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[iustise]

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[iustise]

[…ah yes. The writing. He has experienced this several times now, which is disorienting given he cannot see so well out of his one eye and yet the words float there in his mind’s eye nevertheless.

It is nice to see the familiar handwriting, addressed directly to him, at least.

It takes him a moment to figure out exactly how to respond, but he manages it.]

𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮,

𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱, 𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓽𝓱 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓭𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓳𝓾𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝔂 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓷𝓸𝔀.

𝓘𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾.

𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼,
𝓙𝓸𝓱𝓷

[Much used to writing long-winded letters, he is still getting the hang of this messaging thing.]

[beautifullies]

[ When he signs, she smiles, but she doesn't say anything about it. ]

𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒.

[ Since she's bringing up the one thing he likely doesn't want to speak about. But at least it's good news. ]

𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐. 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒; 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑟𝑦. 𝑆𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑑, 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑦.

[ She doesn't want him to think that risk only comes with the choice to heal nearly instantly. ]

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔.

[iustise]

[Ah yes. The elephant in the room. On his face. The elephant that had punched him in the face and -- broken it, apparently.]

𝓘 𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭. 𝓝𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓪 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓮 𝓰𝓾𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓮, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼.

𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓭𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻?

[He keeps himself from signing his response, but only just.]

[beautifullies]

𝐵𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛, 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛.

[ She's no idea if this will help or hurt, but she mentions Jamie's name anyway. Because if she'd trust him to this, it means she would trust anyone. ]

𝐼𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

[iustise]

[John smiles reading the words, even though she cannot see his expression. He can hear her in them, and the familiarity of it reassures him.]

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓾𝓰𝓰𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓯𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓘 𝓶𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓷❜𝓼 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓬𝓮𝓭𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮, 𝓲𝓷 𝓯𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝔂𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓲𝓷 𝓪𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽.

𝓘𝓷 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭𝓼.

[beautifullies]

...𝐼𝑛 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠, 𝑦𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦.

[ Claire would be glad to know she's a comfort to him; he may be surprised to know that he is to her as well. True, she doesn't know him quite as well, but she's found his familiarity with her feels just as reassuring. Proof that someone here knows her and she isn't alone. ]

[iustise]

𝓨𝓮𝓼, 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮.

[John takes a moment before he continues. Not necessarily because he does not wish to be healed, but because he is concerned that the pain might get worse before it gets better. That is his general experience, at any rate. Stitches, setting of a bone and the like. But if Claire thinks that this is best...]

𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓸 𝓲𝓽. 𝓘𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓓𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻 𝓢𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓴, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓪𝓶 𝓘 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓰𝓾𝓮.

[beautifullies]

𝐼𝑓 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.

[ Though who knows how long it would take to get to Nocwich and see him even if she could. ]

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚, ℎ𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡.

[iustise]

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮.

[He knows that she would, too.]

𝓘 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝔂 𝓼𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓭𝓾𝓵𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓪𝓫𝓵𝔂 𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓷, 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓶𝓮.

[beautifullies]

𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤.

𝑊𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛. 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑡, 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜?

[iustise]

𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷, 𝓷𝓸.

𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓽𝓱 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓪 𝓸𝓯 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂... 𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓰𝓷.

[beautifullies]

𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑝 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒. 𝐼 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑢𝑔𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

[ The need for food and basic bodily functions don't stop, and nothing in the Horizon counts. ]

[iustise]

𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓘 𝓫𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝔂𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯? 𝓘 𝓭𝓸 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓸𝓻 𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓾𝓹𝓸𝓷 𝓲𝓯 𝓘 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓸 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝓮.

[Forgive him if he does not trust people quite that easily with his unconscious body.]

[beautifullies]

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉. 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓉𝑜. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑜𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓁𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝓁𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝒻 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓅, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓏𝑜𝓃.

𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝒹. 𝒲𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝒶𝓉, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓊𝓅𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓁, 𝒾𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔.

[ It's why she's compared it to dreaming—it might as well be. ]