Voicemail

[goddamngrenades]

You have reached the voice mail system of FOXTROT 12.

When you are finished recording, just hang up or press pound for more options.

To request a locksmith, press one.

To hear these options in Spanish, press dos.

To send a verbal confirmation of a written command, press three.

To send a written confirmation of a verbal command, press four.

For delivery options, press five.

To page this person, press six.

To locate your nearest operator, press seven.

To leave a call back number, press eight.

To repeat this message, press nine.

Press zero for other options.

To mark this message as urgent, press eleven.

Thank you for calling, have a nice day.

BEEP


Comments

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Probably for the best, really. Things got..." Ugly. Real ugly. Saying everything you'd ever felt and never put words to all at once is overwhelming and mortifying and not something he'd really want Malcolm to watch him do. He was mortified enough that he watched him crack the once. "Rough. After. I'm glad you left."

He wouldn't do the day over and change anything other than throwing him in the pool, though. Telling people when he's not quite on the ball isn't- he doesn't do that. Can't. It's impossible. "...I got her number, though. Later. The blonde."

Can it be time for a tangent? Lets have time for a tangent. A 'get Mal laid' tangent.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I don't think I could have handled rough," he admits with a look away and a short laugh. "Not the way I was. I can take you rough at my best, and that was...not my best."

Wait. What. That is not an expected tangent. "...Did you really. Did you actually track her down at the party just to get her number?" He's a little bit mortified and a little bit impressed. "Of course she'd talk to you, you're not the one who..." Panicked. "Reacted poorly." That's the phrase.

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

It probably says something about how he's grown as a person that the unintentional innuendo doesn't make him smirk or think anything in particular. Really. He's as surprised as anyone else.

Maybe they're closer to bros than bros with pining now. Maybe.

"I did, she asked about you. If you were okay. I told her some jackass slipped you a tab of stims when we weren't looking and you felt like you were going to crawl out of your skin." Not entirely inaccurate. "She's had bad trips before and wants you to know it's much better doing them when A) you know you're doing them and B) Post orgasm. There was a suggestive wink meant for you involved, I can't replicate it."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

He dips his face into his hands and laughs more earnestly at that. "Well, at least she doesn't think I'm an intentional druggie, and now I have some advice on when and how to use them. I'll keep that in mind."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

Aaaand serious discussion averted. Mission accomplished! He relaxes a hair, shoulders going loose and smile widening up. "Some good notes. And a great smile. I'll send you her number so you can call her whenever you want."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"God. All right, you do that. I'm sure I'll be steered away from any bad trips." He doesn't really expect anything to come of it, but it can't hurt, right?

"Sounds like you calmed down after chatting with Carolina." Hey remember serious discussion he can get back on track. It's not a reach. York apparently got himself back together at some point during the festivities, unless he used some cameras to track her down elsewhere...

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

...and right back into it. Damnit Mal. A little tension sneaks back in, York going still. No fidgeting, no twitching, no foot tapping, nothing.

Shit.

"Not really a chat." Can they not? They can not. Let's not.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"...Sorry, I don't mean to hit a nerve." Hooray for ruining things in subtle ways.

"I was angry with you, for longer than I should have been. I couldn't get that...stupid bloody thing you said out of my head. What kind of navy brat--" Yeah. That. "Fair question. It's a fair question. But it stuck. But we're fine now. Right?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"No, you're just trying to talk about shit. Which...is something we Freelancers don't do. And we all know how that ends." It's just Mal. It's MALCOLM and if he can ease up enough to talk about it to anyone, it's him. York takes a slow breath and scrubs a hand through his hair. "Yeah we...talked it out. I said a lot of shit that had been on my mind for fuck'n ever. Most of it wasn't kind. We hugged it out, mended our bridges, I went back out and hung with Delta for a bit before get'n him to bed. Guy was tired. And worried. I wasn't really...filtering anything through our feed at the time."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I know what not talking is like, and I know exactly how it ends." Exhibit A, person who doesn't talk about shit. That's how they get into the problems they get into half of the time, and the other half is because York doesn't talk. "I'm glad you two worked it out. Bottling things up...well."

They know how that ends. Every time. But they also always do it every time.

"The lot of you are having to roll with a lot of punches lately."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"I'm sorry I called you a navy brat." That's a little better, right? Right. "Lost my footing trying to put you back down when you said you couldn't swim. That's what I get for wandering around barefoot."

The rest? The rest. Christ.

