driftfleet | Video.

Entry tags:

Video.

Who: Sam and you!
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: Bloodsport or Iskaulit Bar if you find a way to squeeze in an action thread!
When: Today or whatevs, but backdated stuff is cool too.

[The last week has been really, really rough. Most people probably know.

He's been all but nonexistent for that entire week, and a few days after, too. Buried in hell memories and glitched to the point of barely functioning, he had stayed aboard the Bloodsport mostly with Nami. For the better, he knows later on; Nami understood him best, when it came to that side of him. It doesn't make him anymore ashamed and embarrassed that people had to see that. It makes him a bit depressed in the short time that follows. He wakes up on the third as himself — himself now, anyway. But he decided to just sleep for a day or two and try not to think about all the baggage.

But — he'll get pushed to move eventually, and the bar does need bartenders.

He will be out at the bar as he had been before the glitch.

It was what it was, he reminds himself. It was a part of him, and it's... well, it's not over, it'll never be over, but he's come a long way. He's better than that husk he'd been in the garden. He adapted and he survived. That has to count for something.

Still, there's some things to address.]

[Video.]

Hey, guys, I'm alive. Sorry for being so MIA at the bar, but I'm back now... Let me know if I missed anything.

[He's much better. See?? No burns or scars, and he's got his hair brushed, and everything is A-OK.]

I wanted to... apologize to everyone who ran into me, last week. I, uh, I said some pretty miserable crap and I know I sounded like a crazy person. And I just wanted to thank you guys for putting up with, um... that part of me. It's been years, and I'm much better now, and I don't... want anyone to - [He pauses, wringing a rag from the bar in his hands.] - to worry or anything like that.

I'm okay now.

So If you need a drink, I'll be here.

[A deep breath.]

Well... I don't want to just leave it on that note, so.

... Aaaah, let me think.

...

What's something you've accomplished that you're really proud of?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Er -- yeah, yeah. Uh. Angels, demons, ghosts... Khan worms. Never had to deal with that one, though. I mean, I've dealt with other people possessed by it, but it's never gotten me before. Thank god.

... Angels can't possess without permission from the vessel, though.

So that's... nicer than the others...

[Angels are dicks, though. And they're the biggest source of his trauma.

Fucking oops, right.]

Edited 2017-02-12 07:14 (UTC)

[now it's her turn to look uncomfortable. She bites her lip, eyes darting off screen for a moment. She remembers the angels part, he told her that much before. But the rest - ]

It sounds terrible all around.

[...]

In my world, there is only one creature that we know of that possesses others - they come from a different realm, and once they take control of a person, it is permanent. They need permission to do it, like your angels, but - they are known to fool their hosts into giving their consent. It is a death sentence.

... Oh.

[Let's just look awkward together. She knows what he's talking about.

And it's clear she has some kind of history with it.

His ears redden ever so slightly, and his voice lowers.]

Angels do that in my world, sometimes.

But... it's not always a death sentence, back home; I was lucky.

[it's an awkward party!

She just looks tired, though, she isn't surprised that other creatures do that, too]

I am glad that it wasn't, for you.

[she scoffs] I thought angels were supposed to be - what is the word, holy? The bloody priests always go on about them in the capital.

[He scoffs.]

Not for us. There are some good angels, but a lot of them are dicks.

[He goes quiet for a long moment. It's hard to say what he's thinking, but there sure are a lot of thoughts going through his head.]

The -- guy you met in the garden, he's the product of an angel being bored and pissed off.

[her lips quirk]

They sounded like shite to me in my world. About as useless as my people's Spirits, honestly.

[she gives a faint nod] Lucifer, yes?

What an utter bastard. Have you killed him, I hope?

Unfortunately not. At least, I think he's still out there, anyway. I'm kind of in a perilous situation back home, but if I get out of it, I plan to track him. I'd, um, helped lock him up a while back actually, but he got out.

[He feels like panic is thrumming through him, but he plays a pokerface, his knee bobbing as he taps a foot off-screen. His voice lowers, soft.]

If I can get him back to Hell, then at least I'll have won round two.

. . . is that a better option? To get him back to Hell?

[...]

I had not known Hell was a place one could come and go from. Is it not for the dead?

Usually it is, yeah. For the dead. I was lucky enough to be brought back -- my brother had pulled some strings and got a favor from Death, I guess.

[Yes, he knows that sounds crazy, but crazy is relative.]

Lucifer wasn't... in just Hell, anyway. He was in a cage in Hell, one he couldn't get out of easily. Not on his own. He's pretty good at orchestrating others to do it for him, though.

