( text )

[influent]

[ honestly, tretij doesn't care about the network. he doesn't care about much other than eli, but.. there are a few things he's interested in, and one of them happens to be people who are as different as he is. the network seems to be the easiest and least uncomfortable way to meet them, given how psychically overwhelmed he is on the moira right now-- and given his caution.

so eventually, after some trial-and-error: ] there are psychics here?
i would like to speak to

too noisy to find you
everyone thinks loudly

[ that's it, that's the post. tretij isn't wordy at the best of times, and he's still getting accustomed to the idea that he's even allowed to ask for things like this. ]

Comments

( private )

[influent]

then or now
that man is different
not like the first one was
he's fraying but he holds together

( private )

[warandpeace]

But the first one wasn't holding together.

[Just confirming the observation, making sure he understands correctly.]

How long were you around?

( private )

[influent]

not that
just different
the first one felt colder

long enough to see

( private )

[warandpeace]

I'll take that as a change for the better.

[Even if now he's running on a determination to fix things, to drag them out of their hellish futures. Scrabbling tooth and nail, counting on that ability of timelines to waver slightly. Hoping for that one last thing.]

What did you watch for? [It's intimidating to know how long he wasn't alone, in his fits of paranoia, protectiveness over a home he didn't want to lose like the last one. (Not that particular home meant anything in the long run to the man he built it for).]

( private )

[influent]

not sure
not good at telling the difference

everything
if you would hurt those boys
what you were willing to do

Re: ( private )

[warandpeace]

I wouldn't have hurt those kids.

[Maybe a touch defensive. What happened with Chico never ebbed. Just these memories of his last moments, screaming as their helicopter went down. No child needed to die in that sort of horror. He didn't care how much of a "natural" they were. A life not even lived isn't meant to be thrown away.]

It was the last thing I wanted for them.

( private )

[influent]

i know
it was a good place
could sleep there

( private )

[warandpeace]

Do you hear us when you sleep, too?

( private )

[influent]

hear all the time

( private )

[warandpeace]

Think someone here can help you with that?

Seems like you don't actually like it too much. Not being able to block people out when you want, that is.

( private )

[influent]

not sure
never met anyone like me before

mask helps a little

( private )

[warandpeace]

[The bit of paranoia in the back of his mind still wants to ask, "Were there any traitors?" But does it matter? He may have made some peace with Big Boss, but that doesn't change the fact his home was a farce, a mock up, a decoy. As is the man he built it with. But it is his home, that man is his partner, and he still intends to protect them both. But in the realization of his foolishness it's not as important to do that as it was before.]

[So instead he asks-]

How long did you go without a place to sleep?

( private )

[influent]

[ why is he asking.. he doesn't understand why it matters. ]

don't know
why?

( private )

[warandpeace]

[It's still funny. He asks Paz what name she wants to be called. He asks this of Venom Snake as well. He asks Solid if his childhood was decent and, if given the choice, would he like a better one. And he can see something foreign pass in front of their eyes. That simple questions like that way more since they've had no choices. They are things, meant for a "greater good". A theoretical end goal that's meant to be lofty and important.]

[Instead it keeps making people who don't even know how to make simple choices. Or understand at all what it's like to live as a human being.]

Just wondering. [That's the only excuse he has for the question, really. But damn if it's not another small reminder that maybe this, "make the world one" dream does nothing but ruin people along the decades it's been forming. On all sides.]

( private )

[influent]

[ just wondering? does he think it makes tretij ineffective? he wouldn't be wrong, necessarily-- even tretij can only go without rest for so long before he starts breaking down. he knows his limits, though; they'd been tested extensively. ]

still useful

( private )

[warandpeace]

Usefulness isn't an issue. [He tries to tell himself as a man that's lied to all the time. Can't ever let himself think that way. A kid is a kid.] People should be able to sleep with a roof over their head.