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TLV: IC Inbox

You've reached Timothy Stoker, leave a message at the tone and I'll get back to you.

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Oh, look at you, graduating her anyway.

[It's teasing, obviously, but there's no bite. He's actually quite proud of Jon, that's a rather impressive feat.

Not that his little smile lingers for very long, but he does seem a fraction less tightly wound with his next drink.]

...Jacobi's dangerous. And that's not me doing some ooh, scary Inmate bullshit - [Complete with one hand waggling fingers spooky-style.] - I have read his file and I know what he's capable of. Everything with Connor wouldn't mean shit next to an actual outburst from him.

[He lifts his glass to gesture vaguely with it.] Which makes the problem getting him to depressurise before he gets to that point.

I’m guessing his, er, his ‘boss’ person isn’t going to be much help, considering?

[ He can’t say he’d be much help if Martin decided to torch Elias. Which is bad and he’s glad it hasn’t happened yet. This is enough on its own. ]

Kepler? More than you'd expect, actually. Helped me do a sweep of his room for anything Jacobi could use and gave me some advice on dealing with him.

[Which had boiled down to "make him hurt", but. Well, it worked.]

I think Kepler's too close to make fair judgement calls for that. Or he doesn't want to, because Jacobi'll turn on him too, which. Honestly, I wouldn't want to warden my partner either.

"From what I understand, part of handling couples on board is that the wardening is strictly out of their hands."

He'd asked Quentin about it ages ago, after all.

"Which is probably the best thing for it. I'm glad to hear you're not having to face two fronts, though."

He has to wonder how things would have been different if Elizabeth's husband had been here.

"Yeah, Kepler just wants him to graduate. Meanwhile I'm pretty ready to throttle him."

He's going to be sore about that crack about Danny for a while and he is fully aware.

[ He watches Tim carefully, closely, and he can't help that his shoulders pull in, slide up, and he breathes out slowly. ]

I'm sorry. F-for any part I played. In getting him to that state.

Don't.

[His voice is brisk but not cold, and he looks back at Jon.]

Don't apologise for him reacting badly to your freaking out. That's not your fault or your problem.

Don't give me that bullshit.

[ He huffs out a breath as he steps a little closer, gives up on giving Tim space. ]

I'm a warden. I'm responsible for my own damnable emotions. And more than that, my friends hurting-

That most certainly is my problem.

[The glare on Tim's face turns more pointed, and there's a few very uncharitable thoughts flicking around his head about where that concern was back when they were both alive, when he was accusing Tim of fucking murder--

But he bites his tongue. Presses his lips and looks away for a moment to rein it in.]

At what point does you taking responsibility for their emotions turn into culpability for their crimes, Jon.

It doesn't.

[ A little softer. ]

Not normally. But I should have known he'd go off ready to rip at someone, and that that someone would invariably be you.

[ He doesn't Know anything, but he knows where the sensitive points are between them and he's not about to ignore them. He's thought about them too much, felt the ache of them in Tim's absence. He's lived too long without his friend. ]

I made the mistake once, Tim. I'm sorry I made it again, a-albeit less directly.

[Part of him's just glad Jon isn't trying to apologise for the first time. Even now he's not sure if he could.

But the coolness in his eyes softens, and he frees one hand to tug gently on Jon's sleeve - the only part he can really reach while Jon's standing.]

Sit down, you pillock. I'm not mad at you.

I wasn't sure if the couch was structurally sound, considering.

[ But he'll let himself sit, and he won't shy away from a few contact points with Tim. It's less for him right now than it is for the other man. He'll shift if Tim doesn't seem to appreciate it. ]

And you know, for once, I didn't think you were.

[There's a moment of surprise when Jon initiates contact, but then Tim's leaning into it with a quiet exhale.]

Honestly, this stopped being a whole warden thing a while ago. Mostly I'm worried he's not... getting exactly how much hell Elias can make your life. Or...

[He takes a sip, ruminating over how much he should tell Jon.]

Or that he does. There's a man like him in Jacobi's whole set-up, his and Kepler's boss. So how much is taking it out on Elias just, like... displacement, you know? Because Elias is here to hurt.

Edited 2021-11-25 21:40 (UTC)

I think that's part of it. I do; you're not off, not hardly.

[ He glances over and up at Tim. ]

But I think it underestimates his empathy to say it's about him. Displacement. O-or even about his friend. It is, of course. But it's also about us. All of us.

[ A breath in and a breath out and his eyes closed. ]

I don't want to find out which of them is more clever. Because I know Daniel will pay too much for it.

[He looks down at Jon when his friend closes his eyes again, and very nearly leans his head on him again.]

He reminds me of Melanie, a bit. [Not that he really knew her well, just that she kept trying to kill Elias regardless of what it might mean for the rest of them. He hadn't exactly tried to make a good impression - his conversations with her had tended to be... brief.] Consequences are for if you survive that long.

You're not wrong about that.

[ He breathes in and out a few times, doesn't really focus on anything as he lets his mind wander. ]

I've known Melanie for a few years, but she never much liked me. I was a bit too critical of her research methods and the sensationalism of her chosen 'study' and she took such things very personally. More Georgie's friend than mine.

[ Beat. ]

Especially now.

Well. Jacobi hasn't taken a ghost bullet or retired from the Archives yet. [And what a fucking fallacious euphemism.] But... God. Given everything we represent, fucking-- universe-wise? I would have loved for him to get out of knowing us Fear free. And now Bitchard's back.

To be fair, [ he points out, unhelpful but accurate ] he's been marked by at least three of them already.

[ Beat. ]

I-I-I mean, you know what I mean. Elias is probably the worst of the old bastards that we could have gotten.

And I'm marked by six now, last count. [Which is an unpleasant thought to say out loud. He's rather glad his weird other self didn't tangle with the Vast Jon too hard.]

I dunno, I wouldn't exactly be pleased to see Leitner or Smirke these days.

Leitner-

[ He blinks, and then it's obvious he has to go through a bit of a mental journey before he looks back to Tim. ]

I got to meet him, you know. B-before Elias murdered him, I mean. Not for long, of course, but he did save me from that creature that was pretending to be, er... pretending to be one of us.

[ A soft, thoughtful snort. ]

...he was a stupid, selfish old man. A disappointment in every way.

[Tim just hums in fully ironic acknowledgement.]

Never meet your heroes, hey? So, did he actually make the books, or just hoard them when he discovered their powers? I remember Gerard Keay was destroying them when he could.

Hero? [ That? Is an epic snort. ]

I've wanted to strangle that man since I was eight years old. He was a disappointment because he was just a sad little man with delusions of grandeur.

[ He turns back to Tim. ]

Horded them. And fed assistant after assistant to them, as many of them as he could get to work in his horror movie of a library as he had plenty of money to throw at them for it. I'm not at all surprised our Gerry mistook him for someone else.

Like finding the old fraud behind the curtain.

Well, good to know he's even worse than what I assumed from the corpse at your desk. Almost sounds like he bloody well deserved it.

[The words ring a bit hollow, however. As much as he's rapidly deciding he can't stand Leitner any more than the rest of the bastards they've all associated with the statements, no-one deserved to get killed by Elias. Especially not personally.]

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