❧ i n b o x

[abheirrant]

—pposed to know when to start speaking? That wasn't a very thorough explanation on what I'm to do this, now was it? Hello? Hello? Are you listening to me? Are you even still ther— [beep]

Comments

voice;

[writtendestiny]

[Apropos of nothing, Poison leaves Carlisle a message in the middle of the night. She doesn't expect an answer right away... but does he even sleep, anymore?]

Hi, Carlisle. [She pauses, coughs, then goes on.] Just... making sure you're doing alright. Let me know?

[voice]

[abheirrant]

[She gets an answer almost immediately; apparently, no, he does not sleep anymore.]

Poison. I have been meaning to speak with you again.

[writtendestiny]

Oh--

[She's taken a little by surprise, but recovers quickly.]

... Well, here I am.

[abheirrant]

Yes. Here you are.

[And some silence. He's been meaning to contact her, but clearly hasn't thought of exactly what he wanted to say when he did.]

I um. I met your beau.

[Yep. Good start, and not at all what he actually wanted to tell her.]

@Sparrow

[arcadedragon]

[Genji was born into luxury. As the second son of the head of a crime organization he had everything he could ever want, and not just money to spend but people who cooked for him, cleaned, did all the day to day tasks.

After his .. injury, he'd been incapacitated and hadn't needed to take care of himself for a while, or been able to even if that had been a priority. And once he was joined up with Overwatch he still had most of his needs taken care of. He dumped his laundry in a bin and it magically showed up back in his room clean and folded. The only reason he knew how to cook eggs was because he felt inept when the microwave broke and realized just how little he knew about being the human he claimed to still be.

It took nearly half a carton before he got it right and made something edible.

But laundry still eluded him. In fact now that he thought about it he's not sure he's ever even seen a laundry machine. He'd never been in the laundry room either at Hanamura or the Overwatch base. And the Shambali monks didn't need to wash their clothes as they didn't sweat and get them dirty. What did washers look like? They were metal cubes right? There certainly wasn't one in his room (though there was a small countertop dishwasher that he'd mercifully figured out how to use without flooding the place).

And now Genji had a problem. He did actually wear clothes under his armor, a thin body suit and boxerbriefs that kept his skin from chafing against the metal. And he really wanted them clean.

He frowned at his phone while he debated his options. Just how inept did he want to come off? Robot-ninja doesn't know how to take care of himself. Entitled little brat just like he'd been as a child.

Eventually he settled on Carlisle because if nothing else at least the fact that he wears clothes might reassure the man that he's human.]

May I trouble you for a rather mundane question?

[abheirrant]

[After the hellish time Carlisle has had lately -- proving himself to be largely a failure of a healer in his current state, raising undeads left and right, being coerced into using his necrotic abilities, living(?) with the constant fear he'll lose hold over himself and become the Blight Heir again -- he isn't sure he even wants to look at the phone when it beeps at him. He finds himself pleasantly surprised by the name he finds there, and the request.]

Please. I welcome the mundane at this time.

[It might be hard to tell if he's being genuine through text, but he's absolutely serious. His existence is too tumultuous as it is.]

[arcadedragon]

Do you know anything about the laundry facilities? Where they are for starters.

[He'll broach the more complicated: what is fabric softener and do his clothes need to be softened? after the basics.]

[abheirrant]

They are located in a room off the side of the communal room at the end of the barracks hallways. They are curious devices, but I had a friends show me how to use them so I would not have to wash my entire outfit by hand.

[Though he does have to do that now, at least to scrub the ink out of his mask and gloves. He got it out of his veil easily enough, but his hands are so stiff since he healed Kieran, nearly uncooperative even now as he tries to type back to Genji. He's been struggling to do the washing himself; he'd call someone, but his best option would have been Pratt, and after what happened with Kieran...

Well. He wouldn't be surprised if the Deputy never wants to speak to him again. Genji helped him once. Maybe he would again. It would require him removing his mask, though, and revealing what he is. He's not sure he can stomach that, but he is undeniably desperate to wash the ink out of his clothing. It reminds him all too much of the monster he is beneath his many layers.]

I could show you, if you like.

@lazarus | text

[benhargreeves]

[ It's a couple of days after the... incident with Kieran, and Ben's finally getting around to contacting the healer who had come by. He got Carlisle's contact info from Pratt and sends a quick text. He doesn't just jump right to asking what the fuck had happened, though. He has some manners at least. ]

Hello, this is Ben.
We met the other day.

[ He could do a whole long explanation but honestly he hasn't got the energy for it so he just bites the bullet and clarifies: ]

The one with the tentacles.
I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing?

