dear_mun | Voice testing! Homeless!

[Okay... and that's supposed to intimidate her?] You mean like the fire and pitch forks kind? Now that would be a change of scenery.

[ Calling him the darkness, Vi? That doesn't make him want to share everything with you so freely anymore. Fool him twice, shame on him. ] Sort of. Only I hear it's empty. It's supposed to be some warped kind of paradise and it grows, the longer you're there.

[ Tate won't say how, that in theory it's the sins of the people that make the city. ]

[Ouch, Tate. That would almost hurt if it weren't true...:|]

[She pulls her hand from his, tucking hair behind her ear.]

Paradise might not be so bad. Beats the alternative.

[ She's human. She's almost a normal girl. She might be afraid of his world but she's also courageous. She faces her fears eventually, regardless of the urge to run away. Catching how she dislodges, he crosses one arm over his chest, plays with the long sleeve on his opposing arm. ] It's what you really deserve. Something beautiful. Free of the rust and the rotting.

[ The G-rated version of his shit and piss and vomit of this world speech. What? She's a lady, can you blame a guy? ]

[Human or no, she could probably take his speech better than her dad did. A little shit and piss in the world never intimidated her and he certainly never did, except maybe on the one occasion where he scared the shit out of her friend before they were friends.

As tempting as paradise was...]

What, and leave everyone in that shitty house?

[She wanted to say you but that was selfish. He was the darkness, she knew that, and some part of her had wished she could save him after seeing that with her own eyes. As much as she liked her darkness, his was an endless ocean of it.]

Yes. [ Comes his exceedingly simple yet thoughtless answer. He says it unblinking. He remembers trying to beg her to stay with him, trying to create some half-cocked plan about a double suicide. She ran screaming from him. None of them can leave the property, before now.. that'd been empowering. His invincibility and reconfirmation that he'd always have Violet, no matter how she felt about him. ] You think if I was the team captain and had a choice in who goes and who stays, I wouldn't try to get your family out? One big Fuck You to that house and everything it stands for.

But I don't. We're here. We should take the opportunity.

[She ponders his words, seething a bit at the callousness of them. He was right, they weren't here and she might as well suck it up and adapt. She was here. With Tate. Considering she'd told him to go away, this was awkward. She crosses her arms, sizing him up a bit.]

Point taken.

I'll get out of your way now. I just wanted to help you. [ He knows that determined and dismissive look of hers, regrettably too well. So he turns to leave, following her wishes. ]

Wait... wait! Just, hang on a second. Just... [stay with me. She didn't feel like being stuck somewhere with no one she knows - even if there was only her ex-boyfriend for company. Sure, she could probably handle whatever gets thrown at her but... it's Tate. They finished before they'd really gotten to begin. When he'd done all the things he did... too much hanging in the air here for her to just let him disappear on her without a word. Yet, she had no clue why she wanted him to stay, or what she wanted to say to him. Just having him there... familiar habits don't always die that hard.]

[ He stops. Yeah, like the first ripple of a stroke. Of course, he stops. Paralysis. He hangs on the edge of a statement that never comes. With his back to her, he smiles. It's hope. All his compulsions to please the women in Murder House and she's still the one thing he's ever wanted for himself. Is it because she needed someone to love her? Or is this really his own?

Tate figures the answer is a question mark. It has the potential to not always be, but he knows he wants Violet all the same.

He spins on his heel and faces her, doesn't rub it in her face that she's indecisive. ] There are people here, all over this place that are a lot different than what we're used to. Most of them are better than back home.

[ But some... well, he's heard of a few worse than him. ]

[She half expected him to keep walking. She'd turned away from him when she'd broken up with him - it was only fair he do the same right? She'd even tricked him, kissing him to help that boy escape death - just once had been enough. This could probably be considered the longest conversation they've had since she told him to leave her alone and it killed her. She knew he had no reason to stay for her no matter if she actually voiced the request or not. Of course she's indecisive -but only because she doesn't know which of them is the victim or the instigator anymore. Not right now at least.]

You're right. The risk probably wouldn't be so bad. Maybe...[She just trails off a bit not voicing the thought: Maybe, I want to go with you - wherever you're going. She had no right to want that after what he'd done to her family - to her mother. He killed her.]

[ Fair's neither here nor there. She's been the spark of his temper before but he rarely shows it to her face. She always leaves the room, which is for the best. He can't see himself taking it out on her. Trying to kill that kid had been for her, so she had a friend. Maybe a new love interest. You know, someone she could shoot some shit around with. Forever's a long time to spend alone, when there's only Halloween to look forward to. ]

Maybe...? [ He fishes, carefully watching her expression. ] What is it?

