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[goodweather]

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cabin: 137

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[goodweather]

Hmm. “No one?”

It’s not a challenge, more of an inquiry—okay maybe a little bit challenge, but it’s a… a prod. Urge for further thought. Rita did this to him all the time. Very Socratic of you, he’d say.

[moonlesstides]

~...Perhaps not no one. The man Yufei has only known me as this, the gentleman Maxwell is unconcerned with my past...but even here it forges links in my chains. So many knew Helena before they met me, and though she understands the terrible power she wields and restrains it...will those who love her do the same?~

[goodweather]

He thinks of Darcy’s look of disdain, the damnation they so easily point towards Grace. Of Security’s refusal of any kindnesses, however awkward and inelegant and brutal, that she can think to offer.

That they are both his. And that they know better than to force a choice from him.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see. Not comforting, I know, I’m sorry. But it sounds like you’ve got a few who would still be on your court.”

He pauses to stifle a yawn. “But, if it isn’t that you still think about them that bothers you…? Is it what you wanted? That bothers you, I mean.”

[moonlesstides]

~It must, mustn't it? I had no power when I was just a girl, no words, no respect. I was not heeded or feared or even loved and yet...and yet...~

She curls in on herself, fighting not to cry, or at least the closest she's capable of.

[goodweather]

He offers his hand, taloned and scaly.

“Yet your body—you were yours. It was familiar. Nothing changed it. Nothing could.”

[moonlesstides]

She takes that hand in her own cold one, webbed and tipped with ragged claws. ~Yes. I fear being only a girl again, and yet...yes. You have the right of it, gentleman Phil. Perhaps if I could forge my own body I might be happier, but such dark science cannot work here, not as I know it. One must die first.~

[goodweather]

Useful, he'd called his own wings. Anyone on Earth might think him so lucky. Wings. What a dream.

Here is a difference: Grace wants to make her body her own again, not touched by gods, but not helpless either. Useful. Phil waits for the day where things will finally be settled enough again that he can simply shed his changes, be as he was for every other year of his centenarian life. Grace never knew peace as an untouched person; Phil lived forever as one. He can't see himself wanting otherwise.

It doesn't change that they both want out of what they've been given, but it is something he's noticing.

"Magic and gods aren't native to my world, and ever since leaving it, all I've been doing is getting yanked around. I wouldn't know how any of that works. You'll have to ask someone else." A beat. "But I've lived for a long, long time. So I... know a thing or two about what waiting and hoping feels like. Every minute of it sucks. I'll be here, if I can."

Possibly heading for a wrap?

[moonlesstides]

Grace nods, just once. It's a while before she finds the words to reply. ~Thank you, gentleman Phil. And my apologies again for waking you. I...know this cannot be easy on your heart to speak of. I am humbled by your generosity.~

yea 👍

[goodweather]

"Hey, it's alright, don't sweat it. I've got a lot of practice with hard conversations. This is the sort of thing you do for friends. If I wasn't okay enough to have a talk like this, I'd let you know."