034 VOICE LIST TWELVE + SPAM

[deadliestviper]

[Art room spam]
[Bea's almost made it to a thousand paper cranes. When worry or anger overtook her in the days since port she parked herself in the art room and began working on the origami; several sessions later, she's hit nine hundred and is still working hard. She's surrounded by her handiwork, cranes of different sizes and colors littering the table around her as she folds another piece of paper sideways.

The look on her face, however, is not one of determination or concentration. She's frowning, eyes downcast, brow furrowed as she works. The task is obviously not what's on her mind.]

[Filtered to friends]
I've got something for you. Can I come see you?

Comments

[halftheman]

Holy --

[ Harv hasn't been here, in a day or two, so finding it filled with paper cranes? A bit surprising. ]

See you stayed busy.

[deadliestviper]

[Beatrix gives a sidelong glance but doesn't lift her head, never pausing in her work.]

Idle hands are the devil's workshop, isn't that what they say?

[halftheman]

Guess that's why they like to insist on work details.

[ He picked one up, turning it in his fingertips. Careful, he doesn't want to damage it. ]

Why birds?

[deadliestviper]

Yeah, well. You can only do so much for the Admiral.

[Her voice is wry as she bends the paper, twisting an edge to make the crane's neck.]

It's meant to be a zen thing. [Not so much, really, but she's not telling him about the wish she's making.]

[Filtered what]

[wemaketheworld]

Depends what it is.

[What are you up to Bea.]

[Filtered what]

[deadliestviper]

[Many wicked things, of course!]

It's a piece of paper.

[Filtered what]

[wemaketheworld]

[CLEARLY.]

What's on it.

Spam;

[insolubleriddle]

[Wow. Okay. That's a ton of paper cranes. Edward's careful not to disturb too many of them as he sits himself across from Bea with a paint set.

He's still ill, but he's past the worst of the toll.]

I don't think the Admiral covers ancient Japanese legends.

Spam;

[deadliestviper]

[A select few of the cranes are the only ones she cares about. She looks up at Eddie and shrugs.]

There are more beings out there than the Admiral. Maybe somebody does.

Spam;

[insolubleriddle]

After the Aztec Gods, I have no good reason to disagree. But if this one's anything like its distant brethren, I wouldn't keep your hopes up.

[He brings out one of his wooden figurines to paint. They're starting to look better, a little more like the people he's shaping them into.

This one, though it's hard to tell while it's absent of color, is Chris.]

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[Zack's watching. He knows there's nothing to worry about and she doesn't need coddling, but he figures she could use the company of someone who won't ask unnecessary questions.]

[At first he was tempted to make cranes with her, but just like Ben and his stories, this is something personally important and instead, he sits in his own corner, attempting to learn a few origami of his own.]

[When she stops to meet his gaze, he'll look at her questioningly. Do you want to talk about it?]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[When Zack sits down she does look up, mildly confused. She doesn't object to the company, is just rather surprised to see it here. Still, she half-smiles and sets a little crane aside for Zack -- this one's dark blue, with tiny white stars printed on the paper.]

Hey.

[It's practically a "yes."]

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[He takes it, and studies it carefully, before he folds a yellow and red one for her, and hands it to her with equal care. He's not used to being a comfort. He protects, he watches, he's distant. But he can be here. Maybe that's what she needs.]

Rough port?

[It was for him. Admitting it costs, but maybe the risk will pay off.]

[private]

[routemistress]

[It's taken a day or so for Iris to be willing to talk to anyone, and she's still visibly listless and vague, though she's taken the trouble to apply makeup and wear one of her nicer cocktail dresses, a teal number encrusted in sequins.]

'Ey darling. You come through all right?

[private]

[deadliestviper]

[Everyone's been tired after that port, and half the Barge is wandering around in various states of shock so Iris' appearance doesn't surprise Bea. It just worries her a little.]

Yeah, I did, no major injuries. Rorschach helped with that.

Do you need anything?

[private]

[routemistress]

A mindwipe and permission to rewrite me inmate's history'd be favorite, but I'll settle for me friends around me and enough gin to sink a battleship.

[Mentioning Rorschach makes her smile, a real smile that mostly serves to point up how laboured the one she started out with had been.]

I'm so proud of 'im and Chris I could pee meself. And Zane.

Filter

[with_my_teacup]

Yeah-?

Filter

[deadliestviper]

Good.

Did this port kick your ass?

Filter

[with_my_teacup]

Not physically so much, coulda done with my people getting less fucked up.

[He understates.]

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[bodilesswarrior]

[She's surprised at the message, enough that curiosity overcomes pride.] Sure.

Text

[deadliestviper]

[This is going to be awkward as Hell and Beatrix was sort of hoping she could just give the gift to Iris and pass it along, but maybe it's better that she goes herself.]

Infirmary?

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[bodilesswarrior]

Yeah, I tried to escape but they weren't having it.

[warisart]

[Ben used to spend more time in this room, when he was first learning to play the instrument set aside from the rest of the space. He had been so careful to divide his time exactly evenly between all the activities that occupied his time, then, and it has fallen by the wayside as people started leaving. Rhade. Dylan.

Aya.

He's back now, taking a break from his work in the infirmary, dead silent in his uncertainty. The only sign that he's distracted is that he actually gets to the door before he realizes someone else is there, and that that someone is Beatrix.

Lifting his chin from his thoughts he tilts his head, eyes scanning her handiwork with his usual astute interest, genuinely curious as well as genuinely concerned that he is intruding on something he is not meant to be amidst.]

Hello.

[deadliestviper]

[Ben moves so silently Beatrix didn't even notice him approaching the door. When he speaks she jumps in surprise, still unaccustomed to being snuck up on, and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees him.]

You scared me. Come on in, sit.

[warisart]

[Something around Ben's eyes softens apologetically at her startle, and he glances away when she speaks.]

I apologize. It was not my intention. [Sometimes it is because he likes seeing how others react, but not this time. Nonetheless she bids him join her, and so he does, moving to perch stiffly on the edge of a chair near her.

It gives him a closer view of the cranes, and he tilts his head to watch her hands for a long moment.]

Origami?