the diadem, inbox.

[vestments]

Inbox

213 - 7826

Voice — Text

"You've reached Mr. Knight. Leave a message after the tone."

Code Source

Comments

text! mid-June, 125.

[heritors]

[ Assuming she got his number after they successfully protected the motel from robbers or something, who knows. Being able to check in with friendly faces without actually having to see them is kind of a marvel, so it only takes One Heatwave before she's messaging Marc. ]

Hello, this is Lucina. I hope you've found a way to stay cool in the weather. [ If this reads awkward, it's because it is. ]

[vestments]

( marc, entirely contrary to any natural inclinations, has shared his (quote-unquote, rip to the poor soul who had it before him) number with a handful of people he's met over the course of INDETERMINATE NUMBER OF DAYS.

that doesn't mean he expects any kind of message, let alone anything to do with the weather. still— )

Hello, Lucina. ( he's great at casual textual communication. ) White's generally recommended as the color to wear in hot weather.

( three-piece suits though, marc? no, but he's going to ignore that. )

How have you been keeping?

[heritors]

[ The downside of having long-distance communication become 'instant' overnight — she may or may not be staring at the phone until it buzzes. It's the novelty hasn't worn off yet, and it probably won't for some time. She's trying.

This doesn't mean her messages are coming any faster. ]

Is that so? I hadn't realized color had an effect on the temperature. [ Said the girl wearing blue from head to toe. She probably ditched the cape for the time being though, so she at least gets a tiny leg up over Marc on the practicality stand point. It's really not much.

But oh, she got ANOTHER MESSAGE while she was responding to the first one. ] I have been well, thank you for asking. The resort seemed to be cooler, though the lack of work made it difficult to justify any long term stay. [ And you know, the whole diffusion zone thing. But she's still learning about that, so. ]

[vestments]

( when it's put like that, marc's aware there's no real way of explaining that it doesn't affect the temperature per se, it can just make a difference in the sun, which isn't entirely an issue when your sleeping habits make you functionally nocturnal, and again: suit.

so— )

Light colors can make it more bearable.

But I've spent a lot of time in hot countries. Uncomfortable weather's nothing new.
There's at least no sand here.

( better! don't make him admit his own impracticality. )

What do you call work?

( or: AGREED, even if it's quite clear that marc is not immediately thinking of TRADITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT. )

[heritors]

[ She notes the new information for later, the lack of relevance to Marc's circumstances or otherwise. She doesn't know he's basically nocturnal, why would she doubt him. ]

I see. Then I'm happy to hear it. [ She is. ]

Whatever I can find. There have been a number of advertisements for odd jobs around the city, to start. [ Nothing long term or stable, really. She's just slowly amassing funds. Getting used to everything. ] They have been helpful in allowing me to map out the area. There have been a small number of crescent moons I've found through it, as well.

[ Like one or two. But she does recognize them! ]

[carmesi]

( she tried calling, got the voicemail, then kinda chickened out halfway through— )

" mr knight "?
i thought this was specter. ( wrong spelling ) mark?

( also wrong spelling )

[vestments]

( oh.

marc should probably elaborate on that at some point, but despite now being an optimal time to do as much, it's—

—not his immediate response. )

Marc Spector.
It is.

( a beat. then two. then— )

Mr. Knight's what I go by at work.

( AN EXCELLENT EXPLANATION. )

[carmesi]

( she got his name doubly wrong. wow. )

ah , so you're doing a whole undercover thing here , then?

( her comma key is sticky, give her a break. )

it's wanda , by the way.

[vestments]

( he's used to it, it's fine. )

No.

( marc didn't think he'd ever miss his iphone, but it's only after he sends the response that he's aware of 1. how blunt it is, and 2. that she'll have no idea he's typing an addendum.

(does he even want to attempt to explain it?)
(no.) )

It's not like that.

( —eh, it kind of is, kind of isn't. it's the excuse he's given on occasion, but it's not the reason for it. the reason is 'if I go by mr. knight, then I don't need to be marc spector', but that's not really something a person just says. )

But who a person asks for gives me an idea of what they want.

( NAILED IT. )

Hi, Wanda.

[carmesi]

( it sounds like a lot of work. his explanation doesn't really explain much to her, other than the fact that maybe marc just like being complicated about these things; she barely knows the guy, so who knows— )

okay.

( not quite nailed... but it passes. on to what she contacted him for: )

my roommate made a lot of extra dessert-y things.
do you want some? with tea?

( what about the weather, wanda!!! )

908 – 1741 - early oct

[tirejacked]

[Surprise, Marc. Jason reads the forums like the morning paper. And even if he didn't have a habit of nosiness, there are some posts that might twig his attention more than others. Considering his context clues, it didn't take a genius to do some backreading and dot connecting to who might be behind this particular number. It's just taken this long for him to get around to using it.

So, with no preamble and no introduction—]

Didn't realize you were franchising.

[The...moons. Also, hi.]

