2. Understanding

[sarcasmancer]

Who: Jade Curtiss (sarcasmancer), Anise Tatlin (forhislegacy)
Where: Floor 52
What: Jade told Ion, in the least revealing way possible, that he would talk to Anise about what she's been hiding from him. The problem with that--for Anise--is that Jade already knows.
When: Some point on December 28th
Warnings: None in particular, for now. This will get updated if necessary, but I don't think it will be.


This really isn't Jade's style.

Nonetheless, he did make the offer to Ion to talk to Anise, and since Ion accepted, there's nothing for it. Not that the Malkuth colonel had made the offer in bad faith--after all, he wanted to make contact with Anise anyway, and settling where precisely everyone was relative to everyone else is part of that--but he's not exactly the one one goes to for these kinds of delicate talks.

Jade has never been one for delicacy. He at least is capable of tact, though, unlike certain royal redheads he could mention, and there is quite literally no one but him who can take care of this, so he supposes he may as well. It would be his preference to leave that particular matter to Anise and Ion to sort out on their own, and he has no intention of forcing Anise to do anything regardless, but... Alas, he's learned that he shouldn't simply ignore a problem just because he can, and he can most certainly see a problem here.

For the nonce, he waits on the platform in front of Floor 52, a patient, pleasant smile on his face, hands in his pockets like there's absolutely nothing to concern him anywhere in the Tower. He'd asked around for the best place to conduct a private conversation, and this was one of the places mentioned, as well as the game involved in it. The game in question, of plotting out a path to safety and pressing buttons to send playing cards hurtling into oblivion, is the long and short of the note that he left in Anise's mailbox earlier that day, requesting that she meet him here for a little leisure time.

There's nothing like running for your life to make for an amusing time-killer, after all!

Comments

[forhislegacy]

"Yeah, but I guess that's what happens when you're old."

Anise waves a hand dismissively, as if she didn't just take a jab at his age, but she isn't quite able to keep a mischievous little grin off her face as she continues. "You know, your joints start bothering you and then you just sort of shuffle along. Next thing you know we'll have to be getting you a walker!"

She tilts her head to the side. "Ummm, I think Ion got here a month before I did. One of their months, so four weeks for us?"

If she has noticed that he's slowly maneuvering her into position for his checkpoint, it doesn't show on her face.

[sarcasmancer]

"Oh, I do know," Jade says with sincerely faked emotion, bending over slightly to rest a hand on his back. "My poor back aches all the time, you know. Soon my bones will shrink and I'll end up even shorter than Luke--why, possibly even shorter than you, Anise, if you can imagine such a thing."

Because that's pretty short.

Four weeks before Anise. That matches what Ion had told him, so so far, so good. And unless Anise has gotten much better at poker--always a possibility, considering how much she wanted to play around at the Keterburg casino--it doesn't look like she's realized where he's going with this. Not that he needs to padfoot around much longer; after all, she can't run off.

"Ahh, I see. It seems he's more acclimated to the local calendar, then; I believe one month is how he described it," he replies, tracing a path along the spade suits. "He was very helpful when I first arrived, though he was the third from our world that I met. We had a conversation later at the graveyard." Jade adjusts his glasses. "It seemed he was quite troubled at the recent departure of another from our world, among other things."

[forhislegacy]

"Aww, you poor thing. ❤" For someone whose words are sympathetic, Anise sure isn't acting very sympathetic. That's probably because she knows full well that the last thing Jade needs is her sympathy. "If you get that short you'll need someone to look after you, right? I bet you'd be really grateful to whoever did, too..."

He probably knows her well enough to know where this is going. She'll make sure he doesn't dislocate a hip, he'll repay her by leaving her all his money when he finally kicks it. A wonderful idea!

She lets the amusement fall away from her face and settles into a more serious expression - as she normally does when discussing Ion these days. This place is dangerous and there just isn't enough room for playing around.

"Everyone here calls it a month, so I guess it's an easy habit to pick up." She shrugs, and her serious expression becomes a little more concerned. "...what other things did he tell you about, Colonel?"

[sarcasmancer]

Of course not. After all, Anise is a terrible person. It's how she and Jade can get along so well~. "Oh, exceedingly grateful. So grateful that I'd will all my money and property to... the Fonic Academy, as a donation in their name," he concludes with a wide smile. "For the benefit of the future of youngsters like you, Anise~."

A wonderful idea, indeed.

But Anise turns serious the more they talk about Ion, and Jade is perfectly willing to match her. This is, after all, a serious discussion--more serious than Anise as of yet realizes, though she's starting to. In fact, she considerately gives him a perfect straight line, and he turns on one heel to map out the hearts, still not quite facing her.

"Oh, this and that. In particular, he mentioned that he was distressed about how someone he cares about has been keeping secrets from him," Jade replies nonchalantly.