[ MEADOWLARK ] IC Inbox

[hardwearing]

@david.washington | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

Comments

[hardwearing]

You found him??

[leaderboards]

I did.

[hardwearing]

I guess it's good I'm at work, we don't want him to feel like we're ganging up any more than we already have.

[leaderboards]

No, we don't.

He's going to come by the apartment for a little bit. I can probably talk him into sticking around, if you want to see him later.

[hardwearing]

Yeah, see if he'll stay til I get home.

[leaderboards]

Will do.

[ which certainly reads like the clear end of an exchange with carolina, but another message follows a few minutes later. ]

Don't be mad. Drake and Ephemera helped me sort of set a trap and it went exactly as well as you'd expect. It got a little messy.

[hardwearing]

[ ...

Wash reads the message over again to make sure he got it right the first time but of course he did. ]

You WHAT.

[leaderboards]

I needed to talk to him. Messaging wasn't enough.

[hardwearing]

How could you not tell me you were doing this?

[leaderboards]

If I'd told you, you would have wanted to be there. I didn't want you to have to

You saw how Maine was in my memory. If he saw you as a threat, you would have seen it for yourself and you didn't need to go through that here.

[hardwearing]

Maine isn't something you get to protect me from without my input. He's my friend, too. Maybe I even would've decided you were right and I shouldn't be there -- that might be ganging up on him, anyway.

What if you just didn't come home, and I had no idea what happened?

[leaderboards]

There was never a risk of me not coming home.

[ because arguing the rest is... difficult. but she expected this, so she's hearing him out. ]

[hardwearing]

That isn't the point! You should have talked to me.

[leaderboards]

I needed to be sure you weren't there. I stand by that decision.

[hardwearing]

You didn't even give me the chance to let you handle this.

[leaderboards]

If I told you, I thought you would either insist on being there or try to talk me out of it. I didn't want to have either of those arguments.

[hardwearing]

Fine.

[leaderboards]

[ carolina doesn't respond for a long few minutes, busy with maine and frustrated with this conversation. maybe she did this all wrong after all. maybe she should have just let maine keep hiding. ]

I'm sorry. I won't keep something like this from you again.

[hardwearing]

[ Oh. An actual apology placates him, at least. There's no answer for a bit, then: ]

I'd appreciate that. I just feel like I should have gotten to have that argument.

[leaderboards]

I know. That wasn't fair of me.

[hardwearing]

I know you're used to calling the shots but we're partners now. And he's my friend too.

I'm glad you're both okay, I'll see you soon.

[leaderboards]

Soon. ❤