[IC CONTACT]

[photophobic]

You should know where to find me.
But if you leave a message here, I will see it.

Comments

[girlybruiser]

I don't imagine most would, but still... I wish there had been a better way to help him and everyone else.

[ Adults often made cruel decisions and this seemed no different. ]

He'll return, Kylo. We are imPorts after all.

[photophobic]

We are imPorted here by a being called Lachesis. Ronan was changed after he touched something that calls itself Atropos.

Names are important, Haru. Lachesis measures the thread. Atropos cuts it. There's no coming back from that.

[girlybruiser]

The Fate that destroyed the other world imPorts came from?

[ A harrowing thought. ]

We can't be so certain, can we? Atropos may be powerful, but the nanites in our bodies have always brought us back. It can't fail this time.

[photophobic]

The same. Yes.

[It's... kind of her, he thinks, to try and lift his spirits. But he was in the room when Ronan started coming apart. It hadn't been anything physical.]

I'm not so certain the nanites can help him this time. But I'll tell you. If he comes back.

[girlybruiser]

I will continue to hope so.

[ It's too cruel a fate for someone, she thinks. ]

Are you okay?

[ She fully expects a no, given the circumstances. ]

[photophobic]

[He doesn't know how to answer that. He'd experienced something of wholeness, something he'd never believed possible... only to lose it.

In the end, he can't answer her question. Not directly.]

I don't dream, without Ronan. I'd forgotten.

[girlybruiser]

What sort of dreams do you have with him?

[photophobic]

They were all different. We could go anywhere. Do anything. I made an entire world, once. From nothing. And then we took one of the stars I had made back with us.

I don't know where Ronan put it.

[girlybruiser]

That sounds wonderful. Freeing, really.
Maybe he put it somewhere for safekeeping? Like in an antique box?

[ She thinks very literally at times. ]

[photophobic]

[Literal is just fine, in this instance. There are so many things taken from dreams here at the Meadows. Maybe everything except Kylo himself and his scattered belongings is a dream Ronan had once.

Kylo feels sure Ronan would have kept that star, though— he'd asked him to hold it for him, after all. Later, he'll go hunting for it... and likely leave destruction in his wake when he can't find it. He's broken a lot of things since Ronan's death.]

Maybe. We should have kept it in a jar. On the dresser.

[There's a pause, and then a second message:]

Thank you.

1/2

[girlybruiser]

I'm sure you'll find it! If you look where you least expect it, I bet it will appear.

2/2

[girlybruiser]

[ Oh, gratitude? That confounds her somehow. ]

What for?

[photophobic]

[Look, he... doesn't know, okay, he doesn't practice gratitude often, it's a mysterious symptom of a condition he doesn't understand.]

Asking. Caring.

Everything.

[girlybruiser]

[ There's a delay before she responds. ]

You do not have to thank me, but you are welcome, Kylo.
I only wish I had been able to do something to help.

[photophobic]

You listened when it was difficult. Most people can't.
I won't forget it.

[girlybruiser]

Sometimes, people simply can't understand. Sometimes, it's not entirely their fault when it's beyond their comprehension, I believe.

[ Sometimes. ]

You are my friend. [ And she has her suspicions she doesn't know everything about Kylo Ren. The violence and anger she's seen, possibly only glimpses of his true power and capability to do much worse.

But as far as she's seen here, he hasn't. And he's been awfully kind with her, but most importantly, honest. People have used her in the past and lied to her face, so honesty is something she values tremendously. ] I will always lend an ear if you need it.

[photophobic]

[He doesn't quite know how to respond to that, which is why there's a fairly long pause before the response.]

You're a good friend. I won't forget that, either.