pharmacy | rubi inbox

hi

[then, after a palpable moment of hesitation:] so much shit happened after i woke up i never really got to say

thank you.
for being there with me.

that's why.

( he waits a bit after he learns that it’s quentin that did it, but he has his questions and too many things this month are driving him off the already unstable edge of sanity he has left ) what the fuck happened. why’d you do it?

Quentin. [ To act like he knows what to say would be - a mistake. He has no idea. The nothing stretches for a few seconds, but it isn't fair to leave Quentin to field his silence either.] I'm sorry. I should've done this sooner.

[ Before it started to look like he's only reaching out now because he's overheard the other shoe dropping. Which he is. But not because he never would've. ]

I hear you've been threatening wizards over my wellbeing.

[ cont. ]

So not the point, Junpei.

[ She sees the communications descend into conflict from Gilia's anger. Finds Quentin in the middle. Remembers what he said to Alicent. ]

After everything they've all been through, they still want conflict. I don't understand.

[ cont. ]

He's one of my best friends here, and if you fuck it up with two of them in one day, we're gonna have a bad time. Take a walk, Ces.

Edited 2024-02-04 03:05 (UTC)

[the courier deliveries take a bit of time in the evenings, but Jin Guangyao appreciates the chance to be active and stretch his legs after a day spent at the moot hall. (or, as it happens, snooping on some interesting conversations via the network.) he lets himself into the apothecary, empty box held under one arm, and calls out a polite,]

Quentin?

[to announce himself. he carries the remaining supplies further into the shop and sets them down on the counter, proceeding to sort the materials that can be shelved to be sold again tomorrow from those that will need to be disposed of.]

[ What carries him down into death? Alina, bright as the sun, with a knife in her hand.

Then there is nothing.

And nothing.

And nothing.

And then—

Life. Sensation. (Pain, bursting white-hot across exposed nerve endings.) A frisson of awareness, thought and understanding and the click-whir of questions, questions, questions coming back online while the body is pieced back together. While an organ is regrown from nothing within the cavity of his chest. ]

Quentin, [ is a hand grasping in the dark, instinct turning back towards the quiet warmth of a little room far from this pitch-black, agonizing space. ] Quentin.

[ His name, like it's the only word Nikolai knows. ]

Did Nikolai tell you?

this mean you don't wanna hear about the coyote and the wolf?

did you like my other stories better, quen?

( the ones involving quentin, a knife, and a camera. the ones he could wear. )

hi

[A mental connection between minds, true psychic transference, and the first thing Joan thinks of is texting via burner phone--]

what do i owe u for the neck shit
i dont have a job yet no1 here has CARS
im not begging

also
do not mention the assist in the woods
very nice tru samaritan bs but thats my business ok quin

[ Ransom's not about to do this where (when?) other people might overhear — not because of the content but because he really wants to shore up this telepathy shit before he tries using it en masse. Quentin is deemed relatively safe to practice on, even if Ransom still doesn't particularly like it. So he waits until the rabble subsides and then some. ]

Got anything good at that apothecary? Besides aphrodisiacs.

r u gay

Hihihi!

I'm camping. It's miserable and I hate it and I think we might die out here, so before my beautiful corpse is lost forever underground, I need to ask you a favour:

look after our boy Jin Guangyao.

and if he's into feet, just let him jerk off on yours at least once.

I'm going out of town to assist the cave system investigation. Do me a favour and keep your head down while I'm gone.

[ Quentin might not find it immediately, but Felipe left him one of his necklaces (a simple, golden chain) in an envelope before going on the caves expedition. ]

[ He dealt with the worst of it when he returned from his brief venture to the peaks. Had to before coming back to town proper, before he could become whatever he was becoming and do real damage. But he can't keep his thoughts away from the caves, can't disengage from the stress of knowing what he left behind, knowing the risk of permanence, knowing he can't go back—

And so inky drops fall from his fingertips as quickly as he can get rid of them. And for all he could hide them in the dark, the town continues to fester. A waiting powder keg. He has enough of his head to know he can't afford to stay like this. ]

Quentin. Do you have time?

[sometime after this exchange, but presumably before this one, Jin Guangyao is back at home and--at least for now--out of immediate danger. he's also not thinking especially clearly, and remembers several hours too late Grady's advice from their brief telepathic conversation. and so, laying in bed and trying to will his head to stop throbbing, he gingerly reaches out--]

Quentin, are you all right?

[ Abrupt, Nancy's words like a hand under blankets, clutching at his elbow. ]

Hi, it's me.

[ A passing attempt at normalcy, whatever that looks like after the Fog, after days and days in these caves where: ]

I can hear them in my head. Not like when you all talk to each other, it's—
I can feel them. Everyone.

[ Everyone. ]

Just heard about the meeting yesterday. Were you there?

Did you receive medical attention?

[ This is neither the kindest nor the cleanest way to have this conversation, but his bedside manner's poor at the best of times. This is far from the best of times. ]

hey.

I wanted to thank you for being just a really, really wonderful person.

that's all.

24/1

1/29

— text

backdated to around alicent's post / jan 27thish

also jan 27thish