028 TEXT LIST TWO

[deadliestviper]

[After Silent Hill, Beatrix is in no mood to discuss her struggle or to explain what happened. It was exhausting, it was humiliating and dangerous and painful and sick and emotionally torturous, and all she wants to do is retreat to her cabin to lick her wounds. But she still isn't sure how many of her friends made it back, and how many are still in Silent Hill with that strange, sweet girl Zev.

Video would show her cut and tearstained face and her voice would crack under the strain of crying: text is the only good option to ask what she needs to.]

Who do I need to mourn?

[Sometime later, private to Thassarian and Sylvanas]

I owe you both a debt I can't possibly repay.

[Private to Jeryline]

I'm sorry.

Comments

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

Are you alright?

[ Private : Text ]

[deadliestviper]

No life-threatening injuries. [Just a strange, powerful sense of relief, remorse, and catharsis, as if a crushing weight's been lifted from her shoulders leaving an odd sense of pain and unbalance without it. Once again, Ben, define "alright."]

Were you hurt?

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

But minor, and emotional injuries?

[He'd phrased the question that way deliberately, to see how she would respond. The qualifiers, the specification of injuries being absent, is as telling as a more direct answer.

As for himself, the answer is simple:]

Yes. It was an extremely hostile environment at times.

[ Private : Text ]

[deadliestviper]

Yes.

[She's got to hand it to Ben, he's picking it up.]

Do you want company?

[ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

[The trick, for Ben, has ever been retaining the information he learns.]

Yes. Do you?

[ Private : Text ]

[deadliestviper]

I'd like to see you.

[Private]

[lost_humanity]

No one in my group. We all made it out. [Not that she would particularly want to mourn them, but this is his subtle way off offering some acknowledgement that she might want someone around.]

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

Good. Any injuries?

[Private]

[lost_humanity]

Several, but we survived and that's what's important.

[Private]

[demon_knight]

[Voice, because whatever she's not going to type at Bea.] Just don't worry about it and rest. We'll work it all out later. I think we could just use a chance to flush that godawful smell out of the back of our throats.

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

Sounds like you're keeping this in perspective.

[Private]

[lost_humanity]

Only because it didn't have to do with me. Most of it, anyway. There were relics in places related to the wardens with me. The only thing I appeared to generate was a seven foot monster in leather with a cage on his head.

[And when Narvin pissed it off, it ended up being a whole lot of trouble.]

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

I'll be here.

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

There was something like that for me as well.

[Private]

[lost_humanity]

How badly are you hurt? [Because if the leather-daddy was there it had to be a rough ride.]

Re: [ Private : Text ]

[warisart]

I am in my cabin. The door is unlocked. At your convenience.

deadliestviper - DW Comment dw_null@dreamwidth.org wrote:

Private;

[silvestris]

Not me. But you should come mourn at my place for a while.

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

Not badly enough to worry about.

Private;

[deadliestviper]

You need to talk?

Private;

[silvestris]

No.

[Why is this so hard to admit.]

I just need to- know that you're alive. In person.

[Private]

[lost_humanity]

Considering who I'm talking to, I should specifically ask about broken bones, organ damage, or severe blood loss. Your gauge of "not worrying about it" may be significantly different from others.

[ spam ]

[deadliestviper]

[It's quite a bit later when she ventures to visit Ben, not because she doesn't want to see him but because she has to pull herself together, to check in with the infirmary. Her face is clean and her wounds are dressed when she knocks on his door for warning and turns the handle, peering in with a sad smile.]

Hi, sweetheart.

Private;

[deadliestviper]

I'm not dead.

Any disability from the port?

[Private]

[deadliestviper]

Broken ribs, lacerations, and damage to my scalp and left eye if you must know.

You?

[ spam ]

[warisart]

[He isn't surprised that it takes her a while; no one is moving quickly right now, Ben among them where he's holed himself up in his room. He looks up from where he's sitting up in his bed, his bright brown eyes slightly too wide in his tired face, giving him an even younger appearance even though the circles are gone. He's still wearing the scrub top from the infirmary which covers the most massive bandaging around his torso, though he guards it nonetheless with slightly hunched shoulders and spine; his utility pants cover whatever is making one leg stiff where he's got it stretched out before him, the other folded neatly under himself, and additional bandaging disappears under one sleeve of the top.

He smiles, though, gentle and sad and sets his book aside, already visually checking her over from where he is.]

You still think that. Hello.