dishearten | futurology ic inbox

[can't even protest the shade]

I was kept most busy with Team Squirrel Fucker's mistakes.

Are you at camp with Brother?

team squirrel...

( pardon him for a extended pause for concern. that better be a crass joke otherwise he's gonna have words for the other team when they all return to Oska. )

yes, we are. I'm staying with a friend who was kind enough to offer me shelter. we made it out all right, thanks to the help of a woman named Lucina, I think.

I have been made aware of the implications of their team name.

[And to think, she used to just think "fuck" was an expletive. It's apparently a verb, too.]

Who is it? I am afraid I do not know this Lucina.

you know about as much as I do. she helped me carry my brother from the saloon as it was burning.

( why couldn't he carry the wolf himself? that's a super good question! not one he's gonna answer just for the hell of it, though. who just throws "I got mortally wounded but it's fine because my heart wasn't there to stop the bullet" into random conversation? even a heartless guy knows better. )

[Unfortunately?, Sieglinde isn't about to let that one go. Graham should be able to carry Brother- this wasn't Nalawi.]

What happened there?

[But she'll see if he answers willingly, or simply does so for Brother.]

( someone else might have used the fact Sieglinde could often be cagey as a reason for retribution. two could surely play at the noncommunicative game! graham, though, doesn't have it in him.

he'll tell her, though perhaps not the whole truth. Sieglinde seems to do enough fretting about his welfare as it is. no need to aggravate that further. )

I was injured. I can't feel it, but I know well enough not to aggravate it if I can help it. luckily I didn't.

[Injured, but he couldn't feel it...]

And are you... still injured?

[There wasn't a bullet still lodged in his heart, was there?]

( that's possibly the only good thing about being heartless, the bullet had gone straight through and only left some internal bleeding and a broken rib here and there! no big, right??? )

yes, but I am healing.
you needn't worry. I'm managing all right.

You could allow me to finish that process.

[Please?]

you're welcome to it, though I assure you there's not much to look after. I'm sure there are more pressing matters for your attention.

( it's not so much self deprecation as the realization there's a lot of shit going down these days. )

other than working for such a crudely named team, did your return to Oska treat you well?

As I've just returned, my schedule is of yet somewhat open.

[Maybe it really is or maybe she just wants to see him and make sure for herself]

It was not so eventful. I had time to work on my projects, and speak with Lloyd.

( straight up super blunt no holds barred: )

I don't believe that in the slightest, but I suspect seeing it with your own eyes might be the only thing that could convince you.

Lloyd? and he had nothing to say about the state of things here? ( curious, but again... not that surprising, either. ALASTAIR was not the most forthcoming about... well, anything. )

[wow okay FINE LETS BE BLUNT]

You are likely correct, I would prefer to see so myself and be done with it.

He mostly communicated via message... but I got the impression I was supposed to focus on my task.

[Despite how much she worried.]

I'll stop by when you are settled.

I imagine you were. ( she can be quite good at focusing on a task when she sets her mind to it... honestly Graham hopes that the reprieve offered her some peace, compared to the continuous fray of a mission. all the same, ) I am glad to see you back, Sieglinde.

( he missed her, even though he suspected some distance might be good for her. )

I could be settled very quickly if you would escort me to where most people are staying.

[Right? Right.]

I am glad as well.

( ok sieg you win. that's definitely true. )

where are you?

By the saloon.

[WINNER]

( he doesn't respond, just makes good on his promise. notably, it takes him a bit longer these days to get where he intends to go. a hole through the chest does do that to a man. still, it's not so unbearably slow that Sieglinde is left wondering.

and he doesn't come alone, his brother in fact is the first to arrive. the wolf hasn't left his human very often since his injury, yet his excitement at a familiar scent he's not seen in some time is enough to spur him a little faster than Graham can keep up with. the wolf greets Sieglinde affectionately, smelling her fingers and shoes as if he can track exactly where she's been through scent — honestly, he probably can — and Graham catches up shortly after.

he's a little paler than usual, but wrapped up in the layers he seems to favor, so seeing any hint of the injury is more or less impossible. he'll have to take off his shirt for her to look; hopefully she'll wait for some degree of privacy first. ) He seems pleased to see you. Is Isengrim around? ( Brother would likely be equally pleased to see his friend after weeks of not. )

[Brother comes first- and Sieglinde kindly surrenders her fingers and tightly laced boots for the inspecting, smelling of Oska, and musty libraries, and her feet in particular of the herbs Lloyd had given her to soak in. Isengrim picks up on the smell too- and by the time Graham arrives the skull-faced familiar is padding back from where he had been roaming in the area.]

