goneawaycomms | Agent North

Come find me? I'm in that shitty lounge Wash and me fought in.

Sure.

[ It's unusual for South to make this kind of request and for that reason he's completely willing to drop whatever he's doing and head straight for her location. He was working out, but he wipes his face with a towel, takes a drink of water, and then he's off to find his sister.

When he arrives he finds her seated in the lounge and he goes to sit on the couch beside her. ]

Hey.

[ She's slumped over, her elbows on her knees, breathing slow and deep but shaky. She doesn't look up until she feels his weight cause the cushions beside her to dip, and even then she only half raises her head.

Her mouth opens, then she seems to think better of it and she bites the inside of her cheek, dragging a hand across her face up into her hair. Takes another deep breath.

She's restless and uneasy in a way she rarely ever is. ]

Sorry. [ her voice cracks slightly and she coughs ] I'd just go punch something but...

[ She waves her splinted hand. Clearly, there's more to it than that, but... ]

So I'm more of a second resort.

[ They're teasing words, even if the tone isn't so light. He can tell something's really wrong. ]

[ She manages an almost amused snort, weakly elbows him in the side. ]

Obviously. [ it’s meant to be teasing too but it comes out sharper than she means and she flinches ] Fuck.

[ She half sags toward him, but doesn’t quite actually lean against him. Her eyes fall back to the floor. She doesn’t even know how to start explaining what’s wrong without feeling like she’s talking nonsense. ]

Every time I think I get used to things in this shithole...

[ He shakes his head when she messes up the teasing, and puts his arm up on the couch back, resting his fingertips on her opposite shoulder. ]

What is it, Nat?

[ The slightest bit of tension falls away at the contact and she sags a little more, exhaling slowly. ]

Made the fuckin’ mistake of actually talking to some newbie on the training floor. She started coming out with all this... this shit and...

[ She takes another deep breath, trying so hard not to lose her cool this time. ]

Fuck.

[ A newbie? He stifles a sigh. ]

Let me guess, she had bright pink hair.

[ All of the tension reappears in an instant and she finally looks at him properly. ]

...you already met her, didn’t you.

[ He rests his hand the rest of the way on her shoulder at that. ]

I met her. She says we've met before, but I don't remember her, or the place she described as her home where we apparently met. Does that bother you, I guess?

What do you fuckin’ think? I said a single fucking sentence to her and somehow, she knew my fucking name and immediately started acting like I’d spat in her fucking face.

[ Half of her wants to tear to her feet, the other half wants to lean into the arm behind her. She ends up doing neither, frozen in position. ]

[ Oh. That's no good. He'd kind of assumed that if he and Wrath had been friends, that meant she'd been friends with South as well. Obviously that had been the wrong assumption. He folds his other hand in half against the couch armrest, thinking. ]

I'd ask if you knew why she did that but I have to assume it came up.

Something about me being a bitch to her about dating you or something. Whatever it was, she knew you, so y’know, that’s usually enough fucking reason for people to fucking write me off.

[ She flinches; that’s more honest than she’d like to be. So she tries to cover with a dismissive huff and looks away. ]

Dating me?

[ Now that, that's news to him. ]

All she told me was that we were friends, and that I got her through a lot of stuff, and that I visited her a lot when she was in the hospital even though I was...so busy...

Oh.

[ Now he wonders how he hadn't cottoned on to this himself, earlier. ]

[ She’d laugh at his cluelessness any other time, but not now; right now she just rolls her eyes and grunts, still not looking back at him. ]

Yeah. Oh. Congrats on the new fucking ex.

[ Her good fist clenches. God she wants to hit something. ]

All I fucking get is some woman I don’t even know who has a fucking stick up her ass about shit I never did and because she fucking cares about you, then I’m clearly the fucking devil.

Edited 2021-02-08 04:59 (UTC)

Nat...

[ He pauses, and sighs. ]

Maybe I'd better talk to her about whatever she said to you. But listen, I don't know her. Okay? You're my sister and we're okay here. I mean, we're not doing perfect, but when were we ever?

[ He'd shot her in the leg, for Christ's sake. She wasn't the only guilty party in any contest between them for worse twin. ]

I know, I— I know. I’m trying, Drew, I’m really fucking trying and that’s the fucking problem because no one else fucking cares that I’m trying because I fucking— I—

[ She’s shaking, just a little. Tries to take another deep breath. ]

She knows shit. Private fucking shit. She didn’t say it outright but it was fucking obvious.

[ He huffs out a sigh. ]

Well, I suppose if we dated that would be inevitable.

[ He reaches with his free hand and nudges her chin to get her to look at him. ]

I haven't written you off, you know.

[ She doesn’t resist, she turns to look at him again, and there’s that vulnerable look behind her eyes. Raw. ]

Not that kind of private shit. I think— I think she knows what I did, Drew. Said shit about me being afraid she’d tell you something.

[ He lowers his hand again, bringing it to his lap. ]

Oh. I see.

[ There's a faraway look that comes into his eyes for a moment there, considering how he feels about that. South hadn't meant for him to die, he knows. But that hardly makes things better, some of the time. He'd told her he'd forgiven her, and they'd hugged. So as long as he ignores what she did, they have fun together and laugh and talk. It's the same way he ignores what Washington did to her. If he ignores these things, and tells people he forgives them, eventually it should come true, right?

And then he's back with her, looking at her, and his lips twist into a grimace for a moment. ]

I suppose if that's what she's holding against you...I really do need to talk to her.

[ She watches his hand move away and then she stares at him, her good hand digging fingertips into her leg. What is he hiding now? ]

Why? It’s our business, not hers. The others don’t even know the whole story!

[ Because she knows they wouldn’t care. Because it doesn’t change anything. Because she’s the bitch who killed her brother no matter the details. ]

If she knows some version of the story I ought to make sure it's the right version.

[ He looks away, across from them. ]

If she's going to be here, and if she's going to hold stuff against you that she shouldn't, then I should do something about it.

Edited 2021-02-08 05:41 (UTC)

You’re doing it again, Drew. You’re not— you’re not getting what I’m saying.

[ She buries her face in her hands. ]

I don’t fucking care if she holds it against me, she’s just some fucking random woman I’ve never met before! I’m more worried about her fucking using it against me somehow and it doesn’t matter what version she knows then, does it?

No one else will care about the fucking details. No one will—

[ She makes a frustrated noise. She’s shaking again. ]

[ He frowns. ]

Yeah, okay; I get your concern. I'll make sure that's the focus when I talk to her, then. Up to and including threatening her, if I have to.

Jesus fucking...

[ She’s torn between some kind of relief that he’d go to bat for her that hard and the fact she really doesn’t want him talking about any of this with her. It’s their business, and what if she just turns it back on him? Convinces him that she’s dangerous, that he shouldn’t be forgiving her in the first place? ]

I just... I just want this to stay between us.

[ Her voice is quiet. She rubs at her face. ]

text; after South meets Wrath

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