#oh my gods why did i write if as i'f

[finely-tuned-line]

RP:

FTL: ...Alright. Thank you. In the end, I suppose that perspective could be interpreted as a type of opinion. And opinions are very much not things that are universal. I've used that point in arguments before, wouldn't be able to - nor would I want to - go back on it now. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

FTL: I suppose that that's valid reasoning - though do you even need an excuse? I can see the potential need for it, to justify an action taken. Though as I've mentioned, visit whenever you please, whether you have a viable excuse or not. You're always welcome.

FTL: If you're sure that that is the case, then alright. Can't say that I'm too sure how long a moon cycle even is, the moon is not always the most visible from where I am. The days last long, though when they don't, I still don't pay attention to the moon, unsurprisingly. ...I'm sure I could have asked Songs of the Negative Sunlight, xi'd know. Either way, I'm sure that a moon cycle is long enough. Do notify me when you've decided that it's been long enough.

FTL: Honestly it still amazes me on some level that there are Iterators who are autonomous. You won't be the first to visit me, LIFEGIVER's been here once already, but even then it's still rather incredible. I'm rather content with my state of being stationary, but before going into public communications, I'd never considered that there were those not stationary. Well, that's how learning happens.

FTL. It is Upsilon.

I have a few things I wish to say, mostly apologies.

First, I wish to apologize for my previous behavior. I didn't even hang up, simply left the line metaphorically rotyim. Everything about my behavior was incredibly rude. You do not have to forgive me: that you know I regret leaving you like that is enough.

Second, I wish to say I deeply regret the way my... associate, treated you. Spreading baseless rumors to disturb you was quite cruel of him, and I certainly should have attempted to stop him sooner. Do not worry, my friend, he will be punished for his actions.

I do not want to kiss you I swear to all that is holy I do not

Best regards

-Upsolpm @oceanremnants

RP:

FTL: I do not quite think that your apology is necessary. If anything, I should be the one apologising for questioning your statements so much - even if I still think that that research was a heavily flawed concept and a completely redundant research topic. I accept your apology though, and I acknowledge your regret. Thank you.

FTL: Why apologise for someone else's actions? Truth be told, it wasn't all that bothersome, mostly just... I suppose confusing would be the right word. Not for the contents of the message but rather for the question of 'why even send something like this?'. Speculations and rumours such as that have absolutely no point to them, and are made at the expense of anyone involved. Perhaps that's the whole point.

FTL: I will be honest here: I do not care. I do not care whether it's true or not. It's wouldn't change anything either way, so it doesn't even matter. Do not concern yourself over it too much.

FTL: It's... nice to talk to you again, Upsilon.

[ohmygillygoshoppler]

@bunnythemurderer

i have made this for you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it!

Jordi heaved as she bolted down the alley. Police sirens screamed in the streets behind her. Her lungs burned with all the fighting for breath. She felt like her legs would give out from under her; like her lungs would explode. It was dark, but she had a good visual on the high fence in front of her, growing ever higher as she came closer. She kept on running though, and was followed in suit.

A huge hand clamped down on her shoulder as she approached, and Strife was looking in all directions. "Here," he started, quickly shrugging the black backpack off of his shoulders and chucking it into her chest. "Alright, I'll throw you over the fence, and you make a run for it. I'll hold off the piggies until you get to the car. Then, I want you to bring her 'round front here and wait for me, but stay low. I'f those guys brought back up, I'll want you out of trouble."

Jordi scoffed and blew a tuft of hair from her flushed face. Her normally pretty and soft features were twisted into an ugly scowl. "If you wanted me to stay out of trouble, you should have just left me at home!"

He waved her off as she shoved her arms through the straps and turned again for the fence. Strife towered over her, looking back the direction they had come. The sirens still wailed, and they were getting closer and closer. Without any further protest, Jordi started up the fence, grabbing through the diamond-weaved fencing, getting a good final push on her rear by the Horseman's big hands.

With a shove, Strife nearly launched her straight over the fence. She landed on her back with a resounding thud, knocking the wind from her. Strife himself winced at the impact, offering a measly "My bad," when she promptly flipped him off, lying on the pavement. She wanted to spit a curse at him, but couldn't find the strength to do so. She didn't have any time, anyhow. The cops were already approaching. The stature of the nephilim alone was enough to conceal Jordi's shape behind the fence, but she knew if they saw her, they'd be in huge trouble.

