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[acatastoria]

𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙.
ɪɴ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴ ᴠɪsɪᴛs ᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴘᴘᴏɪɴᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ-ᴏɴʟʏ. ♥

( video | voice | text )

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Voice

[acatastoria]

Hello, Washington.

[ it's cheerful, but she sounds a bit tired. ]

Do you mean bringing you here? I would think that was obvious, I need your help. Of course I brought you here on purpose.

[unrecovered]

No.

-well yes, that, but- the magic you saddled me with. Was that on purpose.

[acatastoria]

Of course it was.

[ mystified by the question ]

Why, do you not like it?

[unrecovered]

What- No!

You gave me something based on the worst experience of my life! What the hell makes you think I'd like it?!

[acatastoria]

[ . . . ]

I did?

[ bless her, she sounds honestly . . . confused. ]

I'm sorry, I -- I don't know exactly who you are, or where you come from, I only feel . . . I thought it would be useful for you.

[unrecovered]

[...Jesus Fucking Christ it's the blind leading the blind over here. This does not inspire confidence.]

Yeah. You did.

[Admittedly, knowing there wasn't malice aforethought strips some of the anger from Wash's tone, but that still doesn't mean he's happy with the situation.]

Can you change it?

[acatastoria]

[ :( ]

I'm so sorry, Washington, I thought I had given you something . . . useful.

[ she hesitates. ]

I'm not feeling very . . . myself, right now, but perhaps in the future. I cannot do so now, I do not have enough strength. It takes a lot out of me, to send you to different places. I get headaches.

[ she pauses again. ]

But perhaps you can use your gift for good, even if it has a painful reminder?

[unrecovered]

'Useful' and 'traumatic' are not mutually exclusive.

[Some of what he got from Epsilon was useful. Most of it was fucking horrifying.]

...Maybe.

[It's resigned, bordering on sullen, but at least it's not angry. It's just another installment of Wash's Life Is Unnecessarily Difficult; he doesn't know why he even bothered to question it. That's just the way it is for him more often than not.]

[There's a long pause before he speaks up again.]

I don't know if you're made the same as most humans, but if you pinch the skin between your thumb and pointer finger, it helps with headaches.

[acatastoria]

[ . . . huh. well. that's an interesting tip. ]

I'm not human, but I will try it. Thank you.

[ she pauses, again. ]

I am sorry, to bring you such harm. It was never my intention to hurt any of you.

[unrecovered]

You know, considering that I've worked for people who've either wanted to hurt me or didn't care one way or the other, that's actually reassuring.

[acatastoria]

Why would someone ever want to do that?

[ she sounds legitimately confused, by the prospect. ]

There's so much darkness in the universe without adding to it with such . . . cruelty.

[unrecovered]

Some people think their priorities are worth more than other people's well-being; some people don't care; and some people just like being cruel. It makes them feel powerful.

[It's hard not to think about Felix when this is the topic at hand.]