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[bloodandblunder]

"H... hello? Um, this is me-- ah, Noire! I'm Noire, and I'm very sorry for missing you somehow... I promise I'm not avoiding you, unless you're scary or you're Mo-- trying to curse me. U-um, so when I can figure out how to-- ( beeps ensue, followed by a shriek of fright ) O-oh, no! What did I push, how do I-- make it-- oh gods, did I break it?! W-why can't we just talk in person?!"

[ BEEP. ]

voicemail; action ; video

Comments

audio;

[weirdatlast]

My name is Cecil Gershwin Palmer. I work for The Yao Corporation. [ She's been around enough to have heard that, and Cecil tries not to hide it, anyway. ]

Tharja, your mother, is a friend of mine. [ 'Is,' not 'was.' Never 'was.' ]

audio;

[bloodandblunder]

... If this is about her curses or me being her daughter and having a natural inclination towards darkness and nefarious purposes, please accept the fact that I'm only like my mother in my stalking tendencies and I don't want anything to do with those people ever again.

[ she did indeed say that in a single breath. ]

audio;

[weirdatlast]

I am not asking to meet with you for them, if it matters at all. And, while I did enjoy your mother's curses and her enthusiasm for what is dark as a moonless night sky, that is not why I am asking to meet you, either.

There is something of hers she left. I would like to give it to you, Noire. I would like you to have it.

audio;

[bloodandblunder]

Something... of hers? [ she trails off, and she sure is radiating uncertainty.

But in the end, Noire couldn't really stay away from anything involving her mother, so she takes a breath. The exhale is audible. ]

... Where should I meet you?

audio;

[weirdatlast]

Wherever you would like.

[ Wherever she would feel most comfortable meeting a man she's never met and a Yao employee, he means. ]

audio;

[bloodandblunder]

[ the answer is actually nowhere without an escort, but. ]

By my block... um, is that all right? I'm in the sixth one.

audio;

[weirdatlast]

I am in the fifth! So... I'll be there soon, waiting outside. I'll see you then.

[ He disconnects, and as promised, he'll be waiting outside her house. ...Hopefully not too creepily. Although Cecil, for as average as he looks, for as well as he blends into an environment like Haven, he never manages to be completely inconspicuous. ]

action;

[bloodandblunder]

[ and there's Noire, peeking out before she ventures out properly. ]

... You're my mother's suspiciously-affiliated friend?

action;

[weirdatlast]

[ That is the perfect way to put it, Noire. And so Cecil answers simply. ]

Yes. I am. When she arrived, when we first met, she threatened to curse me. I was thrilled. I offered to let her, to help.

She was kind to me after that. As kind as any witch or dark mage or sorceress can be. I am sorry she is gone. And I hope she will return. You have my condolences, until then.

action;

[bloodandblunder]

I don't want her to come back... I think she'd be happier staying where she is with a man who isn't my father.

[ which sounds scandalous, but alternate timelines. ]

... But... t-thank you.

[weirdatlast]

[ No, he gets it. He knew Henry here in Haven too, has heard too often about Robin. ...Not to mention his own confused lovelife ugh. ]

You're right. No one should wish a loved one be returned here, to this place. [ ...No one who doesn't know about storage, anyway. ANYWAY he reaches into the bag at his side, and he lifts out Tharja's gold circlet with practiced reverence, and offers it for Noire to take. ]

Here.

[bloodandblunder]

[ Her fingers tremble a bit when she reaches out to grasp the circlet. She can't remember seeing a day where her mother hadn't worn this, and to hold it now in her hands feels wrong, a solid reminder that she's really, truly gone.

She has to bite her lip, even when she holds it close. ]