lifeafterdeath | INBOX noctiumrp

Oh, Glint, is that you? I'm sorry to hear that you're busy. If — if you could, please, when you're free a moment, I could very much use your help.

[ There's a bit of static at first, and then Glint answers. He sounds a bit off, like he's echoing a bit more than he intends. ]

Miss Rosella! I'd be happy to assist if I'm able, though I am currently-currently ... under the weather. What's the matter?

Edited 2021-09-22 23:53 (UTC)

[OH GOOD, A CALLBACK. And it's not on video, either, which is...helpful. In multiple ways.]

Under the weather? Oh, you poor thing. It's nothing too serious, I hope? Is there anything I can do to help?

[Never mind that she's the one who just needed help a minute ago. Clearly that can wait, in the face of this much more pressing concern.]

Ah! Your concern is appreciated appreciated, but it should hopefully pass. Crow is helping me.

What seems to be your own issue?

[ Between his glitches and Crow suddenly looking like an Awoken Angel, everyone's having a hell of a time. ]

Edited 2021-09-24 07:20 (UTC)

[It takes a second, but when she does start speaking, it all comes out in a rush, like she'd been holding her breath to its limit before finally letting it go.]

Oh, Glint, it's just horrible. Please don't think worse of me for it, I promise I haven't the slightest idea how this could have happened! But it's just...

[...]

It's just, I woke up this morning, and I was green!

[A fate worse than death, probably.]

[ Wait what, green? He's not sure what's so alarming about green until he thinks about it. Green could maybe relate to being Emerald, perhaps, as he recalls information about the Gembonded he'd read about. ]

Okay, green... you wouldn't happen to have any other additional features? Horns, cloven feet, multiple legs, bark or wood instead of skin? Oh! Any earthquakes or plants suddenly growing around you?

Edited 2021-09-27 02:59 (UTC)

Well...my skin does feel a bit odd, yes. I'd rather chalked that up to the green, but...

[There's some fumbling here, like she's giving herself a once-over before coming back to the microphone.]

Oh! My ears are pointed, and my eyes have turned green, as well! I was so caught up in the rest of it, I hadn't even noticed...

[ Not exactly what he was expecting, but then, Crow has a mild case of it - he's no Tengu-like creature like Saint-14 had been, or a djinn like Osiris. Glint 'hmms' softly over the line. ]

Miss Rosella, did you have a green gem somewhere on your body before this? An emerald?

[ Gently, after an extended pause that absolutely isn't him losing words. ]

If you did, then this may be related to the transformations going on this week.

[This time, her pause is considerably more flustered.]

I — er, yes, but it's not anywhere I could — one wouldn't be able to see it, customarily.

[it's on THE SMALL OF HER BACK but you can't just go around flashing spine that's where your CORSET GOES]

Then this is...something expected. Not natural, but...not exactly unusual, either. And something to do with that gem?

It's okay, I don't need to see it! As long as you know where and what color.

[ He senses the uncomfortableness, though he's not sure. Maybe she's got it somewhere really scandalous. ]

Yes, it's... something Crow's friends warned us about. At the end of every month, when Malachite takes a 'nap', some people transform. Some a lot, others a little.

[ Almost hushed. ]

Crow has wings right now.

Wings!

[She says, with a subtle undertone of well that's not very fair at all.]

What sort of wings? Like a bat's, or more feathered?

I think -

[ Glint is giggling. Have you ever heard a robotic voice giggle? now you have. ]

- I think they're crows wings.

[ In the distance: ] What are you laughing at, Glint?

Nothing!

Oh, dear, Glint! Don't get caught!

[She can't help but giggle herself, though she covers her mouth to stifle it and waits it out a little before continuing.]

But really, that's not fair in the slightest! I've not gone and turned into a rose just because my name is Rosella, so why should Crow get to have —

[...wait.]

...Wait a moment, or have I? Oh! I might be green because I'm a plant, thank goodness, that would be a great relief.

[ Glint giggles despite himself again. ]

Perhaps you'll grow a rose on top of your head as the week goes on, Miss Rosella. I hope you don't end up needing to prune yourself if things get a bit... thorny.

[ Glint no. ]

Edited 2021-09-27 07:28 (UTC)

Oh, no! Wouldn't that be an awful thing! Why, just thinking about it has me all doom and bloom!

[oh god now you've done it time for puns forever]

[ Although Emil really, really wanted to go see if there were any gembonded he could help get out of the Burnished Crater, as monster week progressed and he realized his Gembond had changed, he found he had a lot of stuff going on that required his full attention.

