[ That's definitely not an answer, Claire. As difficult as it is for her to swallow, as much as she'd like to protest her decision, Hilda understands. Sometimes she wishes that people weren't so selfless; it would mean they're less likely to get hurt in moments like these. But all of that selflessness is what made Claire, Claire. ]
[ It's unlikely that she is Claire's youngest nor does she actually want her to worry for her the most, but it feels her chest with a happy warmth to read those words regardless. ]
no subject
[ Which isn't an answer and she knows it. And she also knows Hilda isn't a child, and deserves to know what's happened. ]
𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.
[ There's a pause in the words before Claire adds: ]
𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒.
no subject
𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘦 𝘐 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴.
no subject
[ Claire sighs and rubs her forehead, trying to stave off a pending headache. She should at least rest, but when? ]
𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼'𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑝.
no subject
[ She's kidding of course. ]
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯.
[ ...The ones she had run into didn't really count. ]
𝘐'𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶!
no subject
[ She's also teasing, she has no idea if that's even right. But she does care for Hilda an immense amount. ]
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛.
and fin!
𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦.
𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸.