84 [Voice]

[flameandpassion]

[There is a pause before the girl that was in a dozen pieces begins to speak. Her voice is quiet, free of the normal conviction and bravado that she would normally have in such a situation.]

Tell me where I'm needed.

[She has no right to call the shots when this is half her fault.]

Comments

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

[he shakes his head]

I promised to protect him. I shouldn't have left you there alone. [I wasn't there because of our squabbling...]

[flameandpassion]

No one else is taking the blame for this.

[Almost pleadingly.]

I put his body somewhere safe.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

[He takes the moment to make it unhackable, even if he isn't sure that'll work against Aelia but he puts faith in the notion that she would consider hacking their conversation pointless, if she even thought of doing anything of the sort at all]

Where?

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

[x,y]

It's a stone overhang and --

[Mars pauses.]

-- it's not pretty.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

I've seen many corpses. Been the cause of a few. [said matter-of-factly but he wasn't all that sure he would brush it off so easily when he saw it. It was one thing to know he had died, quite another to see the body of the boy he fought to protect. Regardless, he tosses the PCD into the air, transforms into his phoenix form and grabs it with his talons as he swoops out of the building he is in via a window and heads to the supplied co-ordinates.]

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

She skewered him.

[Faintly.]

Just to prove a point.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

I've seen that before on him.

video; private; unhackable AAH RETROACTIVE VOICE UNTIL NOW

[flameandpassion]

[She pauses before turning on the video. She's covered in blood.]

I should have told him no.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

[He can't see it as it is in his claws, but he reaponds to her voice]

He'd never have listened, believe me.

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

I encouraged him.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

He would have done it anyway.

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

I could have burned his research -- Bartimaeus, I can't seal that thing.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

He'd probably have not forgiven you for ... well, years. He would have refused to believe he couldn't contain it. He summoned me at age twelve, he is pig-headed enough to try anything. [Without his usual boasting, it is just fact. Nathaniel was foolhardy when it came to his own intelligence and belief in his control]

I don't think I can either, but I can try.

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

Don't take it on alone.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

Then back me up.

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

[She's silent for a long moment, stunned at the offer and trust, before she sucks in a breath.]

You never have to ask.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

Tell me when you're ready. [the PCD shows the city whistling by beneath him and occasional glimpses of wing-tip and he appears to be nearing Nathaniel's current resting place.]

video; private; unhackable

[flameandpassion]

One hour. Hide his body and contact me.

video; private; unhackable

[imakefootnotes.livejournal.com]

One hour. [He starts to descend and when he touches down, he transforms into his preferred form and snatches up the PCD, stuffing it in his loincloth as he shuts off the feed]