✖ IC CONTACT #1

[silverking]

Well?

You're here because you have something to say, so... out with it.

Comments

/DROPS IN ON YOU

[priscilla]

[Hm. Well, why beat around the bush?]

...thank you.

I mean, for. Hm. Just... thank you.

ZOMG IT'S AN A-SPIDER! QUICK, GET THE RAID!

[silverking]

You're welcome, although I feel almost as though you would have done the same for me were our unfortunate circumstances reversed.

...Speaking of which, are you feeling better now?

[ The last is spoken with a strong note of curiosity. ]

/WIGGLES MANY LEGS.

[priscilla]

Almost? [Hmph.]

Of course I would. I wouldn't let anyone just lie around like that. What if some kind... person-eating monster came by? [Or, in his case, what if Helen or Deneve came by?]

...anyway. I am. I don't really know what happened. I don't really get sick often [Ever.] But it seems to be spreading.

Hopefully, it will just. Um. Go away soon.

*steps on*

[silverking]

I certainly hope you don't think I'd scrounge around for slim pickings like that...?

[ A teasing tone. And what a thing to tease about... but then he gets a little more serious. ]

It's strange, however. Several people appear to have contracted this sickness, and that even you have... is a troublesome thought.

Priscilla, is there anything I can do?

/bites your toe -_-

[priscilla]

[Ouch. Give her a second to recover from that particular tease. She gasps. Just a little.]

I...

[Okay, maybe another second.]

N-no that's. All right. I know you're busy. [Hopefully not busy eating people.]

[silverking]

I can make time.

Unless, of course, you find the whole idea objectionable?

[priscilla]

[A bit of a pause, and then... a little scratchy/tappy noise. Because she's tapping the Forge in thought!]

It's not-- If I objected to spending time with you I wouldn't do it as often as I do.

But. Why would you do that? I'm sure I'll be fine. And just the other day...

[silverking]

Am I not permitted the right to change my mind, Priscilla?

[priscilla]

[Another little pause. Tch.]

Is that what happened?

[silverking]

I find that being around you is very exhausting... sometimes. What I feel is, of course, irrelevant when you have suddenly taken ill.

Do you know why that is, however? Can you begin to imagine why?

[priscilla]

I wouldn't even try.

[She takes a slightly shaky breath.]

But I do want to know.

[silverking]

When someone is important to you... your own wants tend to matter much less. They come first.

[priscilla]

[And yet more silence. Her voice goes a little... quiet.]

I know.

[There are a few people like that to her, after all. ...or, well, most people really.]

[Which is fair enough, but...]

...how is being around me exhausting?

[silverking]

You expect so much, and living up to those expectations is difficult. It is also taxing to be so near to someone who reciprocates none of the feelings that you do.

It's an uphill battle with you. I feel as though I am constantly at a disadvantage, though I'm certain you will find that hard to believe.

As you do everything that I say.

[priscilla]

I--

[Another shaky inhale.]

There's a lot I could say to that. But I probably shouldn't.

I did say I wouldn't ask anything else. I'm... sorry to have asked so much already.

[silverking]

So you say, but I gave you my word, Priscilla.

You're free to ask me anything... ask anything of me.

[ Not that he won't twist it to suit his own motives. ]

[priscilla]

That wasn't me.

[Still a sticking point. She huffs. Quietly.]

I don't really know who I believe about anything anymore. But it would be very strange of me not to be skeptical. At least.

[silverking]

You disappoint me.

[ The frigid tones return; he's offended. ]

[priscilla]

[...which sparks a little shiver of fear. Something she's gotten quite used to these days.]

...how?

[silverking]

You are so adamant in your belief that it is not you whom I speak of.

However, it is your yoki signature, however big or small, that I recall with explicit certainty. It is your face that I see whenever I close my eyes and remember whom I died for. It is your scent which completely inundates my senses whenever I stand too near to you...

...but none of that matters to you, does it?

How real you are to me is inconceivable, isn't that right?

You gaze at me with those impartial silver eyes and see a monster waiting to burst free from the fleshy confines of a human body. Never mind the painstaking effort I have gone through for your sake... never mind the extent to which I've gone to please you.

All you will ever see is a hungry beast. And here... I had foolishly hoped that someday... perhaps if I was patient... you might come to see me as something a little better than some sort of savage animal.

[priscilla]

[And that just takes her breath way. Enough so that she curls her hands into fists, and does - just for a bit - literally stop breathing.]

[Even after - when she's breathing again, it takes a bit to find her voice. Which is very quiet, and a little fragile, now.]

That's not... fair. Isley. I barely know you. I know stories. And I know history. And I know...

[That no matter how pleasant you are, even if you're honest, and well-intentioned, you still are what you are. But she can't quite get that out. So her voice breaks, instead, and she gasps a little.]

...that's not how I see you. I wish I did; it would be easier if I did. Because what if... what if I did believe you? Then what?

Then I wouldn't know what to do. Not that I know now. But if I believe you it'll be so much worse.

[silverking]

You can believe me without reciprocating the feelings that I have for you. I never thought that was asking too much, although it appears that you do.

As if... I have anything to gain by lying to you, and nothing at all to lose.

[ His voice is still frosty and offended, thin ice ready to break, cold water ready to rush up and pull the unsuspecting under. ]

[priscilla]

It isn't too much to ask. Not really. But it still changes everything.

You don't know what you're asking of me.

[Her voice trembles. Much like she herself is.]

...please don't disconnect on me.

[silverking]

You ask of me a great deal that I am uncomfortable with, and I comply. How is it not fair for me to ask of you something that takes... just as much work? Disrupts just as much comfort?

Not that it is my wish to make you uncomfortable, but... Priscilla... I do wish for you to understand me better, my side of things... and see where it is I am coming from.

[ A soft blanket of cool snow falls over the ice. His voice is suddenly more gentle, if no less wintry than before. A detached concern, or perhaps it is more... withheld. A protective measure? Maybe. ]

You're trembling. Why?

No matter my disappointment, I won't hurt you.

[priscilla]

I know. I know you won't. But I can't help it. I'm afraid of you all the time, every second.

It's much worse than with the others.