And even that wasn't really enough to extinguish the sense of something wrong shivering up his back, every time he'd try to think of something, Crow's voice, his eyes, his face, the brooding frown he makes if he thinks no one's looking kept whispering back into his thoughts.

Emil had heard that sometimes a Synchrony bond could get strong enough to actually feel someone when they weren't there, but couldn't be sure if that's what this is, so he tries calling.

It gets dropped twice before he remembers Crow mentioned going to the Burnished Crater. To try to help. He's always ready to do his part. But oh, that really makes him worry.

Later, he gets through, leaving a message. ]

Oh, hey! Glint, I'm so happy I got through! That radiation in the crater is awful, huh? I hope it turned out alright!

A, anyway! I was thinking of you guys, it's not super important or anything but would you please ask Crow to call when you can?

Edited 2021-09-26 21:44 (UTC)

[ Crow's encounter with Uldren is probably what's affecting Emil's thoughts. Still, Crow persists after the incident, recovering a couple more Gembonded before he's told he should return to the Station and give it a break. That's not what he wants - what he wants is a distraction - but he reluctantly does so.

It's Glint who first answers the message when they receive it. ]

Hello, Emil! Sorry it took us a while to call back, we were occupied. Anyway, Crow is ...

[ He pauses for just too long. ]

... fine! He's just been very busy.

Glint.

[ Crow's voice comes on the line, a bit harsher than he intends. He sounds tired, annoyed. ]

I'm sorry if something came through, Emil. There was an... incident while I was helping.

[ That pause, the deflection that follows, and Crow's terse interjection all result in a wordless sound of worried discontent. Something did happen!

Emil's eyes soften as he rests his chin on his forearm. He understands why Glint would be running interference, he's done the same to quell a brewing disagreement between friends or to gently redirect attention from a subject he knows will rankle someone.

Stammering in his eagerness to reassure: ] N, no, it's okay. Really!

[ He asks, gentling his tone: ] What happened down there? Do you want to talk about it?

[ No, Crow wants to say. He wants to take his hurt and shock and scurry away into the dark with it. But he's a Guardian. He needs to let people know what's going on and ... god, if Emil ran into Uldren and thought it was him?

His chest tightens in a way he's not sure how to articulate. ]

Not... really, but I probably should. How much do you know about Guardians? About how they're brought back to life.

[ He feels Glint float up to press against his chest, and he raises a hand to hold him there. ]

[ That anxiety belongs to Emil, too, whether he intends on sharing it or not, he feels the pressure tighten like a belt around his breath.

Emil takes in a deep breath. God, his memory can be.... really bad, he hopes he gets this right. ]

Shaxx told me that Ghosts raise Guardians from dead people. But they don't remember anything of the life they had before. And every time they... die, [ that still puts him ill at ease, the idea of dying over and over, ] when their Ghost brings them back, they only have the memories they've made as a Guardian.

[ It's close enough; the brightest, sweetest memories are the slowest to erode, and the ones he has of his friends in Noctium shine like stars. Emil can't enjoy the small victory, when worry sits like a knot in his belly. ]

Y, you didn't die down there, did you?

No - No, I'm fine, I didn't die.

[ He doesn't, for fear of the network, confirm what all guardians know; that the Light of the traveler is weaker here, and they aren't afforded a resurrection should they fall. Crow is quiet, for a long moment, before he takes a deep, steadying breath. ]

The man who died and whose death made me, he wasn't a good man. A murderer, and an infamous one at that. I didn't know who he was, when I was first Risen, but his actions during his life made mine more ... difficult. Many of my first deaths came at the hands of other Guardians, either in mistaken identity or... not caring who I was, just that I had his face.

[ Another long pause, then, quieter. ]

I ran into him in the Crater. He's here. Uldren Sov, Prince of the Awoken.

[ That's a comfort, but Emil isn't so sure it's enough; whatever could shake a Guardian has to be something big. Crow's silence casts a pall and despite itching to fill it with something reassuring, Emil makes himself wait.

This isn't about him, except Emil's thoughts hang up on thorny phrases like he wasn't a good man and murderer and infamous. He asks himself all the time if he's a good person, even though he's killed so many people, he's wiped out villages, routed armies, ...killed his sister.

At first, Emil only makes a dismayed noise. ]

But you're not even the same person! They're Guardians, they know that! ...Don't they?

