On joining a horror game; voicetesting.

[justennis]

Hasn’t there been more than enough experimenting already? I can’t approve of this place.

But if Isaac and Miria are there, and their new friend...

I suppose I won’t fight you on sending me.

Comments

[notpeterparker]

A place with experiments? That sounds really scary. Are you sure you'll be all right, miss?

[justennis]

[Ennis hesitates, torn between the need to hide her immortality and the need to reassure a worried child. There are so many possibilities she is really not all right with that answering only about her physical recovery capability would be easier for once.]

No. But I am even less all right with the idea of my friends being there without me.

Don't worry. We'll protect each other.

[eatthemfirst]

If my mun isn't lying, you'll miss one of the worse incidents at least.

[Note the if. Czes places no particular faith in this claim, especially considering its source. Then again, he's not overwhelmingly concerned yet either way.]

[justennis]

I don't mind missing it.

[Her lips pull a little tighter. One of the worse incidents yet, perhaps. Everything's comparative; Ennis can't trust what anyone who does these things might come up with in the future. But...all the more reason she should be there to give what help she can.]

How are you, so far? And Isaac and Miria, have you seen them?

[eatthemfirst]

[Czes blinks, taken aback at the question. Still, he smiles and responds brightly enough.]

I'm okay!

[He always is eventually. That's certainly been 'tested' enough times. Isaac and Miria, on the other hand, gets a slightly more real smile.]

Yeah. They're doing well.

[justennis]

[That answer is a little too bright. If Czeslaw Meyer were actually the child he seems to want to act like, Ennis suspects he wouldn't sound quite so childishly carefree under the circumstances--an odd paradox. But he's probably had to avoid adult concern for what, two hundred years now, so she isn't surprised at the quick dodge.]

[She leaves that unspoken with a quirk of eyebrows. This might not be the best time to talk about that anyway. Isaac and Miria are a much less troubling topic.]

Good! I do worry about them, even--

[Their newly acquired immortality didn't so much limit the trouble the pair could get into as it added new exciting complications. Perhaps she shouldn't mention that.]

Did you just meet them on the train, or had you run into them before? Isaac and Miria are very--ah.

[Is there a word that describes them adequately? Ennis thinks not.]

Friendly.

[It'll do.]

[eatthemfirst]

[Czes notes the cut-off fragment with faint bemusement—does she assume he doesn't know about their immortality? Still, considering the details of how he learned... and what he tried to do... Czes is hardly averse to a topic change.]

Just on the train. I... uh... ran into a friend of theirs. [Literally.]

And yes. They are.

[justennis]

[Whether her new acquaintance realizes Isaac and Miria are immortal or not, hinting that she knows could too easily move into questions about how exactly they got that way, which Ennis would rather put off. None of the immortals aboard that ship want to be reminded of Szilard, she is sure.]

[But sharing parts of the story shouldn't hurt. Ennis nods in memory, lips curving slightly.]

They do collect friends in the strangest places. One time they were dancing in the middle of a street.

[eatthemfirst]

[Czes snorts.]

I'm not surprised.

[Really, the mental image is far too easy to call to mind. And just slightly less easy to impose reality on.]

Ah—they didn't get hit, did they?

[justennis]

Not quite at speed to injure, fortunately.

[Of the things that happened last year, that's one Ennis can't regret much any longer. Meeting Isaac and Miria had done so much good...besides, she had tried several times to apologize afterward and never could get them to believe she'd been in that particular car.]

[Even so, there's a tinge of shame to her reminiscent sigh. If either of them had taken physical damage right then, they might have become immortal with a pain that would never fade. Not that she could have avoided them any better if she'd been free.]

A very strange way to meet a new friend. But I'll always be grateful to them.

[cuttingbonds]

Isaac and Miria have a new friend? I wonder what they're like.

[justennis]

His name is Czes. He's very small.

[No need to mention the age thing when she hasn't even spoken to the immortal past "hello."]

Your friends were at the station too, so I'm sure they would tell you about him.

[cuttingbonds]

Czes! He's the small boy with the Martillos, right?

[Tick doesn't see them often but both groups do meet in passing.

Though now he's trying to figure out when she is talking about.]

The station? You mean when they went to go meet Mr. Claire?

[justennis]

That's right.

[And Mr. Claire; no wonder Firo had laughed at her assumption of gender from the name.]

Isaac and Miria asked me to adopt Czes as a little brother. I don't know what he thinks of the idea yet, but I'm going to try, if I can.

[cuttingbonds]

I'm sure you'd make a great older sister. Though I wonder if such bonds can form with someone like you and Czes.

[justennis]

Thank you.

[The words are audibly just a little doubtful. If Czes were an actual ten-year-old child without centuries of immortality behind him, Ennis suspects she would feel even more out of her depth. Szilard had been a terrible example of parenting, if what he'd done even deserved the title. There aren't many small kids hanging around the Martillo family for her to practice with. At least Czes has his own long experience and plenty of choice about this.]

I've gained so many new family bonds in the last year, ties I never expected to have--I'm sure Czes can be one of them. But only if he wants to be.

[notpeterparker]

You're friends are very lucky then, to have someone risk their life to protect them. It still sounds like a really scary place though...

[justennis]

[It's still strange to think of her life as something others value. Immortality entirely aside.]

I've been lucky to have them.

Certainly not a place I'd want to think of you visiting. It won't be all bad things, though.