duocaeli inbox;

[petitejournalism]

DUONET ID: meryl.stryfe

"This is Meryl Stryfe. Sorry I missed you! If this is about a scoop, let me know a time and place and I'll meet you in person!

If not, then just leave me a message, I guess, and I'll get back to you!"

✉️ ☎️ 📷

Comments

[ndw]

[ meryl is so aggressive

wolfwood doesn't help by just texting back with, ] what

[ ??? ]

[petitejournalism]

[ right, okay, context would be useful, meryl. jumped the gun a little, as usual. ]

please just tell me you didn't bother to look up their meanings before you sent me these flora.

[ndw]

they have meanings?

[ hello? ]

[petitejournalism]

[ BIGGEST. SIGH. OF RELIEF. she doesn't have to hide them in the closet for the rest of her time here now. ]

that's all i needed to know.

thanks.

[ does that answer your question? she's satisfied now, anyway. ]

[ndw]

[ ...? ]

so the ones you sent me had meanings?

[petitejournalism]

of course they did. i think all of them do.

[ she still doesn't expect him to look up any of them though. ]

if you knew what you sent me, you'd need that huge cross of yours for yourself.

[ndw]

what were the meanings then?

of the ones you sent

[petitejournalism]

can't you just look that up on your own

[ndw]

or you could just tell me

you sent them wanting me to know, didn't you?

[petitejournalism]

i guess i did, sure.

but

i kind of sent you them when i was mad at you so...

[ now it's awkward to say!!

she's been thinking a little about the whole 'coming back for them' situation. ]

[ndw]

so they're hate flowers

[ wao he's learning a lot ]

[petitejournalism]

not all of them!!

but

most of them?

look, i was mad at you for leaving us, okay?! you can't blame me for that!

[ndw]

i ain't mad

it's kinda funny how petty you can be

[petitejournalism]

hey!!! it wasn't petty!!

[ ... a moment later: ]

actually, fine. i'll give you that. but just this once, okay?

[ only because she feels bad, if what he said is true. ]

[ndw]

aren't you generous

i never really got why you were so mad about that in the first place

[petitejournalism]

what? what's there not to get?

[ndw]

you don't think getting out of there was a normal, sane thing to do?

[petitejournalism]

not without vash it wasn't!

it's like you didn't even care about him. your joke was totally inappropriate too...

[ the whole "parts in a chop shop" thing. awful, especially in hindsight after what she saw. ]

[ndw]

he made his choice

why should you and me have to die too because he's an idiot?

[petitejournalism]

because... how can you feel okay with yourself just leaving him?

[ meryl has a lot of trouble recognizing what exactly it is that draws her to him — how exactly she cares about him so much. she hasn't thought on it, used her journalism as an excuse, but. ugh.

she knew she might die back on the sand steamer too, and yet she still went through with it. but that's not even the point here. ]

who cares if what you think he did was stupid, doesn't he matter at all to you? because he does to me.

[ndw]

[ he's pretty impressed that meryl can say all of that so openly ]

congrats to you

it was just a job to me. nothing more, nothing less

[ so meryl was probably right to send him hate flowers ]

[petitejournalism]

[ so help her god, if he were here in front of her, he'd need a new shin. ]

see? this is exactly what made me so angry in the first place! i don't understand how you can say that!

[ she wants to chuck her phone across the room, but she refrains. lucky for her phone. she breathes in and out a few times, eyes shut tight, before sending another message. ]

so then why'd you come back? what was that favor you mentioned?

[ndw]

[ because he's an ASSHOLE meryl

in any case, it occurs to him that though it's been a month since the events of july for him, it must be more recent for her. roberto's loss is likely still fresh.

he hesitates a moment, ] idiot or not he managed to keep hopeland from being run over

i owed him one

[petitejournalism]

[ good call, because she's barely keeping herself together in times when she's not distracting herself with things. like this. ]

right, so at least there's one decent bone in your body.

[ kind of a little harsh, but he's made her mad again... oops. ]

you know, i said not all of those flowers were meant to be hate flowers, and they weren't. there was one good one in there. i'm really trying to have hope for you.

[ he's rough as all hell, but she still thought better of him and she still wants to, when he shows tiny glimmers of maybe not being a complete dick. ]

[ndw]

[ wolfwood, unfortunately, is an idiot. because there is a part of him that's glad to hear that, and to know of all the people on gunsmoke that would be happy to see him dead, at least meryl isn't one of them. that there's some semblance of the same connections he'd had as kid still there for him.

but there isn't. one good deed does not a good man make, and so he roughly types out: don't bother



... and then deletes it ]

you should find some kinder hobbies for yourself