goddamngrenades | RP Open Post

Roll with it. This is- well it's not the worst idea Delta's had but seriously, him playing a honey pot with his bum eye and crooked smile? Would not work unless he'd already fucked Wash and had some sort of weird lingering UST with Carolina. So. Work with what you got.

Wash presses in close and York arches just a bit, tipping his head back against his shoulder to take a slow breath. Let his hands run along Wash's gauntlets while he tries to remember what tiny little storage pockets kept 'nonessential' tech. Won't do anything NOW but, next time? He might try to lift something. "And if I behave I'll get that attention, is that it?"

He breathes in when York leans against him, can remember all too clearly touching him in more intimate places, fucking him in the bed and in the shower. He turns his head enough to press his lips against York's cheek. Almost a kiss.

"No. If you behave then we don't drag you back to Control and hand you over to the boss's science team while they figure out what to add to his Freelancer collection."

Hand to wrist, wrist to elbow and up- York reaches behind his head to curl his fingers in Wash's hair- not to pull. Just to feel. It's how he broke the wall last time they fought, combing his fingers through Wash's hair. Maybe it'll work again. "Then what do I do to get this positive attention? Ask nicely?"

The fact that both he and Carolina probably have the threat of experimentation hanging over them isn't missed. It's something to consider.

Delta files it away.

He wants to lean into that touch. It feels good. Reminds him of the stupid date the kids had set up for them, and kissing York. He stays absolutely still instead, impassive. He's not going to let York get to him like this.

"Wait for Carolina to decide you deserve it."

"We both know that's not gonna happen." Not with how the fight went in the MOI. Not with how he's been adamant she's not who she used to be. Carolina's an angle he can't work yet- he doesn't know it well enough. Wash? Wash he can work. Tries to, tilting his face enough to close the distance, sweet and slow.

He freezes for a long moment, mind racing as York leans in to kiss him. Before he can though, Wash pulls away, putting himself out of easy reach of York. "There's no way you want to get that cosy with me when you probably still want to kill me for this."

Fine, play it that way. He sighs and turns around, leaning back against the desk, arms crossed. "Dude you know what 'victim of circumstance' means, right? You got fucked over by the project. I'm pretty sure you're both getting fucked over by hargrove in new and exciting ways. So I'm still pissed."

Wash face him, every line of his body tense and wary. "I'm not a victim," he says. "I'm never going to be a victim again." He won't let that happen. "You don't know anything about the agreement we have with Control." They'd been saved by Charon, taken at their lowest points and given a new purpose.

He gives York a disbelieving look. "You were mad enough when you just thought I was a merc. You don't go from that to being angry on my behalf."

"What happens if you don't do what control says? If you wanna retire or think a job doesn't suit? What if you get tired of being Hargrove's personal monster, mm?" Tired of being a gun to point and fire at someone else's beck and call.

"I don't know the particulars but I do know you were pretty damn desperate for some kind of forgiveness this morning. When we were in bed. Together."

"That won't happen. I know where I belong, where my loyalties lie." And that was here, with Carolina, with Charon. He couldn't exist anywhere else. Thinking otherwise is... painful.

He swallows around a lump in his throat when York brings that up, looks away. "That was a- a lapse. I was stupid. Overly emotional. And I don't need forgiveness. There's nothing anyone could give anyway."

"If that was true you wouldn't have had your mind changed in under a week." He can't be clinging so hard to those thoughts and ideas if it didn't even take that much work to get him to stop the first time. Sure, they're surrounded by reminders now but-

He can talk him out of it.

"You were human. You're allowed to be human."

"I was weak," he says sharply. It had just been a long time since he'd been back at base, that was all. It was easy for doubts to creep in when he was alone. Too much time to think.

"No, I'm not," he replies, giving York a hard look. "I was weak and it won't happen again."

"Human." He reiterates, pushing off the desk to step close. "Starving for kindness. For companionship. How long have you lived like this- and how long has it been since anyone treated you kindly?"

There's a tense set to his spine when York approaches him, and he's stubborn enough to not be willing to back away. "I have companions. Me and Carolina have worked together since they got me out." Once he'd been considered stable enough and safe enough to send out in the field. "I don't need anyone. I have a purpose."

