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

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[Beatrix looks sharply up at him, recognizing the coldness in his tone. She'd been struggling with exactly the same thing -- each crane's been folded not with a zen-like mental blankness but imagined visions of blood and blades.]

...Yeah.

It's not fair.

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

Fighting'd do more harm.

[He repeats it like he doesn't quite believe it for himself - he's always fought back. Not being able to makes him feel angry, and helpless.]

Hey. What do these mean?

[he points to one of the cranes.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

That's what they'll say.

[There's skepticism in her voice as well, followed with a sigh. Holding back onto the anger is a solemn, unsatisfying necessity.]

They're part of an old legend. The story goes that if you make a wish and fold a thousand cranes, your wish will come true.

[It's helpless frustration all around; if she can't hunt Iris' bastard inmate down herself she'll pray someone else will.]

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[That's what they'll always say. He's angry at Iris and he shouldn't be - but he doesn't quite grasp why the latter's the case and so he's simply simmered, and roamed the hallways like a predator, needing to be himself, raw, and uncurbed.]

Like one of Ben's.

[The smile is brief, and leaves quickly. He misses those most, about his brother, and he moves towards her table, holding a few pieces of paper, adding to her collection.]

You have to make them all, or..?

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

Yeah, something like Ben's.

[It's still a smile, and seeing one on someone who feels the same way she does is heartening. Brief though it is. It's hard not to return it at the mention of the other transgenic.]

That's the idea. ...Though I don't think anyone's thrown out the wish for getting help.

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

You heard a lot of his?

[It's completely out of curiosity, as he quietly gets to work, deliberately not using his transgenic reflexes, and instead, focusing on the process.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

A few. He told them on the network, sometimes. I'm not sure I ever completely understood them but they were always brilliant.

[He figured out the design so quickly that she doubts he needs it, but folds her next crane more slowly in case he wants a reference.]

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[He studies her procedure, and then repeats it, attempting to find the middle ground]

They are. He had a lot about - the Lady. [he stops, clears his throat. It's not a subject he likes discussing.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[Now that catches her interest, and her hands still on the paper.]

Who is she?

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[He is silent for a very, very long time, simply folding the cranes.]

The Blue Lady.

[Bea must have heard the stories. Ben kept on about her like a broken record.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[She's heard them, but never fully understood them. The Blue Lady is so foreign to her she has trouble placing her at all, and she gives Zack a prompting look.]

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[He stiffens, just a little. He can't show this weakness to anyone - not even Ben knows it's there.]

When we were at Manticore - some of us... broke. They were taken away. Ben said the Blue Lady would protect us.

[He believed it then. He's not sure how much he believes now.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[Bea is very aware of a long story here, one wrought with difficult memories and half-closed wounds, and quickly skirts around it.]

How did he find out about her?

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[A tactic for which Zack's grateful.]

He just knew.

[Like he knew everything else. He made it hurt less.]

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[This, once again, is information Beatrix doesn't know how to process. The faith piled upon faith here makes the subject sensitive, that much is obvious, she just wishes she understood what it was placed in.]

...Do you believe in her?

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[This is an easy question: it's not did.]

No.

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

He still does, doesn't he?

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

I'm not sure.

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[She sighs.]

I just wish I knew what he was thinking.

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[Me too.]

... He might like the cranes.

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

I was going to give him one, but I wasn't sure which.

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[He picks up one, which has small stars on it like his did.]

[Wistfully:] We can make the wish for him.

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

What wish are we making?

[Spam]

[unknownsoldier]

[A pause, and then he says, quietly:]

To family.

[Spam]

[deadliestviper]

[She smiles, just a little.]

To family.