paperwork, pride and coffee (thoth)

wouldnt feel fair though, i don't know

if you\re going to text, im going to text
if youre going to talk i'm going to talk

There wasn't much to say, really. Though it would have made her life much easier to just talk - there were things that didn't translate as well when she had to think them through - there was a sense of defeat with that scenario. Not being good with talking... there were worse things to be sure, but it was still in her opinion a pretty bad thing.

As much as she wanted to just open her mouth and let out her sentiments, she refused. Being stubborn was an annoying thing.

A little more clacking ensued.

dont think its just bein shy tho if you can text
can i ask what it s

hey i have a reason

didn't say it was a good reason :P

Truth be told, it was actually a rather fun experience to communicate a little differently from usual. Blurting things out was her forte, and there was little chance to properly do that here. Emil didn't seem to much approve of it, but unless he earnestly told her to just talk, that wasn't happening.

The answer she sought and the answer she received were so different. His answer was... unsatisfactory, to say the least. It was probably safe to keep digging a little more. The quintessential bit of information wasn't quite there yet. How to phrase the question was the question.

why

She pressed on the keys again and sent a quick followup message.

it's a good voice like i said :)

Hmm.

Okay, there was no way she could text back to that. All the questions were to be asked, and she wouldn't be able to text fast enough to process all of them. Instead, she quickly typed out a short message and then closed her phone, putting it on the table.

okay you know what i have too many questions i'm going to talk now

i lose

"So... why were you picked up? Who was the guy and why did he think he was a vampire? He didn't hurt you or anything, did he? Seriously, this is the sort of story I'd have expected from one of the meme sites out there and not real life. And why didn't you talk for years? Did he take your voice sorta like The Little Mermaid? You want to watch a movie or something at some point? Didn't anybody come for you or anything?"

After letting loose her string of questions, Iris leaned forward and took a deep breath with her head tucked down low. She stayed silent and hunched over, chest heaving, one hand on Emil's shoulder, and one hand on the table for support. Seconds lapsed before she withdrew both her hands and sat upright again with a little bit of an exhausted smile.

Iris saw - rather, felt it as it was really obvious - that tension when she held on, and the momentary relief when she let go. Her attention turned to the vibration of her phone on the table, and for a brief moment she found herself admiring his speed.

The story she received wasn't quite as bad as she was expecting. Yes, it was still bad and no one should have to live through that, but she knew it could always have been worse. With a bit of a spiteful smile she reached out and patted his head. "Well, you're okay now... I'm guessing. At least you turned out all right after something that horrible. That's a lot more than many people I've met can say."

Her spiteful look gave way to one of genuine approval and admiration. Whether it was because he didn't really feel he had any other choice, or because he wanted to resist, or because of some other reason that made him hold on - whatever it was, that sort of persistence was always worth a lot of points in her book. "It's still a shame that you had to go through that, and all I can say is I'm glad you're okay. Well, mostly. Still wish you'd talk more."

There was something she wasn't remembering that could be connected to the matter at hand, right at the back of her throat. Since it wasn't clarifying itself, she thought to let it slide. "Can't say I've seen or been through anything as bad... you'd think that growing up in a household that was once renowned for animancy and soul shenanigans would be more eventful."

Were there actually vampires? Iris hadn't met any, and she found out that the one guy who always ordered his food sans garlic was just allergic. Granted, with the track record of the island, a vampire would probably count as pretty normal.

"I think so," she said cautiously, not wanting to trigger any weird reactions. She didn't know why he'd ask, and it would be perfectly understandable to assume that it would be some sort of traumatic thing. "Never actually met any myself, but we have a lot of weird stuff around here. We got demons, tentacle monsters, lizards, and... me."

That seemed accurate enough. Yup, nothing wrong with that at all. Then again, she wasn't aware whether or not Emil had ever seen her use her abilities, or if he'd ever caught her napping in the staff room. People said her wings tended to come out when she snored.

Now that it came up, it made her just a little bit insecure. As much as possible, she didn't really like showing her wings to anyone. To deflect the possible questioning, Iris instead moved the talk some other way. "I - if you're here, that means you're not exactly normal either... so do you have any fancy, nifty powers or anything? Cause originally I thought you had that 'can't talk, too powerful' thing going on, but you're just - ah, there's no term for that."