"No. You have a handler. You have a leash. You are right back where you were in the Project. Hargrove points and you pull the trigger. Can you honestly not see that?" He'd sworn off so much getting away, kept his head down, stayed uninvolved, tried to survive as long as possible. Now he's trapped and reaching out, curling his hand around David's wrist. "Does Carolina call you by name? Does she hold you when you can't sleep? Does she understand what doing this does to you?"

"I know what I am. I'm a soldier. I have a mission."

He flinches at the touch, stares down at where York has a hand against his wrist, the calm melting out of him like that. He looks up at York again, and for a moment just looks terrified and then...

"I treat him like a fucking adult," she says, slipping into the room, taking in the sight of them, the curl of York's fingers against his arm. "You took a while," she adds, nods at Wash before turning her attention back to York. "He's a soldier. We both are. Question is what are you these days?"

"Yes because PTSD automatically means someone's a child." Jesus christ, Carolina. "The 'walk it off' school of psychiatry worked so well for everyone in the past."

Not that he ever did more than read up enough on how to handle his own issues.

Well.

Delta did.

"Soldiers don't commit genocide." Monsters do. Unethical orders are a THING. "I'm the only sane man left, apparently."

Her hand comes to rest on Wash's shoulder, squeezing it, and it's easier to pull out of York's grasp when she's there, a grounding presence next to him. "I think the last thing either of us needs is more people messing with our heads after the Counsellor."

He might just go a little pale when the Counsellor is mentioned. Wishes he'd worn his helmet so that York wouldn't see it. "I gave him the AI like you said. I'm done here," he says, turning his full attention to Carolina instead.

She nods, doesn't release his shoulder. "Good. I'll report to Control now things have changed. There's a lot to report. Might want to hear from you."

He nods seriously. "I understand, boss."

"The hell do you call what Hargrove's doing, then?" Because scooping people up when they're low and desperate, giving them new toys, stringing them along with promises of- what? That is TOTALLY not fucking with their heads at all.

Fine. They can have their moment, he's going back over to check out the desk. There's gotta be something in the books that isn't a bug. Sure there's a camera in the corner but some other bug probably is a thing. It's what he'd do.

"He pulled me out of the ice at the bottom of a ravine," Carolina says coolly. "Got me treated after Maine pulled Eta and Iota. Helped me pick up the pieces and get Wash out. He gave us everything."

"He helped us," Wash adds quietly.

"It's a shame,' Carolina said, watching York. "I was... happy when Wash told me he'd found you."

"He's ordering you to kill everyone on this planet. The shit he's done, the shit he's planning to do? None of that seems shady to you, does it? Or are you beyond questioning him? Cuz from where I'm standing this feels really familiar." He turns back to them, arms crossed. "Didn't we say the same thing about someone else? Didn't we follow his orders blindly? And don't you turn this back around me saying it's a SHAME that I don't condone what you're doing! "

"I have my orders," Carolina replies flatly. "I don't question the man who gives them." She tilts her head, taking a step towards him. "Maybe if you'd followed orders instead of running off with Tex, none of us would be in this position."

Wash winced. "Carolina... boss..."

"Don't say anything, Wash. He helped bring down the Project. He left you. He left us. But he'll give himself up for an AI fragment. Familiar."

"If the orders weren't unethical, I would've followed them! They were committing war crimes. He was killing us. He was killing innocent people. How in the hell is Hargrove any different?" He made a call. It was the right one. "I couldn't find Wash. I saw you get dropped off a cliff. I'm human, Carolina, not psychic. How the fuck was I supposed to know either of you survived that?"

"He did more than cause chaos and down a ship. He's earnt our loyalty. You never even spoke to me about what you suspected."

And that had hurt. York teaming up with Tex of all people. And then facing Maine and that being the last thing before she hit the ice.

"I'm not losing anyone else."

"If I told you what your father was doing, would you really have helped us? You sure as hell didn't help Connie!" Achieve the mission at all costs. Nevermind teammates, nevermind loyalty. "You never wondered where they were coming from. You never wondered why they screamed or why Epsilon killed himself in Wash. You just wanted to be better than her. Congratulations, Carolina. You're the better killing machine. Bra-fucking-vo."

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

Re: York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)

York gets Captured thread split (point of divergance)