reach the residents
● ● ● REACH THE RESIDENTS
For any questions you want to ask Viveca or Degar and receive an IC response, please direct them here. Please indicate in the subject line who you are trying to contact.
// VIVECA
Hi, what can I help you with?
// DEGAR
Today was gonna be the day, but they'll never throw it back to you. And by now, you should've somehow realized what you're not to do.
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from over the top of it, he lifts a hand, waves the darkling forward. ]
Huh — you're early! Come in, come in, grab a seat —
[ he stops mid-thought and turns his head to scan the tragically furniture-less space he spends so much time in. ]
— hold on, we can find you a seat.
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[As his gaze slips over Degar to linger on the dark corners of the room] I can stand.
[Who knows what might happen if the commander manages to sever the tether- pulled taut as it is, and held under firm control from both sides. The connection stretching out like a rope on a skiff pulled tight in a raging storm. If it snaps back with enough force to be felt.
But instead of voicing that worry, he nods.]
What do you need me to do, commander?
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[ then, sure. okay. degar approaches, quickly wiping his hands on the front of his shirt. ]
Honestly, this is the first time I'm doing this so ... let's say, concentrate on that connection you have. Think of nothing else but that bond, visualize it, and let that bond ... fill you up, if that makes sense. It'll make it clearer to me just where it is and how I might go about dismantling it.
[ it sounds nicer than 'cutting'. ]
And lets hope it doesn't hurt too much.
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[But he follows the direction, closing his eyes against the soft lights in the room. His arms hang at his side as he concentrates, finding that thread at the center of his chest. The second beating heart alongside his own, the scent of ripe peaches and the bright flash of summer sunlight that always comes along with it.
He finds the hook sunk in to the softest parts of him, the ones he thought were long dead. The wanting that is his weakness, but he yearns for it regardless. For all of it, for all the times they will never have, for the ones they did manage to find out here among the stars and on alien worlds.
All of their 'what if's' and their 'maybe's', all the stories Alina whispered in the quiet moments. The tether coils warm and familiar behind his ribs, the tendril stretching out towards her. He wanted them almost as much as he wanted freedom. Peace. Safety for their people, his people, but in that weakness, he was human.]
If I concentrate much harder, I will go to her.
[It would take so little, to follow the thread that binds them and watch her wherever she might be, to step on to the path that always (always) leads to her.
But he stays here, in the room with the commander of the station, feet braced against the hard floor and hands flexing at his side, feeling the ghost-sensations of Alina through their connection.
He will lose her, and he knows it, the loss felt all the more deeply because he will lose all traces of her. All the memories and all the hope that came with it, that came with her and from knowing her. The late-night stories in Ravka of a Sun Summoner, and the bright future he had imagined for them for so long.
It would all go away.
He has been fighting this battle alone for so long already, and he would have to do it all over again once this was over. Inhaling, he nods.]
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[ there's a soft chuckle at his own joke, but whatever might be occurring right now, the darkling isn't likely to see.
(not unless he peeks.
no peeking, buddy!) ]
You're gonna feel a slight burning sensation. Needle-point thin, nothing too bad, but a little ... uh. Unpleasant, let's say.
[ and on cue, there it is: like something threading through his fabric of his soul, the darkling might feel the pinprick sting of searing heat. it doesn't hurt, exactly, but it does feel uncomfortable, like being connected to a string and being viscerally aware of it in that moment.
is his connection to alina actually like that, or is this something degar has made real to do what he has to in order to fulfill the darkling's wish? who knows.
he'll hear degar's voice through it all, soft but firm: ]
Try not to flinch.
[ the sharpness will continue, and then like a flame put out, it feels a little like a wet towel has suddenly been dropped over that stinging sensation.
next, degar blows out a breath. ]
Phew! Okay, so there's some good news and some ... lukewarm news. You can open your eyes now, by the way.
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What he doesn't expect, is something annoying. The prick that almost turns in to an itch, but he stays still, barely breathing as Degar works his magic over him.]
Thank you.
[As he blinks away dots of bright lights setting off in front of his eyes from how hard he was squeezing them closed just a second ago.] Lukewarm news?
wow i'm so sorry for the delay
he gestures to the darkling's whole ... everything. ]
Yeah. So this magic's something I've never seen ... and even I have my limits. [ they're small limits but they're limits. ] What this means is what I've done to help you might not be super duper permanent.
But how do you feel right now?
No worries!!
[How does he feel? Eyes closed, he feels for it. For the tether that coiled warmly around his heart just minutes ago. Feeling for the sense of Alina, the bitter-sweet taste of ripe peaches and summer sunlight along with the sting of rejection and her sour face that lived inside his chest.
The beat of another heart so close to his own.
And he finds... almost nothing. Faint. Flicking, but never growing.
How does he feel?
Empty.]
alone. Thank you. And what is the good news. That neither of us died?
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Uh-huh, basically. Miracles of miracles, huh?
[ and then he shakes his head. please, like he would have allowed that to happen. not under his watch. ]
Nah, the good news is that it almost entirely worked and now it's just you, yourself, and your own thoughts for the next while.
Truthfully, the good news was just so the lukewarm news didn't sound so bad.
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He feels for it again, like a tongue probing the absence of a tooth after it's gone. The sting of finding nothing nearly welcomed.] but dulled.
I don't know what you did, but this is better. [Better to live with the ache dulled, and not a roaring fire in his blood. Without the focus slipping to her when he's needed elsewhere.
Without feeling her and her fury, the ebb and flow of her too-human emotions] Thank you, commander.
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[ there isn't exactly any equipment or tools to clean up so degar slips his hands into his pockets, one hand absent-mindedly fidgeting with whatever pocket-sized object he seems to keep with him at all times. ]
You — uh. Gonna be okay? From here on out.
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[Because there is no other choice. But he nods, before stepping back. Still trying to get used to the shift, to the almost numb sensation inside.]
I will inform the other person about this... change.
[As he turns to leave, there are notes to write and last-minute gifts to leave on doorsteps.]
Goodbye.