[ And she understands some of the sentiment, at least. She has no family to lose, no strange context of disappearance to worry over, but it isn't hard to imagine. She's had friends go missing, herself, and though it troubles her, she at least has the consolation of being able to believe it was probably no different for them than for anyone else who left. (Not that that's much help; who really knows what happens to them when they're gone, anyway?)

She takes a moment to frown at her screen. She can't fix the problem, but her instinct is to at least investigate it, at least do her best to fully comprehend as much of it as possible, in case some opportunity to make a difference in it comes later. Naturally her mind moves on to the most pressing question; ]

Why did he think he needed to trade his life for hers?

[skittering]

❰ oh. she doesn't know this part. that slipped his mind somewhere in the process of venting his frustration.

the answer that comes is... pretty frank. ❱

she's dead

or was before we came here

[lethechained]

[ She has to hold back that, 'I'm sorry,' again. This time it's a nearer thing, and once she's erased it she spends a few seconds giving her screen a somber look. It's a surprisingly familiar experience, hearing that about someone. ]

It's strange to think about but
there are a lot of us here who are supposed to be dead.

It's hard when one of them is someone you care about.

[ Which is the closest she dares let herself come to that sympathetic sort of apology. ]

It makes much more sense now why he wanted to do that.
Still
either way you lose someone important to you, don't you?
It doesn't seem very fair.

[skittering]

fair has nothing to do with it

with anything

[lethechained]

I know it doesn't.
It never does.

[ That doesn't change the fact of what it is, though. Maybe she says it in part because of how many innocent people she has seen suffer due to circumstances beyond their control, how many times she hasn't been able to tell them that in so many words. The other part is, ]

But you told me not to say I was sorry.

[ There are more ways than one to express the same sentiment. ]

[skittering]

i know

❰ as it turns out? he's not fair, either.

and he knows it, but he doesn't apologize. instead, just: ❱

it's fine. was just making sure you're here

[lethechained]

[ It doesn't occur to her to want an apology. He made a request (demand) of her and she honored it the best she could; there was nothing wrong, it seemed to her, in that. And she'd like to know more, really, about the situation with Tuuri, but that's a delicate matter and she's reluctant to force it. Instead, she takes what she can from this message instead. ]

Thank you.

[ Has she ever said that? She's felt it, but it's hard to find the right time to express this sort of gratitude. ]

For checking on me.
I like to know that you're still here too.