➹BEEPER

[intheblanks]

"It had better be an emergency."
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Comments

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

It doesn't. You brought yourself into it.

[And it's easier to talk about him than it is to talk about her.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

[Though he has to concede the point.]

As a means of sticking around, what you did could actually gain some perspective.

[Instead of being only mad, mindless, self-destructive. He's a diagnostician, he lives in hope of finding reason.]

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

A perspective besides my self-indulgence.

[That's flat, and she's watching the ship bob, mouth thin.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

Yes.

[Simply.]

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

Sounds like a nice lie.

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

We all need a few of those. [He looks down at his hands, splaying the palms out across his bent knees. Frowns.] Are they gritty?

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

Being in love was a nice lie too.

[She glances at him, looking confused. Gritty?]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

Not sure that was the lie.

[He looks up, catching the expression.]

My hands. Are they gritty? Scratchy with sand?

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

I know it was. [She's only believed it to make things hurt a little less. Her eyes go down to her own hands, curled safely away from him.]

I didn't notice.

Re: or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

Love isn't a lie because it's not what you wanted it to be. If anything, that gives it some credence.

[And he's still following the line of her gaze.]

No? You took yours away like it hurt.

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

No... [She voices this slowly, and doesn't particularly like the overall sentiment, but she feels it out all the same.] It was a lie of necessity. That's not...

[She doesn't want to say it again. Love.]

You need a reason why a dead woman wouldn't want hands on her?

[Though, her voice is considerably less defensive and tense than the last time she said that to him.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

[It's a kind of love, Chase thinks. Stockholm syndrome was a kind of love. The bigger lie is that she's not capable.]

The city does death, it doesn't do dead. You're judging the condition here by your own world's standards. Here—different vital signs, still vital. Still you.

[He twists his own hands together without looking down.]

If you need a reason why I'd still want to hold your hand.

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

I think I do.

[It's not quite a shrug, just some vague motion meant to dismiss that she said it as she pushes to her feet. She thinks she's had enough of this for tonight.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

[His foot nudges hers just slightly as she stands.]

I miss you.

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

Don't.

[A different commandment from 'don't care.']

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

I miss you.

[He stands up, slowly, after her.]

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

Well, now you've seen me. Any more notes you need to take?

[It's not quite fond.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

Are you headed to the boat or one of those?

[A nod indicates the apartments further back from the shore.]

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

It's easier to sleep on the boat.

[That had been her intention, to swim until her head was calm and then try to rest.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

And if I offered to walk you there?

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

[She frowns slightly, but rather than answer she just turns, pausing to glance back with a look that says he should be following her.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

[It's no effort at all to catch her up, or fall easily in step, matching his pace with hers. If he turns his head he can see the salt drying on her skin. Had he brought one, he'd have offered her his jacket by now.]

You were worried about tracking sand onto a boat?

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

No.

[She was avoiding him. Now she's warily approaching her gangplank with him in tow.]

or steps leading into the sea

[intheblanks]

[The tone was light - lighter, at least, than most of this conversation. He bites down lightly on the corner of his lip, and nods.]

Good. Because I might be gritty.

or steps leading into the sea

[dignity_misery]

No one's invited you on deck.