contact post for Elizabeth

[unfearing]

I'LL MAKE THIS FANCY LATER.

"Hello! You've reached the voicemail of Elizabeth Bishop! I'm so sorry I've missed your call, but if you leave a message I promise to get back to you as soon as possible! Or even if you don't leave a message, actually. I do like messages though."

Feel free to also send text messages, e-mails, direct calls, whatever here. Just notate what medium you're using in the subject line.

and whatever I'm 100% out of effort now sob.

Comments

( text, backdated to the 21st at some insane hour like 5am )

[argents]

Lizzie? Please, say you made it home.

( text reply some time that afternoon; she's been resting )

[unfearing]

Sorry I couldn't get to this until now! I did in fact make it home, don't worry. Are you quite all right, Banagher?

[argents]

Of course I'm fine, it was you I was worried about! What happened last night? In the Dead District...

[unfearing]

Nothing less than we were asking for, I suppose... We ran into some dreadful beasts. They did look alarmingly like werewolves of lore, half some kind of canine and half something else entirely. We were ambushed. I hear all the groups were.

[argents]

I know. I saw it, what they were capable of doing to someone, and...

[ Probably not the best time to mention he sensed everything go all out of whack before it likely even happened. ]

Did you get hurt?

[unfearing]

Just a scratch. Dr. Strider patched it right up for me, don't worry. I think a few others were hurt as well, but I don't think anyone came out too badly. Everything was so hectic after I didn't really get the chance to check.

[argents]

So you did.

[unfearing]

[ That gets her to feeling a little guilty, and it takes her a few minutes to type out a response. ]

It's barely even noticeable. I've done worse falling off my bike as a girl. Everything's fine, Banagher. Not ideal, of course, but... It's surprisingly manageable, all things considered.

[argents]

But this isn't... /like/ falling off a bike, it's not the same kind of thing you can just explain away, like an accident! That responsibility you have is meaningless if something senseless happens to you!

[unfearing]

Banagher...

I'm sorry. You're absolutely right, of course. I know I'm not particularly qualified to be on the field like that, but I just...

I couldn't bear the thought of Casval going out there without support. Moral support, you know? He seemed so grimly determined, and I may be a little naive but even I know that seldom ends well.

I guess I don't really know what to say, except that I'm deeply sorry for any grief I've caused you over this.

[argents]

That's not it. I don't want you to be sorry for me. It's not my place to ask you for that.

[ God he doesn't even know what his place is anymore but everything just keeps barreling past any filters a smarter him would have had. If he was the type he'd shift blame to no sleep, an echo, a bloody kitchen floor...

But he's not. ]

None of us are really qualified for any of this. How can we be? I know we can't sit and do nothing, not when people have been hurt. Killed. When we find things or people to believe in, to make this seem less scary. But if we keep going like this, we'll burn out... we're capable of more than blindly striking out at the things we don't understand, aren't we? Out of pride, or worse. More than just backing ourselves into a corner like animals. I believed that, when I first met you.

I know you can do more. Both of you.

[ That's why. He needs her and Casval to stay safe. ]

[unfearing]

[ It takes Elizabeth a long time to respond, simply letting Banagher's words sink in. She feels stunned, as though he's waking her up from a daze. Honestly... What on earth has she been doing? She set out with the notion that were risks that she would have to take in order to push them all forward, but it seems she's all but lost her way. The risks she's been taking with herself-- They've been truly encroaching on simple reckless endangerment. It was just so easy to get swept up in all this, and... ]

I don't know how I let myself get so far from where I started. You're right, Banagher. About everything. I'll be more careful with myself. I'm no use to anyone compromised or dead.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to me.

[argents]

[ ...Now he's the one feeling guilty. Shaken up, warm all over, staring at his phone clutched white-knuckled in his hands like he doesn't even know what to do with it anymore. Grateful. ]

I'm just glad you're okay.

[unfearing]

I'm very lucky to have someone like you watching out for me. You're a good person, Banagher. The world so sorely needs more young men like you.

[argents]

No. Anyone would think like this.