network | text | backdated mid-late april

[edalyn]

Who: Edalyn Clawthorne + you
Username: badgirlcoven
Warnings: possible mistreatment/neglect of labour workers, will add anything else that comes up

Has anyone else kept in touch with folks from Wolf Pen?

Sounds like things are getting weird again. I don't know if it's our brand of weird or your normal human brand of weird

The miners who got caught up in all that business sound like they could use some more help than they're getting–even the ones that got jobs with that copernicus company. I know that's probably your average human issue. [Which isn't to say she's happy about it.]

But it sounds like the ones with those new jobs are also talking a big game about seeing into an incomprehensible future in a way that sounds kinda like our brand of weird. sounds like some of the stuff they’ve built is moving around more than it sounds like it’s supposed to, too.

Like I say, might be nothing. I mean, I know we work with the guy who runs that place.

[Given this is in text, it's hard to tell whether she's implying the ADI would have noticed if Zyrian Steel were up to anything shady… or that the ADI might know he's up to something shady. It's possible she's leaving it intentionally ambiguous to feel out the response she gets.]

I don't think it'd be a bad idea to have someone check in there, just make sure everything's going alright.

Comments

>action

[graveyounglady]

I will be home in an hour or so. We shall speak anon!

[Some anon later, Mercy gets back to Bonnie's from one of her shifts and will head up to Eda's room to knock. Luckily, it's very close to her own room.]

Ms. Eda? It's Mercy.

[edalyn]

[There's some rustling from the other side of the door before it opens.]

Hey, Mercy.

[Behind her, Eda's room looks much the same as it has for a while—cluttered but not quite messy, full of little lights and trinkets and a few too many books for the shelves—with the one recent change that there are no beds aside from the giant bird nest.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy's brows rise at the sight of the nest.]

Hey, Ms. Eda. I looked at some of the machines like we talked about. I didn't see nothing wrong with them, but... well, I ain't got Ms. Cortana's eye for hardware.

[edalyn]

[And she's just... not going to explain that unless Mercy asks directly. If then.]

Thanks, still figure it couldn't hurt. Maybe... we should ask her to take a look. Then again I think the same guy worked on her new—uh, everything.

[Eda's not sure if that's more concerning for Cortana or about whether to fully trust her.]

[graveyounglady]

[It looks cozy, at least...]

Oh... oh, Brother. You think that's gonna be a problem? I wouldn't know the first think about finding problems on her. Wish Mr. Stark was still here. He was clever with all them things.

[edalyn]

No idea, robots ain't my department either. [Something occurs to her and she snorts.]

Almost wish Al— uh, an old friend was here. He was clever at that stuff too.

[She sighs, because that really doesn't help at the moment.]

There have to be a few people left here who could take a look, though, right? [She's not entirely sure how rare a skillset it is, to be honest.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy thinks about that for a long moment.]

Well, Ms. Cortana, herself. And that turtle fellow. I think he's been helping her out?

[But he's not someone she knows especially well. Maybe that ought to change.]

[edalyn]

Well, yeah. I don't... know if she'd notice anything she hasn't already.

[She genuinely just doesn't know. It's possible Cortana would notice something once she was looking, or it's possible she was somehow made so she wouldn't. Eda really doesn't know enough about being a robot.]

Or if she can look at all of herself. [Maybe she can take her head off to do that? Eda can after all. It would make sense. But she's not sure, so she just shrugs.]

But I think Rue's mentioned those turtle kids are pretty clever.

[graveyounglady]

Oughta acquaint myself with them better.

[Mercy scuffs a foot along the ground.]

I know I been... less cheery since Aelwyn left. Oughta change that. I just miss her. [She takes a bracing breath.] But seasons turn. Hoping I'll see her in the next one. She ain't the only gone, and at least I know she's on some mission, not just disappeared like some is.

You seem like nothing much fazes you, Ms. Eda. Wish I had your sense sometimes.

[edalyn]

[She's a little surprised by the change in subject, but she can't say she hasn't noticed the change. Or that she doesn't understand it, all things considered.

There's a beat of hesitation before Eda responds, her ears folding down a little. On the one hand, it's nice to know she's been convincing when it comes to that attitude. Almost funny, even, given how she actually feels most of the time. On the other, she's coming to understand that her attempts to keep people from worrying don't always make them feel better, especially when it comes to how well they're handling things themselves.

She lets out a little sigh.]

Well... I'll let you in on a little secret. I've had a lot more years than you to practice seeming like that. Doesn't mean this place isn't rough on all of us. You're allowed to miss people.

cw: mention of character deaths

[graveyounglady]

I know. Just feels like missing folks what I do more and more these days. So many've disappeared or gone since I first got here. Think it's only a handful of us is been here all together for a long time. Not that I don't think kindly on folk like you who come along later!

[To be clear.]

Just... feels like when I was younger, a little bit. Folk vanishing... turning up dead later. Some part of me keeps expecting to see folk coming back as need to be put in the ground proper.

[edalyn]

[Eda gives a soft chuckle when Mercy feels the need to clarify, but then she nods.]

We've lost a lot just... since I've been here. Can't imagine it's easy for anyone who's been around from the start.

[But she has to admit, she's curious about the other part of what Mercy said.]

Did you get a lot of undead back home? [It's one of those things that isn't especially strange where she's from, but she gets the impression that in most worlds it would be.]

cw: discussion of dead bodies, death of children

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy blinks at the question.]

Oh, no! Sorry. I meant bodies that ain't had the proper burial rites. Folk went missing and we found the corpses later on, some of 'em left in front of the abbey like omens. The little 'uns was the worst... Terrible things did come to pass, mind, so I wouldn't say that was all wrong.