[ Another question comes hot on its heels: ] W, Wha—? How can he be here? Oh-- oh wait a second, I heard about this! This is weird time shit!

Either they never stopped to think about it, or they didn't care.

[ And neither option is one that makes him feel particularly charitable, some days. Yet still, he desired to find a likeminded friend or companion, and that desire had delivered him to Spider. Then he was happy to have saved Osiris, in the hopes it might mean something to the Vanguard.

At Emil's talk of 'weird time shit', he suddenly startles out a short laugh. It's not that he thinks Emil can't curse, it's just that he's never heard him do so before. ]

I... guess that makes as good an explanation as any. But he - he looks like me, even if he doesn't talk or move like me. So be careful; he's not very fond of Guardians.

[ Even though Emil successfully smothers his horror with the hand he puts over his mouth, there's a thread of it shivering down the invisible line tethering them together. That's awful. He can't imagine what it must have been like, to come into a world barely understanding his place in it, let alone know why others keep hurting him.

The anger comes after, pricking hot at his eyes. That's awful — and unfair. What helps him gather himself again is the sound of that hard-won laugh, a small consolation for a very rare (but powerful for its rarity) expletive. ]

But—

[ I'm not a Guardian.

Maybe he didn't mean to make that implication, but it makes him flush with bewildered warmth anyway. ]

...Did he say anything to you, when you saw him?

[ If anything the anger morphing into disgust is... comforting, in a sense. Someone who can out and out say it's not fair, like Lord Shaxx has. Without caging it in terms of it being political, like Ikora and Osiris had.

Crow sighs, some of the anger bleeding out of the connection. ]

A few things. Demanding to know who I was, somehow calling me a fake and yet claiming of course he'd get chosen by the Traveler to be reborn. It's pretty easy to tell us apart once we start talking.

Fake? Well that's stupid!

[ Emil indignance is the opposite of threatening. But it sounds like he must have been just as thrown by the chance meeting as Crow was. Good! He sounds like a jerk, he thinks, even as he wonders if he at least made it out of the crater safely.

That's friendship with Emil for you; he might get upset on one's behalf, and still worry about the other guy (even if they may not be entirely deserving). As he feels the anger subside, he feels the tension across his small shoulders start to drain out of him.

I want to see him again, Emil realizes. It's funny, because he sees all of them at the house they share pretty regularly these days. Between visits to Sumarlok on his way to and from the Academy on the moon, catching up with friends, sometimes learning something new about wires and greased mechanical joints, his days feel even more full than they were when he was working at Cain's bar. ]

...What are you going to do? About him?

For now - nothing. Nothing I can do, anyways. He's not threatened to kill any Guardians and the Diamond Guard will just blame it on the first person who threw the punch.

Lord Shaxx says he'll be keeping an eye on him, and as much as I want to help I... it's complicated.

[ He sighs again. ]

I'm still up on the Station, trying to stay out of his way. When I come back down, would you mind if I visited?

[ Shaxx knows. It doesn't surprise Emil at all to hear he's offered to keep an eye on the situation. Ever the wall, right? And anyway, it sounds complicated.... and frustrating, Emil thinks. He answers fervently: ]

Of course you can. I'll even meet you when they let you guys out!

[ It won't be hard to find out where they're having people disembark. There's only so many places that can accommodate the shuttles going to and from the Nova, after all, and he's been on those shuttles himself a few times already.

He'll even ask his butler to ensure a hot meal and a bath is drawn for Crow when they return. ]

Actually....

[ Some of the reason Emil confesses this so freely is because he senses a kindred spirit in the Awoken, that sometimes it does Crow good to know that he's brought a little light into someone's day. Even — maybe even especially — when other things aren't going so well. ]

Hearing you want to visit really makes me happy, Crow!

[ It's on the tip of his tongue to tell Emil he doesn't have to meet him, but there's something nice about knowing he wants to. And then his thoughts just get completely scrambled when Emil says that it makes him happy. Crow flushes gently on the other end of the call, Glint spinning a little around his head to tease him. ]

I - I'm glad. I like visiting and spending time with you.

[ A beat, a bit boldly. ]

I like doing more than spending time with you but that's - not a demand, or anything.

[ Emil doesn't really have to imagine what's behind that stutter, he feels his pleasant bemusement and it... it makes him feel really good. To know so directly that his earnest feelings about the swelling importance of their friendship have that kind of effect on him, even after a severe and unpleasant shock.

