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IC INBOX | RYSLIG
WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, JOJO. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 336.66.256.63 *** JOJO has joined 336.66.256.63 <JOJO...?> Technically this message doesn't exist. Jonathan doesn't actually have a laptop. I just needed an Inbox. | ||||
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[Queenie, by the time he's following upstairs, is already toddling across Jonathan's hands, going back and forth as he does his best to keep her from simply falling down. Once they are upstairs, he finally relents- and the tiny singapura is quick to meow-meow-meow her way over to greet a new friend.]
I could never be so rude- ! I do apologize if anything I said gave reason for doubt. It is so much more difficult to determine one's tone over the laptop devices than with a handwritten missive. With handwriting, one can feel the very soul through the manner one has held their pen after all! Though it is certainly not at all as convenient... [the demon admits, taking a seat with his glass of water.]
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[Concedes Maya immediately, staring intensely at Jonathan though her hands are outreached for Queenie to sniff.]
Writing letters is way better! It's the way to show someone your heart! And it's a lost art!
I love talking to people on the internet, but nothing beats a handwritten letter. But no one really sends them around here!
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[While Queenie sniffs and quickly goes right for the head-bonks, Jonathan looks more like he's been told he's to be showered in ten more of the cats. After the initial shock, the sheer happiness of having someone who seems to understand (most) of what he's saying wins out in spades.] It still feels so strange to hear it spoken of as a lost art, but I'm so happy to hear such a thing from someone ahead of my own era! ...Or at the very least I assume you are? I should perhaps not take such a guess, but in complete honesty it is very rare that I encounter any from even as early as '1950', let alone my own year of 1890.
Perhaps I should offer a chance to others to restart the tradition if you feel this way yourself however! There is nothing quite like the anticipation of waiting for a missive!
[...Particularly when half of them go missing before one gets them, Dio.
Queenie, uncaring of all these complicated matters, gives a demanding meow. She's done enough head-bonks, she requires the scritches now.]
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At the same time, she nods adamantly to Jonathan's ideas. As it turns out, he's quite easy to get along with.]
Right?? I mean, it's not like the postal system doesn't work here. We could all be taking advantage of it!
Writing letters is part of the fun and all, but you're right; there's nothing like getting something in the mail.
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[Extremely easy, especially when they apparently have very strong positive feelings about the same thing. And well, it looks like he really meant it when he said they could talk about 'anything'. Sometimes it doesn't have to be spilling trauma everywhere to get to a root or something. Sometimes it's just letters, and also cats.]
Perhaps we could start a small lettering chain? I'm not entirely certain how I'd go about it, but it would be quite lovely to receive surprise mail I should think!
I do wonder if it would be good to make some sort of quill for the occasion...
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[Maya lets Queenie still have one hand's worth of claws for scritches, but the other forms an adamant fist.]
Totally! Like a little club!
[It's good though— it would seem that Maya's really feeling more herself, acting the way she is, as if she and the sad sorry shade talking on the network weren't even the same person.]
Ugh, I never have enough time to use all the cute stationary I find here. And I go through a lot of trouble not to let it get wet, too!
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Well! To begin such a thing would be the perfect way with which to make certain that stationary sees some use then! If you need, I could even show you how best to handle a quill for the 'traditional' method!
[A beaming smile, before he chuckles and rubs his head.] ...Not to say of course that there is anything improper about a 'ballpoint'- quite the contrary, I found them to be quite ingenious little things. A self-inking pen! One which can't even break the paper with any ease! But it does lack a certain aesthetic I've found.
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[Is that it, Maya...?]
Well, if you teach me to use a quill, I'll have to teach you to use a calligraphy brush. Being good with one of those is pretty much a requirement of being a medium where I come from.
Or like, being any kind of traditionalist, actually.
stares distantly at my attempts to use nib pens and cries
[They're going to quickly get the other lost if left in a room like this for too long, that much is becoming clear.] And I would absolutely love to learn such a technique in return, thank you! I've occasionally tried my hand with a painting brush, but that's undoubtedly a very different matter from one for ink!
I take it it becomes replaced by pens in a similar manner? [Jonathan asks, a bit of sympathy in his tone. Pens are wonderful, yes, but it's a shame that certain traditions falling out of favor is apparently universal.]
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But I can see you're a man of taste. You totally understand.
[Still smiling, Maya leans her chin against her hand.]
Is that why you were so nice to everyone? I mean, not because of letters or anything.
