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[reargunner]

ᴛᴇxᴛ | ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ | ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ | ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ



Leave a message if you want. I'll get back to you when I pick my comm up.

Or I won't.

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[reargunner]

He picks up the bottle and pours himself a generous serving, adding a couple of ice cubes before he sits back and shakes his head.

"No. Didn't see the point in picking up souveniers."

Most he came back with was just an irritating increase in the sense that he's a prisoner on this goddamned ship.

"Just enjoyed the freedom before I had to come back to more of this bullshit."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He nods. "Just another reminder of being stuck in someone's nonsense," he says and it isn't a question. Jacob knows how it is. He'd been living it.

"How are you and Abel anyway?" he wonders, reflecting back on the conversation he had with the kid before port. Where it didn't seem...good.

He can only hope they worked on their shit somehow.

[reargunner]

"We're fine."

He doesn't know Abel spoke to Jacob about anything, and it isn't as if Alexei is in the habit of spreading their relationship issues all over the ship in quite the same way, so he just shrugs.

"He's a dumbass, but I suppose he's getting better at actually listening to me when I talk." Then, after another sip of whiskey and briefly pressing his lips together. "Don't think he really gets who I am and he can't entirely get his head around it. Makes assumptions based on the front I was putting up when he met me. I get that, but it keeps causing problems. But that's a him problem. He needs to sort his shit out."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

That gets a nod. "No arguments there. He's got a lot of shit going on. And sometimes he does the dumbest things," he says, but the laugh is fond. He and Abel have their differences, but he's come to like the little twerp, even if he has a weird take on relationships.

[reargunner]

"He's not the only person with shit going on, Jacob, and he could do with fucking remembering that sometimes."

Alexei clearly does not find any humour in it, and he sinks down slightly in his chair with his hand curled loosely around his glass.

"But it's whatever."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Ah.

So not good. Jacob settles a little and tilts his beer towards him. "Yeah, he probably could." He taps his finger against the bottle. "What's up?"

[reargunner]

"Nothing."

Slightly snapped, though the way he keeps his eyes away from Jacob's and seems to shrink into himself a little takes a lot of the potential fire out of the retort. He frowns and hides the small downturn of the corners of his mouth with his glass.

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it." He gives a small twitch of a shrug. "I'm tired of talking about it. Doesn't change anything if I do. Things just... are what they are."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He nods more in acknowledgement than agreement. "Depends on who you talk to but yeah, I get that."

He's quiet for a moment, letting the silence sit.

[reargunner]

"Nah, that's bullshit."

The silence doesn't sit for long.

"Sometimes talking about things just does fuck all." He frowns, shifting in his seat. "And it doesn't matter who. You can't just talk all your fucking problems away and sometimes other people don't have an answer."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob looks away a moment. "Maybe you've been talking to the wrong people," he suggests. "Or maybe you're talking to people who want to fix it, but that's not what you need."

He takes a long drink, then eyes the whiskey.

He resists for now.

[reargunner]

"Oh, don't you start."

He sits up straighter, only to generously top off his drink. There's a distinct feeling that he's going to need it.

"I'm not someone who can go talking to a dozen different people before I approach a problem." Yes, that is a pointed accusation towards somebody who isn't currently here. "And you've known him longer than you've known me. Doesn't make you an appealing candidate either."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob raises his eyebrows at him. He knows exactly who he's talking about.

"Known him? I hated him for at least...eight months," he grumbles right back, though without any venom behind it. "And he hated me. Remember, the reason you and I first talked is because he didn't want me mouthing off to you about how I broke his nose or whatever it was."

He waves his hand a bit. The details escape him. "But yeah. He's chatty. He's wrong, but he's chatty."

[reargunner]

"The reason you and I first talked is because you didn't know how to leave well enough alone. And some things don't fucking change, do they."

The next mouthful of his drink is a big one. He closes his eyes and breathes in slowly through the burn.

"Lemme guess. You've been on the receiving end of 'how do I deal with my relationship with Alexei' problem solving sessions as well, huh?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Not my best trait, no."

He doesn't leave well enough alone. Not anymore.

"And uh..." he wobbles a hand. "Kinda, yeah. I mostly just tell him to get his shit together and not be an ass. Don't suppose he's following that advice."

[reargunner]

Siiiigh.

Of course. Of course. Another to add to the list.

"At least he found one person who knew a damn thing about me. Pity he still managed to make a fucking mess of everything anyway." He rubs a hand over his face and then pushes out a sharp exhale. "I think he's trying. But a lot of his idea of trying is ignoring problems until they go away or blow up in his face. And a lot of the second one's been happening."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob groans. "Really?"

He just sighs as well and finally brings the glass that formerly held ice and splashes a bit of the whiskey into it.

"What's been blowing up?"

[reargunner]

He blinks, then frowns and sinks back into his seat again.

"I don't—... I told you, I'm tired of talking about it. And telling you would mean putting out more of Abel's private business than I'm okay with."

Which is honestly part of the problem, but there it is.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"I get it." And Jacob is in a sticky situation with it, too. He has less loyalty to Abel, at least. But that doesn't mean much right now.

"It's a shit situation to be in, Alexei. I know I don't need to tell you that, but - it is."

[reargunner]

"Yeah, no fucking shit. So you see how much good talking does for me. Fucking waste of time."

Because as long as things involve Abel and as long as talking about it means breaking his privacy, he's never really going to be able to talk about anything that's bothering him.

"I'm just— tired. I guess."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He's quiet as he thinks, sipping at the whiskey slow enough so he doesn't get too drunk.

"You deserve to have a place and a say in your own goddamn relationship," he says quietly. "Took me a while to find my voice in mine, but - you deserve it. No matter what shit you went through. He's either forgiven you or he hasn't. And if he has, then he needs to buck the fuck up."

Jacob shrugs, then just mentions: "I know about Norton. I know he fucked that one up. Not the details. But - I told him it wasn't going to be good."

[reargunner]

"He says he has. I believe him. Forgiving doesn't mean forgetting."

A shrug, then he closes his eyes and lets out a short, humourless little laugh.

"And of course you know about Norton. Feels like the whole fucking Barge knew about Norton before he finally deigned to tell me about it."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Eh, you can't count that against him. Norton was my warden and I found out through him. I think."

He looks to his glass. Maybe he does need to stop.

That's a problem for later.

[reargunner]

"I'm not keeping score."

He leans his shoulder against the wall and lets his head rest there for a moment.

"But do you know how long it took him to finally come out with it? Three fucking months. And I'll be a hypocrite if I say keeping important shit from someone for so long is a bad idea, but you know what? He's supposed to be better than that."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Supposed to be?" he wonders, because that's a broad statement. Jacob wants to make sure he knows what Alexei is actually referring to.

[reargunner]

"Yes, supposed to be. The whole time I've been here, I've just been watching him getting worse. What the fuck is the point of 'wardens', and how are they supposed to look out for anybody else if they're just as-- more fucked up than the people they're supposed to be 'helping'."

And more than that, it doesn't seem fair. What's the difference between him and Abel, then, if the reason he's here isn't necessarily that he did something bad.

"This whole place can go to hell."