Still I'm spinning like a roundabout in motion

[allmydiredreams]

On the front of the Kashtta, there is a small heap of angles, knotted hair, and tattered clothes. It's up against the Kashtta's wall, one hand pressed flat against the building's wall and face totally obscured by tangles. For a good few minutes, it doesn't move, but then with a small gasp, the hand balls into a fist, hits the wall, then uncurls

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[allmydiredreams]

Babel's entire attention is on the kitten when Iris approaches, aside from the way her shoulder, hip, head are all still pressed against the Kashtta Tower wall. She's still talking to it, softly -- "Everything's gone, small one, not any kittens here." -- with one finger on its head. Occasionally she flicks at its ears, and it miaous at her in its tiny squeaky voice.

She's marginally aware of Iris -- she's at least noticed that another bodybeat has entered the fray, but it's not something she can focus on to the exclusions of all else at the moment. She can't focus on anything that way at this point, really. But when Iris speaks, she squints up through her hair at the other girl. "I'm listening to the Tower," she says in a loud stage whisper. It's not that she's ignoring Iris's question, it's just that she didn't register there was one. She holds up the kitten. "It will help me."

[OOC: And then I forgot to ooc-note. XD I may not be posting Kaden in for a bit as some of the planned stuff had to be pushed back -- I'm fine with Iris

[allmydiredreams]

Babel curls her fingers between Iris's, gripping perhaps harder than she actually should -- or should be able to. She's getting the pieces very slowly, little notes here and there she didn't catch before, and trying to put them into the song. It's hard, with all the background noise.

"Angel girl," she whispers, suddenly sounding so much more coherent than she feels, or is, "nobody wants to live forever."

It hurts so much to do so. There is always something in the way, but what Babel means and what Iris means are completely opposite things. All Babel wants, right now, is for it all to stop, and yet she still can't help but dwell on the beats, let them consume her. It's what she was made to do.

[sophicsulphur]

She's overwhelmed, momentarily, by all of it-- the ferocity of her grip, the intensity of her words, and the compliment nestled within them, the statement bringing a flush to her face. It always catches at her, when people are willing to take her heart at face value. So few people ever have, in her own world and in Chicago both.

Though she supposes if there's one place she's always found communion, it's with deities. It's surprising, yet sensible, in that respect, that Babel would act this way. It's exactly what she'd expect, but Chicago's taught her not to expect the familiar.

She doesn't know if Babel's happy or sad, when she says no one wants to live forever. She doesn't know if she's happy or sad. She doesn't know what she feels right now, other than-- flooded

[allmydiredreams]

Babel smiles, returning the hug instantly. Even if she's not sure who she is, where she is, or what's going on -- and right now she's both sure and not sure -- it's habit. She is a point in the universe, certainly, but what point that is is still up for debate

[sophicsulphur]

If it's not okay, it's not the end. Iris likes that one. And she likes the tapping, too. She doesn't know why, not consciously, but it feels like Babel's counting out a rhythm that's very close to home. Like she's matching her, in some way, even though that's not a heartbeat-tempo and she can't think what else it could be.

She wants to meditate to it, to let herself get lost in the tapping, let her selfhood slip away until the slight touches are all that's left. Right on her wings, too. Her would-be wings. It's easy to put her focus there, into those twin knots of energy and hope. They're already magically hyperaware, like the universe has two fishing lines run through those spots on hooks. And when it pulls, she dances. She follows.

--she needs not to think about this right now.

But then Babel's pulling away, and she hears it's close to midnight. "Do you have to go?" she asks, tilting her head. It makes a strange kind of sense, to her heart. She's so much like the light to Allen's shadow. Perhaps she disappears at the stroke of

[allmydiredreams]

Babel's lips tilt into a bit of a frown at the change in Iris's beats in response to...her own beats. On the one hand, there's a small stab of hope -- could she feel something similar? This naive mortal girl? There are differences in her beats that pin her as Wanderer, and maybe, just maybe--

No. "No." She doesn't have to go. "Yes." She always does, at the end. "Not now, just...when it all comes crashing down." There's a little sliver of hope now, just a little; maybe this time she won't. Maybe this time the clouds will leave her alone. They've been so absent.

[sophicsulphur]

Iris stands up, ruffling the back of her hair with a hand. "I suppose we all have to go then. Go and not-go. Nothing ever ends. Even when everything ends."

"--But until then. Find me." Her words are quiet, reverent. It's not a command; it's an option. An offer. "Find me any time. Here." She touches her heart. "Or here." Her hand goes to her head. "I know you know how."

It's her Babel-attuned way of saying, If you need me, I'll be there.