spies | Inbox for saltburnt.

From:

knelt

you have a standing invite at the hex club/pink slip. so you know.

From:

spies

Your new employer?

[ As if he doesn't already know... ]

From:

knelt

my new employer. you'll like it. it fits your style.

From:

spies

[ He has two distinct styles: the public-facing, tastefully ostentatious style that exists as a means to an end, and the more understated, characteristic style of his private spaces. To his knowledge, Isolde hasn't yet seen much of the latter. ]

You said it was more like a hobby.

What do you like about it?

From:

knelt

( she considers it for a moment, weighing what she thinks versus what she imagines mark wants to hear versus what gets mark to trust her. any time he asks a question, it's a opportunity — even this, some way to move a piece on the board to paint her in a particular light.

at the same time, honesty is ultimately what makes isolde such a talented liar. she doesn't have to pretend — the truth and what she wants him to see are so often the same answer. )

it helps me meet people. and there's a community around it. plus, it's physical. like exercise.

From:

spies

In a way, community is one of the selling points of Lyonesse too.

I'm glad you've found that for yourself. Though I admit I would have expected you to find it somewhere more like your dojo.

From:

knelt

i like the village part of lyonesse. well. i train at buffy's gym, too. slay you later — it's kind of a corny name. she's nice, though. a lot of the people there are good fighters. do you want to know my schedule?

From:

spies

No.

I only need to know your next shift. I'll be there then.

From:

knelt

( do u know what it feels like to be fake engaged to the most annoying man in the world ? )

tonight. probably late. midnight. you know that was a bigger question, right? something about if we're still painting our relationship in a certain light to the public. or what the game plan is with that. or if you even want to be involved with me, while we're here. or if you want to know what i'm up to while our wedding is pushed. kind of a load bearing question.

From:

spies

I bought you at auction so that no one else could. So you would be mine even if just for a night.

We can discuss the finer details but whether I want to be involved with you isn't in question, Isolde.

From:

knelt

it isn't? last time i saw you, you said some of the worst things anyone has ever said to me, and then you left.

From:

spies

[ Shit. They're going to have to have that talk — again — but not now, not over text. ]

And that's precisely why what I want shouldn't factor half as much as what you do.

From:

knelt

i want ( she doesn't send, but keeps her cursor there, debating. the dots suggesting typing disappear on mark's end, and she's left with her thoughts — knowledge of what she has to do, for the saints, for her uncle, make him believe it, whatever it takes. and the distance, almost intangible knowledge of what she wants to do, what the truth of that is, the same truth she told him in her father's study, before her broke her in pieces. i want to be married, she thinks, but mark would never believe it. isolde isn't sure she believes it yet, beyond wanting to do a good job, to be told she did a good job, to do exactly what is expected and desired and wanted of her. so. small truth. more honest. ) to be friends. i don't think it's out of the question for something true to be in the foundation of our relationship. i don't have many friends. and i can't speak for you, but i'm alone. or lonely. all the time. i want to not be lonely. if possible.

From:

consents

Sir, could I ask you a question?

[He isn't sure he actually wants to hear the answer to it though, given that it's going to hurt either way. But alternate reality or not, he has a job to do. And he can't do that without all the details first. So-]

Are you and Isolde going to be moving in together, here?

From:

spies

I believe Isolde has already settled into a room without vacancy.

Besides, we haven't been married yet. It would be improper.

From:

consents

But you're engaged. Even if you don't share a bed, you could still live next to each other.

I would've thought you'd want to stay close to her, after all this time.

[Says the guy that feels like he's dying already after less than a day away from them both.]

From:

knelt

will you go to prom with me?

( attached screenshot. )

From:

spies

[ someone is googling 'honeysuckle corsage' as! we! speak!! ]

What kind of fiancé would I be if I let you go to prom alone?

From:

knelt

one who likes sleeping on the couch. i think i'm wearing white. with rhinestones. did you go to your school's prom?

From:

spies

I do enjoy you in white.

[ Guy who is thinking about that bathing suit and also the bridal fitting room... ]

I did. Compulsory brother duty.

Melody didn't appreciate that I spent most of the night intimidating her date. I didn't appreciate that her date was a prat.

From:

knelt

magic house, if you're reading this. pictures of mark and melody at prom. please. but you didn't take a date?

( isolde surely you aren't about to get jealous of a theoretical teenaged girl ... )

From:

spies

[ He has to stop himself from responding that she would be wasting that request on him. Did you know our Tristan was prom king? is on the tip of his fingers before reason catches up with him. ]

I started the night with one, but she ditched me for a willing dance partner.