"Shit," She hissed, pulling herself to her feet and limping away into the shadows. She didn't turn to see if her friend was alright, she knew he'd be. She focused her intentions on getting to the car like he said. She fingered around in her pockets one more time, making sure she absolutely had the keys.

Jordi quickly circled the complex, weary of flashing lights and officers voices. She heard shouting coming from behind her. She ducked and crawled in a few places, behind cars and trash cans, trying her best to avoid detection. As she stealthily made her way back to where Strife parked his car, she wondered what was in this bag that the coppers wanted so bad. She was half-tempted to look, but after some consideration, she found she didn't want to.

When at last she felt she was safe enough to walk about freely and search, she ran around the parking lot looking for their ride. She couldn't believe she had forgotten where they parked! At a time like this?! Way to go, Jordan, you're a grade-A, farm-fresh genius...

She spotted the dark Lamborghini hidden in the indoor parking garage adjacent to the parking lot. Silently, she thanked her lucky stars and bolted over. She listened as she searched her pockets for the keys. There was still flashing lights everywhere outside, and she still heard voices, but no screams. No gunshots. It sounded like the fuzz were just... talking.

She pulled the sole key out of her jacket pocket, inserting into the driver side door and hopping inside. She immediately started the car and switched off the interior lights. This was actually the first time Strife let her drive his car, now that she thought about it! She could just drive away right now... Just drive off... and leave... Strife... behind... Pick up Simóne and take the car to Canada...

Nah, he had some explaining to do. And her jacket.

She composed herself as best she could and pulled the car out of the parking lot, dimming the headlights and cruising down the street. She kept an eye peeled for her buddy. The squad cars were starting to pull out now. Anxiety threatened to overwhelm her for a moment; had Strife been detained? No, impossible, he's way too tough to be taken down by a few noodle-armed Blues.

Sucking her lower lip through her teeth, Jordi glanced about. She couldn't see anyone other than po-po at this point.

Suddenly, the passenger car door swung open as the car was still moving, a leather-clad nehpilim barging in and scaring the complete life out of his human driver. She had to stop herself from screaming, lest she attract unwanted attention, so she ended up just making a weird yelping sound.

"What the fuck are you even doing? Aren't they still after you?" she hissed, keeping control of her countenance as she continued to slowly drive on by.

Strife was currently shrinking into the floorboards, making himself scarce. "Yeah, but they aren't after you. So just drive."

The blonde youth almost stopped the car at the horseman's remark. "So that's why you brought me here?! To be your getaway driver?! First, you decide to break into the police station and steal- I dunno- important evidence to a crime, or something, and you bring me along for the ride?! Are you out of your mind?"

"Relax, Jojo. I knew you'd be alright tagging along. Besides, I still have to show you the thing."

Jordan hissed through her teeth, rolling her eyes. She didn't pay any heed to his nicknames or his silly mind games. She was fuming. Now, she didn't care if the police saw her or Strife. All she wanted was to get out of this town and go home. It was super late and she was beyond tired. "We are not seeing the thing. We are going back to Simóne's. Then, you're going home. That's it."

She had pulled off onto the freeway now. Strife was arguing with her on something, but she paid it no mind. Every other word was, "uh-huh," or, "yeah, okay," and for about 20 minutes, Strife was quiet. Sounded like he'd burned himself out for a while. He didn't say much, but he did mess around, looking in the backseat for his backpack. Jordi didn't answer when he asked where it was. He found it anyways.

Curiosity snatched her attention away from the road for a split second to see what he had; what was in the bag. She thought for a moment he would take out something horrible, like fingers in a bag, or something even weirder~

She looked back at the road in front of her. Not too many other cars. The streetlight dotted the roads and skies ahead, coming in bright flashes over the dash from time to time. Jordi was brought to look again when she heard the familiar "click, click" of a gun.

It was Mercy. Strife was cradling the mechanism almost tenderly in his two hands, grinning down as he fingered the trigger.

"Don't you dare fire that thing right now." The human youth grumbled.

"I wasn't going to, Jojo..." the other cooed.

"Stop calling me Jojo."

She huffed through her nose, frowning. "Why did the cops have Mercy? Don't you keep your guns close?" she inquired impishly.

After some more fiddling, he brought the gun to his lips with a resounding smack. "Things get stolen a lot more than ya think. Fury says I'm complacent, but I can think of a dozen times where I've actually really lost them. Think they're cursed."

