piper90 | [video]

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[ The woman on the video may look somewhat familiar; it's the shape of her face, the ice blue of her eyes, the blonde of her hair, her height. South and her brother aren't identical, of course, but the family resemblance is clearer than she'd like it to be.

(More than ever, these days; who wants to look in your own reflection and see your dead brother's features looking back at you?)

She's shoved the sleeves of her coveralls as far up her arms as she can get them, revealing a variety of tattoos up one of her muscled arms. There's hints of old purple dye in the front of her hair. Around her neck there's a puck, dangling from a chain, holding a chip of some kind.

She looks... pissed. ]

So this ████ing sucks donkey— [She blinks, then squints.] Oh for ████'s sake, I can't even ████ing swear? ████. ████. ████ing ████-████ ████████████.

[ There's a pause of a few seconds before South visibly decides to test this thing's limits. ]

████trumpet. Bull████. ████biscuit. Dip████. ████face. Jack███. Fuck██████— ha, ████ed that one up.

Ugh, whatever. My name's South. Yes, that's a ████ing codename, no, I'm not telling you my real name. Guess I'm stuck here with the rest of... whoever the hell you guys are. Which ████ing sucks.

[ Not that things didn't suck where she came from, but at least she was something resembling free and kind of in control of how much stuff sucked. Call her old fashioned, but she'd much rather ruin her own life than have someone else do it for her. ]

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['We need to talk' instead of 'I'm furious with you' or something hostile. 'We need to talk' because he always coddled his sister in the past.]

[Wash doesn't know if North is going to lay down the law or not, so before he leaves, he opts to do it himself.]

[With one sentence, he makes it very clear he's no longer the Wash they knew.]

If you try to stab me or your brother in the back again, when I kill you I'll make sure it sticks this time.

[That was sure a threat of murder, yep.]

[With that, Wash storms out, not wanting to deal with North reacting to said death threat.]

Edited 2020-12-14 21:20 (UTC)

[ South blinks, then snarls and yells after him. ]

Oh you think you're so fucking tough now, huh, you stupid little—

[ The yelling devolves quickly into angry, indistinct muttering and she pivots on the spot, folding her arms and refusing to look at North.

She tells herself the threat is nothing but posturing, but after that fight, after everything Wash said... she isn't sure she believes herself. ]

South.

[ He shakes his head a little, just briefly, and then gestures toward the door. ]

Here, let's head to my room.

[ Better that than broadcasting their business in a public area, he figures. ]

[ South turns back to him, mouth open as if to protest, but all that comes out is an aborted noise. Her teeth grit, her jaw flexes, and she looks past him rather than at him. ]

Yeah, whatever...

[ She storms out ahead of him and only slows down to let him actually lead the way when she realises she has no idea where she’s going. ]

This way.

[ She had started down the hall in the right direction, at least.

While they're walking, in the meantime, they can at least engage in small talk, he figures. ]

Just arrived?

What do you think? Yeah, I just fuckin’ got here.

[ She flinches involuntarily at her own tone, head angled away from North. Every time she looks at him head-on her stomach turns.

(North, collapsed on the concrete with the Meta hovering over him like a predator over a fresh kill. That damn AI screaming. Then—)

She huffs, scuffing her feet as they walk. ]

Take it you’ve been here a while. Long enough to be all buddy buddy with Washington again, anyway.

That is what I thought. Not really like you to wait a while before jumping on the network.

[ He shrugs. No way to break the ice when the situation is this contentious. ]

As far as Wash goes—in case you've forgotten, we were friends back in the Project.

[ 'We' meaning the three of them, though she may exclude herself from that in retrospect. ]

Yeah, I know, but things have changed a lot since the fucking Project, North. The guy just hunted me down through this whole place, if you didn’t fucking notice.

[ She rolls her shoulders. She can already feel the aches where she’s going to find bruises, and from the exertion of trying to keep up in a fight she was wholly unprepared for. ]

[ North frowns as they reach the room. He gestures for her to go in. There's no door, of course, but at least they should have a little privacy here. ]

All I noticed was that you two were fighting. He hunted you down?

[ South huffs and heads inside. ]

Yeah, he fuckin’ did. He saw me on the fucking network thing and hunted me down. I didn’t seek the guy out, I didn’t even know he was alive, let alone here.

[ Or that North was, because she knows what she saw. She still won’t look at him head on, arms folded and head turned. ]

[ North sits on his bunk and gestures for South to sit across from him. ]

I...

[ The hesitation is slight, but it's there. ]

I understand why he did that, but he shouldn't have.

You fucking think?! He just threatened to fucking kill me! Again, apparently! That fucking—

[ Once again her yelling becomes vague, angry muttering and she drops ungracefully down to sit across from him. Finally, she looks him in the face, and she looks... uncharacteristically lost, under the rage. And a little like she's going to be sick.

She falls quiet, for a long moment, but speaks again before North can say anything that would just make her want to yell again. ]

Why are we even doing this, Drew? I know what he's fucking told you.

[ He looks at her calmly. ]

Doing what? Sitting here talking?

[ Her expression, when he really gets a good look at her, tells him that she's afraid, that she's out of her element in a way that makes her incredibly uncomfortable. He shakes his head subtly. ]

First of all, the Project really fucked us all over and I know how much you hated that. The aftermath of it, the whole situation. You were given a raw deal and I know it upset you.