[He doesn't look at the screen, opting to fidget and look at his hands instead.]

. . . you have been brought back to life as well?

[god dammit Sam you are hitting all of her triggers today.

Also that is a guilty look if she ever saw one, but she doesn't comment on that]

That sounds terribly difficult. Putting him back, I mean. Why not find a way to simply kill him instead? Then he would not be a problem.

[to be entirely fair, that's her solution to all problems]

[He sighs.]

... Unfortunately, he's really hard to kill.

Not a lot works on him. That's the problem with being an immortal archangel.

[He clears his throat. Talking about death is hilariously easier.

Hilariously, in a non-hilarious way, but still.]

Don't feel too bad about the death thing. I have a habit of finding it.

Hell, I'm not even sure I could stay dead if I wanted to.

Ah. [at least it isn't a desire not to kill him or something silly like that, then she'd have to lay into him a bit] That is unfortunate.

[that does make her laugh though. In that sort of ironic way]

Goodness, we have more in common than I thought.

[He frowns sympathetically.

Because if you're like him, he feels pretty bad for you, wow.]

... We do?

[don't look at her like that, gosh]

I have died and been brought back as well. Not through any deals with Death, however. IT was forbidden magic.

And I have a habit of finding it, though that is more because of my profession than any real desire.

[anymore, anyway]

Oh... wow. I'm sorry.

[That sucks. But hey, he gets it, huh?]

My brother's done that. The whole 'forbidden' thing. It wasn't magic, but it was a crossroads deal -- that is, a crossroad demon grants you something in exchange for something else.

I can relate, though. The profession thing, anyway.

Mmm, well. It was not something I wanted; it was done for me.

[and that's a whole 'nother story she doesn't want to get into. She's still sore about the whole damn thing] . . . no offense to your brother, but one should not mess around with forbidden magic of any kind. Forbidden anything, really. It has consequences.

. . . you are not a mercenary, are you?

Oh, don't worry, we both learned the hard way. Consequences definitely happened.

[He shakes his head.]

It wasn't something I wanted for me either. We're hunters, actually. We tracked down murders caused by the supernatural and we stop them to keep the kill rate down. One of those supernatural things got me killed, I guess you could say, and that's... why my brother made that deal. Can't say I wouldn't have been stupid, too, though.

... It was my fault. I was kind of careless and turned my back, at the time.

I am sorry to hear that.

[she frowns, listening quietly] You and your brother must be close, then, yes? If you both are willing to be stupid for one another.

[she only says stupid because he did]

That is an . . . interesting job? It is not one I have heard of, at least. It is a little similar to the mercenaries who hunt beasts for money.

Sounds like we're both sorry for a lot of things.

[He smiles a little.]

It's an interesting job, yeah. I've been involved in it since I can remember, really.

I mean, I didn't start helping with hunts until I was about nine or ten, but it's kind of a family thing. Stupidly, as usual, we don't get paid. But it's nice to just... help people. Stupid me and my stupid brother.

Ha. You do not want that list, dear.

[but she says it with some humor in her voice, since he seems to understand]

Is that not - young, to be doing such a job? Though if it is a family thing, I suppose it makes sense . . . [a huff of laughter] You should get paid, at least for your stupidity. I am stupid all on my own, but I do not do it without being paid for it.

... Yeah, it's pretty young. My dad was, uh, all about the life.

We kind of get by... illegally. Um. Credit cards under fake names and hustling pool and poker games, and stuff. Luckily we have a normal residence now we own, so we pay way less than we used to, to stay places.

[He can't bring himself to speak past tense about his brother.

It's easier to just... forget what happened back home, the last few weeks.]

[both eyebrows shoot up]

My understanding of the modern world is that children do not work, so that is why I ask. It is a little strange to me, since boys start young learning their fathers' crafts.

[the talk about legality does amuse her though, and she cracks a real smile] I do not know what credit cards or hustling means. But I used to pickpocket for money when I was not being paid to be a criminal, so I know what living illegally is like.

Oh, ha, um. That's right; usually, kids aren't supposed to legally work until a certain age.

Hustling is... well, it's when you pretend to be too drunk to make good decisions. You play like crap for the first half of the game you're playing, up the betting pool, then miraculously get really good at the game in the last half.

So I mean, it's not... technically illegal.

Most people don't appreciate it, though.

[she blinks, before he face lights up]

Is that what it is called? Then I know what it is, I have done that. But not with pool.

No, they do not appreciate it at all.

[He chuckles softly.]

Yep, that's sure it. I haven't done it recently though.

... I mean, maybe once or twice on waystations.

[A dimpled grin, albeit a little sheepish. Oops?]

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