Friendship. With a big pile of crushing hard on the side, but that's a different subject altogether.

There's this thing, right on the heels of Crow's bold statement, where Emil inhales sharply and wonders, very briefly, if he's implying what Emil thinks he's implying. If it's overthinking it to jump to that conclusion. Smothering a helpless giggle, he covers his face with his hands. Or... tries to. One of them has a phone in it. ]

Crow!

[ He isn't actually scandalized, but the mix of flattered pleasure and attraction he feels prompts another giddy laugh. ]

I, I wouldn't mind if you demanded, either. [ He squeaks in surprise. ] Oh god! I said it out loud!

[ He gives a small laugh, a little breathless. He's not sure if the giddiness is his, or Emil's, but he finds he doesn't mind it either way. It makes him even more bolder. ]

I mean, I can be more demanding.

[ He quickly glances around. He's alone, no one in this part of the station, and he'd sure hear if someone was coming closer. ]

I definitely like the way you sound when I get my mouth on you.

Don't remind me!

[ His gembond's change to Sapphire is just days old and at the peak of its influence; with his phone pressed against his ear, Emil buries his face into the crook of his other arm, feeling heat sweep over him at the memory of how easily Crow had made him feel like he could shake apart into pieces. There's no question whether Emil got really embarrassing about it.

Re-emerging from the bend of his arm to rest his chin on his arm, puffing out his cheeks, he's emboldened enough to insinuate his intended revenge: ]

Y, yeah, well! Next time I'm going on the attack.

[ Next time! Next time still feels like a wild promise. ]

[ There's something thrilling about teasing Emil like this. He smiles a little at Emil's insistence he'll be on the attack this time, laughing softly but not meanly.

Next time - next time is a good promise. He likes that. ]

Yeah? What's your plan of attack, then.

[ Because Crow can think of some things, like Emil between his legs, but he wants to see if he's brave enough to say what. ]

[ It's.... nice, too, after so long being feared or isolated (and afraid that being who he is, of liking what he likes, would get him shut out or killed) to feel like he's wanted and desired the way he has. It's more than nice. ]

You know, if you want to, um—

[ Wow, how do people manage to talk dirty without their face blazing like a furnace? He slides down a little in his seat, chin almost to his clavicle, half covering his face (and an embarrassed smile) with his other hand. It doesn't feel like he's gained some crazy courage out of nowhere, it's more like... his gembond has made his feelings so much more potent that they drown out the ways Emil talks himself out of acting on them. ]

—be taken care of, like you did for me?

[ How DO people manage to talk dirty? Crow's face is similarly warm and he's yet again glad he's found a spot to hunker down in. Emil's statement makes another punch of want hit his gut, and he lets out a sharp exhale. ]

I think... I'd like that. You're already pretty clever with your mouth, I can only imagine how you'd put it to use.

[ It's a fond memory. A fond sex memory. Somewhere Glint is laughing at him. ]

[ Emil's shyness and modesty comes more from a place of trepidation about being rejected than it is about shame, because even if he's been afraid of being turned out for how he feels about men in his very heteronormative homeworld, he's not really ashamed. He's always been like this, he wouldn't know how to be anything else!

Whether it's because he's kept those feelings locked up inside and silent for so long, or whether he's just never quite developed a powerful enough filter between his brain and his mouth, he does have a tendency to blurt out things that are embarrassingly honest. His recent change to Sapphire and all its potent influences during his transformation just takes these feelings and amplifies them.

So, like a reflection of Crow's reaction, Emil inhales.... and speaks, breathlessly emboldened by Crow's encouragement: ]

That's not all I'll use, you know? Last time I was in Sumarlok, I stopped by my friend's shop and bought you something. It's a, a toy, the kind that are supposed to feel like it's moving while it's inside you, and-

[ His breath stutters. ] I can't believe I spoiled the surprise. [ or blurted it out at all. ]

[ The fact that Emil has thought about this enough to buy toys - something Crow hasn't used yet but is at least familiar with - makes Crow flush even more again. ]

That's.. that's a pretty good surprise, I'm gonna be honest.

[ It slots in nicely alongside the warm fond feelings he has. ]

I'm guessing since you said supposed to you haven't tried it out or anything.

[ Half a year ago, Emil doesn't think he would have even thought of it, let alone had the courage to make such a decision. To say Noctium's overall tolerance for all forms of affection has been an influence would be ignoring the fact that some of his friends in particular have had a significant hand in these developments.

His Gembond is just a nudge.

