Who: Violet Parr and Emma Carstairs Where: Cruise Ship When: June 18 What: Hanging out Status: Complete
It was definitely more than a little weird, sharing a room with John and Death, but Violet was glad it wasn't a complete stranger. She'd definitely come out pretty lucky all things considered, although she did want to make sure she was a good roommate and gave them both space a fair bit. To that end, she'd taken to exploring the ship a bit. There were some fun shops and definitely plenty to do between the spa and all the pools. Vi had definitely been considering doing some sort of spa day to treat herself, but she wasn't sure when exactly she wanted to go.
She was distracted from her musings when she caught sight of a sign that promised an arcade behind it's doors. That could be fun. Violet stepped inside cautiously and looked around. Definitely not bad at all. She got herself a game card and then looked around for what game she wanted to play.
"Oh, hey!" she greeted when she saw Emma. Violet waved as she walked over to her. "How're you doing? Enjoying all the food so far?" She hadn't forgotten their little food adventure after touring the college together.
Emma was in the middle of a very aggressive pinball game. Without any Downworlders to kill on this stupid cruise ship, taking her frustrations out at the arcade was one of the few things she could do. And there were so many frustrations of the sexual kind. Whose brilliant idea was it to stick her and Julian in a tiny room where there was only one tiny bed and not enough room to pass by without brushing up against each other? It was like the universe wanted to be destroyed.
“Come on, you stupid piece of co—“ She broke off when she heard a familiar voice and whipped her head around, her frustrated snarl dying in her throat.
“Oh, Violet. Hey.” She gave the machine a massive shove that sent the pinball flying, binging paddles as it went.
It was pretty clear to Violet that Emma was working out some frustrations on that pinball machine and she was definitely a little worried about what was causing it. They weren’t best friends or anything, but they were friends sort of and Vi wasn’t one to let anyone hurt without at least trying a little bit to see what was up.
“Hey,” she repeated as she came to stand by the pinball machine. “Everything okay?” Vi asked almost cautiously but that was more because she didn’t want to make anything worse. She imagined it had something to do with the room assignments since Vi certainly felt awkward about hers. Waking up in the same room as Death and John wasn’t scary, just had the potential for awkward.
Emma struggled with a few options for her answer before deciding on the truth.
“No,” she said, giving up on the game. The ball clanked down the machine until it gave a wah-wah of disappointment. She elbowed it in response. “I got stuck in a room with the last person I should be.” Should be, not wanted to be. Because by the Angel, it’d felt good to wake up in Julian’s arms. It was just that she couldn’t. She shouldn’t. Not until the curse was lifted.
Violet nodded sympathetically. “I’m sorry the dome messed with you with your room assignments,” she said, though she knew that it wasn’t her fault. There also probably wasn’t too much that she could say or do to fix it. Vi still wanted to try though.
“I’m guessing there’s probably more to that because you said should be not want to be. I’m not trying to pry, it’s just. I can listen if you wanted to talk to someone about it? Sometimes it helps to talk to someone completely unconnected to everything.” It was an honest offer, but she also wouldn’t be offended if it was turned down. To communicate as much, she added, “Or we can just go get food and talk about anything else?”
“I’ll tell you about it over food,” Emma said wearily. She normally wasn’t one to go around telling people about her problems, but her issues with Julian weren’t exactly a secret, and Violet seemed to be someone who would be a good listener and make all the right noises of sympathy. Short of having someone who could break her curse, it was what Emma needed right now.
Although there was something satisfying about beating up on the pinball machine.
They went down to the cafeteria, where Emma loaded her plates with a mountain of food and found a table by the window, where they could watch the water go by.
“So I’m gonna give you an out any time you want,” she said once they were settled. “You get enough of my whining, you can tell me to stop.”
Violet nodded in agreement and kept a steady stream of conversation going as they made their way to the buffet. The amount of food that was just easily available was sometimes overwhelming for her because of how many choices there were. It was easier for her to share her thoughts on the ship, her excitement for the various ports, and just general positivity because she knew Emma wasn’t feeling very positive at the moment. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to not be able to enjoy their vacation.
She’d gotten a more modestly fille plate of food - and snagged a cookie from the dessert bar - but as soon as they sat down, her attention was on Emma. Whatever it was, it was clearly a big deal, so she would treat it with the same gravity. “I appreciate it,” Vi admitted honestly. “And I will say that sometimes I’m a bit of a fixer so if I start down that way and you really want to just get it off your chest? That’s totally okay and you can tell me to stop.”
