thisavrou | (no subject)

[Wash appears on the screen, grudgingly out of armour, his face drawn and pinched around the mouth. He looks exhausted, eyes sunken and dark with exhaustion. Arriving here is just one more thing that seems specifically designed to fuck up his life.]

My name is Ag- [No, he's not Agent Washington anymore is he? He's not with the UNSC. He's not with project Freelancer. He's not anything.] My name is Washington.

They said that- [He can't believe he's saying this. His life is a fucking joke and his death will probably be the punchline. Until then, he is stuck dealing with this shit. Assuming he hasn't snapped altogether. That's also a possibility.]

They said that I have been sucked in through some kind of bullshit dimension hopping. [Yes, his teeth are gritted as he says it.] I'm looking for anyone who knows what the UNSC is.

[It's not that he wants to find anyone from home. There's no-one he cares for left alive and even then... well, he tries not to think about them too much. But he just needs someone to remind him that that wasn't all fictional.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You are dead. I'm not doing this.

I don't even know why I'm goddam replying.

Washington. [ Is it fair using her boss voice on him? Maybe not but she's doing it anyway. ]

I'm alive and right now you're being foolish. Tell me where you are and I'll prove I'm real.

[He still has a pavlovian reaction to the boss voice, and switches the screen back on, but he won't look at her.]

You think I haven't had this conversation before?

[ God, why isn't this easier? If he was from the same point in time as her they wouldn't be having this issue. ]

I survived the crash, Wash. Where I'm from... I found you a while ago. We've been working together.

You were thrown off a cliff. Mai- The Meta killed you. That's how this ends.

I've jumped off collapsing buildings and been fine. I had my grappling hook, I managed to save myself. I went underground after that because I didn't know who I could trust.

[For a moment, he feels a deep sense of relief. Maybe she could have survived. Maybe that was real.

And then reality comes crashing back down.]

Well, it's good to know I was included in that group.

[ Oh for god's sake. Her calm cracks a bit and she's starting to look annoyed. ]

I didn't contact anyone for years, Wash. You were the first one. If you want proof that I'm not a hallucination you can find me on the Ingress Complex on the residential floors.

Well maybe if you'd contacted someone we wouldn't all be dead.

Edited 2017-07-08 15:31 (UTC)

[ Of everything she expected to hear, that was the last thing. The facade falls away entirely and Carolina looks genuinely hurt. It takes her a minute to respond and when she does her voice is tight. ]

You're probably right. I might have been able to help. Contact me when you're ready to talk, Washington.

[There's a kind of satisfaction from saying it. It isn't as though he hasn't thought things like this before and now there's a target for them...

Except then Carolina looks... hurt. He's never really seen her look like that before. She'd always been the leader, tough and uncompromising, at least until things had started to fall apart and then she wasn't.

The satisfaction curdles to sourness.]

Talking doesn't usually do me any good.

Still. If you decide to give it a try I'm here. You might not remember it but you're still my best friend.

[ It takes so much effort to not show more hurt. She needs to do something. Maybe hit the wall or go for a run. Anything. ]

[That gets a reaction from him. Best friends? He'd never really thought that they were close. She was his boss and they were friendly but... the Project didn't exactly reward friendships and...

What the hell happened that Carolina would say they were best friends? ]

Oh.

Maybe. In a while.

[ It's the sort of deep and abiding friendship that happens when you point a gun at someone's head and call them out for being a huge bitch. ]

In a while, then. Take care of yourself, Washington.

(no subject)

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