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[efface]

text || voice || action

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( text )

[insubordination]

What do you think?

[ and, astoria's welcome video pops up for riza to see. ]

( text )

[efface]

I think she's a load of shit.

[ hey, you came here looking for honesty, didn't you? ]

But I also think she's a step above what we were dealing with before.
Though that's technically still up for debate, depending on how this next world goes.

You?

text

[lonered]

Hey. This is Keith. I don't know if you remember me. We really only talked once. But.

If you've got time. I've got a couple questions.

text

[efface]

Of course I remember you, Keith.

And yes- I've got time. What are your questions?

Backdated to July 17 voice

[spaceforged]

...Riza? [He sounds tired. As tired as he sounded in Shehui when it got bad.]

Sorry to bother you if this is a bad time. I just need to talk for a little bit.

[efface]

[ she recognizes the tone to his voice more than anything, and she’s immediately on edge. ]

Of course. Always. [ a pause. ] Do you want to talk in person?

( text ) approx. 20 minutes after the announcement to stay in their rooms.

[insubordination]

Where are you?

( text )

[efface]

[ she really shouldn't be surprised. it has happened far too many times in their career together for it to be anything but expected. and yet even still, as the announcement rings out and she's brought back to that same time - back before, an announcement, the law enforcement showing up at her apartment... - and riza just. freezes. she can't quite bring herself to breathe, to move, to think.

her apartment is quiet, still, with no sounds of any figures appearing or knocking down her door. still, it feels too tight, too close. like the walls are slowly getting closer and closer.

that's when her watch notifies her of the message. of the text from roy. she pulls it up and sees the notification, and the weight on her chest lightens enough for her to at least respond. ]

Room.

after temple arrival.

[insubordination]

[ it's been some time, since hughes arrived, and it's felt . . . okay. there's a constant consideration of the reality of the situation, in the back of roy's mind. hughes is dead, and there's no pretending otherwise. but still, roy has gotten into the groove of feeling comfortable, which is never a good place to be.

he's also been considering what maes forced him to consider, which was riza.

it's something that has sort of lingered on the outskirts of thought, mostly because (1) riza is riza and (2) they've both been running from death for as long as they can remember to consider anything else. but maes forcing it into roy's hands in explicit terms has given him something to think about, and it's difficult to ignore what's there now that it's been spelled out to him. struxta had provided a reprieve, but now that everything is calm again, he's faced with the same . . . uncomfortable feelings that maes forced him to think about, because this is all, obviously, his fault.

what makes it uncomfortable is how it's not uncomfortable. admitting he cares about her is as easy as breathing; there is her, and no one else, because they made that pact with one another a long time ago. he would die for her, in a heartbeat, no questions asked. he nearly traded all of amestris for her, until she told him not to. everyone knows how much he cares about her, which is why people continually use her against him, in every step he makes. king bradley did it. father did it. shehui did it. and now, arguably, this damn circle did it, because she is still trapped here, and he is tasked with watching over her, just like he has been since he was a stupid kid.

but life is short. fleeting. and being happy, and also succeeding in his mission, doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. but he is happy, isn't he? is she? or maybe he's just overthinking the entire thing, and he should just maintain the status quo, as it always has been, because she isn't going anywhere, and neither is he.

this is stupid.

. . . which is the last thought that pops into his head before he leans into their room, mostly to see if she's there, and when she is, roy is suddenly struck with the thought that now he has to say something, when he's been lingering outside the door to his own fucking room for a solid five minutes silently arguing with himself: ]

Do you have a minute?

[ smooth. ]

[efface]

[ all things considered, she felt...okay, after the events of struxta. or maybe okay wasn't the correct term for it. she felt satisfied, more than anything, that where the members of the circle had intervened had helped more than anything. el minha still left a bad taste in her mouth, an uncertainty of whether or not they'd been the cause of the strife, or a relief from it. struxta was more cut and dry, more simple, and she wasn't going to take something like that for granted.

and returning to the temple was starting to feel familiar. she didn't necessarily like the fact that a routine was starting to build, but it was better than not knowing where they were or how things worked. even if, officially, they had a room now. with things she left before they were taken to struxta. things that remained here after.

riza is in the room with black hayate when roy leans inside, and she has the distinct feeling that something is. off. even before he asks the question, before she really notices his body language. it's just a feeling, and it causes her a moment's hesitation that black hayate uses to get up from where he'd been sleeping at her feet and move over to his bed in the corner. ]

Of course. Is something wrong? [ she moves to stand - immediately assuming that he needs her help with something. that they need to go and do something about whatever...has roy making that strange expression. ]

(text) post-arriving back at temple

[dadandgone]

I need to ask you something. Can we find a place to talk?

