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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.

Comments

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob found his life here. Not on the Barge, but with people who actually gave a true shit about him. He isn't going to consider losing them.

"No, the deal doesn't matter. I dont have anything i want that I can't get myself."

He laughs. "You think the Admiral would give me a deal for money? You think anyone's just asked for money?"

[reargunner]

"I dunno. Probably?"

He pours some more whiskey into his glass, pleasantly buzzed by this point but with no intention of stopping.

"Thought you didn't want one, though."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"I don't," he assures him. "But shit happens. If I get paired, I'm not bailing. It's the risk I'm taking. Whoever it is can have their deal, though. Cuz I sure as fuck have no intention of - wardening."

[reargunner]

He settles back into his chair and lets out a little 'pft'.

"You'd not be that different to half the 'wardens' here, then. Only a couple of the temps I've ever had thrown at me have bothered with me past the first shitty attempt at an introduction."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He scoffs. "Fuck that. The difference is that I can see how bullshit this is, and I'm not trying to convince anyone of it."

[reargunner]

"Dunno, I think more people than not can see what bullshit it all is."

Especially those who have been here for far longer than Alexei himself. If you don't see it, you're delusional, in his opinion.

"Got no patience for anyone cheerleading the system. 'S why me and Abel don't talk about it. We're never gonna agree."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Abel's never defended the system to me," he points out, but that doesn't really mean anything, since they haven't really talked about it.

"Seems more stuck than anything."

[reargunner]

"Has he talked about it with you?"

Because that's an important clarification, and one that will have Alexei immediately rolling his eyes if Jacob tells him that they haven't... because in that case, what a fucking stupid assertion to retort with.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He wobbles a hand. "Not directly. Not in a while, at least. It's not something I really want to talk with him about." He chuckles. "Which yeah, doesn't mean shit, but at least he's not going around cheerleading it."

He's not defending Abel by any means, but there are some who do go around with wide open love for this goddamn ship.

[reargunner]

"Psht."

The chuckling is getting on his nerves. He can't even explain why, except that maybe he's taking the topic of conversation a bit more seriously than Jacob is.

"Whatever you say. Just know he's never gonna get me on board with his 'everyone should play nice together even if they don't like each other' crap. There's more than one person here I'd punch in the nose if they got too close to me and they'd deserve it for pissing me off."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Fuck that," he grumbles. "You don't have to do shit with anyone else. Playing nice is for people who have something to prove. You don't have to be nice to anyone."

[reargunner]

"Fucking right I don't."

At least they can agree on that much and it isn't a new concept for Alexei. He has people he likes and doesn't and those he doesn't like sure as fuck know it. There's only one case where his mind has been changed.

Funny what being told you can shoot energy weapons at a guy will do.

"Why the fuck anyone would waste their energy on someone they can't stand being around if they have another choice is beyond me."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Some people like the challenge. Some people are arrogant enough to think they can change someone's mind. And sometimes it works. Just - not on a lot of people," he points out.

[reargunner]

"Wasn't looking for an answer, Jacob."

He idly pats a pocket as if he's searching for a cigarette before remembering where he is and letting his hand drop down again with a sharp huff.

"Some people are just delusional."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He shrugs at that, sees him looking, and rubs his temple. He'd like a smoke right now, too. Never really got into the habit much before he came here, but it's soothing in its own way.

"Guess so."

[reargunner]

Another brief pat, and then—

"I'm going for a smoke."

He has a particular spot on deck that's become a favourite, even if he did collapse into a blind panic there fairly recently.

"You can come if you want."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He nods.

"Sure. Give me a few. I'll clean up here." No sense in making more work - and he might want one more goddamn drink.

[reargunner]

"Sure."

Whatever he needs to do, Alexei needs a damned cigarette and so he gets up and leaves the lounge, heading up to the usual spot he tends to wander to when he's having a smoke and lighting up without waiting. He can always have another.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob's a few minutes behind him, leaning against the railing without lighting up himself.

"You remember that other ship we were on? The cruise, not the - one with the fucked up guy that wasn't the Admiral."

[reargunner]

Alexei arches a brow, then shrugs.

"Sure, I remember. What about it?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Been thinking about it lately. About how fucked up it was that we all got dumped on some pleasure cruise," he mutters.

[reargunner]

He snorts a little after exhaling a drag, the smoke curling off over the side of the Barge and drifting away.

"Really? Hardly the weirdest thing that's happened around here. Why's it bothering you so much?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Because it wasn't weird," he explains. "Because it wasn't anything. It was fucking normal, which are the things that mess with with me the most, I think. The reminder that...that kind of stuff is obtainable at home, if we were just a little less trapped."

[reargunner]

"Obtainable for you, maybe."

Not so much for Alexei. Even with the full freedom of what his home city had to offer he still had very few prospects to look forward to. Didn't mean he didn't miss it, though.

"Where are you trying to go with this?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Yeah, you're right. Obtainable for me in some world," he agrees. "I just - I don't know. The weird shit that happens here - with the shoes and the ice and whatnot - that hurts less than the stuff that could be more normal. Like the cruise. Like this fucking port. Always takes me a while to get my head back on straight after. That's all."