INBOX: SALTBURNT

[vdovy]

WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK
USERNAME: @sriracha
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@barnes.

[restored]

[Who cares if it's the middle of the night? Some things can't wait till sunrise.]

so
the new avengers
zero points for creativity
not that i expected much from someone like valentina

1/2

[vdovy]

Yeah, well, this is the same person who ran multiple focus groups to land on the name SENTRY

2/2

[vdovy]

BUCKY??

@bob — text, ww round 1.

[sensive]

[ he sends a screenshot of koby’s explanation of the game and rules. ]

this is so fucked up

[vdovy]

We'll survive

[ Pretty standard kill or be killed. Red Room nostalgic, even. ]

To be clear, idgaf what teams we're on
The team is us

@september

[dwelt]

[after this conversation.]

hey yelena.
have you found anything on the bodies that suggest poisoning?

[vdovy]

Not on the bodies, you usually use poison to hide the kill method and all the victims had clear wounds
But I did hear they found a needle and a spoon at the torture scene

✉️ text — un: homelander.

[breeding]

hey, yelena.
i know we don't know each other that well, but hear me out.
last year, when this game happened the first time, i got accused out of nowhere, based on nothing. it's not fun, getting shit sprung on you like that.
so i wanted to let you know that i think it might be you, and i think i have a few good reasons why.
if i'm wrong, well
i'll buy you a drink, when we get back to the house.

[vdovy]

[ Oddly enough, she's touched by the gesture. But he leaves no room for argument, so she doesn't. ]

I drink vodka

@bob — text.

[sensive]

so homelander’s coming for you
and stephen’s coming for me
if he hasn’t told you already

sorry
i know i fucked up

what do we do?

[vdovy]

You did not fuck up, Bob
I think I was the one who gave you bad advice

I told someone else to lay low and she she said if it was her, she would want to be stopped
When I told you to do the same, I wasn't thinking about what you would want
I was just thinking about how I could keep you from the worst of it

[ And now here they are. ]

@yellowjackie | 🔒 →

[katharma]

I didn't want to do that. I'm sorry.

[vdovy]

It's okay
I did the same thing, so don't beat yourself up

@buck120

[maoa]

hey.
feel like taking a walk?

[vdovy]

Where should I meet you?

[ text ] » @chernayavdova

[obmanchivyy]

hey. what are you up to right now?

[normal texts to send in the middle of the night. she can't sleep, sue her]

[vdovy]

whatever you want to get up to ;3

[ Yelena knows an insomnia text when she reads one. ]

notif

[nishtha]

Armand has invited you to play Words With Friends! Will you accept the invitation to play the first word? Download the app now. http://wordswithfriends.com/lc45?id=874&user=armand

[vdovy]

Yelena has accepted Armand's invitation!

🆁 🆄 🅼 🅿

@bob — text.

[sensive]

i don’t think i can get away with just not using my powers here
i mean
i know i can’t
bucky wants to train me

[vdovy]

I will be there in whatever capacity you need
And I think we should also ask Wanda if she can help

@bob — 📞.

[sensive]

[ from last night. ]

Hey, Yelena. [ a little shaky. ] I’m okay. I’m calling you because I’m okay. [ and maybe with somebody else, he’d pause to try to find the right words, but it’s not like that with yelena. an instinctive kind of understanding. ] I just — it was close for a second there.

[vdovy]

Okay. [ No alarm in her voice, no pressure for him to reassure her. She strangles her own worry, not wanting to feed his bad feeling with hers. ] You could have called me even if you weren't okay. But I'm glad you are.

What do you need right now?

@bob — 💌.

[sensive]

[ prompted by the regularly scheduled house insanity and everyone else’s weird relationship drama, ]

are you my girlfriend
should i ask you to be my girlfriend
is that stupid

[vdovy]

I don't really know how it works
I've never been a girlfriend

But I guess I am, right?
We haven't said it but
It feels right

@september – text

[dwelt]

hey, yelena.
have you been doing okay, since everything?

[he thinks about having checked in sooner, or saying something along the lines of i could have or i would have but nixes the thought. he's never been good at maintaining use of his phone and that's never changing.]

i've thought about you almost every day since september.

[and how much his magic might have made her want nothing to do with him, but she still came to the trials to show her support. that was then, though– christmas might have felt like a slap in the face when it comes to him.]

[vdovy]

You have?

[ That's a long time to think about someone and not talk to them, but then it is a two-way street. Their connection was thrust upon them, an intimate violation of boundaries neither of them bore responsibility for. But it was easy — or at least easier — to proceed as if she was alone with it. You can't bury a burden when you're sharing it. ]

I would be lying if I said I've just been busy
I really didn't want to deal with... all of that

delivery;

[unfazeable]

[yelena's widow bite returned, properly boxed up so its contents aren't obvious to passers-by. folded up inside, snugged next to the weapon, there's a paper note:]

Didn't have to use it. If it's broken, it wasn't me.

Thanks.