TLV: IC Inbox

[lestercraft]

"This is Arthur Lester. I'm not available right now, but do leave a message and I'll find the time. A-a voice message, please."

Text | Audio | Video | Spam


[OOC: Please note Arthur is blind, so audio format is strongly ICly preferred, but by God don't let that stop you]

Comments

[greatoldjohn]

[ I'll tell you what I told Natalie: if you can't feel sympathy for yourself, I'll do it for both of us. Even if you failed.]

Quiet but firm. He won't be moved on that point. No matter how loud or how mean or how rough Arthur gets with him. He will love and care for Arthur, he will lament his sadness, lament his pain. Nothing can or will change that.

[ I don't know how much we can protect them. But I intend to be there for Natalie, as you intend to be there for Mr. Mandrake.]

He's not leaving it there. That will just be disagreement. Instead, he's moving onto practical solutions. Hopefully, it will give Arthur something to cling to. And something to keep him from lashing out and thinking he just intends to let Natalie be murdered every other week. He can guess how cold he sounds.

[I read back on the network and apparently, someone is giving out alarms, something to alert everyone immediately and make a loud noise if a button is pressed to call for help. I intend to get one for Natalie. Do you think Mandrake would like one as well? ]

[lestercraft]

He'll take the excuse to stop talking. Even if he can't believe that, that John thinks he deserves sympathy, at least it means he doesn't have to press the issue, tear himself further open and convince John that he's just as much of a monster in some small, personal way.

He's wrong, but Arthur's not in a state to fight it. And he's resigning himself to be tired and loathing of John, when he says that about their charges so bluntly, when the actual, workable suggestion comes, and he pauses to actually think about it.

"That sounds... yeah. That seems practical," he agrees, softly. "I don't know if he'll accept it, but I doubt he'd say no if I told him to keep it on him."

[greatoldjohn]

[ John doesn't sigh in relief but that's because he doesn't breathe. He is relieved that didn't blow up in his face, though he's reasonably certain it only worked because Arthur is exhausted.

It wouldn't change how he feels, even if Arthur had exploded, but he's not sure he could properly handle an argument right now and he doubts that Arthur really could either, especially with Mandrake sleeping not far away.

Even if it comes up later, bites like an adder beneath his toes, it's a small price to pay. ]

[ I'll get on that in a few minutes. B seemed very adamant that the more people with alarms the better.

I can't disagree after this. ]

[lestercraft]

"Safety in numbers, and all that," he murmurs, finally sitting upright so he can rest his head on the back of the couch. "The principle's the same. The more people you give access to some measure of group safety, the more people can assist when someone's under threat."

[greatoldjohn]

[Yes. It was a problem when both of us couldn't reach our communicators.
I'm glad Misty was... reasonable.

Eventually.]