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[isawallflower]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHEERYCHERRY. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 019.46.820.17 *** CHEERYCHERRY has joined 019.46.820.17 <CHEERYCHERRY> It's Riley! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please leave a message! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please be someone with their priorities sorted out properly!

main: CheeryCherry
anonymous: panthera, aed
retired: gflynn (anon)

Comments

<Harrington>

[hairday]

i politely informed you that i decided against it, and i feel scolded :(

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

I just wanted to make sure you understood

Okay, fine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to SCOLD.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

[ don't apologize to him either, girl, he's just being a shitter ]

sorry i made you think about endless bug cakes

believe me when i say that unless it was a life or death situation, you won't catch me going to talk to those guys for ANYONE on this peninsula

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

Okay, okay, I believe you.

Do you need any other help with Giorno? I’ve got his number.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

i've only ever run into him by coincidence, so

[ contact info, yes. that's probably necessary ]

could be useful

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

[ And she sends back a series of numbers fast enough that it's clear she didn't have to look them up. ]

There. As long as you don't make it weird, it should be fine.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

not making it weird is my top priority

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

:)

[hairday]

[ It's just a smile.

Why.
Why does it look so threatening.


He's just going to leave the chat window be for now.


In a few days, a flat box will show up at her door. Contained within it is an assortment of painfully eighties leg warmers. Most of them are some fiberoptic color, and there's at least one set embellished with glitter that will show up on other things in the wash like a sparkly plague.

True to his word, he only had to fight a few mannequins to get them, thus saving a pretty penny. ]


"Happy Birthday!"

— Steve


[ Not the most creative sign off, but he's quite the traditionalist with the whole hallmark quality card. ]

[isawallflower]

[ Honestly after all the Giorno and bugs talk, Riley thinks for a moment she might have dodged a birthday present. It means it reaches her with all the shock Steve's original declaration inspired. All the same sheepish joy. At first, Riley's pleasantly surprised—where in the world did he find something like this...?

While she's far from an expert in fashion, she recognizes the approximate time period these leg warmers would look at home in. It adds to the experience, to say the least.

It's much less awkward to send a text. Even though she types and retypes her message a few times. ]

You know how hard it is to find something that fits over my talons?

Thank you. :)
I sincerely love it.

[hairday]

Hey, no problem. Now I completely get how strange it feels to go from always being covered up to... not. That's me & my relationship with shoes right about now.

[isawallflower]

It's almost as weird and unsustainable as trying to find tops that accommodate wings.
ALMOST because the weird scaly skin's actually pretty tough? It's not super cold or anything, just kind of bizarre.

[hairday]

I thought they'd look cute, either way, though I wasn't sure what colors you'd be comfortable wearing so I just grabbed a whole bunch.

[isawallflower]

[ She waits. Like, maybe a minute, debating whether to say anything. But— ]

Birthdays have always been kind of weird for me. This is actually around when my brother’s would be. My mom and dad made kind of a production of it. No matter how busy they were, they’d drop everything for him. Even if just a few weeks before they were swamped. When I was really little, I think they tried, but the older I got the more it became obvious my parents really only had time for one kid, and
It wasn’t me.

So this really does mean a lot.

[hairday]

Listen, I've got a lot of love to give, so don't ever worry I'm wasting it on you just 'cause your parents had a limited supply. I don't always know what to write back and I probably joke around too much, but I always, always care, okay?

[ And he knows all of that took a lot to say, because she literally said it was hard the other day. ]

Thanks for telling me, Riley.

cw: parental neglect/abuse

[isawallflower]

I don't think I've told anyone this before.
Well, I mean
I've only ever talked about it with Cairo but not a whole lot. Only because she made me.
Talking about it makes it feel like they're listening or

Like they're going to bust in or something.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

I'm the only one who can see this. Any time you need to let loose, you're safe to vent here.

Though, I can't imagine February made this any easier for you.

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

[ There's a small delay. ]

Yeah, that's an understatement.
It's why at least at the start the other world was nice.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

It was, wasn't it?

[ Now that he's met with Eridanus and convinced all these remnants of that other person to stop grieving, the bad parts of that life don't even feel like they really happened, at least for him. ]

Always wondered what having a sibling would be like.

<CheeryCherry> cw: parental neglect

[isawallflower]

Me too.

[ It shouldn't be her immediate response, considering...but it is. ]

He used to call me Riles when we were younger. I kind of thought he cared about me sometimes.
But he was a lot older and once he went to college he rarely really came back to visit and my parents started fighting more.
Unless they were visiting him, which they'd always do without telling me especially for holidays and I'd find out from a text or an email if I was lucky about how I'd be on my own



sorry that's all a little much
What I was TRYING to say is I like when you call me that.
It feels better.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

[ To be honest, he hadn't exactly realized he was doing it so much, or when it started. It's not not a nickname he would have come up with on his own. ]

Nah, I said it was fine to vent, and that's what you're doing.

[ His reasons for thinking positively of the Soelberg Situation are a lot simpler, but since she's opening up about how she feels, maybe he should, too. ]

My life so far's just been me, changing my mind about who I am again and again, and every time I do my friends can't stand me anymore, or I can't stand them... sorta like what happened with "Nate" and "Luc," and then it's back to square one for a while.

[ Being a normal grade schooler, then deciding to climb the popularity ladder, then deciding he was better off kicking over said ladder, then winding up in retail and waxing between wondering if that was a good call or a bad call. ]

Having a sister was kind of like having at least one friend who was stuck with me, no matter what.

[ Wait, does that sound bad? It might sound bad. ]

ANYWAY, if you're okay with it, and I'm okay with it.
I'll keep on Riles-ing

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

[ Just natural venting. It feels weird to be doing this, both with someone who's not Cairo and in regards to this specifically. You never talk about family. It's one of those things you push under the rug and let sit there on the tip of everyone's tongue, wondering why little Riley's walking home from school, why she was the only person who had to reschedule her parent-teacher conference, why she doesn't have her permission slip signed.

But in a way she's never had before, she can...talk about this. How strange. ]

Of course I was going to stick with you. You were kind of a jerk sometimes, but you were never an asshole.
At least you were never that way to me.
That's what I thought it would be like with him when I was a kid. Someone to always be on my side.

[ I'll always be on—

...That's different. That's very different. ]

If it matters at all, I hope you stay the Steve you are now. I like him. Even if others don't.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

it matters :)

[ The included smile is entirely friendly, or intended to be. While the power of PA emojis is something he's witnessed, utilizing them in such a way himself is not yet a skill in his repertoire. ]

if you ever feel like hey i DO want a birthday cake and a birthday song, actually.
let me know.

we can have a make-up day where we do all the cheesy traditional stuff.

<CheeryCherry>

[isawallflower]

[ Thankfully Riley is not really a passive-aggressive emoji-user. ]

I'll see how I'm feeling?
Honestly even though my family didn't care, Cairo usually got me a cake and a Jake Gyllenhaal movie night or something like that so it's kind of weird to not have that.
I'm not sure if I want some kind of replacement.

<Harrington>

[hairday]

gyllenhaal.

like the same guy other you liked, with all the stubble and the messy eyebrows?