three. voice & private & spam. glory & gore go hand in hand.

[indispensible]

If there were people who wanted to learn to dance, I know . . . other kinds.

I don't know how to cha-cha. Mark can teach that one once he wakes up. [:|]

[Also, Nathan, you don't get a choice.]

private } stark

[You probably don't get a choice either.]

What are you doing.

private } kelsier

I need to.

We should talk.

spam } marsh

[Vin is currently playing a stimulating game of 'acclimatize myself to Marsh's presence', which manifests in following him around for five-minute bursts at random times of day, whenever he emerges from his sad cocoon. She's not making a particular effort to conceal herself in any way at all. She just knows he won't do it.]

private } arya

I don't know your warden. How is she?

spam } polly

[Now Vin is playing a rousing game of 'follow Polly around to figure out her habits and possibly weaknesses'. Still not making a tremendous effort to hide her presence.]

private } morgana

I saw you in the breach. You smiled more, then. [Slightly bemused by this.]

spam } open

[She probably didn't realize the extent to which she felt trapped, before now. But while she isn't precisely happy, her step is a little lighter, especially with her wolfhound at her side.]

[She spends hours in the CES, once she catches an iteration of it with brightest skies and most sharply defined white clouds. Almost no time on the ground, though - she practices with coins, pleased not to be able to rely on metal in the deck for jumps. It's the work of precision and angles that pleases her.]

[After a few hours of this, she rests at the top of a smallish pine tree, examining its sap, while Clifford sits at the root and whines at her to get down occasionally.]

Comments

[Private]

[indispensible]

You've had too many already.

[She picked this up from the hollering fit you had at the Admiral the other day, Arya.]

I'm going to investigate. [ie, stalk.]

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

[Eavesdropper.]

You don't have to do that.

[She still misses Arthur. She is not talking about it.]

[Private]

[indispensible]

I never said I had to.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Then why are you?

[Private]

[indispensible]

Because betrayals add up. You've probably had enough.

[It bothers her, all right.]

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

People leave. Or they disappear. My last warden left a couple days after he was assigned to me. His friend was one of my wardens a year ago.They don't stay.

[Private]

[indispensible]

There are people who don't abandon you, though. Your pack.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

My pack isn't my warden.

[Private]

[indispensible]

. . . What does pack mean? Define it for me. What it means to you.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Someone who stays with you in the long winter.

[Private]

[indispensible]

Who will stay with you through the long winter?

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

I don't know.

[She hopes she does, though.] Jesse. Jesse will.

[Private]

[indispensible]

Is there anyone else?

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Lark. Probably Chris.

Nymeria won't leave me.

[Private]

[indispensible]

Find more of those people. Maybe your warden will be one. You don't know yet.

You almost know. But you don't know.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Are you one of those people?

[Private]

[indispensible]

I -

I would like to be.

It's not for me to decide.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

No, it's not. [She doesn't mean it meanly, just bluntly.]

What does pack mean to you?

[Private]

[indispensible]

[Blunt is Vin's language, okay.]

Pack is.

Someone who will fight by your side against unbeatable odds. Someone who loves you, no matter how ugly your impulses.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

How ugly are yours?

[Private]

[indispensible]

They're very ugly.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

Good. So are mine.

[Private]

[indispensible]

I know. It's part of what makes us the same.

[Private]

[fearcutsdeeperthanswords]

You think we're the same?

[She may be excited by this prospect.]

[Private]

[indispensible]

I think we're very close to the same. Insubstantial as shadows, acquainted with death. I think we both had to grow quickly, and it hurt.

We're both very, very strong. But there are still things that make us weak.