ic contact.

[verification]

"Hi, this is Verity. I can't come to the phone right now, so please leave a message. Thanks!"

Comments

text. 1/2

[selfequipped]

First off: sorry about the teasing! It was all in good fun. No harm meant.

text.

[selfequipped]

Secondly, medieval boys, huh? I have some insider information about some hard lessons being learned that I figured you'd appreciate.

jan 21; voice.

[flightsuit]

[Just leave me alone for a few days. Considering how furious she got, he should probably listen to her and follow those exact instructions. Even Kate told him that some time would probably be better for the both of them. But considering he knows he's messed up, it almost feels wrong to waste time when he knows what he needs to say. So he decides to take a chance that she'll completely blow up on him again, contacting her the next morning.]

I'm an asshole. A huge one. If I had the strength of an actual Viking, I'd punch myself in the face. I'm sorry.

[verification]

[ Now that she isn't operating on three-quarters leftover alcohol in her bloodstream, Verity's impatience has evened out. Even if she feels some residual bitterness, she recalls the whole affair on the network as a blur of frustration and upset that she would rather not revisit, especially after this apology. ]

You do have the strength of one, just maybe not in your fists.

[ It's a little snarky, but that's gentled by the understated tease that lingers. He's a good friend, whether they frazzled each other to the point of simmering on hot coals or not. ]

feb 15th. morning.

[flightsuit]

[Right outside Verity's door will be a basket of fresh fish, gathered up early that morning. Right beside it are two cards, one full of scribbles and red paint, and the other containing a note:]

He insisted we give something back as thanks. This was all his idea so sorry about the smell. It's all fresh, so you can cook it up for your housemates or something. I can help out too if you wanted. Honorary Fish Cooking Expert over here! Either way, I hope you enjoy or at least appreciate the humor of it.

P.S. I think that's a heart. I have no idea.

[verification]

[ Guess who steps high-heel first into a basket of fish on the morning of the 15th. Welp. (At least the card and note make it onto her fridge door.) ]

2/23

[selfimage]

I take it you've heard about Kate by now? :(

[verification]

[ Charging in with everyone else isn't her style, not remotely, so she's been waiting to hear back from what's been going on. Anxious, yes, wishing she had been ported in with something as ridiculous as super-strength so she could be there in a useful capacity, but remaining available all the same.

So when she reads his text, her stomach drops. ]

What happened?

[ It's nice he thinks anyone else ever keeps her in the loop on a regular basis, but really. ]

text

[standardization]

Is it really common for men to be so surprised that women are involved with engineering in worlds like this? I don't see the basis for it at all.

[verification]

Men can be jerks about that in every world. What happened?

voicemail.

[selfequipped]

It's not you I don't trust. It's Tony Stark.

[Because right now, Kate's pretty much of the opinion that Verity made this all about her, so she's not relenting on that point.

Still, that's all she says, choosing to leave it at that.]

text

[girlwithout]

MY GREAT UNCLE IS HERE AND HE IS A TEENAGER

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS

[verification]

WHAT?

Okay, don't panic! Do you think he should stay with us so you can keep an eye on him?

Text

[notasaviour]

Sorry for not explaining things before, but... it really was something Loki had to explain. I don't know what he's said, but hopefully it covered everything. If not, feel free to ask.

[verification]

He told me he lured Billy into summoning a multiversal parasite and forced him to 'mature' as something called the demiurge, tried to convince YOU that you weren't real, and almost broke Billy. Then he couldn't take it anymore and confessed everything to you all.

mar 11ish; voicemail.

[flightsuit]

[He saw something had happened on the network between her, Kate, Loki, and whoever really, things he knew absolutely nothing about. Sir Peacemaker would normally try to get everyone to try and talk things out, but considering his own irrelevance to the situation, he figured it best to just stay out of it completely. Still, with Verity becoming one of his closer friends here, he has his concerns for her.]

Hey! It's Hiccup. Well, obviously it's me, since I really doubt anyone else comes close to having a voice like — anyway, hardly the point! Uh, that show you talked about, with the universes and galaxies. It's on tomorrow night, so I wanted to check if you wanted to swing by and watch it with us. It's a really selfish request, I admit, because I've discovered I like making conversation during those info-packed documentaries and Toothless is the worst at have a proper discussion sometimes. [Cue a dragonesque whine in the background.] He says hi, by the way. But, ah, really, if you wanted to — [Talk. Seek out a friend. Take a breather. Get away from the drama.] — you know, just come by, I'll be here.