(text)

[efface]

[ this feels seemingly out of nowhere. but at the same time, riza is aware of the fact she'd been thinking about messaging him as well. about needing to talk to him as well. ]

There's a practice arena, out near the edge of the forest. Will that work?

( voice ) backdated to about idk four days ago.

[insubordination]

[ he hates being sick. but this illness has been unlike anything he's experienced before. spending the last week trapped in hallucinatory hell, relieving memories he would rather forget, trapped in something he can't control or choose... whatever this was, it couldn't end soon enough.

but one day, when he woke up, his fever felt gone. he felt like he was in a calm state of mind for the first time in weeks, and he exhales, slowly but surely. relieved, to feel coherent and conscious. it was the middle of the night, pitch black in their room, but lighting a torch should be sufficient to light the room . . .

he shifts, sitting up, blinking repeatedly to try and get his eyes adjusted to the light. but it's still darkness, and he frowns to himself, unease beginning to edge into the corners of his mind. a certain familiar fear, in his stomach, but roy quells it. it's just dark outside. but soon, he hears the chirping of birds outside of the window. birds, he's since learned, come out in the early hours of the morning.

five minutes later, riza gets a voice message. roy meant it to be video, but this works all the same. and there's no voice, no sound of roy, but a series of tapping. urgent, but practiced. morse code, but not. a code that only she knows. each statement punctuated by two taps to signify the beginning of a new sentence. ]

W-H-E-R-E-A-R-E-Y-O-U

[ tap. tap. ]

H-E-L-P

[ tap. tap. and, a hesitation, before the last part. ]

B-L-I-N-D

hey how about fuck you.

[efface]

[ it has been an exhausting string of days - with half the circle sick with a kind of uneasy sickness that caused not only a fever, but hallucinations and a whole slew of other symptoms, riza has been in overdrive. especially between roy, which is a handful and then some when it comes to being sick, and then everyone else it's a good thing that riza is used to being exhausted, used to working through that exhaustion, sleeping odd hours here and there and making it work towards her advantages.

on this particular hour, riza is out restocking supplies. she had plans to take a few towels and some food over to shiro and keith, to check that their fever hasn't gotten worse. there are a list of others she could probably also check in with, people she needs to ask, to look into, but she's trying to gauge just how long roy will be asleep before she needs to head back.

when the device buzzes, she knows her time is up, and riza takes a moment to reset her schedule. to pick up another pack of supplies as she reaches down for her phone, preparing to scold him for being awake, or to tell him it's fine, she'll be back in a few minutes, he just needs to be pat-

there are two taps, at first, and then a brief pause. not that riza needs much more than that. all she hears is two taps, and her blood runs cold, every piece of what she'd been thinking falling away. what was going on? why was he messaging her in code? what was happening? she listens, frozen to the spot in the middle of the hallway, listening.

he doesn't even get through the first two letters of the last word before riza is taking off - sprinting with a kind of energy that comes only with panic. whatever supplies she'd been holding are gone, to the point that it's honestly a blessing she even has her device.

not even five minutes later (four and thirty six seconds, if anyone wanted to be technical) riza is wrenching open the door to their room, her eyes wide as she hovers there a second, her eyes adjusting from the low lighting of the hallway to the darkness in the room. an irrational panic in her spikes at that (what if what if what if) before she sees roy's form in the corner of the room, on his bed. when she speaks, her voice just barely shakes. part of her recognizes she probably should have tried harder to steady it, but a larger part realizes that might not have helped. that he would be able to tell anyway. ]

Roy?

[ general doesn't come natural, for what feels like the first time, as she waits to hear back from him before stepping further inside. ]

voice;

[resistivity]

Colonel Hawkeye.

