IC Inbox for Hadriel

[zen_en_vert]

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[greywaren]

I'll say.

[But that seems to at least lighten the mood a little.]

I didn't know there was an issue about- [Okay, Ronan is eighteen and condoms is still kind of an embarrassing word to drop in casual conversation.] -that.

[zen_en_vert]

They petitioned Delight for them and now we keep them in the clinic.

[He admits, pinching the bridge of his nose.]

It's a little like the alcohol, as far as I'm concerned; in the category of 'is this what we want to be focusing on right now?'

[greywaren]

Spoken like a man who isn't getting any.

[Is what Ronan takes out of that, a little too smug to be innocent.]

[zen_en_vert]

Spoken like the one grown up in a ten mile radius, you mean?

[greywaren]

So what you're saying is, your options are limited.

[He points out, deliberately misunderstanding the point to tease him a little.]

[zen_en_vert]

Did you ever meet my ex while she was here?

[He has to wonder, since they're kind of on the subject.]

[greywaren]

Didn't know you had an ex.

[Idly, though he doesn't seem terribly surprised.]

[zen_en_vert]

I'm forty five. I've got several.

This was the most recent one, though, and the only one to turn up in Hadriel. Natasha- redhead, assassin.

[greywaren]

Definitely didn't meet that one.

[Ronan isn't quite sure if he's impressed or amused.]

You dated an assassin.

[zen_en_vert]

Codenamed 'the Black Widow,' in fact.

[greywaren]

[Ronan shakes his head definitively, putting up a show of Not Buying It.]

Nah. Too badass for you.

[zen_en_vert]

So I would insist.

[He promises.]

But she wasn't the kind of woman you argued with.

[greywaren]

[Bruce's tone makes Ronan roll his eyes with a little gagging sound, but the earlier conversation comes back to him and he refocuses quickly enough.]

She left?

[zen_en_vert]

Or got sent home, or whatever else happens to people who disappear here.

[greywaren]

How many other people are there from your world?

Here, I mean.

[zen_en_vert]

Initially it was me, Steve and Tony. Tony left, and Wanda came, then Steve left, then Wanda left, then Steve and Bucky and Natasha came, Natasha left, and Wanda and the Vision came.

It leaves us with five, including me. Steve and Bucky, Wanda and the Vision, and me.

[What should be evident from this is that Bruce doesn't actually come to Ronan with his problems.]

[greywaren]

[There's a pause, because he'd known that there have been some people, but certainly not that kind of revolving door of friends and- who knew what else. Ronan is quiet for a moment, considering that.]

I wonder about what would happen, if Parrish left. And the others too, but- I don't know.

[He almost certainly wouldn't be able to make it. He's not sure how Bruce does. Ronan pulls a leg up to the chair and wraps his arm around it, resting his chin on his knee.]

That sucks. I hope they stay this time.

[zen_en_vert]

I don't know if I do. I can't help but feel that all of us would be happier if they were somewhere else.

I don't want to wish ill upon them.

[greywaren]

Hm.

[It should be entirely obvious that Ronan (and Adam, and Gansey, and Noah) are all rather obsessively codependent, to the point where even admitting that his friends would be safer somewhere else would be gutting.

So Ronan isn't sure what to think of that.]

...where else? Is this worse than back home for you?

[zen_en_vert]

It is. I have a lot more control back home, and I'll admit- I miss that.

Very badly, in fact.

[greywaren]

But you can die back home.

[He points out, gruffly.]

Here it doesn't matter.

[zen_en_vert]

I- can't, so much, actually.

I can kill people, but dying, I haven't managed.

[greywaren]

[That earns him an eyeroll.]

Well, aren't you special.

[zen_en_vert]

If I could do it differently, I would.

[greywaren]

You mean not pulling a Jekyll-and-Hyde?

[Ronan shrugs.]

You'd be more vulnerable.