Violet offered her a warm, reassuring smile. “Oh and definitely stop whenever you don’t want to share anymore.” She thought that went without saying, but better to be safe than sorry.
Violet was pretty cool, Emma thought. Accepting and self-aware. She’d totally lucked out when she’d escaped with her for food that other day on campus.
“You know my friend Julian?” Of course Violet would know Emma’s friend Julian. Most of what Emma ever said was some variation of “Julian says...” or “This one time, Julian…” It was pretty clear that Emma was in love with the man. So it would probably come as no surprise when she continued, “I...well, we love each other. The problem is, that’s forbidden where we come from. There’s a curse attached. Basically if we’re together, we end up destroying ourselves, everyone we love and possibly the entire world. And now I’m on a cruise ship with him, and we’re in the same room, and there’s only one bed.”
Violet nodded to indicate she knew who Julian was, at least in the sense that she’d heard plenty about him from their excursion away from the college tour. It was painfully obvious that this Julian guy was the love of Emma’s life so to hear that they were fated to ruin everything? That was just terrible on so many levels and Vi made a sympathetic noise in response as her friend continued explaining their frankly terrible situation.
“Is it like that for everyone? Cursed to not be with the one you love?” Every world was different, she’d come to learn, so it felt important that she understand the ‘rules’ that they were facing before she offered up any suggestions. “That really must suck though, especially since you just end back up where you’re supposed to be.” She hadn’t tested that herself, but she’d seen people complain about it on the network. “Could you try separating the beds at least? In our room, we have two beds and the sleeper sofa.” The room set ups might be different though, she realized.
Emma shook her head. “No, only for parabatai.” Knowing that Violet wouldn’t know what that meant, she explained, “A parabatai is like...your partner. But deeper. You take an oath.
“Entreat me not to leave thee, Or return from following after thee— For whither thou goest, I will go, And where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Angel do so to me, and more also, If aught but death part thee and me.”
She was quiet a moment after that recital, feeling the weight of the words and the promise behind them. “Your parabatai is the closest person you’ll ever have to you. Closer than family. Closer than your loved one. They just can’t be your loved one.”
She drew in a deep breath. “And no, the bed won’t separate. Even if it did, it won’t really help. He’d be there. So close.</i>” Within reach. Even in a separate bed, Emma could still reach across in that small room and touch his warm skin, his muscled arm, see the freckles on his cheeks and the curve of his lashes when he looked at her...
Violet listened solemnly. It sounded like a prayer, but there was clearly a lot of weight and importance to them. It sounded a lot like wedding vows so it was surprising that parabatai couldn’t be lovers. Or well, she supposed maybe it made sense considering not all relationships lasted a long time. That was a really tricky situation to be in and Violet knew she had no experience with this sort of thing.
“That sounds like torture,” she said softly, and it was clear she felt bad for her friend. “I wish I could offer to trade or something, but I know that won’t help.” Violet wasn’t sure there was anything they could do to fix it in the short term. “But we could hang out more on the ship and stuff. Maybe if you spend enough time away from him, those few sleeping hours won’t be too bad?” That was a stretch at best.
Emma snorted, obviously not confident in that plan, but she nodded. “Yeah, I think right now the more distance I can get, the better.”
She didn’t want to keep her distance from Julian. He was, after all, her best friend. She wanted to hang out with him. It was just that simply hanging out wasn’t exactly a possibility right now. Not when the air between them was always so constantly charged, and every morning they woke up in that tiny bed.
She exhaled, feeling a bit better now that she’d gotten her frustrations off her chest. “So who’re you rooming with?”
“Okay, so we’ll plan for meeting up early every morning, okay? Just text me when you’re up and I’ll come meet you for breakfast.” It was a win win as far as she was concerned because she got to continue to build a friendship and it would help somewhat. Not in the best ways, nor in any sort of long term way, but it would help a bit and that made a difference.
As would changing the topic from what she could tell. Violet was happy to talk about her friends. “I got paired with Death, as in the literal personification of, and John Wick. I met John when he first arrived. He’s been about to enter a building or something and it turned out he was outside my door. I invited him in for a sandwich and helped him get a little acclimated to Madison before he went on his way. We just sort of have stayed in each other’s orbit since then. Death is super cool. I really like talking to her and I try not to ask all the usual questions I imagine people do when they have the chance to talk to her.”
