hadriel | Code - 005 [Text] (Dated to the 10th)

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Code - 005 [Text] (Dated to the 10th)

I've got an important question for you, Hadriel:
Can a Kangaroo Jump Higher than a House?

[99% of you will not realize that this is Whistler's announcement that he is no longer well...dead. But thats the point, isn't it? The people who need to know will know. The rest of you can enjoy a quality joke.]

[Private to Julie]

How you holding up, Jules?

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... Yeah, guess it will.

[No need to say anything more, she supposes, and she wolfs down pasta for a few minutes in silence before she finally starts to feel like the near-constant hunger she's been feeling is abating.]

So, um... Could I ask you something?

Shoot.

[He nods before shoving another pasta-laden bite into his mouth]

... What was it like?

[Julie puts her fork down, a soft 'clink' of metal on the bowl announcing it.]

Dying, then coming back.

[It's rare for a question to render Whistler silent but that one does for a long while. He's been avoiding it. Thinking about it, that is. He's been laughing about it. Shrugging off the strange twitch that won't leave him be. It's easier if you don't have to take your own death seriously, right?

After a while he sets down his fork]

I, um....

[His shoulders sag]

...kid, I don't really have any good way to say it. So I'm..I'm not sure if you really want me to answer that. Cuz, well, if you're looking for a nice version...

[Whistler knows how to lie. It's easy enough and he's good at it. But for some reason the idea of spinning her a story doesn't sit right with this one]

Edited 2017-12-17 23:06 (UTC)

Name's Julie.

[She'll not for a single moment sit and be called 'kid'. While she's only nineteen, she's seen more and lost more than some people here who are twice her age. She's killed and seen death and more besides, and it's been a long time since she could consider herself a 'kid'.

Still, her prompt is mild. He's not to know.]

Wouldn't have asked if I didn't want an answer.

[Another long silence]

You know how sometimes in nightmares you're being chased by something and you want to run but your legs won't seem to move? Like they're stuck in cement?

[A pause as he chews at the corner of his lip, deciding how to proceed from there]

It's something like that. It's like your brain takes a while to realize your body's not gunna get up again. So its telling you to run but your body's like some useless sack of stones just laying there. So all of your fear and your hurt its got nowhere to go. Just settles in until you wear yourself out with it. Then...you sort of just give up. You just get too tired to feel anything other than tired.

[He leans back in his chair and folds his arms around himself]

As for coming back. I, um...I dunno yet. I don't know if I like it. Or if it's shitty. Or...who the hell knows.

[She mutters a soft 'yeah' at his question. Julie has had enough of those dreams to last her several lifetimes, but strangely, it doesn't bother her that death might feel like that too. If that's it, then it doesn't sound like it's too awful at all.

Not that she's going to say that out loud. No one needs to hear that she thinks dying would be easy.]

So... you just... 'woke up' and that was it?

[There's a shake of his head, an attempt at a nod but he can't entirely gauge whether or not he's nodding in the right direction]

Yeah. Pretty much. Except for this twitch, everything was back in place.

I guess that's... because Hope's hurt, right.

[It's not exactly a question, as she pops a few piece of pasta into her mouth and chews them thoughtfully. Once the immediate gnawing hunger had been taken care of, her appetite had slowed, but she still sees the benefit in making sure she eats as much as she can, while she has the opportunity.]

Guess it could've been worse.

That's sort of what I've been thinking. After all, the eyes already don't work so whats a little twitch, yeah?

[The corner of his mouth quirks up in a half smile]

Now can I ask you something, Julie? Like...am I handsome or ugly? Not in a weird way just...I've never known, you know? I never know if my friends back home are telling me the truth or if they are teasing me.

[The question is unexpected, and she chokes slightly on the piece of pasta still in her mouth. She stares at him for a moment or two, trying to work out if he's sincere, then snorts softly.]

Weird question. [But sure, why not.] You're... yeah, you're not bad-looking. [She picks at her pasta a little.]

Probably sounds funny, but you have nice eyes.

[That turns his half smile into a full grin]

Are you teasing me, Julie?

[Though his joking tone implies he knows she's not but is too embarrassed to actually take a compliment]

I would never. You might never feed me again.

[Pointedly, she shovels some more pasta into her mouth and makes a satisfied sound as she swallows.]

You always ask questions like that to girls you barely know?

[He laughs a quiet breathy laugh]

Well I like keeping people on their toes.

[Read: There are not that many girls he barely knows that he ever encounters]

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Code - 005 [Text] (Dated to the 10th)

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supppperrr laaaate

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