goneawaycomms | Agent South Dakota

[ Well that catches her off guard.

She looks back at him in return, eyes a little more awake now. Processing. ]

I— I mean it's fucking true. I know what kind of person I am, kid. I've been a troublemaker since I was a kid. And there he was, all the fucking time, trying to fix my messes no matter how much I told him I could handle it.

I lived it. I know who I am, I know what he's like. I don't pretend to be anything else.

[ Theta dangles his legs, considering. ]

I know some of his memories about it. The basketball court and things like that.

Do you think if I talked to him about it, it would help?

[ The way Theta moves is so much different than Delta, South realises, so much more... natural. Human. Like an actual kid just sitting there, swinging his little legs. ]

Help what, kid? Him confront his bullshit? I don't know. If I knew that... well, shit would never have gotten as bad as it did.

He needs to. And I'm with him all the time, I can bring it up over and over until it does help.

[ She opens her mouth to snark that there was a time where she was with him almost all the time, but closes it and bites her tongue. ]

He can be as stubborn as me when you hit the right buttons, but... maybe. I don’t know, maybe. Maybe he’ll listen better to you because of the whole... son. Thing.

[ Saying that aloud herself is even weirder than hearing North or Theta say it. But if he thinks of him like that, he’d want to do right by the kid, right? ]

[ Theta's little legs are still dangling. Swish, swish, back and forth. ]

Maybe, yeah. It's just...

[ Theta pauses, thinking. Then he scrambles up and stands on the edge of the bed. ]

Why haven't you asked me what the problem he has is?

[ South sighs. Her brow furrows to disguise a flash of something else. ]

We’re barely stable right now as it is. If this ‘problem’ is something he won’t even talk about to you or to York, then... doubt he wants me to hear it. Especially second-hand. I don’t know.

Okay. That makes sense. He's kind of private about that kind of thing.

Exactly. I’m a lot of things, kid, but nosy isn’t one of ‘em. Besides, I don’t fuckin’ solve problems, remember? I cause them. Wouldn’t do him any good even if I knew. [ snort ] Hell, knowing us, somewhere down the line I probably fuckin’ helped cause it.

[ It’s not only North who’s set in one half of a dynamic they don’t know how to change. ]

[ Theta doesn't respond right away, because he nearly replies with 'Yes,' but he doesn't think saying that would be a good idea. ]

Do you want to go back to sleep? I don't mean to keep you up.

[ South quirks a brow, just a little. This isn’t exactly high on her list of conversations she wants to have at ungodly hours of the morning, but that was one hell of an obvious topic shift. Does she care enough to call him on it? No, but she notices. ]

Ugh, once I’m awake that’s easier said than fuckin’ done. There’s a reason I didn’t want to get woken up.

[ It’s not as sharp as she might usually be towards him, and it’s also not a ‘no’, even if she doesn’t immediately move to stop sitting up. ]

Oh. It's just that I can feel North's sleep cycle and we're going to wake him up if we keep talking.

Didn’t say I wouldn’t try.

[ She briefly considers heading out to wander the halls for a while, but she doesn’t need any more space for her mind to wander. So she shuffles quietly as she can yo lay back down, staring up at the ceiling.

After a long moment of silence, she quietly speaks up: ]

...will you let me know if shit gets really bad, kid? Not... details, but. I do love him, despite how much of a fuckin’ hypocrite he can get, and... well, everything else. And fuck knows he won’t tell me himself.

[ Theta moves his projection to sit on North's chest. ]

Yeah. I will.

Thanks. And uh—

[ She frowns. There’s an apology for everything he saw in her head sitting on the tip of her tongue, but it doesn’t make it off. ]

Nevermind.

[ And then she rolls over to try and go back to sleep. ]

Agent South Dakota

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