coursing through your souls [closed]

[breakingvoice]

WHO: Lina and Rose Geteilt
WHERE: Rose's place
WHEN: 4/2
WHAT: No more dodging questions! Lina's excited to see what Rose's deal has been.
WARNINGS: Probably descriptions of body horror, and also probably swearing

[Lina's wearing her best casual, breezy outfit, long blue scarf and all, and has a box of a few small slices of homemade angel food cake with strawberry icing, and she's ready for this. this is the first time she's seen her sister in person in months, and she has to admit she's been curious the entire time. if it was her finally getting on the app that made Rose cave, it must be something that the app gave her that had been keeping her back, right?]

[well, there's no point in worrying any more about it, because in a few seconds she's going to find out and all her questions will be answered! she's sure it's not going to be remotely that bad. what could have happened to Rose that would be bad enough to lead to all this?]

[Lina knocks on Rose's door with excitement bristling her nerves. it's hard to stop herself from rocking on her tiptoes while she waits, and to get rid of some of this energy that's building up, she has to call out, too.]

Rose? It's your favorite sister!

Comments

[blacksong]

[There's something desperately reassuring to know that Rose can still make Lina smile. Maybe this is kind of cheating when this little sister in particular is easy to please, but she'll take what she can get at this point. In her mind, this is probably as close as she'll ever get to making her family happy.]

Do you have any stories that would be appropriate for them to hear? [GOSH ROSE DON'T BE PROUD OF YOUR DELINQUENCY. But she smiles wider, obviously having a bit of fun.]

[breakingvoice]

[don't worry, Rose's inner thoughts, this is why Lina's here to make everything better and bring the whole family back together and definitely not drive any spikes even deeper between anybody.]

Hmm... [and she'll make a little show of trying to think of something appropriate, including the classic sight gag of thinking that she's got something, raising a finger, and then immediately lowering it and muttering "no, that won't work" or something along those lines.]

Well, some of what you've done could work for the older ones, at least. [she'll have to take the loss on this, even though she knew she'd be coming up empty when she proposed it.] Maybe I could adapt some of all our stories for them? I don't know. I can figure it out. The important part is that they have something there to help them out. Like you were for us.

[blacksong]

So basically, you got nothing. [Naturally though, she's not offended about that. If anything, it's just the opposite.] Maybe just use stories about me if any of 'em try to act out of line, scare them back into good behavior.

But they do have you there for them, so I doubt you'll have to worry about that anyways. [She's sure Lina will do better with them than she ever did for her sisters.]

[breakingvoice]

Oh my gosh, I'm not going to turn my sister into a bogeyman!

[but the very idea gets a powerful giggle from her, the kind that she can't even stifle by putting her hands up in front of her mouth, and there's lightness in her chest again that she's so glad found its way back there.]

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I think they're all going to be okay. But you know, I learned a lot of what I did about surviving from you, so you should take some credit for this even if you aren't there. [eh, it might be a stretch, but she just wants Rose to know how important she thinks she is!] You don't give yourself enough credit for things anyway.

[blacksong]

I dunno, I think I'd make a pretty big bogeyman... [She says it like a joke, but we all know she really wouldn't mind being turned into that for those kids in the least smh.

But at that, she shrugs, easy and casual. Even if she's grateful to hear it in words, she didn't do enough as far as she's concerned. Sure, she might know objectively that there was no way for her to do more at the time, but objectivity doesn't change how she feels about it even after all these years.]

I just did what I could. Besides, you guys're all taking care of yourselves just fine now.

[breakingvoice]

[and Lina would absolutely sell that story. picture it! Rose with—oh, um, actually, don't picture some sort of monstrous version of Rose. picture a happy family where nothing goes wrong instead.]

Maybe that was all it felt like for you, but what you could do was so much more than anybody else was willing to do for us. And I know none of us are ever going to forget it. Even Jasmine, no matter how much she might want to. [her tone is a little more somber now, but how else can she talk about Jasmine? maybe she'll just try to shake it off a little by bringing the whole family into it again.]

Even though I don't know what's going to happen next, I'm really happy that I get to keep talking to you and Clover and Jasmine while it happens. [and that they can solve this together. all of them. she looks down at her hands, now folded in her lap, and glances upwards with just her eyes. there's a tiny, reserved smile on her face.]

I'm sorry. I know that's a lot.