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle assumes by process of elimination he must be the fellow who was there with Kieran and Pratt -- he doesn't meet many people, and even with the chaos, the tentacles were hard to miss -- but he's grateful for the clarification nonetheless.]

I am

['Alive' is not exactly accurate these days. Frankly, neither is 'well' or 'good' or anything even remotely positive.]

adjusting.

[That'll do. After what happened, he owes everyone involved more than that.]

I apologize for what happened.

[benhargreeves]

[ There's a minute or so before Ben answers when he isn't sure how he is going to respond. A part of him kind of wants to be a hardass about all this because they were definitely in danger and if he hadn't been there, Pratt and Kieran and maybe even Carlisle himself might have died. That's not something to be dismissed lightly.

But no one had gotten hurt too badly, and he doesn't understand what went down. He's not going to lay blame when he doesn't fully know if it's warranted or not. ]

Apology accepted. It didn't seem like you wanted it to go down that way anyway.

[ He at least respects Carlisle enough not to question the answer he gives of 'adjusting' which is not really an answer at all, is it? That's not the most pressing matter. Hopefully Carlisle is taking care of himself and recovering but that's really not Ben's business.

What is Ben's business is the stuff he'd actually been involved in. ]

What... did happen?
I mean I was there, obviously, but I don't understand it at all.
I thought it would be best to ask you directly.
What went wrong?

[abheirrant]

[These are questions Carlisle does not want to answer, especially not to a perfect stranger; however, given he outright endangered everyone there, he owes it to Ben to say something.]

My abilities have not been what they ought to since I arrived, and I pushed myself too far too quickly. It was an amateur mistake that put you all at risk.

[AUDIO]

[sleepyhollowed]

[When Kieran calls, his tone is uncertain at first, but it eventually grows a little more confident. This is a buddy that he's calling about something that will hopefully help him feel better about some less-than-fortunate stuff. It shouldn't be a big deal, right?]

[Ugh, these nerves are so stupid!!]

H-Hey, Carlisle! When you get a chance, are you good fer talkin'?

[audio]

[abheirrant]

Of course, Mister Kieran. Any time and any place for you.

[Because, you know. Life debt.]

[sleepyhollowed]

[Don't be weird with that life debt, Carlisle!!!!]

Well, I was doin' some thinkin' a-and uh...

[Oh no this suddenly got really hard.]

[Except Kieran has!!! To get!!! Over it!!!]

D-Did... did ya wanna try, y'know f-finishing up with my eyes?

[abheirrant]

[Honestly, he'd thought Kieran would never ask. He'd assumed the man would rather remain blind than risk another incident, that he'd only agreed to think on whether or not he'd allow Carlisle to finish the job about of politeness. To hear him actually offer Carlisle the chance to make amends makes the floor drop out from under him for a second. He finds his words.]

Y- yes! Yes I would, if- if that is what you desire. And I swear to you on my family's name that it will go well this time.

[His name might not have much value these days, especially in a place like Anchor, but it matters to him.]

text; @Qubit; idk late january i guess?

[superposition]

[ There's a picture embedded in this message. It's a photo of Qubit's lab door, which appears to have been vandalized with some kind of magic circle bullshit. ]

Can you identify this?

[abheirrant]

[Excuse you, Qubit, that is a well-executed glyph which, yeah, is some kind of magic circle bullshit, to be fair.]

Yes I can, as I am the one who put it there.

[superposition]

Well, that answers my next question.

[ Plus a few others. Now he knows it's not malicious, for instance. ]

To rephrase, then: please identify this.

voice;

[vosseeker]

[ After being informed of this public conversation on the network... ]

"Constructs."

[ The way he repeats Carlisle's word, rolls it around like it's something pestilent. ]

You're playing a dangerous game.

[audio]

[abheirrant]

[Uh oh. It's a good thing this isn't a video call, or Starscream would get to see the look of utter terror on Carlisle's face as he puts together just why he might be getting this call. Despite that, he feigns ignorance.]

I don't know what you're talking about.

Re: [audio]

[vosseeker]

[ Starscream's tone is honeyed and poisonous. ]

Oh, I think you do. "Beings who are constructed" ring any bells?

text

[tsuyoi_ame]

Hey! Sorry about the fence, I'll be by to fix it.


[Intends to fix the entire fence, but politely making it an offer to fix the small piece he broke.]

[text]

[abheirrant]

[Carlisle stares at his phone for a second, trying to parse out who is messaging him about his fence. un: Yamamoto? Oh right, that was that lad's name, wasn't it?]

What's wrong with the fence?

[text]

[tsuyoi_ame]

I broke a small piece on the unrepaired section. Thought I could take the day and fix that spot and some of the other spots. I know you're busy planting!