ic inbox (mask or menace)

[prayercycles]

[ The default answering machine message plays. ]

Comments

[prayercycles]

I...

[ He’d say yes, but he really doesn’t know. Fortunato, in his own world, hasn’t been out of the cell he’s been trapped in since before being blinded. He supposes he’d end up learning the same way as he has here, but he can imagine he would have had far less support.

Support. And how has he ended up with that? How...inexperienced of him. ]

Never mind. I- I know. But there are other matters they can care for.

[khajidont]

[ Jaime smiles at Fortunato, brow wrinkling. ]

Yeah, that's the funny thing about friends, dude. Somehow, they can care about more than one at a time. Sometimes we can care about up to three things. Wild, I know.

[prayercycles]

[ Okay, now Jaime is just embarrassing him a bit. He looks away, twisting the bracelet between his hands. ]

It...does not need to be priority. There are many other things they must deal with.

[ In some ways, that's directed at Jaime. He assumes Jaime has plenty to worry about as the Blue Beetle. ]

[khajidont]

Sounds to me like that's their decision to make.

[ He eyes Fortunato, brow crinkling. ]

You really don't like it when people pay attention to you, huh?

[prayercycles]

[ Fortunato frowns, a bit embarrassed; his reaction's as small as a twitch, but it's still a reaction. He doesn't like being caught in something like this; it makes his contriteness seem inadequate.

He takes a moment to formulate what he considers a good enough response. ]

It is not- in this place, it is not always good to have it. [ Oh, that comes off as targeted, doesn't it. ] Even if...it is not always like what has happened to you.

[khajidont]

Yeah, yeah, I get it. But there's a difference between, like - people in general paying attention to you and your friends doing it. One's definitely way better than the other. And, honestly, any friend of yours should be paying attention.

[ Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. ]

[prayercycles]

[ That could be either an insult or a compliment, couldn’t it? Particularly when Fortunato is starting to get a bit tired of the ways people feel protective of him. But he Jaime doesn’t seem like he’s being critical... ]

Uh. What do you mean by that?

[khajidont]

Well... if you're really friends with someone, you pay attention to them, right? Like, if they really like something that you don't, you still pay attention 'cause even if it's not important to you, it's important to them. You remember their birthdays and favourite foods and the stuff they say.

[ Jaime shrugs. This all seems like common sense to him, but what does he know? ]

You know. Stuff like that.