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wilson.simon@cdc.org
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<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>FROM:</B> lastname.firstname@cdc.org <B>TO:</B> wilson.simon@cdc.org [[200 max character message here]]</span>	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>CALLING:</B> WILSON, SIMON</span> [[3 minute max message here]]	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>(1) VOICEMAIL:</B> WILSON, SIMON [[3 minute max message here]]

Comments

[sequestrated]

More than true.

Why did you mention ravens?

[Because the cloud is getting closer, and the sky is darkening. There are more clouds, now, converging from all sides.]

[needlebearer]

We use them to send messages to people far away.

[sequestrated]

[... yep, like the one they're getting right now.]

Like pigeons? Or do they talk?

[needlebearer]

Of course they don't talk. They're just birds.

Pigeons don't carry messages. They're too stupid to be anything but food. I snapped their necks and traded them for bread or a bowl of brown.

[sequestrated]

That's not fair. Pigeons can be trained. They always go home again.

[needlebearer]

Good for the pigeons.

[If this wasn't text, she'd sound very bitter and sarcastic there.]

[sequestrated]

If they're not dead, of course. That would clip their wings somewhat.

[Some things carry across even text. It was a vivid image, but he's not exactly in a position to judge her for surviving.]

[needlebearer]

All men must die. I suppose that extends to pigeons too.

[sequestrated]

And women as well?

[That boy who worried about sexist language is still here, somewhere.]

[needlebearer]

Yes, women too.

[She appreciates the inclusiveness there.]

[sequestrated]

[Still, it has the air of a proverb, like something he might have picked out to say.]

They say things like that at home. "You only live once".

You know some people here say they died already? That's what they came here from.

[He's thinking of Kagari, mainly, who's so loud and vibrant and makes a point of mentioning it.]

[needlebearer]

I've seen someone brought back from the dead.

[sequestrated]

You have?

[Different worlds, after all. Simon is interested, but he doesn't patronise her with Are you sure?—yet.]

[needlebearer]

Yes. He said he died six times.

[sequestrated]

Is that sort of thing common where you come from?

[He suspects a street trick—but then again, he remembers Gliese's steel collar with sickening vividity.]

[needlebearer]

No. I wish it was.

[sequestrated]

I suppose it would work out well for the pigeons.

[Trying to lighten the mood. Outside, the wind is picking up.]

[needlebearer]

You seem very invested in the pigeons.

[sequestrated]

You did say you broke their necks. It's the sort of image that stays with you.

[Like he didn't shoot a rabbitmouse right in front of her. -10 mood breaking, though.]

[needlebearer]

It's a nicer way of killing than most. They don't feel any pain. They're just dead.

[sequestrated]

Well, it doesn't really matter if they felt pain or not, does it? It's nice to consider it, of course. But you had a need and they were there.

[It doesn't feel like something he would say. But it is the way of the world they share.]

[needlebearer]

You believe that the end justifies the means, then?

[sequestrated]

That's lazy thinking. You're alive, and the pigeon's not. Right?

Besides, everything feeds on something else. That's life.

[needlebearer]

I thought you'd be a little more caring than that. This place must be getting to you.

[She's not calling him out on it. She's actually a little pleasantly surprised. Maybe he's not as much of an idiot as she takes him for.]

[sequestrated]

[She doesn't need to call him out on it; he'll do it to himself. Not for the damned pigeon, but for the message behind it.]

I'm almost hurt. You thought I was going to wring my hands about a pigeon?