[She wouldn't blame him if he got mad at her. She shouldn't even be talking to him - not after everything that had happened. In the Murder House she wasn't alone, but in some game? Where she might not know anyone? She didn't know. She'd hated moving from Boston to Los Angeles at first. This would be the same deal, only minus her family. Tate had been the thing that held her together - until she killed herself anyway.]

Maybe... [She tries to voice the thought she'd had, knowing full well she would feel horrible for it, like she was betraying her mother.] wherever you're going... maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I wouldn't mind. [I wouldn't mind you being there...]

[There. She said it. Not too hard, right? It wasn't like she was telling him she still loved him. She wouldn't allow herself to be in love with him again. Being with him wherever she went would be better than being alone. He was familiar, he use to be home.]

[ He still believes that if you love someone, you should never hurt them. His actions went against that logic though, and so she has every right to want him out of her life, or unlife. Love. A big word that's supposed to mean forever and be unconditional, surpass all bounds. And it had, hadn't it? For awhile. Until everything fell to pieces. ]

You wouldn't mind going somewhere with me? [ There's almost a child-like awe to his voice, where there should be disbelief. Tate should be wondering if this is another trick, but he's still blind when it comes to her. ] I thought you never wanted to see me again.

[And there was that thorn in their relationship. Yeah. She DEFINITELY still hated him. She wondered herself if there were any redeeming qualities left to him. Yet, if she had to go somewhere unpleasant where she didn't know anyone that would be about the same thing.]

There's that. I did say that. [She crosses her arms in that defensive way that she knows he will recognize. Also a look that pointedly says You did kill my mother.. jerk.]

Not like I have any options left, do I? Sticking together in a crap place? I guess I can deal.

[Just having all the feelings on the subject is making her want to break down again. Maybe staying away from him or ignoring him would have been better. She feels like she's pulling a giant scab off.]

[ A last resort. The devil you know. Something goes harsh in his expression or maybe it's the emotion that goes slack in him, either way his face is void. He doesn't know how he's supposed to react when she's saying she only wants him around because while he might not be the safest bet, he's at least safer than the unknown. ]

There's always another option. Nobody's backing you into a corner. You can go anywhere you want, see anything. I won't leave your side, if that's what you want. But you should know that you don't need the buddy system. You could go alone, sleep with a light on if that's what it takes.

[You may be the devil but made her feel safe once, Tate.]

It's not about having a buddy system... or a night light or whatever. Just... whatever. Forget I said anything.

I won't forget about it. I don't want to. What I want is to be near you, Vi. [ He wants to be with her but he knows that she's not ready for that, doesn't know if she ever will be again. Tate takes a step closer, reaches for her wrist. ] I won't let anything else happen to you. I can promise you that.

You.. We- It- it can't happen, Tate. You hurt so many people and just - I still don't know how to forgive you for that... I don't think I can! I just - [His hand on her skin feels so familiar it makes her heart ache and it would speed up if it was still beating - whether from rage or otherwise she's not sure. She just curls her fingers into fists and looks down at his hand over her wrist. She should pull away - needs to pull away. She hates that he put them in this situation. That she stupidly voiced her worries to him. She's braver than this, she knows that. She's always been brave. Yet this - it was all unknowns. What to do now...]

I don't care, [ he starts, voice heavy and raw with emotion, dripping with the vulnerability he's always shown her. ] I don't care if you hate me, because I can wait until you figure it out, if it's something you can think about. I'm not asking to have what we had before. I - [ I want to be your friend again. ] - I wanna be near you, that's all. I swear.

I want to be there so you're not alone, so you won't have to worry. And if all it is, is me checking in on you or me telling you things, letting you know about the town. That's enough for me.

[It was a reflex, her hand moving to his cheek. She'd done it then too when she said goodbye to him.] Tate... I- I don't know... I really don't know. I- I don't want us both to keep hurting like this... there's just no way around it is there..? [She's asking herself this question more than him.] I don't know what's enough for me. [Time could heal them... maybe. Just maybe. There was no certainty between them anymore.]

[ Why does her touch have to be so damn intoxicating? Tate bites the inside of his lip, trying to snuff it all out. She doesn't need to see this, to hear it. ] You have to know. It's your choice. It's always been your choice.

[ He can't answer if there's a way around it, but jerking him around? Telling him to go and wanting him to stay, it's a sick pattern. ]

[She bites her lip for a minute, in an attempt to stem any errant tears.]

I wanted to choose you. I didn't have any choices, Tate. They were made for me.

[It's a sick goddamn world and they live in it. Isn't that right, Tate?]

I hate this. [ Seething, not at her, but at everything around them. ] No more ghosts, no more stupid Murder House. It'll be you, Violet. It'll be all you.

[She wants to tell him no. She needs to. It isn't fair, the situation they're in. The choices that were made for her and by her were like a dead weight on her entire being. All she can say is his name, her voice sounding unsteady to her ears.]

Tate...

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