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[tongueamok]

Hello, this is Carlisle. I mean, it's not Carlisle as in I'm actually answering you right now, so if you're trying to reply to me at the second, you should probably save your breath because I'm not really here. This is some kind of a recording of my voice, but this is my communicator. I'm going to assume these devices are as common here as they are in other places — not my world, but others, ones more technologically advanced than where I come from— so if you'd like to leave me a message, then you may do so here, or er... Right. Here is fine. So just leave yo— [beep]

Comments

[circumitus]

Too bad for you, then. Because am not going anywhere anytime soon, either.

[She may be doing significantly better than when Carlisle first arrived, but she is far from in mint condition to hoof it all the way back home herself.]

[tongueamok]

[Stubborn thing. She might give Kate a run for her money in that department.]

You said you were fine enough. You could leave if you wanted. I'll not be lonely, if that's what you're worried about.

[circumitus]

Hardly.

[Yes, she did say that she was fine enough, and she could probably walk on her own now if she needed to. The problem is that Carlisle just seems too hopeless to look after himself.

[Plus, there is another problem:] Don't want to be seen looking like this while people are likely around, dealing with the damage control after what happened.

[She hasn't even had the chance to change back into her regular clothes, given the state she was just in.]

[tongueamok]

Ah. I was not aware you were so modest.

[He wouldn't want to be seen looking like he is currently either, after all. Of course, Rey seems to have an aversion to sleeves, and Carlisle is never seen with any less than two layers of clothing -- they are very different people, and so may be the circumstances.]

Or are you avoiding worrying someone as well?

[circumitus]

That would be more likely than being coy.

[It isn't like you had much modesty in most military factions, no matter which country she was in.]

Wasn't "supposed" to be there. Am sticking to that story. [Wouldn't want anyone to let slip what she can really do to Sato, after all.]

[tongueamok]

[Largely unaware of her involvement with the Guard or the majority of what was going on, he misinterprets that statement.]

Who is it? That you're worried about worrying?

[circumitus]

Roommate. Friends.

[Pause.]

Family.

[tongueamok]

You mean Mister Prochainezo?

[circumitus]

Sure.

[So helpful.]

He wouldn't be the only one unhappy about what happened, though.

[tongueamok]

Right. Didn't assume you'd have only one person here to care about you.

[circumitus]

Of course you didn't.

[No, she really doesn't think that.]

Am assuming that Glacius is someone important to you, though? [Shit, it doesn't take a genius to piece that together. From how Carlisle panicked over his safety to the sureness that he would be "picked up" by the alien.]

[tongueamok]

[... He might have actually thought that. It's hard to tell with Rey and her sparkling personality.]

We live together -- I mean, he's my roommate. We just, ah. Just moved in. I did, with him, not the other way around.

[Why use three words when you can use twenty-three?]

[circumitus]

[To be fair, she doesn't make it easy for people to tell one way or another. She has no one but herself to blame for that.]

...

You could've just said that you live together.

[Says 'She of Few Words, Usually'.]

[tongueamok]

Well, you assumed he was important to me, which he is. I just thought that required some clarification.

[It didn't.]

I'd just rather not worry him by having him come all the way out here to cart me home.

[circumitus]

...It didn't.

[That isn't Rey reading bracket text, that's just Rey.]

And if he cares, he's going to worry anyway. No matter what. We're not exactly living in a sanctuary of safety.

[tongueamok]

Apparently not, with monsters and demons and vampires running amok.

[Rey does have a point, though. Even if Carlisle was in the bastion of safety, Glacius would probably find something to worry about. He knows he would.]

[circumitus]

...Vampires? Fuck, we have those here, too?

[It's the first time Rey has heard about that one, but she can't say she is all too surprised by it. Ugh. This place is just too weird.]

[tongueamok]

[Carlisle goes absolutely white -- well, whiter than he already was, given the tremors, the ink, and the fact he just looks kind of sickly anyway.]

Oh, ah. Slip of the tongue. Surely not. Not unless the false gods brought one in.

[circumitus]

Interesting slip. What, you have those in your world? For real?

[tongueamok]

Well, yes.

[He pauses.]

I... assume by that question that you don't.

[circumitus]

No.

[See that face, Carlisle? That is the face of someone who thinks you're full of shit.]

[tongueamok]

[He does see that face, and sighs.]

What? What is that look for?

[circumitus]

[Whatever it is, he doesn't trust her enough to share. Despite all his talk of obligations and debts before, why would he have any reason to? He clearly didn't know her that well before, and he hardly knows her now.

[Rather than being forthright in her answer, she just huffs.] Nothing.

[Just disappointment, son. Or something.]

[tongueamok]

[And that just frustrates him more. He coughs, his throat dry, and made drier by his irritation.]

You know, when someone says it's nothing, they generally mean it's 'something.' What, do you think I'm lying about there being vampires in my world? Why would I lie about that?