Graham, greetings!

[Isengrim, silent as always, does not bark, but there's an audible sound of creaking bone and the snap of bone as his teeth collide, chewing on a questionable hunk of meat and sparing his master the need to point him out as he lopes closer, circling Brother with tail wagging. Whether he planned to share that meat was a different issue, however.]

There he is- It was good of you to come.

[Sieglinde herself is perched on the remains of a foundation, looking... far more rested than she had been when they'd last seen each other. Her dress is clean, her hair washed and neatly braided, the bags under her eyes less... noticeable. (Still there, though.)]

( Brother has been living on lizard his entire stay in Perdition's Rest. his interest in his friend's snack is practically palpable, though his excitement to see his friends overrules it. the wolf circles the pair excitedly, eyes bright and ears up and mouth open in a pleased pant. the wolf was gifted in showing his pleasure to see them again, Graham less so... though he was pleased to see the pair, too. he just showed it in a more restrained way.

Sieglinde looked well. much better than when he'd seen her last. he didn't have a heart to break at the state she'd been in, yet it had affected him poorly all the same. he was glad to see her healthy and closer to happy. the break from the mission had done well on her, it seemed, and she'd been more than deserving of a break. )

Of course. As long as you need, I'll always come.

( he means that sincerely, and Graham has never been a sort to lie or exaggerate. if Sieglinde asks for his help, he'll always show up, as long as he's able to. not many in Audentes had earned that kind of loyalty. )

You look quite well, Sieglinde. I'm glad your return to Oska treated you well.

[Sieglinde does not doubt that what he says is true- she has no words for it, only the belief in her eyes. Graham has never lied to her- not once. Nor has he ever failed her when she needed him. A most loyal, and reliable man.

To think the Outside World had such people. Months, more than a year since her recruitment, and it still has the capacity to surprise her.]

Well enough, thank you. Team Squirrel Fuckers' shenanigans aside.

[Brother may be in luck, because Isengrim was willing to share, dropping his hank of meat and obligingly ceding a corner. Much tastier stuff than lizard, to be sure.

But Sieglinde is not swayed by words and loyalty- no, she remembered her purpose quite well, and that was-]

Now, shall you be stripping here, or shall we withdraw to somewhere more private... ?

[Looking at that wound.]

( what a name. Graham has no strong feelings about Audentes, but at least it was not Team Squirell Fucker. he shakes his head at the mention, once again hoping that title was simply a joke severely lacking in humor.

Brother is delighted to cozy next to his friend, chewing mildly at his corner of meat and watching the humans with interested, mismatched eyes. he's been in better spirits lately; he'd been shaken by the fire, it'd taken him a few days to get back to his normal self.

if he had a heart, he might laugh at the audacity of the inquiry. as it is he simply looks at her, not particularly impressed. ) It's on my chest. I'm afraid you'll need to wait. Besides, I thought you required an escort to camp. ( that's what he agreed to come for, after all! )

[She wishes it was a joke.

She also wishes Graham was a far more obedient patient, but one could not have everything one wanted, and she sighs softly, caught.]

... I suppose you may escort me first, then.

[If he is injured then she cannot expect to be carried, so she slips carefully from her perch, holding out her hand for his arm.]

( wow sieg he's pretty good but don't ask him to strip in public???

she reaches for his arm, and he offers it. it's odd how the arrangement seems unsual — she's so slight that it seems to be awkward for her to hold his arm as she walks. yet the fact she can is something he will celebrate. no matter how she'd come to the idea of breaking her feet, the choice was giving her freedom. he wanted that for her. )

I don't suppose I can convince you it doesn't need looking after until you're settled.

[It wasn't easy. But it was easier than walking on feet bound to be a mere three inches- even if she occasionally felt a stab of guilt that told her she shouldn't have ever released herself from the physical proof of what her life had been.]

"Settled" is a very loose term, Graham.

[This way, even if she had to raise her arms to take hold of his, she could be careful with her steps and walk straight.]

I am most able to treat those dear to me at any time.

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