evocation | ⚡ hadriel

asl

[ yo, kyna. there's a scuffling sound at your door.

wake up. ]

consider this a check in
how you doing hun?? hadriel being any less shitty for you?

[Do better next time, Drake said. It was good advice. Only problem now is making it happen.

Ephemera stares at Kyna's door. Debates whether or not he can just leave his apology booze on the welcome mat without saying anything. It'd probably go better if he didn't say anything.

It would definitely go better if he didn't say anything.

Ephemera doesn't like talking shit out, most of the time. Things get tangled and he can't always swallow down the angry parts, the pieces that still hate everything Washington represents.

But. Kyna was there, in the dream. She tried.

Least he can do is follow suit. Try.

Ephemera takes a breath. Lets it out. He's not in armor, wearing a sweatshirt that hangs too big in the shoulders, and a bandage over his bad eye. It's been bothering him lately. No armor, no gun - only a knife tucked into his boot just in case - and the bottle of apology booze under his arm. Everyone likes booze, right?

Plus it's wine. Wine is fancy and shit.

Suck it up, soldier.

He twitches. Wavers. And finally knocks on the door.]

Remember when I was solely responsible for you getting laid a few weeks ago? You should channel all of that hope up that I gave you and make a wish.

[Even with healing magic, recovering from broken ribs is frustrating and painful. He can move if he's careful, but training is out of the question and his hands are shaky when he paints. Each line has to be deliberate, carefully done and redone, and what are supposed to be simple sketches end up taking him several hours.

It doesn't matter. It was his fault anyway, and this is how it ends.

Apologize, Drake said. Mean it.

Kyna doesn't want to hear anything he has to say, Ephemera knows, but he wants to be better. So he tries something new.

He has a small sketch folded in half, one that he worked on for most of the morning. It's the first time he saw Kyna and really looked at her, when she was standing in the doorway and looking at Washington. There was something open in her expression then. Hopeful in some ways. Careful in others. And then there'd been Washington, standing there, watching her.

Really looking at her. Even with his armor on, it was impossible to miss.

Ephemera doesn't sign the sketch. He never does. He folds it in half and stick it in the crack of her door. Hopes that it'll mean something, in the end.

He doesn't intend to say anything to Kyna, or see her at all, but she rounds the corner just as he's about to leave.

Oh.

Ephemera steps back quickly. Don't get in a fight. Don't start anything, you promised.]

[BITCH!! I LIVED!!

Lup doesn't bother warning Kyna either before she's floating right through the wall into her apartment, flying right at the girl.]

The time to explain this shit was like yesterday. You have five seconds.

[After the whole mess of everything that's been happening the past several days, Lance hadn't quite realized just how many it had been since he'd spoken with Kyna. So it's definitely a bit of a late text, and he feels like it's going to be an awkward one considering what he found out from Ephemera.]

Hello Kyna. I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you, although I imagine you've been busy the past few days as well. Are you feeling well enough that your offer still stands?

[And that said--]

Don't ask me how I know what happened, because I can't say, but I didn't want to insult you with my bad acting in an attempt to pretend I didn't know.

[He's actually a decent enough actor, but not about this sort of thing. This sort of thing he's really obvious about and it probably would've taken her two seconds of talking in person before it became obvious.]

Hello.

My name is Yusuke Kitagawa, and I am an artist. I've been informed that you have an interest in both art and modelling, and thus I would ask if you would model for one of my paintings.

However, I would like to meet you in person, or see a photo of you, before I decide whether to paint you. This is because the only descriptors for your appearance I have received are that you are "super short and have pointy ears".

Please reply at your earliest convenience.

[All Kyna gets is a snapped photo of Lup in all her fleshy glory making obscene gestures at the camera and a quick line of text]

i lived bitch

😇 👋👋👋

I think I've got it.

[It feels comfortable to hang out with her, as if they've done it a hundred times before, despite Rome being in the same room as her maybe twice before today. Still, they're in his home that he shares with Morgan (who is off hanging out with his own friends, Rome presumes), on the couch with Kyna facing away from him.

Rome has her hair in plaits and is currently in the process of gently twisting at them to form some semblance of a braid. It's- rough, so far, but passable.]

If you don't mind, I'll start over. It shouldn't take much longer.

hey k. whats up?

Miss Kyna?

[Delmar's voice is hoarse but he's doing his best to try and keep it from warbling or going squeaky with his sadness. This is important. Kyna is important to Harley and he needs to make sure she hears from a friendly source.]

M-miss Kyna, I need to speak with you.

k where are u?
i kno ur prob busy out bein a hero and shit but i need u. im heading to jts.
im back btw but idk how long its been.
txt me asap.

hey.
u feelin up to taking another run at message?

[Lance is finally getting his life back into some semblance of 'together', at least in comparison to how it's been the last few weeks. He's still very concerned about what might be going on with Brennan's disappearance, but he can't do anything about that and so he's trying to focus on what he can do, which includes getting back to Kyna about her necklace even if he's... Very late, on that.

So he sends her a message, trying to preemptively give incentive for her to accept the necklace back with the promise of meeting a cute animal.]

Have you ever pet a fennec fox?

[And then, after he sends that, he realizes he should add--]

That isn't some sort of terrible euphemism; I'm taking care of Dr. Brennan's pet fox. Her name is Sandy.

[Nailed it.]

I don't know if you met him when he was here before, but you should know that Hux--the person who posted to the network recently in order to be condescending--is someone who is actually potentially dangerous.

[So, basically, be careful talking to him. Or, better yet, don't talk to him at all.]

Kyna, its Dr. Rosen, could we speak if you aren't too busy?

[It's occurred to Ephemera that, much as things have sucked lately, there's no reason they have to stay awful forever. And then he has another thought, slightly more disturbing: He likes Kyna's company. She's sharp and quick in a way he understands, almost like Lup, and that's a rare thing.

They might be friends, in time.

Why not try?]

hey
washington fixed my flame throwers wanna help me light shit on fire? its for a good cause

[ Wash's nightmares have been worse since the Null, and he isn't really sure why. They're not all about the Null and it's not like that's the only reminder he's had lately of other beings in his head. Maybe he's just stressed that it'll happen again, that they haven't found a way to prevent it yet, and it's just manifesting in more bad dreams? But tonight's not an exception. It's a bad one. He went to sleep with Kyna in his arms and wakes up tangled in the sheet, breathless and panicked. There's no real sense of "nighttime" anymore with the double suns, but he hopes he didn't scream and wake a neighbor.

Kyna's peering at him worriedly and he scrubs at his face, feeling sick and guilty. He needs to stop doing this to her. ]

Sorry.

[Alright, he can't stall any longer; not only did he half-promise a few people he would do something about his current problems, but he needs to do this for himself too. He's still concerned about worrying Kyna and putting all of this on her, but he could tell she meant her offers to listen and she already knows most of the story already, and Lance trusts her with this.

So, after several rewrites and staring at his phone in an attempt to decide if he's really going to send the message, he finally does.]

Hey Kyna. If the offer still stands, I was hoping I could talk to you.

You still offering those magic lessons?
I'm bored.

you see love's post?
because we should kick ass
it'd be awesome

jsyk i decided to skip town too. if im not there when u get back dw im not dead.
probably.
and stay gone for a bit. some weird shits goin on. another event.

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action - not long before sunrise on the 26th

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