( yes, that is his preface. hello. lance... sort of cured him of actually introducing himself, although it still feels incredibly weird to reach out to someone without doing it, whoops. )

I asked General Hughes ( he's not going to make that mistake again, given that hughes didn't tell him initially he was in the military. roy didn't correct him, per se, but he did gently drop that tidbit into conversation, so mako sticks with it. ) about who best to speak to about organizing as a group in the crises we'll be facing here, and he recommended I come to you. I've been a detective with my city's police force for nearly four years. I'd like to help.

( this is sort of the most awkward curriculum vitae, but. he has korra, if he needs a reference, he guesses? )

voice;

[efface]

[ she does see his name, though it's not one she recognizes. part of her wonders if she had spoken to someone during the sickness, as there was something of a frantic period of time she might have just not remembered bumping into someone or helping, but she also can't. worry too much about it. knowing roy and hughes? there's no telling who they'll send her way. ]

Yes. [ more as an answer to her name - colonel hawkeye - it feels almost distant at this point, a title she hasn't been seriously reminding anyone about for some time. its use brings with it a kind of disjointed familiarity, but that's a thought for another time.

mako continues, and riza feels herself smile softly. she can hear the new soldier in him, enthusiastic and young. she remembers being there, herself, but that had been some time ago. (though in retrospect, not that long ago). ]

It's nice to meet you, Mako, and yes- I've been working on putting together some kind of response group prepared in case we run into more serious worlds. I have to warn you- this is still in very preliminary phases.

( text ) 11/26.

[insubordination]

[ he hasn't been able to send anything for two weeks, but on this day, the watch begins to flicker. and when it does, he immediately attempts to call riza. but it doesn't connect, and then he tries video, and that doesn't work, so he then proceeds to type. frantically. ]

Riza?
The network is failing. I don't know if this [ . . . ] to be sent through.
Are you safe?
I'm [ . . . ] with other [ . . . ] the Circle.
Talk to me.

( text ) 11/26.

[efface]

[ she notices it afterwards - the humor in the fact that she had gone through the same motions, that at the barest hint of a flicker of life from the device and she was jumping to his name, to try and call, video, anything. she sends him a message almost at the same time, but still opens his, sees the text, breathes again. ]

Received, s-r.
I'm here. I'm safe- the . . . members too.
Where a-- you? Are you alright?

text 11/26

[dadandgone]

Messages ---- so I want ---- it works better ---- could be an indic----as well as what----it up? ---- are closer to me than ---- Roy is to me. Where ----u? At least y----still on ----.

text 11/26

[efface]

[ and there is her second call - a message that comes in right as she's about to send it, a connection she needed to make before she could get much further. ]

-- the depths of Akvos.
. . . hunting. Food for . . .
Gen---l Mustang not . . . me.
---re are you?
Unsure -- travel from . . . but will ch---
-re you safe?

( text ) a few days after arrival!

[insubordination]

Do you want to go for a walk?

[ read: the lack of day/night is driving him insane.
also: he keeps hearing voices whenever he wanders around by himself.
also: he hates being cooped up in a room.
also: deal with him, please. ]

[efface]

Sure. Where are you?

[ because she's not surprised, and she'd been expecting this, and she is feeling just as on edge and just as crazy as he is. no matter what forms they've tried so far - whatever routines they have to get used to these changes and these worlds just haven't. worked.

she's relieved for something to do with her time. ]

text; about an hour after responding to Riza's network post

[moneytwin]

[ She debates sending this, rewriting and deleting several times before finally sending something. ]

Thank you, by the way. For treating Percival's wounds.

text;

[efface]

Of course.

[ the response is almost immediate. she can understand how difficult this can be to say, sometimes. ]

I'm here if either of you need me. I meant that.

( text ) ( like a week after arrival in mirabar )

[insubordination]

[ they share a room and generally spend every hour of the day together but somehow, roy finds the time in the day of wandering around and testing his new powers to send her a message, which says!! ]

I am fairly certain I owe you dinner.

[ :) ]

( text )

[efface]

[ it's been..... a week? maybe. she's not really certain. it's been an interesting time, but nothing. bad. riza has actually been able to relax a bit more, has started to feel a bit more comfortable, enough that she's able to actually do something without worrying about where roy has been, or what he's doing. she's out shopping for food, something domestic and not at all important, when her watch lights up.

riza is caught a bit off-guard at the way she feels herself smile.

there's some nerves there, something that curls in her stomach, but they're not. bad nerves. ]

I am fairly certain you do.