That brought a few giggles forth. Jordi agreed, both with Fury's statements, and the cursed guns. She wondered what had to have distracted him long enough for him to lose his weaopon to the cops. When she asked him as much, he said to just, "consider the fact that nobody was harmed by the nephilim weapon, and all is now as it should be." Strife then started digging around in the rest of the bag. It sounded like boxes and bags.

please no more guns...

"Yo," Strife blurted, startling her.

"What?"

"I take everything back about the Police. They're not as bad as I thought."

Jordan's eyebrows furrowed at that. "What do you mean?~"

A wild smile. "The bag! The thing? It's what I wanted to show you!"

Oh god. Please, no.

"What's in the bag?" she reluctantly asked as she pulled off the exit ramp towards their home.

They stopped at the red light when Strife lifted a plastic-wrapped brick over to her face. "Smell this."

"What the hell is that man?" Jordan squealed, elbowing the arm away from her face. "What the fu-"

"Just smell it, c'mon!"

She slowed the car as she reluctantly sniffed the package. It smelled like... It smelled like...

Simóne? Oh wait...

"Oh my god, I was so scared!" She squawked, laughing as they stopped at a light. "I thought it was cocaine!"

The elder Horseman laughed. "What makes you think- oh shit, no. I was, aha!-" His sentence broke off into a bought of loud laughter. "Nah, cocaine smells like ether, not earth."

Blonde hair fell over her shoulders as she slowly faced him, examining the contents of his bag with a great smile. "What?"

"What?" Yellow almond eyes blinked over at nervous brown ones. He changed the subject. "Hey, you think if I give this to Simóne, she'll finally let me into her sage garden?"

She was driving again now, albeit nervously. She was trying not to be obvious she didn't want to get pulled over. "Not a chance. Her plants are hr babies. She'll give you trimmings. Nothing more, nothing less."

She glanced at the clock on the stereo; 3:15 am. Gods, she was so tired... Did she have to work tomorrow or not? Or wait, did she have to work today? Yesterday, tomorrow today... She wasn't sure anymore. All she was worried about was turning onto the right street to get home. One more street...

She flinched at the sudden pressure on her thigh, accidentally slapping his hand there.

"My bad. Look, I wouldn'a brought you along If I knew they'd throw my baby in a bag of pot. It was there, I wasn't wearing my holster, I panicked and just grabbed the bag. I'll never ask anything of you ever again. Here,"

As the two of them, pulled up into drive to their house, Strife gently tucked Mercy into the hem of his pants, sliding the bag into her lap. She yawned and held the bag up in her fist, " this stuff is pretty much useless to me. I don't think you smoke but you can just give it to Simóne if she wants it."

for the first time all evening, a smile slowly graced Jordan's features. her dark eyes were tired and her shoulders looked heavy but she still smiled. "Okay, sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

Strife leaned over and grinned, shrugging off the large leather jacket. his yellow eyes seem to Glow against the Blackness of the shadowy car, and he looked kind of creepy for a second.

"Hey, if you're not doing anything tomorrow night, maybe we can do something a little more lax, like see a movie or something. I've been to the cinema few times I think it's pretty fun."

A chuckle. "Sure thing, bud. Sounds cool."

Without thinking, she leaned over and placed a kiss on the edge of his temple. Afterwards, she crawled out of the driver side and shuffled her way up the stairs towards her home. The car was already driving away at this point, but she had a feeling he was thinking about her. It was only until she knocked on the door that she realized she had accidentally kissed him. Oh well, she was too tired to worry about it.

Jordan stood there for a moment in silence, waiting for her friend to open the door. The overwhelming smell of the herbs and flowers growing nearby was dreadfully invigorating at this point. She felt like she could smell the sages and the rosemaries as if they were right beneath her nose.

Quietly, Simóne could be heard unlocking the door. She opened it standing in the doorway with her hair down and wearing a long pink nightgown.

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you all night. I was worried."

She stretched her arms out from inside the house, drawing Jordan in for a great big hug. She smelled like roses.

"Sorry, my phone died and we've been on the road all night I haven't had a car charger..."

"That's alright. You look tired. Come on inside and I'll get you ready for bed would you like some tea?" Simóne asked in a concerned voice.

Jordi chucked again, finally returning the hug. "Yeah. That sounds nice."