einselective | Hadriel IC Contact.

Hadriel IC Contact.

[If you think a time-traveller wants to deal with voicemail you would be very much mistaken; her mailbox is intentionally full at all times with dummy messages. But you can reach her directly if she's answering the phone at that point in time...]

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[A few days after the illusionary world dissipates around them, there are two jugs of tea left on Marian's doorstep, along with a note:]

Edited 2017-08-01 22:24 (UTC)

Why are you still helping me?

[Empathy for whatever horrible things are in each others' pasts is one thing. But she knows full well he's offended over her reaction to Glacius, and still hasn't exactly apologized. It's hard to believe anyone is just that altruistic...]

My goddess would smile upon me for helping others, as it means she doesn't have to do it herself.

[And then, a couple of minutes later comes a more candid answer.]

Besides that, I know what it is like to not be able to sleep for fear of what lurks in the shadows. Since I was a lad, I've had dreams so vivid that I cannot tell them from reality even long after I awaken. I have seen my end, and I know the inexorable dread that accompanies it. It would be cruel to let someone suffer in the same way I do.

[If it had been the first message alone, Marian's response would have been very different. But halfway through typing a reply, the second arrives, and, well.

Yes, she'd seen the end. But not her end. That of some unspeakable alien thing at the end of a cold, dead universe, neither truly living nor dead, merely waiting for some source of life to latch onto for even one more fleeting moment of existence...

There's a long break before the next message, regaining her composure. It's a good thing it's only text.]

Then you'll understand when I say again that my problems have nothing to do with your partner, himself.

[It's not an apology, but the vague implication is slightly more than she's said before.]

[Good thing for text indeed, though Carlisle's temper probably shows through the words on the screen of the communicator.]

I do understand, but you should, in turn, understand that he has been treated as a monster before, feared for what he is even to those he's shown nothing but kindness. He has been treated like an abomination when he didn't deserve it as people were ready to judge him before even knowing his name.

I have suffered through that kind of treatment for years now. And as I said, it would be cruel to let someone suffer in the same way I do.

[Be all that as it may... this whole thing has been endlessly frustrating for Marian, ever since Sans confronted her and refused to let up that one day in the lab. And here she finds herself again trying to explain the irrational, in some vain attempt at understanding. Out of what? Some sense of guilt or sympathy? But here she is again.]

Do you think I'm doing this on purpose? Or that I like having to worry about every time someone thinks it's a superb idea to introduce me to one of their associates?

I think you are content to let your cowardice dominate you instead of seeing reason when people are trying to help you.

[Kettle, meet Pot.]

Just what kind of help do you think this is?

Besides which, he's already assisting me with the current attempt at pinpointing the Door's location. [Admittedly mostly while.. she isn't physically there.]

[Marian is about to get a very incensed text, but that second part gives him pause.]

He is?

Yes. You say he's reliable and I'm taking your and the Guard's word for it. I'd rather have him protecting valuable components of our current research when I'm not there than running into him in the street anyway.

Oh.

[Yes, oh.]

For a moment, I thought you might have been on your way to being decent toward my partner, but I suppose I will take what attempts you can stand to make toward civility.

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Hadriel IC Contact.

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