She paused to take a bite of her cookie. “We ended up in three separate beds thankfully. I got the sleeper sofa but I don’t mind. It’s not like it’s that much littler than the beds. The tricky part is definitely figuring out the bathroom since we have to share. I just don’t want them to feel awkward or like I’m being inconsiderate, you know?” Vi was always aware of those sorts of things.
Emma nodded decisively to Violet’s plan. Yes, she liked plans. (Okay, she didn’t, but in this case, it gave her something to think about other than being in bed with Julian.)
With that settled, she turned her attention to Violet’s rooming arrangement. “You’re roomies with Death?” That was fascinating. She’d seen Death on the networks, but hadn’t directly engaged. “Does Death actually need to sleep?” Something else occurred to her when Violet mentioned the bathroom. “Does Death need the bathroom? Does Death poop?”
Violet couldn't help but burst out into a fit of giggles at Emma's questions. She totally understood the fascination there so she didn't mind answering at all. "She doesn't actually need to use the bathroom, but she is a shower hog sometimes," she admitted. Not that she was the least bit upset with that because Vi tried to encourage both Death and John to do the things they enjoyed so long as what that didn't hurt anyone.
"She doesn't need to sleep, or eat for that matter, but she will indulge in a little of both. Or at least, laying down for a little while. She's really easy to talk to and I'm definitely glad that I've gotten a chance to know her. Actually, she does an advice column every once in a while back in Madison. She's got so much experience that it's a little intimidating sometimes." Violet definitely wasn't afraid to admit that. "Though I do try to be careful what I ask her because I don't want it to feel like I'm trying to take advantage or anything, you know? She's always working so she deserves a break, or at least a little bit of one."
Emma was glad to hear it. Not that she would begrudge anyone of pooping, because it was a very important function, but it was just too weird to think of Death on the toilet.
“Yeah, I’ve seen those posts,” she said. “They’re kind of weird and hilarious to me?”
She didn’t think a lot about death and what happened after it. She’d lost loved ones to death, and she’d sent enemies to their death. She’d also been in Madison Valley long enough to understand that death happened differently in different worlds, so just because there was a Death here who answered questions, it didn’t mean devout Shadowhunters didn’t still go to heaven in her world. She knew, though, some people did take those answers seriously.
“Have you asked her anything?”
"They are definitely weird and hilarious," she agreed. "Some people ask her silly questions, which is great, but she's good at the serious stuff, too. She just won't tell you about the circumstances around your death or what it's like afterwards." Violet was grateful that she had asked those parameters up front and now she had the opportunity to help encourage someone else towards asking her friend some questions next time around.
"I asked her what she would tell people about being in Madison, advice to make the time here more enjoyable. Or there, I guess." Vi shrugged. "Her answer was to build a life, to make friends and find a family for yourself however that takes shape, and to embrace that it's a new opportunity. I've certainly tried to be more open, to make friends that I might not have made before." She wasn't typically very outgoing, and yet here she had close friends who knew her secret. Vi wasn't willing to go shouting from the rooftops about her abilities, but she was willing to let others train her, to give her a different perspective.
"I would definitely recommend dropping her a line. It can be anonymous, if you don't want your name attached to it, too."
Emma shook her head. “I’m ok with not knowing.” It was better for her, not knowing. Then she could go on believing that Julian’s and her parents were in a better place, and that the demons she had killed were not.
“Sounds like your living situation is better than mine, anyway.”
Her gaze turned sly. “Unless there’s someone you wanted to room with?”
Violet's cheeks definitely turned a bit red at that. "Well, I mean it's a little awkward with John? But more so because I know he's been through a lot and he isn't really used to...normal human interactions? He lived a very secluded life before coming to Madison, plus he lost his wife recently and he's a bit older than me, so it's not like anything can come of it. It's just a harmless crush that probably won't go anywhere."
But this was the first time she was actually acknowledging her sort of feelings on the matter and she hoped Emma wouldn't laugh at her or anything. "Anyway. Want to go check out the rest of the ship?" She definitely didn't want to talk about it any more than that.
“Uh huh,” Emma said, managing to imbue the word with a whole host of meaning. But she understood the need for emotional denial, even if she herself didn’t prescribe to that approach. If Violet wanted to think of it as a harmless crush, Emma would let her live with that delusion for a bit.
“All right.” She polished off the last of her pancakes and set down her fork. “Let’s see what else is around here.”