"It wasn't even her I was mad at- well. A little. But it's not all on her that we never talk about what happens after I die. She doesn't like talking about it and I don't like making her do things that she doesn't like. I'll never not be stupid around her." A beat. "I met the Alpha. He's here. So's Tex."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

There's a faint frown at first. That's not quite the kind of apology he expected, since that wasn't exactly the issue, but at least some things are cleared up?

But it's York's problems that he lets take centre stage. That's more important. York had all but imploded and needed an outlet for whatever was going on inside. "I heard about Tex, after." Carolina did not take that well. "I trust none of that went well for you."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Also. Picking you up without permission. Another dick move. It was a night for dick moves, I'm saying. I'm sorry. I'd bake you a cake but-" That wouldn't end well. At all.

"Tex? Nah. We're cool. It's the fucking Alpha I can't stand. I shouldn't expect much of anything since he got broken pretty badly so I'd get D and theta would be theta and I'm pretty sure if I give myself time to think about shit rationally I won't blame him so much but- You ever sit back and look at someone and wonder why the hell they're a part of your life story?" He pinches the bridge of his nose and looks over. "He's- he can't shoot. Military Smart AI. Can't shoot. Doesn't remember anything. Is a self centered, illogical, paranoid little jackass. He's not worth dying for. And we all died over him. The fuck is up with that?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

Nope, no, the whole party situation is put completely on hold, paused, set aside so that Mal can come make some room to sit beside York. If York allows for it.

"You told me he was tortured into all these different pieces. That what's left is whatever wasn't forcibly stripped from him so he could try to preserve his own sanity. I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting. Delta got the logic, after all. I imagine Theta has all that empathy, and perhaps military skill was passed between the lot of them."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Yeah, and what's left is an asshole. I wasn't expecting a saint- just a decent human being that wouldn't deny me knowledge of what comes after since it concerns someone he supposedly cares about and spit on the sacrifice of said person just because 'he never asked for it, asshole'." York scrubs at his face, knee tipping to knock against Malcolm's. "He's not broken, he's a shitbag."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"And that's what was bothering you. He wouldn't tell you, and Carolina never told you, and now that you know, you don't know how to react to that." At least, that's what Malcolm gathers. "You died doing what you thought was right. I don't think that's nothing."

: Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"I died trying to save him. To protect D. And you know what fucking happens to them?" He can't not get worked up about this, not only a few days later. Not with it sitting thick and heavy in his veins like a drug. "An EMP. A fucking EMP. Wipes the whole lot of them out. I died for nothing."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

What can he say to that? He wasn't there. And he can't possibly say that that news isn't upsetting when it is. He can't argue. Malcolm rests a hand on York's back between the shoulderblades. Support is there if he wants it.

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"The war ends. The Project's brought down. And none of it matters." And that's just it. None of it matters. So why is he bothered? He shouldn't be. He should be well pleased that, at least, he got to live a little longer here.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"Why doesn't that matter? It's done. It's over."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Why the fuck should it matter, we're all dead. And Carolina gets to carry our ghosts." And that's the least fair part of it. She lives- lost to everyone that she'd cared about. Loses them without ever being able to stop. "The fuck is the point of anything?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

His hand tenses across York's shoulders until it moves up to hook itself on one, gripping firmly. No, what happened to each of them individually is hardly fair. Individually, maybe it seems pointless. "But it's over," he restates with a tired sigh. "That much ought to count for something."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Equipment is still floating around. People still have the data from the Director's experiments. What's to stop them from doing it all over again? Not me, I can't say shit, I'm dead and Carolina can't do anything because she'd be implicated by association. Her father fucked everything up and paved the way for a fine new set of war crimes." He sags back against Mal. This, this is why he doesn't talk about home. Doesn't think about what was or what would have been if he hadn't gotten shot. It's exhausting.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"So focus on here. Easier said than done, but if there's nothing left for you back there, then there's hardly a point in worrying about it." The idea that things being done wouldn't matter rankles Malcolm. If he was in the same situation--if he'd died during the war and ended up here--

But it's not the same situation. Nowhere near. So York's opinions and feelings override everything else.

(Including the conversation, he hasn't failed to notice.)

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"I try to. Usually it works. Having someone not from home to talk to helps. It just hit me hard that night on top of everything else. Seriously, Mal. Thank you. I'm already not handling this shit well but it'd be so much fucking worse without you." Reel it in. He's fine. He'll be fine. He'll cope. He can't do anything about what happened there. What's happening here, though-

That he can work on.

York pats Malcolm's knee and drags over the data padd, flicking through files before he pulls up a holographic display of the armor currently being built for him. "So I've kinda- you're not getting the same model as Carolina and me. I tried to take your background into account, you know?"