I can promise my attention won't be divided this time around.

From:

knelt

( isolde feels relief, and then immediately feels goofy for the relief. imagine being hung up on a date over a decade ago, with your fiancé who runs a sex club for a living. )

does that mean you're planning to dance with me? i didn't go to prom. i did go to cotillion though.

From:

spies

I think we're overdue for another dance, don't you?

Not your idea, I'm guessing.

From:

knelt

i think we're always dancing. but probably, yes. school mandatory. i got paired up with andrew nicholson. he was not as good of a dancer as you are.

From:

consents

[The dangers of being given a night off, knowing that Mark is with Isolde, and having access to a bottle of something a hell of a lot stronger than the usual Żywiec porter. Time for a middle of the night, drunk text...]

i can't do rhis. i can't sit here and watch you both when you know hlw i feel about you. i feel like you've torn mu heart ojt and stomped it into the ground, and i don't know how i'm meant to carry on, knowing i can't have uou

i need to leave. but i promised i wluldn't and it's killing me

i can't do this anymore

From:

spies

Promised you wouldn't?

[ It's a moot point, when no one can actually leave, but Mark never demanded that promise from him. That must have been Isolde. ]

From:

consents

she knows what we did. i tood her i'd leave when we got back, but she asked me not to

tell me to leave. please. i need you yo fire me

From:

spies

I'll fire you if it gets you to relax. You don't need to work for me, Tristan. But I'm not telling you to leave.

From:

consents

you have each otyer now, so why can't you just tell me to go? the only reason i still exist in your world is because i'm youe bodyguard. i can be replaced

From:

spies

A bodyguard can be replaced. You can't.

From:

consents

i'll be desrtoyed either way

From:

spies

You're not obligated to stay away. It was your choice.

I haven't changed my stance.

From:

consents

it's the onlu choice. you're engages

[Urgh. Okay, time to find a fresh bottle. Hold please, caller.]

You and Isolde are going to be married. It doesn't matter if it's- Shit. [Unintelligible muttering] It doesn't matter if it's real behind the scenes or not, you'll still be Mr and Mrs Trevena. I can't be a part of that.

[Yes, he has indeed found the speech to text option. So much easier to keep drinking when he has both hands free.]

From:

spies

The wedding will be held at St. Patrick's Cathedral, not Saltburnt Manor.

By all accounts, we're not even in the same dimension as the one where our marriage will be recorded.

From:

consents

You don't get it. How could you.

[His thoughts are broken up, each coming through as a separate text as his phone takes his silence as a finished message.]

I told you that I get attached, and that it's a problem. I can't. Want you. Because then I won't be able to let go. I won't.

I won't be able to go back to how things should be when we go home.

[More drinking, in a failed attempt at dulling the pain of ripping his own heart out instead.]

So just tell me to leave, Mark. Please. I don't think I can survive you otherwise.

Edited Date: 2026-01-31 02:39 pm (UTC)

From:

spies

I understand more than you think.

This is an opportunity. Time we wouldn't have elsewhere. I'd like to make the most of it.

From:

consents

No it's not. It's just prolonging the inevitable. You and Isolde.

You and Isolde have a future together. I don't. So you can't say something like that. It's cruller than making me leave would ever be.

From:

knelt

i planned to give up orgasms for lent, but i guess that's off the table now.

From:

spies

Only if you've already come.

From:

knelt

well. no. but there are orgasms foretold. orgasms in prophecy.

From:

spies

Prophecies are always subject to interpretation.

From:

knelt

should i be suspicious that you're arguing in favor of me not receiving any orgasms?

From:

consents

[After two weeks of forced non-contact and far too much time spent with a certain US President...]

Mr Trevena.

[Where the hell is he even meant to start?]

I'm sorry for disappearing without warning you first. But I was given a quest that involved me having to stay away from you. I was going to use it to move you up a level, but I don't think I can anymore.

I want to. I do. But President Moore [How to say "is a danger to himself" without saying it?] could be in trouble if he stays in Bronze alone. So I think I need to use my reward on him.

I'm sorry.

[It's not everything he wants to say. Isn't really anywhere near close to revealing the realization he'd come to over the past two weeks. But the rest feels like something that should be shared in person. Something that he needs to be face to face with Mark to say.]

They've promoted me to Gold though, which means I have my own room now.

Would you meet me there tonight, sir? Please. I need to talk to you about something else too.

I'd do it again.

Inbox for saltburnt.

Inbox for saltburnt.