[MoM][IC Contact]

[pummelgranite]

"Persephone. Speak."

Comments

[slightlyoffchilt]

Fair enough.

[Pretty cut and dry. She was stand-offish, and he expected as much.

Beyond the ruse was this fact: she was still taking his calls. He wasn't sure how he felt about her little underworld escapade, but for all intents and purposes... Well, she hadn't seemed malicious. She was experimental, and he liked that about her.]

And you? You're doing fine?

[pummelgranite]

[ Yeah, about that... Theres a long silence. ]

What is this?

[ Its not accusatory at least, for all irs bluntness ]

[slightlyoffchilt]

A conversation?

[Easy way out was always claiming Occam's.]

[pummelgranite]

Uh-huh, but why?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Because people care about your well-being?

[pummelgranite]

Uh huh.


I'm not your patient, Chilton.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Not officially.]

I would consider you my friend. [A beat.] Warm acquaintance?

[pummelgranite]

[ There's a long beat while she processes that. ]


You seriously just called me to chat?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[A beat.]

Has no one ever done that for you before?

[pummelgranite]

I'm a Millennial. We text.

[slightlyoffchilt]

So you prefer that I text you to check in for next time?

[Next time.]

[pummelgranite]

Not really my point.

[slightlyoffchilt]

It's only a gesture of thought and concern. You needn't feel insecure about it.

[pummelgranite]

Excuse me?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Oh, so are we not going to talk about that?

[pummelgranite]

Uh, no, we are fucking not.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Spoken quickly, all in one breath, like he's trying to say it before she does something:] Because people can and will enjoy your company without anything bad necessarily happening to them as consequence.

[pummelgranite]

Uh huh. Wanna elaborate, there?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I think you like to appear disinterested in intimate connections for fear of your company suffering some terrible fate simply due to the so-called sin of associating with you.

Which is, of course, a harmful burden for you to carry.

[pummelgranite]

[ Wow. Ask an ill-advised question, get an ill-advised answer. She snorts. ]


Your definition of friendly chat sucks.

[slightlyoffchilt]

It might be friendlier in person.

[pummelgranite]

So you called to insult me and then ask me out? Interesting tactic.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I did not intend it as an insult -- just an observation. One that, if anything, suggests a nobility about your inclinations.

No one is suggesting a martyr complex.

[pummelgranite]

You just called me insecure!

[slightlyoffchilt]

But in a factual way, not a pejorative way.