[She shakes her head.]

Wish they would come back. It'd be better knowing and being able to honor them with a proper set of rites, whatever they'd wanted. Rather than just wondering after what happened to them.

Re: cw: discussion of dead bodies, death of children + alcohol

[edalyn]

Oh, I—I guess I'm still too used to my world. [There's a soft, awkward snort, but it's not like any of this is actually funny. Especially not the part about children, not least because of her worries over her own.]

Yeah... I suppose that might actually help. [She'd suggest oracle magic, but she has no idea if that's similar or even exists where Mercy is from.]

I'm sorry. That's... a lot. [She's not really sure what else to say, right off.]

...Hey, you want a drink? [It's probably not the best solution to life's problems, or bad memories, but sometimes it helps, and Mercy seems like she might need to keep talking.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy takes a breath.]

A-aye. That'd be nice. Sorry, Ms. Eda. Didn't mean to bring something so heavy to your doorstep. I know you got other worries on your mind.

[edalyn]

I might, but you don't got to apologise. It's not like it's more fun to worry alone.

[It's still what she usually ends up doing, because she doesn't like making anyone else worry about her, but that's beside the point.

There's a pause, because people here tend to be a little weird about the nest, but then again that's their problem.]

C'mon in. [And she steps to the side.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy will step inside at the older woman's bidding.]

Thanks. I- Well, first I gotta ask about that.

[A point toward the nest.]

Looks mighty cozy. You build that yourself?

[edalyn]

Sure did.

[And her tone makes it sound like this is perfectly normal behavior.

Fortunately there's also furniture not made of sticks and branches, namely a small sofa for lounging on.

Along with bookshelves, a music stand, and various other things. 'Cozy' might be the best word for the space in general—there's little to no space that isn't being used one way or another. The floor is covered in rugs and throw pillows, musical instruments and various decorations hang on the walls, and the windowsill is covered in plants.

Strings of lights and plastic stars hang from the ceiling.]

Make yourself at home.

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy's curious enough that she starts to go for the nest to sit, but then decides that might be like sitting on someone's bed without an invitation. And Eda lives here with her lover, doesn't she? Best to be polite. Mercy redirects to the sofa.]

How're you doing, Ms. Eda? I been- It's not just people going missing that's weighing on me. I been... sleep-walking. Dreaming about walking through spiderwebs and waking up all dressed and halfway to work. It's got worse of late. Leaves me missing Aelwyn all the more, thinking she could stop me, do something to stop the Web that's wound its way around us.

[edalyn]

[Eda, meanwhile, goes to shelf to grab coffee mugs (one that looks like a stereotypical witch's cauldron, and one which simply says Local Harpy, which she suspects normally has different connotations here.)

She sets them on a cluttered coffee table (well, more of a multi-purpose steamer trunk) before also grabbing a bottle of... well it's certainly alcoholic. And made of apples. Mostly apples, at any rate.

She gives Mercy a concerned glance as she sets it down.]

Still? [She doesn't look happy to hear that.]

I... have been too. Since that bus. I've asked Raine and Owlbert to keep an eye on me, but if I wake up in Dogtown again... [Eda trails off and shrugs, rubbing lightly at her wrist as she takes a seat. The little web symbol doesn't show through her feathers, but she knows it's there, and she can't help thinking, not for the first time, about the fact she could technically get by with one hand.]

I can see why sleeping alone wouldn't help anything.

[graveyounglady]

[The mug that looks like a cauldron is a delight, but Mercy holds that down. The conversation has turned rather too somber for that sort of thing. Eda's first question gets a small nod.]

Aye. It's- I dunno if part of it's that I-I ended up going on it twice, maybe? Once with you and one with Mr. Johnny. I was trying to warn him off, too.

I wouldn't mind going to Dogtown. What's been happening is- It ain't worse, but I don't know what to make of it. I'll wake up while I'm just walking to work. I've had a shower and ate and dressed and packed my lunch. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. To find out I've been doing something else, too.

[edalyn]

[Eda nods; she's not sure either, but she doubts it helps that Mercy had more than one trip. She sits down, pours them both drinks and pushes the little cauldron towards Mercy.]

Yeah, I don't like it either. At least getting us nearly eaten by things makes sense. But the idea the Web wants me to wash my hair or eat a salad...

[Eda shrugs and takes a long sip of her drink.] It's weird. I don't know what its endgame is.

[And she doesn't like that. Maybe it's just keeping up appearances until it can control them all the time? That's not a thought she enjoys at all. But even that feels like there must be more to it. That, and something about the way they're being made to take care of themselves makes her deeply uncomfortable in a way she finds hard to explain.]

cw: mention of child death

[graveyounglady]

Causing fear? Do you... worry about people controlling you? There's a little of that for me, if I'm being honest. The Abbey where I grew up was under the hold of a man who was manipulating all of us like puppets for years. And once I saw what he was beneath his mask...

[She sips her cauldron mug to help with the shiver that runs down her spine.]

He played it like he was just helping you when he told you to do things. All that he did was for our own good. Nevermind him having his thugs murder little 'uns just 'cause they knew too much.

[edalyn]

[Eda doesn't love admitting to anything specifically scaring her, but that gets a little nod... and then a wince, as Mercy goes on.]

That's... honestly that sounds pretty damn familiar. I don't think I've told you a lot about the Emperor back home, have I?

[But it sounds like he might have a lot in common with the man Mercy is talking about, along with being one of the many reason she hates the idea of being controlled. She wonders if Hunter or Raine have mentioned much about the situation.]

[graveyounglady]

[Mercy shakes her head.]

No. What happened with him?