@joe.jones | 10 july

[malta]

What do people do for hobbies around here? Aside from volunteering for medical torture.

Has Victorian flower languages come back in style yet? Bookbinding and leathercraft seems obsolete by now, but what about backgammon or cards. I once lost a game of trappola to the Duchess of Ferrara, she was shark. Scrabble? Does that work with the translator? Pomme de terre is about twice as many points as potato.

[ please enjoy that this translates to "potato is about twice as many points as potato" unless you also speak french.

anyway joe is bored come talk to him ]

Who wants to bring fencing back in fashion?

Comments

[scythias]

Then, how about you tell me what you are feeling.

( it's not an order but she hopes he'll talk anyway. )

private —

[malta]

I'm pissed off, Andy. He hurt us.

[ he hurt her and joe is under no illusions that he is the favorite. that is absolutely andy and booker still... ]

It doesn't matter how I feel. He is here, we are here. His exile ended in 2119, it's been over for 400 years.

[scythias]

It matters to me.

( if they were talking face to face, she would have reached out, taken his hand, squeezed it but that's not possible right now. )

He did, you're right. He hurt me, he hurt you, he hurt us all. But I'm not willing to let him be alone.

[malta]

I won't keep him from you or Nile or Nicky.

[scythias]

I know you won't. But this isn't just about me and Nile.

I want to know what's going on in your head.

[malta]

Every time I look at him I see Nicky tied to that table. Do you know how many times I watched him die? I washed brain out of his hair. I watched that woman carve pieces of him away like he wasn't even human to her.

Booker did that.

After 200 years we were nothing to him. Our family was collateral damage.

Right now I hate him.

[scythias]

I understand that and you're valid in those feelings, Joe.

I'm not asking you to be friends with him or forgive him. I know that'll take time if you're ever able to. If you're not, that's fine too.

All I'm asking is to trust me to handle him. I missed something with him and I need to make sure I don't do it again.

[malta]

This isn't on you, Andy. Those were his choices, you can't take the guilt from him.

[scythias]

Something led him to this choice and that's on me for missing it. He's responsible for his choices but I want to know what led him to that choice.

That's all.

[malta]

Grief.

[scythias]

I know.

And before you say it, I know he's not the only one that's dealt with grief.

I just.

I don't know, Joe. I don't know.

[malta]

[ andy can always get him to talk and he has cried in her arms plenty of times over the centuries, but she isn't in front of him and can't look at him with That Face and get him to spill everything he is feeling so shuts it off instead. ]

Yeah.

[scythias]

( there's a long silence but she hasn't turned away from the conversation. )

Would you do something different in my shoes?

[malta]

No.

But you can't fix him unless he wants to fix himself, Andy. You can't bring his family back, you can't give him mortality, and we have been with him, supporting him, loving him for TWO HUNDRED YEARS and that wasn't enough.

[scythias]

I know that, Joe. I know.

( he's right. he's absolutely right and she wishes he wasn't because she wants booker to be okay. she wants him to pull himself out of whatever he's drowning in and face forward. )

And if I find that he doesn't want to fix himself, I'll stop. But I have to try. You'd try if you were in my position.

[malta]

That is why I am not going to stop you. Or Nile.

[ he knows she will want to help him, miss let him off with an apology. ]

He knows where I stand, even if he is probably being more self-pitying than self-aware.

If you want him around he will be around, we are his family despite what he did. He can live with us if you want to look after him, I don't care, but I don't want to be involved with his reformation.

I love you, Andromache, I don't want you to hurt anymore.

[ not now that she is mortal and her time is suddenly finite. ]

[scythias]

I'm fine, Joe.

( it's a lie but it's one she's going to cling to for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short it is. she's fine, she's going to be fine and she'll always be fine as long as she has other responsibilities. )

I'm not going to ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with. I'd just rather not find you throwing each other against walls over breakfast. That seems like a waste of good cereal.

( she's just going to move right on past how she feels because it's not important. )

[malta]

I promise I won't hit him first.

[scythias]

( she thinks that's the best she's going to get. )

Thank you. I'm hoping that no one hit's anyone else. We've got bigger problems than infighting.

[malta]

There is no more World Cup in 2512 so we should be fine.

[ he won't hit booker now but if it was a world cup year all bets were off. now he doesn't even want to watch football with his brother.

joe is unreasonably upset by this ]

[scythias]

Why am I not surprised that that's something you've already figured out? How long did it take you to ask?

[malta]

[ he's been playing some form of football since the middle ages, give him a break! ]

I found the stadium on one of my walks and poked around.

[scythias]

You could always make that your thing, Joe. Start a team, get famous, make a lot of money.

( she believes in you, joe. )

[malta]

I'm going to have to, all of you are awful with money. We'll be starving in a day if I let you fend for yourselves.

[scythias]

I guess we'll be saving a lot of money since you won't have to buy haircare products.

( oooh burn. )