[She sees herself, in Jonathan.]
But because you wanna understand.
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[The levity does not quite disappear with Maya's question, but he does find himself pausing to consider the matter at least. Because he wants to understand...
Jonathan brings a clawed hand to his chin, looking down in thought.] ...Indeed, to understand is important to me I feel, [he begins, carefully considering where his feelings do in fact lie.] ...In coming here after all I have come to understand quite a lot more about those around me, than I could have ever understood in my own home. There is so much which brings a person to where they stand in the world, and so little had been considered in my past.
...But were it mere understanding, I do not feel I would reach so far, perhaps. It is not so important I think, to truly understand- there will indeed be matters I cannot understand I know now, no matter how hard I so desire it. Thus I cannot claim to pursue such understanding when I reach out to those around me. Rather instead...it is a desire to see that which is 'good' within each of us flourish. We are all, a great many of us, doing our best to live our lives in this place. To seek company in others, and seek what we enjoy despite any tragedy upon us.
Perhaps as well I cannot even say it is precisely to encourage good in others, but rather to provide it, [he laughs, though the sound is soft, and quiet.] For even without understanding, and without knowing what may lie within another's heart, I cannot imagine it enjoyable for anyone to experience added pain and suffering without pause.
I should like to at least provide some reprieve, perhaps. At minimum, to contribute in the opposing manner is an unnecessary, unfeeling thing for me to consider.
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[Maya chimes in adoration, grinning ear to ear as she scritches Queenie's ears in turn.]
I think I get what you mean, though. Like, everyone's lives can already be so bad here— why do your best to be part of the problem, right?
Even the meanest people here, there's a part of them meant to be cared about by someone.
[She'd forgotten that, a little, in her anger as a Shade— but Rachel and Daniel had reminded her that even Aunamee was fit for someone to love.]
...That's really nice.
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I could not have put it any better. You have quite a kind heart yourself miss, that much is quite clear, [he adds, looking down to Queenie as the cat gives a pleased 'meow'.]
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[Maya seems genuinely confused— but altogether fairly unbothered— about whether or not it's inappropriate. But the conversation carries on, and Maya's gaze instead turns to Queenie and her cute little meow.
She gives a half-smile, shrugging, and rubs Queenie's ear.]
I hope so. I think I do.
[She admits, then—]
That's why... I'm trying to stand behind those kids, no matter what, even if they make a mistake.
Everyone who was a part of that broadcast... they're younger than me. They don't have people they can count on to protect them a every moment, and even if they did... Well, I know from experience, if you can't protect yourself? Then sometimes it doesn't matter how much someone else wants to protect you.
[She knows how hard Dandy looked for her when she was poached. She doesn't believe for a second he wouldn't. But finding her wasn't up to him.]
I would have taken the fall if it meant they got the strength they needed out of it. But if I did, then Atem's plan wouldn't have worked.
[She already feels bad for defending him as harshly as she did; not because she regrets defending him, but because she'd known from the start they were trying to make Atem look like the villain on purpose. As a shade, she simply couldn't handle that level of negativity.]
if this is hard to parse lmk bc sometimes Jonathan's Jonathanisms get Odd
But he can see now how others have taken it, particularly having spoken to the others himself. Atem and Ryou in particular wound up sitting with him over tea, and he does not regret that choice in the slightest.]
One can say many times that such grave payment should never be necessary, but that does not change the fact that it was- or at least that it appeared to be. As you said- there are times when one cannot be protected.
...if there appears but one option to gain such protection for oneself, how can I possibly lay true judgement?
[Even if he cannot agree with the actions they took-
He will never be unaware of how little choice they felt they had.]
...You did as best as you were able, [he adds with a small smile.] ...I feel they were quite fortunate to have your support, even with how things came about.
[No one expected, after all, for it to progress...Quite the way it did for Ryou, but for the same reason, she kept pretty remarkably steady he thinks.]
NO YOU'RE GOOD
She gives a half-hearted smile in return.]
I hope you're right.
[and once again returns to petting Queenie, smiling a little broader.]
In a place like this, we only get to find out if we've made the right choices by waiting and seeing, huh?
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[A pause- and quietly, he adds a small joke to bring the mood up further.] ...I should certainly think some letter writing can only end well, at least.
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Then I'll hold you to it.
So if your letters are boring, I'll make sure to complain a bunch!
[Teasing and playfulness are what she's best at, and the light seems to return to her face.]
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