IC CONTACT

[maevelous]

"You've reached Maeve Millay. In your message, do be sure to let me know whether this is business or pleasure."

VOICEMAIL | TEXT MESSAGES | PHONECALLS | BUSINESS INQUIRIES

Comments

audio. backdated to during the blackout.

[shootsharp]

Maeve?

[ The call comes in late. With someone of Maeve's empathetic acumen, she might pick out the note of tension present in Theodore's voice that is not normally present. ]

It's Flood.

[maevelous]

Theodore? It's quite late to be making housecalls, isn't it?

[ She definitely picks up that tension. ]

What's wrong?

[shootsharp]

I found 'im.

[ That slightly raw edge won't leave any time soon. It's been A Night. It's a quiet, latent anger, but the fresh grief beneath it makes it harder to deliver it smoothly. ]

He's here.

[maevelous]

Who? Who's here?

[ There's someone from home other than the two of them. Maeve knows that. But she's not sure who that is. ]

[shootsharp]

The old man, dressed all in black. I reckon he was the one on the network, playin' at knowing us. He's the one who-- he killed her. Dolores.

[ The last part is his first association, and the hardest to say. ]

[maevelous]

[ There's a long stretch of silence on Maeve's end. A worrisome silence? No. A flashback silence. Because for a moment, Maeve's back in her little cozy home with her daughter as a man wearing all black barges in to kill them both. For a moment, she sees it so vividly. And then with a breath, it's gone and she's back in the present. ]

...

[ It takes a moment longer for Maeve to collect herself. ]

Where is he now. You must keep him away from anyone. The things he'll do. He killed my -- he killed a little girl I once knew.

[shootsharp]

[ Teddy is patient, in the silence. It's begun to rain and he seeks shadowy shelter, his horse drawn along with him with lazy steps. The trickles of blood from his grazed ear and split face have slowed to a stop, and pain seems more like a distraction than anything else.

He frowns when she mentions a girl. The flutter of reverie not quite forming shape in his mind, but it sounds like a familiar story. ]

He's gone, [ he says, instead. Insistent in getting all this out. ] But I had him, at first. I had his life in my hands, then it ran through my fingers, like I couldn't-- I couldn't. I don't know why, but I couldn't kill 'im.

He knew it, too.

[maevelous]

[ There's a pause. Of course, Maeve knows exactly why Teddy couldn't kill him. ]

Perhaps it's time for you to pay a visit to my good friend Tony Stark.

[ Because together, Maeve and Tony could likely lift those parameters. They could make Teddy better equipped to face this man in black or any human danger. ]

[shootsharp]

Long as he's buyin' the first round.

[ Theodore has no clue what Maeve might mean, but he could use a fucking drink. The return to banter is a grudging stumble away from the plague of half-memories that seem like they'll drown him any moment. ]

Friend've yours?

[maevelous]

Oh, he can certainly afford it.

[ But they probably won't get as far as sharing a drink before freezing all of Teddy's motor functions. ]

And yes, he is I suppose. As near of a friend as I will allow myself to get. I'm doing a bit of work for him.

[shootsharp]

[ Instead of comment, Teddy offers a noise of acknowledgement. He'd ask what kind, but he's more curious about the matter at hand as he asks-- ]

And you think he can help?

[ He doesn't know what money can do against one wandering monster with a gun, but Maeve's about as sharp as they come. He's willing to trust she's got some idea. ]

[maevelous]

Darling, I know he can. And if nothing else, I'm good for my word, aren't I?