EL NYSA • INBOX

[motivation]

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[motivation]

[ in a way, this is nice for dutch: it's a celebration that khlyen hasn't managed to ruin for her. it's something she has absolutely no negative associations with or memories of.

she could come to like christmas. ]

Sounds fun.

[tailorable]

[ he hands her a tumbler of whisky (from her gift to him). ]

No earth holidays in space, then?

[motivation]

Half the planets of the J have their own traditions and holidays.

[ dutch accepts the tumbler with a pleased grin, lifting it to her nose to breathe it in before holding the glass out. no toast, but clinking of glasses works for her. ]

[tailorable]

Guess that makes sense.

[ he follows suit, and he doesn’t even water it down (this time). ]

You know any good traditions from the J?

[motivation]

There's one.

[ her expression tips into something softer. not nostalgic but thoughtful, at least. ] Reckoning night.

[tailorable]

[ !!

he doesn’t have immediate positive associations for the term reckoning but —]

Well, go on then.

[motivation]

[ it's not necessarily positive. or negative. ]

The night before something big happens, you go 'round to everyone you got to reckon with and settle scores. Whether you've wronged them or they wronged you, whether they helped you or you helped them.

[ a shrug. ]

So if you die in whatever comes after, you do it with a clean slate.

[tailorable]

[ huh. not exactly positive or negative, no. ]

That's kind of intense. [ he sips at his drink. ] You feel like you've got a clean slate, then?

[motivation]

[ eggsy sips, but at that question, dutch knocks back the entirety of the contents of her glass. ]

Not even close.

[tailorable]

[ he follows suit, though he pulls a face after. ]

Loaded question, I guess.

[motivation]

No shit.

[ she holds her glass out for a refill. if they're talking about stuff like this, she wants to be more drunk than she is. ]

Do you?

[tailorable]

[ he can take a hint, and pours another one out for the both of them.

at her question, eggsy thinks of his father, his family, and harry hart. ]

No. [ there's a list of things he needs to do — that he intends to do. ] It's a work in progress.

[ maybe that's how it is for everyone. ]

[motivation]

[ this is not what dutch expected when she came here. she'd been expecting snogging, maybe a quick fuck -- but then, the last time they'd done that, dutch had used eggsy to distract herself from johnny and alvis going back into stasis.

this isn't bad. she still didn't expect it. for a moment, she musters eggsy, eyes sharp. assessing his honesty, deciding how willing she is to share with him based on how willing to share he is, too. her gaze softens at his answer. ]

Yeah.

[ she lifts her glass again. ] I'll drink to that.

[tailorable]

[ full disclosure: eggsy never knows what to expect with dutch, just that he always enjoys it.

a clink and a drink it is, then. ]

I like hearing about your mental, space world, y'know. [ a little softer, that. still intimate and perhaps no less sad, given that all their worlds are gone. ] It's ain't like anything I've ever known.

[motivation]

[ nothing wrong with keeping a boy on his toes, now, is there? though dutch hardly does it on purpose. she's not that calculating, though khlyen would have liked for her to be. ]

Yeah?

[ all their worlds are gone and dutch misses the quad, despite it all. she wants to face aneela. to get a chance to end the war. instead, she's here.

she shrugs. ] It's crazy, I'll give you that.

[tailorable]

[ he hums in thought. ]

Like this place?

[ el nysa, in its craziness -- or in other ways. ]

[motivation]

Yeah. [ in its craziness, definitely. but a moment later, dutch considers, then shrugs again. ]

Some of it, at least. Not the magic. [ that's new to her as well. ] And the politics are different.

[tailorable]

[ relief colours his face when she admits her newness to magic. sometimes, he feels like the only one from somewhere normal. ]

Huh. We've got different political structures, but the issues are kind of similar to me. [ suspicious royals, territorial lines, and so on. ] Did you mess around with that pact business back in Wyver?

[motivation]

Some of the issues. But the resources aren't nearly as scarce and there's no mining.

[ as for his second question, ] No.

[ too suspicious. too unwilling to link herself to anyone. lacking any serious candidates, too. ] Did you?

[tailorable]

[ interesting. both what she says about her home and the pact. ]

Yeah. Me and Henry gave it a go. [ he hasn't mentioned it to anyone, even harry hasn't discussed it since, but he doesn't think you'd have to be a spy to guess who he would select as a partner. ] It's weird shit, Dutch.

[ not bad or good weird, but he apparently speaks russian now, so. ]

[motivation]

[ that gets her attention. not that he didn't already have it.]

Weird how?

[tailorable]

Like... Henry studied some languages at uni, yeah? [ wait. ] Do you have uni? [ quickly. ] At school. And I didn't, not even a little. [ in a tone suggesting he finds that obvious. ] But now — it's like I did.

[motivation]

So it links — what, just skills, or thoughts and emotions?

[tailorable]

Definitely just skills. [ he pulls a face. ] I can't read Henry for shit.

[motivation]

[ that gets a snort. almost a laugh. ]

Fair. Guess that makes it just useful, not creepy as hells.