( limelight ) overflow

[featherduster]

i preemptively know i'll need this

Comments

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Softly ]

What the fuck.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

Producer bullshit. Come, I’ll change your drinks better for you in exchange.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ He seems to rally at this ]

Yeah, okay. You make me offers I can't refuse.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I've got to make it worthwhile for you, don't I? That's only natural.

[puts the slips down on the counter between them, tapping the side of Aloe's current glass or bottle]

Any poison of choice?

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ His eyes flick to them briefly, still bemused. But then he takes a slip out of his own pocket and puts it next to them. ]

Something sweet, just for me.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[gently runs a fingertip down the side of the glass, turning the contents into a Brandy Alexander]

See how you feel about this one.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ He takes an experimental sip, going from mildly surprised to pleased. ]

Oh yeah. Gonna need a cigarette and a shower after this one.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I should make you my taste-tester when I do new dessert cocktails.

[laughs a little, but also taps the slip Aloe added to the heap]

What’s this one?

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Twirls the drink a little ]

Yours.

Though I don't think you put it in there intentionally.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

Ah…

No, I thought I’d avoided it myself. Unfortunate, but at least you’re the one who found it.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Stares at him for a long moment ]

You're taking the news well.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[gestures at the idk-how-many of Aloe’s]

Well.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ Well. ]

That's fair.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

Mm.

The ones I didn’t already see mostly…had to do with your upbringing.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ He sets his drink down briefly, mostly just to scrub both hands over his face ]

Well, that's-- unfortunate.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I’m sorry. It’s…

I’m glad you all left, one way or another. You and your brother and our mutual friend.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ It's a stupid question to ask now, after everything, but something compels him to ask it anyway ]

You don't think less of us, after whatever you saw?

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I saw a session of your training and punishment, and much later, when you received the assignment for Eugene.

Why would I think less of you? You didn’t wander eyes wide open into that life. You were molded by the ones who raised you, and they wanted weapons, not sons and daughters.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ His face does something funny, before sliding into some semblance of neutral ]

... That's generous of you.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

[shrugs]

In some ways it's not that different from how that other me grew up, I think. Just--more to the point.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

Yes.

I just -- remember your disgust at him.

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

It wasn't because he was a weapon.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

...

What?

Re: top-level (frost)

[endsjustified]

I don't love getting that mindset put in my head, but...my business isn't exactly sparkling clean either. I'm not squeamish about that kind of thing.

[hand gestures loosely]

I was disgusted because he failed to use himself to protect what actually mattered to him.

Re: top-level (frost)

[featherduster]

[ He frowns, turning that over in his head ]

What was it that mattered? He was fighting for the fate of the world, wasn't he?