goneawaycomms | Agent South Dakota

"It certainly did not appear pleasant. The woman with us, Kerrigan, seemed much less affected than South, however," Delta says.

South scowls at him but doesn't get a word out before York talks again and she's left blinking at him, more confused by his niceties by the second, as Delta responds.

"Yes, York, I am still doing okay. Perhaps better than when we last talked, in some ways, as South has since seen fit to let Theta and I talk."

South rolls her eyes at him, before her eyes settle briefly on her splinted hand. She sighs and shrugs.

"How do you think it's doing? It's still broken, because the medical wing here sucks ass," she answers, huffing. "But better, I guess. Not that 'better' means shit when I can't train."

She's bored out of her damn mind but she's not going to say that. She's not even let on to North just how little she's doing now she can't even go down and train properly. Even answering the question almost goes against her better judgement when she's sure it's all just part of whatever new twist he's putting on this plan of his.

York smiles at Delta.

"I'm glad you're getting to talk to Theta. For both of you."

South, on the other hand, is making it really hard to be nice to her.

"You could still train with a spotter."

Delta nods. "Theta also requested a puzzle program for me to use when I am otherwise inactive, which I very much appreciate."

South gives him a look. "You think I have anyone who'll spot me for as long as I'd like to train? Two guesses, and the first doesn't count."

North would no doubt help for a while, but unlike her he seems to actually sometimes do things around the rig and spend time with the others. Besides, the kind of training she really wants to do, the kind where she just gets to hit something, is still out of the question.

She sighs. "And yeah yeah, this is what I get for punching a goddamn bulkhead, but it's still a pain in the ass."

"Oh, yeah, he mentioned he had that. Sometimes I read to him while he plays puzzles."

And North naps, usually. York chooses to believe his voice is just that soothing.

South's Look rolls off York, and he shrugs.

"You haven't asked."

"Typically I will complete puzzles whilst South is otherwise occupied. That arrangement, however, sounds like much more 'fun'."

South ignores that, because she isn't going to let Delta drag them right into another thinly-veiled 'give him back' conversation that'll quickly turn overt.

"What, you offering?" she says dryly, then rolls her eyes. "Look, I know Drew would fuckin help if I asked, but I don't ask. I'll fucking live, it just sucks."

She freezes, for just a split-second, upon realising she used North's actual name around someone besides North—something she tries not to do not for North's sake, but for the sake of her own image—but it's out of her mouth now and she can't take it back. So she just huffs and slumps.

York sighs at South -- this was easier and honestly more fun when he was just trying to antagonize her.

Hold that thought, D.

"I am offering. It's not like I'm doing anything else right now, i could talk to Delta while spotting. Then we'd both be doing something we want to do."

One nice gesture was strange, two was downright confusing, three... she squints at him, all suspicion and distrust. People who know her well enough to know what kind of person she is are never nice, not without ulterior motives, and York's are as good as stitched onto his sleeve.

Only that doesn't explain why he'd suddenly change tracks like this. He seemed perfectly proud of his annoyance-only strategy before.

"...I really can't tell if you're fucking with me," she says, brow furrowed. She's restless, being able to do even some training would be a relief, but it's York offering.

"I'm not fucking with you. You're making it difficult, but I'm not fucking with you."

He shrugs.

"If you want me to go back to ignoring you, I can. I just didn't feel like being an ass today."

"Oh I'm making it difficult, huh?" she retorts, but it's a pretty weak attempt at a comeback and she knows it.

She huffs, slumping a little more, weighing her options. Giving in, accepting the offer, feels like letting him win, but...

She knows he's not going to just give up, regardless, and so she doesn't want him to go back to ignoring her. Sitting there being treated as if she didn't exist got to her; it hurt, even from him, in a way she can't even fully articulate. She already knows where York stands on the twins, she knows which side of the good-twin bad-twin dichotomy she sits on in his eyes (in everyone's eyes), it's not as if she expects anything else from him, but...

"...fine, whatever." She sighs, sits back up. "I can't keep just sitting around. So, sure."

Edited 2021-02-05 00:58 (UTC)

Yeah, she is. Which is frustrating to him because there doesn't have to be a bad twin, not at all. It's like she doesn't even want to try, and now he understands why a bit, but it's still infuriating.

"Okay, let's go."

"Ugh." She gets up before she can change her mind, though a degree of regret sets in from the moment they step out the door.

Trying with North is... easier. Not being on speaking terms with him felt like being unmoored in a storm, no matter how much she loathes to admit it even to herself. No matter how much they drive each other mad, the twins have always had each other, and here, far from home and out of place and feeling violated by the corp's control, she needs the limited stability he can give her.

Ask her to say so in any certain terms and she'd deny it, but it's true.

With everyone else... it's different. Everyone else can give up on her. That's one thing North's never quite been able to do.

She doesn't talk at all as they head to the training area, though Delta projects to hover by York's shoulder, ready to continue their conversation whenever York gives the cue.