[vestments]

( meanwhile, marc has very little idea as to who this is. could he ask? yes. will he? no, but he does think there aren't that many people who know him to be moon knight and who would care enough to comment on the moon situ in panorama. it doesn't precisely help, but it narrows the field. )

I'm not. The new moons aren't anything to do with me.

They're "tradition".

( —he'd made a point of asking. )

[tirejacked]

[They are so good at this communication thing, actually.  No notes. This will be very productive.

Of course he asked. But let’s be real, this is mostly just pretense on his end to be a pain in the ass in Marc’s inbox. (Not like the festive bats going up on Halloween were ever up to Bruce. Gotham does like to lean into a vibe. And he’ll sure as hell take the moons over the creepy goddamn clown masks from a few weeks back.)]

there’s a joke to be made about new moons in there somewhere. Phases and horoscopes and all that bullcrap. Give me a minute, I think I’ll get there.

[Might narrow the field about who in the Moon Knight Know has decided to come calling. Surely no one else in Marc’s Rolodex is going to be this annoying about it.

And, before Marc even has a chance to finish parsing that text—]

talked to your pal Jake about that sort of thing a couple weeks back.

[vestments]

( marc may have said 'new moons' deliberately, but he'll deny any and all accusations of knowingly making a joke. )

Don't joke. One of my rogues goes by Zodiac. Horoscopes have more to them than you'd think.

( they... don't. but, you know. let him pretend for five minutes while he tries to Avoid A Conversation.

(plus, he may have rather desperately looked into horoscopes when he was Baby Moon Knight.)

very eventually— )

You know what they say about Leos.

[tirejacked]

[Jokes for me and not for thee huh, he sees how it is.

(Got to wonder what a “Zodiac” might get up to in Marc’s neck of the woods. But considering they’ve got Calendar Man in Gotham, well. You’d be surprised.)

He’ll take a beat to consider if the Leo in question is meant to be Jake. Probably, he figures. It’s vague enough to be a halfassed attempt at a dodge. Vague enough to be a halfassed attempt at a concession. He can do this banter thing all day, bud. You can’t escape forever. ]

What? Center of attention? Prone to dramatics?

[Something like that. He’s not actually an authority—preferred pouring over the myths as a kid more than the pseudoscience. But he knows the gist. (He does also happen to be…a Leo. So he wouldn’t know anything about drama queen tendencies himself, surely.)]

Didn’t seem like he was much of a believer. Should have figured it was more your speed.

[Even if just…thematically.]

text. early October, 125.

[heritors]

[ Give him time, Jake had said. She tries to respect it as much as she can by giving him a week, then two. Scrolls past his name a few times as she checks in on the others and bides her time. In the process — it goes from one month, to the next. The city seems to have recovered from the immediate aftermath of the meteorite ( and have been replaced with newer, stranger things; but that's neither here or there ).

That's when she decides to strike. ] Hello Marc. I've come to possess a surplus of jerky; I've found them convenient for longer trips out to the Fringes. Would you like some?

[vestments]

( jake had meant more 'give him a couple hours, maybe a day'. but as soon as one day turned into another turned into another, marc had slowly reached the conclusion that lucina had been made to feel that uncomfortable — not by jake, but by the shared emotion or feelings or whatever — that she didn't want to talk to him. understandable, as far as these things go. expected, given him. it doesn't help his mood.

he'd thought of sending a message of his own, pre-emptive and apologetic and he'd got as far as typing half of it out before deleting it; he'd thought of sending a message that amounted to I spoke with Jake, which he'd dithered over sending for slightly longer before, again, deciding otherwise.

by the time it's october, he doesn't expect to receive anything and so when he does, the surprise means he takes longer than's entirely necessary to reply. )

Lucina. Hello.

That's kind of you. ( he does have questions about what it's made from, but those aren't for now. it's not like he's picky, but it's always good to know. ) Thank you.

( it's sort of a 'yes'. )

[heritors]

[ Would it be better or worse if it was from Adrian's meat compartment? ( It's not from Adrian's meat compartment. ) ( She just got lucky at a local grocer's. )

Anyway. She's absolutely taking that as a 'yes'. ]

I have some time to drop it off now if you're available.

[vestments]

( ugh, he hasn't had time to mentally prepare for this. )

I'm not busy.

[heritors]

[ Isn't that how life goes!!! ]

Excellent. Where should I come meet you?

text - sometime after eldritch blasting marc in the face

[faithfall]

I have a question.

If you don't sleep, why do you have an alarm clock?

[vestments]

( marc has his own questions. namely, why is this what adrian has chosen to linger on? secondly—

no, mostly that.

(did he say outright that he doesn't sleep? he thinks he might have, but he didn't expect adrian to take it as face value. while he could clarify that he meant 'he sleeps very badly', he doesn't.) )

Appointments.

( and does he have any of those here? no. )

And I meant the alarm function on my phone. It's not something separate I've bought.

[faithfall]

Dead men still have to go to appointments as well? You really don't get a break, do you?

[vestments]

I never said dying was a good time.

[faithfall]

Well, if you can spare a moment of your tortured liminal existence... are you free on Thursday night?