Second of all, from the way he tells it, you guys were between a rock and a hard place, and I know how you react in those situations.

Third—

[ He seems to lose his train of that when he gets to that point. He pauses, and stammers, and falls silent. ]

Besides, I know you wouldn't really let me die. Not in the way he meant it.

[ South chokes on a humourless laugh. Fuck, why couldn't he just be angry? Why did he always have to be like this, be the calm one, be the better person?

This would be so much easier if he were angry. ]

Do you? [ Her voice is low, barely steady. ] Do you really, Drew?

[ No, it didn't go exactly like Wash claims; she remembers what happened, she remembers the choice she made, she remembers the second she decided that she was done. But North didn't even know that she was still working with the Project almost the entire time they were on the run together.

So how can he know for sure when she barely even knows herself, anymore? ]

[ He looks at her steadily, unflinchingly. ]

No.

[ It's said very quietly. No, he doesn't know. He knows she's capable of making this kind of choice, were the circumstances just right. ]

But you know what? I don't even want to know. So don't tell me. I'd rather just...be the way we were. All right?

[ South stares at him, unblinking and jaw slack, for a good ten seconds before she's on her feet and gesticulating wildly as she shouts loud enough anyone nearby could probably hear: ]

Are you fucking kidding me?! I can't fucking believe you, you— you—

[ She pivots and slams her fist against the nearest surface, barely even flinching at the reverberations of pain up her arm. ]

Be the way we were?! What fucking 'were' are you talking about, huh? How we were when in the months I spent following you trying to get you to give up that stupid AI so we could leave, whilst trying to decide if I should just cut my fucking losses and turn you in?! How we were during the years at the fucking Project where you fucking ignored every bullshit decision that went in your favour?!

[ The next burst of laughter is hysteric and dark at once. ]

I just all but told you I let you die and you— you—

[ He rises as well, and catches her arm after the punch. ]

I said not to do that.

[ He pauses, gripping her arm firmly. They had spent enough time together alone in the aftermath of the Project's collapse that he knows she'll know the expression that flashes across his face next—he's having a quick and private conversation with Theta.

He looks her in the face after that and releases her arm. ]

You know? I don't—

[ A long pause ensues after that, another flash of that expression on his face. ]

Yes, Theta, I...

But I...

Fuck.

[ He sits back down on the bed, heavily. ]

Theta, that was an ultimatum. You can't give ultimatums.

[ He lowers his head into his hands. ]

Because you can't.

[ He knows South's still there...he just can't handle discussing things with both of them at once. ]

[ South blinks at him. ]

Really? Fucking— really? In the middle of—? Fucking god's sake, I should've fucking known.

[ She pivots and storms to the end of the room, where she stops to scream into her hands with frustration. ]

[ His head remains down through that, but he looks up at her afterward. ]

Natasha. We need to hash this out but we need to do it later. I'm sorry.

[ Theta immediately points out to him that he's apologizing to her about it after basically learning that it's true she put him in harm's way.

He sighs.

I can't push her away, okay? Not completely. ]

[ She turns back and all but snarls. ]

Later? Later?! Why, because you've got to fucking comfort that fucking lightbulb that matters to you more than our entire fucking relationship?! I cannot believe you!

[ That's a lie, really. She should have known this was how it would go. She should have known he'd try this, try to pretend everything was okay. He spent years doing it, why would anything change now? ]

This is why I fucking gave up, Andrew! Years of this!

[ North rises again.

And that's it. He's just looking at her.

He doesn't know what to do, what to say. He's explained Theta to her a thousand times, and she obviously didn't absorb a bit of it.

After a bit of that, he looks away, toward the wall across from him. ]

Okay. Go, then.

[ It hasn't quite hit him yet, but it will momentarily. What's happening here. What it means. ]

[ Even after everything she said, the words wind her. ]

...that's it, huh?

[ She should have known. She should have known. He'll always choose the damn AI over her, he always did. A bundle of code matters more to him than his own twin and she shouldn't be surprised, but fuck, that doesn't make it sting any less. ]

That's fucking it. After fucking everything, just 'go'.

[ Now it starts to hit him. She's taking this as a final farewell and a choice being made.

Thing is, he's not sure it's the wrong one.

So he keeps standing there, looking at the wall. ]

That's all I have to say for now.

...yeah. Right. Fucking course it is.

[ Wetness burns her eyes and she looks away, swiping at her face. She won't cry in front of him, over him. She won't, she can't.

She stands there for a straight ten seconds, not even looking at him, before she finally walks past him toward the doorway. Pauses, in the threshold, barely glancing back over her shoulder. ]

I coulda fucking turned you in any time, y'know. But I thought... [ She swallows. ] I don't know what I fucking thought.

[ There are worse words in her head, on the tip of her tongue, but she bites them back, for once. It won't make him say what she wants him to say, won't make him snap like she wants him to snap.

So she leaves. Walks out of the room before her shoulders can start to shake, before she can show any more signs of weakness. ]

[ He doesn't let his eyes settle on her as she goes by, merely sitting down again on the cot afterwards.

And after she leaves, he swings around onto the bed and lies down. It's time for a long conversation with Theta.

Falling apart will come later. ]

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ownperson - 2020-12-25 01:23 (UTC) - Expand

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