Hearing Crow call it a good surprise topples his sense of stunned self-consciousness with a surge of pride — it was good, wasn't it? He'd hoped Crow would like it! — and some of that elation has him stumbling over his words with a laugh. ]

Maybe. [ Emil's hedging is as much a twinge of shyness as it is a tease, because... Crow gets self-conscious too, just in a different way, but playfulness had worked out well for them both. He's not like Stiles, who can breathe the shocking sorts of things that Emil wouldn't dare and somehow make it sound really appealing. He leans more into light-hearted, heart-warming sorts of... play? Play feels like it's closer to the feeling he means.

It's like playing a game with Crow, but one that means something to him, but doesn't have the loaded expectations of courtship. ]

Or maybe it's just supposed to but falls short of the real thing. [ He adds with the sort of tone that sounds like he's making a show of puffing his chest, in spite of being rather petite. ] You'll just have to find out.

[ More quietly, fondly, Emil adds: ] Besides, there's a lot more to you than fighting. I wanted you to have something nice. And different. You know?

[ In truth the gentle play style of their encounters has helped Crow relax. It's okay for him to want something for himself, something that gratifies both of them. He knows there can be love, he's seen Saint-14 and Osiris, Lord Shaxx and Lord Felwinter. He also knows there can be a kind of love or affection that's not explicitly romantic, with how Osiris has sometimes teased Lord Shaxx in passing.

He laughs again, gently. ]

I suppose I will just have to find out, yeah? Hopefully sooner rather than later.

[ Emil follows it up with something fond, and it makes Crow duck his head again. ]

I know. Everyone's reminding me I'm more than a weapon and I appreciate it. It just takes a little getting used to, when you're used to fighting for your life instead of things that are... nice.

I appreciate it, Emil. I really do.

[ Noctium is a special place, unique and bountiful in a lot of the ways Emil's own world lacks. In it, he has found acceptance, belonging, and kinship on a much larger scale than he did back home, when it was just him and a rag-tag group of unlikely friends, trying to make their world a little better. In vain, perhaps, but that hardly matters here.

Emil, who has clutched a romantic storybook to his chest with a happy sigh of longing, who has dreamed ridiculously of weddings resplendent with flowers and white, who has watched on, cheek in hand, as Shaxx recited poetry for Felwinter across a bonfire or Osiris waxed just as eloquent about his love of Saint-14, doesn't fully understand love the way someone who has been in it does. He thinks he does. Sometimes he mistakes his attachments for it, or thinks it there where it isn't.

He's fond of Crow, drawn to him, turning towards the gentleness, the determination he carries with him like leaves face the sun. However, Emil's also living proof that one can yearn for romance while being more than a little in the dark on the particulars of doing it. For instance, when he answers Crow with a soft giggle.

Hopefully: ]

Sooooo, what I'm hearing is.... you need time and a lot more nice experiences to fill it with, right? Well — you and the others are mostly Risen and I've got nothing but time, I think we've got the first part covered!

[Sometime on the 25th, a very special delivery will turn up for Crow and Glint:

For Crow, a homemade treat properly festive for the season, and for Glint, a clearly good-intentioned yet sort of questionably "you tried" hanging basket, which comes decorated with fairy lights — and a note: ]

Dearest Glint — for if you perhaps need a comfortable place to perch awhile. Fondly, Rosella.

[Sometimes it's a very good thing no one from home is here to see her. Moonstone's "blessing" has left Wanda in a frilly red dress with some sort of weird moon-themed staff that seems capable of channeling blasts of energy that can actually defeat the shadow creatures. It's a cute dress...but she'd also never hear the end of it if Nat or Sam or Stark saw it.

She can just feel Shaxx's objections from here to how little protection the dress offers (or the fact that she's fighting in high heels again), but it feels a lot less silly to be fighting in when finally she can actually destroy the shadow monsters instead of just desperately trying to put solid objects or a Ward of Chaos between them.

They seem to have reached a lull in the fighting, but Wanda's not sure if they've really dealt with all the nearby monsters or if they're reconsidering. She can't sense them at all and it's unnerving.]

Don't tell the others about all of-- [She gestures to the dress.] --this. Please.

INBOX noctiumrp

text; un: rose.colored

voice; un: talons

voice forever;

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Sept 25th, around when Crow ran into Uldren

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oh no my brain had an idea god help me

get in the bobsled crow we're going nsfw

nyoom

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→ DELIVERY | DECEMBER 25th

July event shenanigans