South, please it's not that hard to not act disgusted with someone doing a nice thing. In fact it's the common response to say thank you, but York doesn't expect that. He doesn't expect all that much, and hopes by setting the bar low she'll surprise him eventually.

They get to the training area and York gestures for her to hit whatever she wants.

What she really wants to do is spar with someone, punch a punching bag, do some actual lifting... but she can't do any of that, so she huffs quietly and looks around for the next best thing.

Hm. If York's (ugh) here to spot, then maybe...

She jerks her head towards and then heads to the pull-up bars.

"Before you say anything, yes, I can do this one-handed." It might even up the strain enough for it to feel like a proper goddamn workout, make up for the time she's been missing.

"I never doubted it."

York follows her over, taking up a spotting position behind her as she grabs the bar.

"Hey D, start a log. I want to run down everybody I know on the rig."

Delta projects next to them and nods, starting a log as instructed and pointedly ignoring South's eye roll and groan that have nothing to do with the exertion and everything to do with remembering she has to listen to them talk.

She has no trouble getting started and yeah, she needed this. The burn as she gets into the rhythm of the exercise immediately takes the edge off her restlessness.

York and Delta discuss the various people they've encountered as South works out, and to his credit York is genuinely spotting her. When it seems like her hand is slipping at one point she'll feel York's hands by her waist to help her ease back down safely, then they drift away again just as easily, without acknowledgement.

He'll let her go as long as she wants, as promised.

She tenses up like she's been shocked at the contact, the help. Huffs, slightly, as she rolls her shoulders and, begrudging though it sounds, she musters enough politeness to actually say, "Thanks," before she pulls herself back up.

Him being nice is still weird, but it's hard to stay outright pissed at him when he's actually helping her get a workout in after goddamnn days of sitting around restless.

Sure, the inane chatter Delta and York seem to love so much is still a pain in the ass but it's easier to tune it out when she's actually doing something.

...she's not sure if this means York is winning or losing.

"No problem."

And then he's back to chattering with Delta. Some of the information might be useful to South if she's paying close attention, but York doesn't assume she is. Still, he keeps some of the details about Stacia quiet even though he'd normally tell D. Not having his AI to talk to about the mess with Wash is strange.

When South finally eases back down from the bar and stretches out the arm she was using, York can't help but sass a little.

"Don't skip leg day."

South catches names here and there, Stacia being one of them because even South hasn't been immune to Stacia, but most of it goes in one ear and out the other.

She rolls her eyes at the comment, though with marginally less annoyance compared to before her workout. Turns out South on an exercise drought is even more easily antagonised than usual, who'd've thought?

"You wanna fuckin' sit through me doing leg curls too? Money where your mouth is," she snarks back.

"I said I'd spot a full workout, whatever that means for you."

She could do squats hugging a barbell, he doesn't actually care. He's occupied talking to Delta anyway, whether South is working out or sitting in her room grumbling at him it's the same to York.

She shakes her head at him and mumbles, "This is so fuckin' weird..." as she moves to get herself set up for a leg workout, too. Weird as it is, she's not satisfied with stopping here so she won't. She has time to make up for.

She's already visibly more at ease than she was, despite York's continued presence and despite the constant background noise. It's almost a little more... familiar, more like just putting up with York back in the Project. Impossible as it is to forget why he's here, the ulterior motives behind the niceties, with Delta's puck an inconvenience around her neck, he's at least not going on about it directly. Yet.

After a few sets, as she takes a drink and catches her breath, she idly snarks, "You two really could make talking a fucking sport," just to feel like she's not laying down and letting him walk all over her. She still can't tell who's 'winning', here.

No one has to be 'winning' South. He genuinely isn't thinking of this as a tactic, he's just trying to be nicer because she's having a hard time that's partially his fault. Sure, he wants Delta back, but this isn't him trying to throw her off her game or whatever.

When she tossed the snarky comment at them, York just shrugs. It's pretty weak if it was meant to be an insult. Maybe all the exercise is cheering her up.

"We usually don't have to talk. It takes a lot longer communicating this way."

“It is much more efficient to communicate when we are properly integrated.”

She groans quietly. She opened herself up for that segue, she should not have opened her mouth. “Yeah yeah, I know. I have done brain talk before.”

She just finds it... weird. She’s never had Delta in long enough for it to come naturally and she hates how open it makes her thoughts to him.

She chugs some of her water, wipes her hair out of her face and starts another set, but doesn’t expect the line of conversation to die so easily, even if she hopes it does.

It does not die.

"There's brain talk when you're first implanted, then there's... I hadn't sent D offline for years. It felt like he was a part of my brain, processing things along with me. It's just different after you bond to an AI."

He tilts his head, wondering if that's what South just Doesn't Get about North and Theta.

"Did your brother never explain what it's like when you really let one in?"

South huffs quietly. "He probably did. Doesn't mean I fuckin' listened, though."

She almost sounds a little sheepish, about that. She didn't listen to most things North said about Theta, before; she's sort of trying, now, but it's not exactly the easiest topic of conversation for them, all things considered.

The word 'son' flashes in her mind again and she sighs.

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