IC Contact Post [for savetheearth]

[elfstoned]

Please specify whether it's text, voice or video and the date your message is left!


PERSONAL CELL PHONE: XXX-272-4076

"Aaron Strider. Leave a message."



CLINIC PHONE: XXX-353-7727

"LSR Clinic. Hours are 8AM-10PM weekdays, 10AM-10PM Saturday and Sunday. If this is an emergency, hang up and call 911, or XXX-272-4076. Otherwise, leave your number and a message and your call will be returned tomorrow."

AS OF 2-28-2015, the only way to contact Aaron is through the Network.


NETWORK NUMBER: 43254644263

Comments

[elfstoned]

He knew my father through the army. They were close. So, when he died, circumstances were such that Eliot was the only one my mother could go to for help.

[His voice is still sober, still quiet. He's choosing his words carefully, but they're not coming out unwillingly.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien nods. Being disinclined to ask about family also means he's not sure what to say when it comes up like this. Sore subjects...]

Are they why you went to the military? I know it was to pay for med school, but...

[elfstoned]

The HPSP scholarship was the reason I went. Maybe I was more kindly disposed toward it going in than I would have been if it weren't for Eliot, but if the program hadn't existed, I don't think that's a choice I would have made.

[Julien doesn't need to say anything. Just listening is fine.]

My father joined up to get out of a bad situation. His family was --

[He shakes his head.]

-- less than respectable, to put it mildly. The military was his way out.

[espigeonage]

[Julien shifts on the stool and settles, nodding. He's still got his pupils large and open.]

All right.

[elfstoned]

Which is the reason that my mother had nowhere to turn but Eliot. She was the only one in her family who approved of the marriage, and all contact was cut after she went through with it.

So you can see why she should hear this from me, and not another relative.

[espigeonage]

[Julien winces, visible as his inner eyelids drawing part of the way across his eyes.]

No kidding. Is phone the only way you can contact her? Will she ask Elliot?

[elfstoned]

She may. But I'd rather use a phone. This is something I'd rather not tell her about through a more impersonal medium.

[espigeonage]

Are you telling him too?

[He studies Aaron opaquely.]

Your voice is different, a little bit. It's still recognizable.

[elfstoned]

I am.

[His head ducks, just slightly, and he lets out a breathy half-laugh that has no humor in it at all.]

He'll be disappointed. He always said I should be doing something more respectable, running a more stable practice.

[espigeonage]

Well - [hmm, no, shouldn't say 'fuck him then'] he can be disappointed, then. You've done a lot of good. Respectable Doctor Strider might have been more reluctant to take risks, with the Numbered, and I guess me, too.

[Julien comes back over with his head and neck feathers lifting. And steals a bite of waffle. Clink!]

It can't balance everything, but of all the shady practices to walk into, I'm glad I picked yours.

[elfstoned]

[That brings a genuine smile to his face -- the broadest yet. It really was a shady practice, and it's good to hear Julien be so unapologetic about it. It's also good to hear that Julien doesn't regret any of it.]

Shady Doctor Strider is glad you did, too.

[espigeonage]

Good, because it's too late to kick me out.

[clink! yeah not bothering with a fork here.]

You should know a couple people have asked me about you. I have no idea where you are, and I'm looking, and I'm convinced everything is slander. Or... libel? I forget the difference.

[elfstoned]

[He shakes his head, still cheered.]

Slander is spoken, libel is written. Not that it matters; I'm being subjected to both.

[Aaron sounds less worn out, for now.]

[espigeonage]

Sure are. [It's good to see Aaron feeling better, even if how he looks now really is kind of weird. So that really is what Aragorn looks like, if washed and in rumpled slept-in clothes that aren't quite long enough in the leg.]

[There are things Julien wants to ask, but he doesn't want to weigh him down more. It'll wait.]

You're taller, aren't you?

[elfstoned]

[Mostly, what it's going to take is time.]

I am, though I'm not sure exactly how much. About six inches, I'm guessing.

[espigeonage]

Probably. It was nice being definitely taller than you while it lasted.

[He was while harpy-shaped. Since changing the rest of the way his height depends on posture. Julien uses his neck to nudge Aaron while stealing another bite.]

...I am allowed to be that petty. Anyway. Clothes. Original owner's about five eight, the godson's six three, I still have some pants around that might work.

[elfstoned]

That's a start. I'll go out and get my own in a day or two, when all this has calmed down.

[The money doesn't seem to worry him.]

[espigeonage]

They button up the legs, most of them, but you won't have your ankles showing. Actually you might need to roll them up.

You think things'll have settled some more by then?

[elfstoned]

I think that once the initial manhunt turns up nothing, I look different enough from all official records of me that I'll be able to evade them for a few hours.

[He lifts the fingers on one hand.]

I can't be fingerprinted, either.

[They're different.]

[espigeonage]

So I see.

[When his skin had changed Julien had started leaving scale-patterns for fingerprints everywhere. They're more obvious to him. He realizes with a pang that he's not sure he could recognize his old prints anymore.]

Then you're going to keep the stubble and like... trim your hair, at best? You'll have a beard in a few more days, looks like.

[elfstoned]

Mmm.

[He nods, running a hand over his chin.]

I don't like it, but it's well timed. Besides, I'll bet you anything my double will have cut his hair short by now.

[Dark, but amused:]

...I wonder if he's been arrested yet.

[espigeonage]

Evil twins. These are stupid, stupid days.

[and there's nothing really he can do about it. Julien can't see himself hunting down other-Aaron. Arnold's doppleganger likes him as much as Arnold but acts so differently, but there's something sharp and tetchy about the little Julien's seen of Aaron's.]

What do you want to do? Here, now? I can make more food. Show you around the house. Talk. Or buzz off.

good to end it here-ish?

[elfstoned]

....I think I'll have a look around.

[espigeonage]

Okay. I'll be here - need to make a broth, anyway.

[Julien's gonna try and feed you into looking less haggard. :|]

You're clear, full access. There's a lab with techy things. It had something in there that insulted people, but I got mad and took it apart...

Anyway, you know how to find me.

[elfstoned]

[A nod, and he's gone through a doorway.]