Logs:Vignette - After the Beep
| Vignette - After the Beep | |
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| Dramatis Personae | two difficult years I'm just looking out for you. |
| Location
conversations that won't stay closed | |
"Hey, you've reached Katherine Pryde. Leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can." Hi Kitty, it’s Mom! Sorry to hear about your friend Dawson, I only met him that one Family Weekend — wasn’t he calling himself some sort of bird? — but he was so polite and lovely, may his memory be for a blessing. It seems pretty bad out there in New York, are you sure you’re okay? You can always come home again you know, Lou is so excited to meet you. You can bring a special guy or girl home too, if you want to, the new guest room has plenty of room. You let us know if you need anything, okay? Love you, be safe. *
there’s no response for 48 hours.
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* "The person you are trying to reach is currently not available. Please leave a message after the tone." — can’t believe you do you know the favors I had to call in to get you that nice place in Inwood do you KNOW what Upper Manhattan property prices are like these days you were supposed to stay there until Mikhail’s kid got back Kitty call me — --- "The person you are trying to reach is currently not available. Please leave a message after the tone." Hi Kitty, it's Mom! We saw you got another award, Lou and I are so proud of you, hon. When do you think you can come home for a visit? I know, I know, the coronavirus, but don't you have that spiffy mutant vaccine? Oh, I saw some stuff on an Instagram — are you dating Ryan Black? I thought he was a homosexual but if he converts I don’t think your Bubbe would care even a little bit. Still, if you two aren't serious – how is that Steven Rogers doing these days? I know, I know, mind my business, I'm just looking out for you! If you hear from your father, tell him I’m *not* — you know what, never mind, I’ll deal with him. Kisses! *
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--- "You've reached Kitty, leave a message after the beep. beeeeeeep!'" Honey you missed our Skype, is everything okay? I tried calling Marinov but she just said you had rabies??? How did you get rabies, is it MUTANT RABIES? Call me, Kitty, or I’m flying in, Alan works for the airport, I am not kidding around, call me! ---
there is no reply. there hasn't been a reply to this message chain in a long while. --- "You've reached Kitty, leave a message after the beep. beeeeeeep!'" Chag sameach, honey! I know you’re teaching right now but listen. I know you said you couldn’t tell me who your new boyfriend is but I did spill to the book club and we did a little deducing like Miss Marple, and, well, it *must* be Jackson, isn’t it? I always thought he was a sweet kid underneath all those tattoos, and eyepatches *are* very dashing, aren't they? Of course you can’t say what with him being in prison and all but isn’t that Shield thing right in New York, isn't that where they just moved him? You’re quite mutated so I’m sure getting in to see him is no great trouble but do be careful! Send your mystery man all my love. --- "You've reached Kitty, leave a message after the beep. beeeeeeep!'" Hey kiddo, look I know you said I should be off the twitter but here I am. Seems you're trending for, uh – racism? Fire freak racism? I can’t make heads or tails of this video but — Look, call me back, I know a guy who can get this buried no problem. Delete this message when you’re done, though, kay? Call me. I'm just looking out for you. * "You've reached Kitty, leave a message after the beep. beeeeeeep!'" Kitty-honey, it’s your mother— you’ve left me on read so I’m calling so you know it’s urgent. Your father sent that video round, who is that man? Who are those women? What have they gotten you mixed up in is this because of your just-a-friend Jackson — the Holocaust Education committee is saying he broke Magneto out of jail, is that true? You know we don’t get real mutant news out here — "You've reached Kitty, leave a message after the beep. beeeeeeep!'" — you should talk to your phone company about longer message times. Sometimes I got a lot to say and holding down the microphone for a voice memo isn’t easy with arthritis! Anyway, are you dating that guy who was on fire? He seems like bad news, aren’t there any nice mutant boys at your shul? or girls, or one of those in between no binary folks like Marinov? Not Marinov, though, adore them but they are far too young for you and your father would throw a fit. Lisa set me up with a new man at the JCC— no I’ll tell you when we talk. Skype on Friday, love you! --- june 13th, 2022 “It’s Kitty, leave a message.” Happy birthday sweetheart, I hope things are calming down. Just calling to let you know I sent you a care package – no chocolate this time, I promise, I am not trying to kill poor Marinov. Hope you're holding up okay with your dissertation! Now I know I was off base with Jackson and with Robbie the fire fellow, and frankly I'm glad! I didn't really want you to be a stepmother so soon or be set on fire, but! You got to tell me sometime, who is it? How am I supposed to share all your baby dance recital videos without having an email for him, hm? Gosh, you were so small, time moves so fast doesn’t it? Have you spoken to your father lately? We’ll Zoom tonight. Love you! --- october 5th, 2022 “Shana tovah! You’ve reached Kitty — I’m unavailable, leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I can. Hey, Kitkat, g’mar tov. I know you’re probably at synagogue today and you’re busy but — can we talk soon? I probably shoulda reached out before Rosh Hashanah, actually — look, we're never going to be able to fix this properly if you don't come home so — you know what, don’t worry about it, I’m just gonna —- “Message deleted. To re-record this message, press 1.” --- “This is Kitty! Leave a message.” No rush to answer honey, but do you know any Pezzollis? I got this wonderful note thanking me for – well, you, I suppose, seems you helped make somebody's day? And I hate to be paranoid but you know how your father is – I just want to make sure this is genuine and not some sort of code I should be worried about. It went to the PO Box, which I guess is still your permanent address – What? Sorry, that's Marshall, he wants me to remind you we have your spare registration paperwork here, let us know where to send it – so I'm not that worried, but just let me know, okay? Love you. --- “This is Kitty! Leave a message.” Hi kid. Listen, I got some news – exciting news, job news – and I really want to tell you before you hear from your mother — I’m gonna be in New York for a few more days, can we get dinner? Let me know. Just us, though, no roommates, no boyfriends. Text me. --- “This is Kitty! Leave a message.” Hey kiddo, listen I know you're upset with me but – I don't know I thought we raised you better than that, if you're going to miss a scheduled dinner you should text you first – I'm very disappointed – I know this is hard for you but you have to respect appointments, Kitty – just – listen, just be at the hotel Thursday, okay? This is going to be a good change for us as a family, I just know it. * “This is Kitty! Leave a message.” Oh, sweetheart I know you can take care of yourself but I'm looking at the news about the Lower East Side and it just looks awful, was it an attack? Doesn't matter, long as you're safe. Is L– your boyfriend okay, that wasn't him, was it? No, of course it wasn't, that was rude, wasn't it? I'm just so scared sometimes. …Even more scared with your father out there now – At least he was keeping most of his business far away from me since the divorce. Keep your distance, okay? We'll talk strategies when we Zoom next. I love you. | |
