!INBOX // EUDIO.

[medals]

VIEWING CONTACT JEMINY [ WALKER, JEMIMA ] ( AUTOMATED MESSAGE ) jem here. leave a message, ta. [ text | email | voicemail | videochat | visit ]

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action;

[splintercells]

[Sure enough, he does sit up and wrap an arm around Jem, drawing her close for the moment instead. A little trade-off.]

I've heard people talking about it. I gotta know my deal worked out and didn't just end with something worse, but if it did - I'd do it too. If Cassie stayed. I'm not gonna be any more used to the world I'm going back to than this place, and I learned here. I don't wanna start over again with new rules and new shit to adjust to.

action;

[medals]

Sounds complicated. [The mechanics of time travel and changing history give her a headache. She'd do it, maybe, if she could stop the rising. But she wouldn't want to think about it. ]

I miss mum and dad but that's it. Everything's just easier here. Nobody wants to hurt Kieren, nobody's tryin' to start a second rising.

action;

[splintercells]

You have no idea. [But he won't go into it any further. Those are all dark roads. It's his turn to run his fingers through her hair, combing it gently.]

You talked to them about it? Staying?

action;

[medals]

[She settles in against his chest. It's always comfortable, it always feels safe. She hesitates, because she hasn't asked. She couldn't possibly. Just because she wants to stay here doesn't mean that she can. Leaving her mum and dad forever is - it's unthinkable. It's tempting, of course. But she couldn't.

Nothing about Eudio is forever. Not Petre, not Cole - sometimes, she's worried that even her being happy won't be forever either. With Roarton, it hardly seems possible. ]

No, [she says at last. ] People are gonna leave here eventually. Imagine what that'd be like? Staying and everyone you care about leaving? [She heaves a sigh. ] Roarton's - a nightmare, except you can't wake up from it. And this is like a long dream that I'm gonna have to wake up from eventually.

action;

[splintercells]

[He's not sure what to say about that for a minute. But the answer still seems obvious to him, with what this place can do.]

Why stay there? It's not too much to ask they set you and Kieren up somewhere else. Not a whole other world, you can still talk to your family, but - out of that town. The way you talk about it...

action;

[medals]

[She shrugs.]

He's not from the same bit of time as me. I'm - from just after his friends funeral. He decided to stay in Roarton; that it needed someone trying to change it.

[Jem's not that optimistic about it.]

Re: action;

[splintercells]

You're a good sister.

[He doesn't exactly know much about the position from experience, how a good or good one shouldn't be, but Jem's his model in that absence of knowledge. Quite firmly placed.

With a little sigh, he settles back against the headboard, letting his eyes slip shut.]

[medals]

[She's not sure she is. Good sisters don't get angry at their brothers for doing what Kieren did. Jem certainly never made his life easy after he got back. She's been cruel; she's been crass - but she loves him unconditionally.

She says nothing, resting comfortably against his chest. Her own eyes fall shut, too and she breathes in tandem with Cole. ]

[splintercells]

[Slowly, the two of them doze off, comfortable in one another's arms - maybe because they've finally released so much tension the last time they were in bed together, so this kind of physical comfort doesn't come with a question mark. They could, would, and have - just not now. Not this time.]