[voice]

[tongueamok]

As it seems this place has stripped me of my students, I have decided I ought to find another one, perhaps two.

[Probably one. He's not holding his breath here.]

If you have any interest in learning glyphcrafting -- perhaps some minor magics as well, should you show potential -- please fill out an application. I have left them at the Clinic with Kate Galloway for accessibility.

[And also so he doesn't have to meet people in person to hand out these things.]

Thank you.

[Click.]

Comments

[dedikated]

Only answers would be "leaving soon as possible" or "forever", seems like.

[tongueamok]

Agreed.

[tongueamok]

[And then, another text a moment later:]

Which are you?

text > private.

[dedikated]

( That catches her off guard, and - in typical Kate fashion - the concept of saying too much has her changing the privacy. )

Don't know, if I'm honest. Hate being underground, but don't have any reason to hurry back home. Feels like this place needs help more than my own place.

[private]

[tongueamok]

[Well thank goodness someone knows how to change the privacy, because Carlisle barely knows how to even work the communicators.]

Would you have chosen to return, if you'd been presented with the chance? I don't expect you remembered this place when you went home.

[No one seems to, and he's not sure he likes that.]

[private]

[dedikated]

( UUUHHH, lord, Carlisle. )

Would depend on the conditions. Was three years back home, and no, I didn't remember anything till I got back here.

[tongueamok]

I see.

[Another pause in texts. For a moment, it seems like that's all he intends to say, but then comes another text.]

I don't think I'm going to make it home.

1/2

[dedikated]

... What do you mean?

2/2

[dedikated]

*Why?

( Before he tries telling her "exactly what it sounds like" or something. )

[tongueamok]

[That was absolutely going to be his answer, too.]

People with my condition do not live terribly long to begin with. I have recently discovered why that is, and I'm not sure there is any remedy for it this world or anywhere else.

[dedikated]

( She knows you too well, Carlisle.


But as for that... shit. )

... Does Glacius know?

( She's not sure what else to say. Just that she wishes she believed he was wrong. But they're never that lucky, are they. )

[tongueamok]

[He wishes he was wrong, too. As happy as he was to connect with Glacius and for his partner to probe his soul, he's been unsure how he feels about this discovery since it was made.]

He is aware of what exacerbates my affliction, but remains ever optimistic. His people are long-lived, Kate. I don't believe he wants to ponder the brevity of my own life for too long.

[dedikated]

Not surprising, but still.

( Most people don't want to contemplate it. She knows that Superhuman life averages out at shorter than human lives, and with her history, Kate doesn't expect to make it to the average. Sometimes even surprises herself in the fact that she's got this far. )

So don't. Or try and find a cure.

( NBD that, right? )

[tongueamok]

I said I would work on it, but I don't believe my chances are terribly promising, given the time I have left.

[Yep. No big deal.]

[dedikated]

Guess all you can do is enjoy it.
Least you know it's coming.

( She's so helpful. )

[tongueamok]

[He's sure she can hear his sigh even through text.]

I have known I was going to die for years now, but yes, I suppose that is something, isn't it?

[dedikated]

( Oh, she totally can. And she won't tell him she's sorry for his lot, because what does she have to be sorry about? She didn't doom him to this.

Still. Kate feels the ache of realising that someone else she cares for is doomed to die well before their time. )

Least you're somewhere without bears.

( Laugh? Or get annoyed, maybe? She's better at that than this helpless feeling that comes with the idea of Carlisle's death being inevitable. )

[tongueamok]

Only sometimes, as you may recall.

[Annoyed, definitely, as his next response may indicate.]

I would prefer you not take a flippant attitude regarding this, Kate.

[dedikated]

( Look. She's not good at dealing with things unless she can practically solve them. )

Can't fix it. What else am I meant to do?

( If it's just something silly, they don't need to think about it too much, right? )

[tongueamok]

I don't know. I don't know what I expected.

[He's just frustrated, Kate. Forgive him.]

[dedikated]

( SIGH. Okay. She'll try. She wants to be a better person and all of that jazz. )

Wanted to vent, I'm guessing.
Look. Can't imagine how much it sucks to be in your shoes. Especially when you've got something good like what you've got with Glacius. Letting it take you over's only gonna ruin the good shit you got, though. Got to make the time left worthwhile.

( She might not know what it's like to live on a timer like that, but she knows all too well how much being consumed by something painful sucks so much out of your life. )

[tongueamok]

[Especially when you've got something good like what you've got with Glacius, she says. That is what makes it so much harder to accept his inevitable end these days -- that, and the fact he might have been pushing himself toward it all along without knowing.

He'd tried so hard to avoid it, too. He worries not for himself, but for him.]

Would you watch over him if I were to vanish one day?

[He knows the likely answer, but sometimes, he needs reassurance.]

[dedikated]

( She watches over Glacius even now, in her own way. But Kate doesn't need to say that. She replies simply, instead: )

Yes.

[tongueamok]

Thank you.

[That's all he has to say for now. He just hopes that Kate doesn't have to watch over Glacius one day... though given the way things tend to work in Hadriel, he's not optimistic about that.]