That's ... that's about it, yeah! I guess I'll see you. [Pause.] Toothless, what did I tell you about eating thos—

[End voicemail.]

[verification]

[ He's the only person who never lies to her. Ever. Verity doesn't care about silly things like false jokes and all the rest that ties in with his natural sense of humor; Hiccup doesn't omit anything he thinks she might need to hear. He's honest and a good person, out of water but kind. Unlike Jim who has all his secrets covered up where she can see (and she won't pry, but it bothers her nonetheless), the dragonrider invites her to find anything of interest about himself that isn't already up for grabs.

She desperately wants to keep him as a friend in this place where nothing feels right and the trappings of being an imPort have literally messed with her mind. Her eagerness to hang out shows in texting back within seconds of receiving his voicemail. ]

I'll be over at six. Will bring wine.

action;

[jirk]

[Don't mind him, it's after midnight on a day that he knows she works late enough not to be sleeping yet and Jim Kirk is totally throwing rocks at Verity's window.]

[verification]

[ Hearing the pluckpluck of something hitting the pane, she drags her glasses on while shoving open the window and is narrowly missed by a pebble that soars past a shoulder to ping off her lamp. ]

Hey! What do you think you're d— [ Oh. As her eyes adjust to the darkness, she leans out and hushes her voice. ] Jim, is that you?

4-1

[selfimage]

[ this takes a little while. he hesitates as his fingers linger over the keys, and takes a breath. some things never get easier, only harder. this is one of those things. like anything that takes a little bit of courage in the face of the sick ball burying itself further into his gut, he just starts typing. ]

Preface to this msg. I'm not going to follow it up with APRIL FOOLS.

[selfimage]

[ notable pause. ]

text.

[selfequipped]

I quite possibly owe you a very delayed conversation and Q&A session.

I also owe you an apology. No "quite possibly" attached.

I'm sorry.

[verification]

It's really alright, I had a talk with Loki.
Think I'm up to speed on mostly everything of significant note.

I'm sorry too, Kate.

text. after lucifer's arrival.

[selfimage]

We have a fallen angel in our midst.

[verification]

Heard you guys on the network, yeah.
He seems like a cheery kind of guy.

You met him before?

4-18

[selfimage]

Were you aware that there's a completely unrelated realm in the bowels of my dryer that makes short work of matching pairs of socks?

[selfimage]

As for what resides there and for what nefarious purpose they collect them is still left to debate. Perhaps someone means to summon me by means of sock!!!! :(

text.

[selfequipped]

Have you ever heard of the Emmy award winning show Breaking Bad?

text.

[verification]

I think so? Something about ... prison, maybe? Not usually my thing. Why?

july 10th; voicemail.

[flightsuit]

[He feels like he's been sleeping, though that's not exactly the word he'd use for it. A glitch in the system had caused him to get caught within the Porter, trapped for months apparently, neither here nor there. There's changes around, some people aren't even here anymore, but he does check to see who is. He'll call Verity, of course. He trusted her more than anybody when he'd been here (day ago in his own mind, months for her).]

Uh, hey. Verity! It's Hiccup. You know, the crazy Viking guy with the dragon. Plasma shooting Night Fury with a major cuddling syndrome? Um, I don't know if you know what happened. I don't know if it looks like I was just a jerk who didn't call for — well, however long it's been. And I'm sorry for that. Really. Things were, uh ... I got kind of knocked out of here for a little while apparently. But anyway — I actually called just to see how you're doing. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Toothless is back too! So he'll want to come around and say hi. Just let me know when that's alright with you. If it's alright. Okay, ah, bye then!

[verification]

[ For a long moment she stares at her phone, replays the voicemail, and has to sit down. Trying to get her nerves under control (after he disappeared, one of her very few friends, she had to assume he had returned to the distant Viking past and was by default dead as timelines go) Verity finds she just wants to see him again. Wearing her friend's abandoned hoodie had only helped for as long as his smell remained.

The hoodie she has on today for a lazy indoors party of one, in fact, sweatpants included. ]

Where are you? Are you okay? What happened!