fourteen. spam. co co rico co co rico, in a flash of lightning.

[indispensible]

[She has been, if truth be told, a little lost since Stark left. Not because she was dependent on the schedule created by making sure he didn't do anything stupid, but simply because she misses him. His magic is still working, it seems; the things he enchanted for her function just as they always did, her golem-dog following behind her alongside Mike as she makes the rounds of the Barge.]

[Having his magic still at her back gives her a very specific sense of power - or maybe support. She knows she's powerful. It's nice that someone has her back anyway.]

[She spends most of her time on maintenance, at Anya's direction. But since she doesn't have an inmate to boss around anymore, she has more free time than she knows what to do with; since there are so many obviously dangerous people since the latest collision, she's experiencing a nice uptick in paranoia, too. She pays extra attention to the Mirror additions - not conspicuously, not drawing attention to herself, but she watches all the same.]

spam } psyke

[She has been watching this one - the one who was Jean - especially closely. Whenever she comes out of her room, Vin is there waiting. When she doesn't come out, Vin's there, too, listening with flared tin at the door for any sound that might filter through.]

spam } ben

[Vin is not as good as she might be at identifying the subtleties of emotion. If she was, she'd be able to put a proper label to this feeling. Right now the best she can do is betrayal, even though it isn't Ben's fault. And sadness. She is sad.]

[She sits outside his cell in silence, unblinking, waiting for him to speak. Wonders if he's going to spend the whole month in here. Probably he is.]

Comments

spam;

[adelphoktonos]

[She's torn between terror and desire and that uncertainty of emotion is ultimately the thing that makes her freeze. Her feet stutter to a stop and she's still, her back to Vin. Her breath comes hard and her heart beats like a rabbit's. The Vin she knows is not a threat, not to her, but this one? Who knows? Everything is shifting; nothing is sure. This Barge seems better but better might be a trap.]

Why? [Why would you want me to stay? She turns, ever so slightly, just enough to look back from under the fur that lines her hood and shadows her face.] What... do you want from me?

spam;

[indispensible]

[For a moment she doesn't answer, just watches her with tight lips and sad eyes. Helena should trust her. Well, not really - there's no should with this, there's only trust and distrust and you can't make someone trust you - but it hurts a little. They had been getting somewhere. This woman is flighty and frightened and so much smaller than it seems like she ought to be.]

You seem sad. [That's why she should stay.] And I . . . could use some help. Some company.

spam;

[adelphoktonos]

[It's less Vin herself than just the situation. The world should have gone back to normal - even if normal for her is a hateful place - and it hasn't. There's no template for how to react to that. This Helena is smaller than the other because her reaction has been to go still, become small, hide.

And yet... after a few moments of hesitation, she does finally turn and move towards Vin. She stays closer to the wall, running fingers along it, skipping them over the repaired rot spots.]

Help and company are different things.