theotherright: (moshi moshi)
Arthur Lester ([personal profile] theotherright) wrote2022-09-11 07:55 pm

come sail away IC inbox

Cabin 127. No calls, we text like men on our disney cruise phones.

If you send Arthur a message it will be read out loud in one of a selection of friendly automated voices!
astrogator: (pic#16152214)

a couple of days after terrible excursion ends

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-12-31 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Can we meet?
I want to tell you something but I'd rather do it in person.

- Tayrey


[She'd actually rather do it by datanet message or whatever this is, but that would be both cowardly and not fair to Arthur if he has to get someone else to read it out to him, she doesn't really know how this ancient alien technology works.]

astrogator: (pic#15819319)

[personal profile] astrogator 2023-01-08 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Eight this evening, pick your favourite bar?
astrogator: (pic#15928581)

[personal profile] astrogator 2023-01-08 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Perfect. I'll see you there.

[She sees nothing unusual in this. The Drunken Sailor is quieter than the others, after all. Ari's there early, takes a table near the door, and nurses a pint while she waits for Arthur. When she spots him, she stands, and is about to wave when she realises how unhelpful that'll be. She calls out to him instead.]

Arthur Lester! Over here. Peace and prosperity!

[She steps out, ready to help him if he's not completely familiar with the layout of the place.]

Thank you for meeting me here. I appreciate it.

[Ari sounds tired, but otherwise very much her normal self.]
astrogator: (pic#15980473)

[personal profile] astrogator 2023-01-08 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Here.

[She'd never spent time with anyone blind before arriving on this ship, but Ari's the practical sort. She's quick to pull out his chair for him, and guide him to it with a light touch on his arm. Necessary assistance with minimal fussing over it, because that's what she'd want herself, in his place.]

Let me get your drink - what'll you have? Do you want any chips? They're good here.

[As if she were in an ordinary pub, and ordering didn't involve talking to ghosts.]
astrogator: (pic#15963523)

[personal profile] astrogator 2023-01-10 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
[She doesn't comment on it, but as soon as he clarifies, Ari lifts her hand from his arm. The expedition was different, she tells herself. Emergency situations are different. She'll learn.]

Sure. I'll go up and get it, I'll be right back.

[And she does just that. It doesn't occur to her that his beer - made with roots? - isn't alcoholic, but it hardly matters anyway. A few moments later, she sets the drink and chips in front of him, and resumes her own seat at the table.

Now the difficult part.]


I'm not any good at this sort of thing, so I'll just speak plainly. We were at odds over... what happened. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was also doing what I always do, holding out even when there's no real hope of success.

[Doggedly defending a plan with no popular support, just as she'd struggled on through the snow despite her injury. She hadn't realised it until she'd heard Arthur's impatient objections.]

I value you too much to just let that stand between us, so - I'm sorry if I made you think poorly of me.
astrogator: (pic#15928594)

[personal profile] astrogator 2023-01-12 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[She wouldn't call herself foolish, so she's fairly sure she wouldn't think he was, either, but Ari lets it go. They probably won't agree, and it's not terribly important that they do.

His question does make her think, and she sips at her beer before she speaks again, taking the time to collect her thoughts.]


Honest answer? I had two reasons. The first was principle. It was an injustice, and an unnecessary one. I still think we all should have refused. If it was genuinely the case that Skulduggery had to die, then that would-be captain should have simply executed him. No murders, no spectacles, no dragging in of everyone else because he was too much of a coward to do what had to be done.

I do think that an alternate solution was possible, at the outset. It probably wasn't by the time you spoke to me, because we didn't have a chance of turning public opinion. I didn't see it, and that's because of the second reason. I had to stand by Oda. I don't know how much you were told, but those were his words I was shouting, not my own. He couldn't do it himself, he'd been very badly hurt, and so had Yato, and people he thought would have supported him either weren't there or actively turned against him. It felt, in the moment, as if I were all he had left, and I have my faults, but disloyalty's not one of them.

[She adds, sadly] It took me too long to realise that it really was hopeless and that he wasn't able to back down.
Edited 2023-01-12 17:02 (UTC)