voice, @widowmaker

[distort]

[ Good evening, Quarantine! Widowmaker's voice sounds calm and smoothly dispassionate as usual, and as French as ever, as she makes apparently a brief announcement: ]

If anyone plans to be in the area, there was a small breach of the outer fence near the zoo of the abandoned city. They are little things, nothing a few well placed headshots will not take care of — but quick. A few may have escaped my attentions.

[ She doesn't sound very pleased about that. Her night is definitely gonna be tracking down whatever monster she's referring that slipped in over the fence.

After a brief pause, she continues. ]

There is also the matter of Kane — Jacob Kane. A man with incredibly poor timing, it seems. He —

—is fine. Jacob’s… fine.

[ Don’t believe it. He sounds pained. There's another pause, longer this time, before Widowmaker's voice continues. ]

...Medical attention would be appreciated. I can send coordinates.

Really… really, I’ll be—

[ Whatever it is he'll be gets cut off as the broadcast ends. ]

Comments

[aeturnus]

I came out of nowhere. It happens.

[ A lot. To him. His luck is awful. ]

Pretty fast. Bleeding's stopped, but it'll take a little while longer for it to get going.

[smokedout]

[He's still not happy with the explanation, but he'll take it. He guesses.]

She keeping watch over you while you're healing, at least?

[aeturnus]

She's got monsters to contain.

[ The audio cuts out while he slowly gets to his feet, takes a few breaths to even it out. Then it comes back. ]

I'll be good. Get somewhere more covered.

[smokedout]

[Yep. Definitely still not happy.]

Just give me something to do so I can help one of you out. You got me itching for it.

[aeturnus]

Meet me inside the city walls with a change of clothes? Those don't heal.

--> action

[smokedout]

Got it. Send me the nearest address.

[Once he's got it, he tracks down Cain's room and snatches whatever clothes he sees first, bringing them to him as quickly as he can. When he finally arrives, flashing into existence in a burst of sparks, he's panting slightly from the effort of getting here as quickly as he physically could.]

[aeturnus]

[ By the time Cain's made it into the city, he's looking a lot better. His shirt has a hole in it and there's still some openness to the wound but at least there's no blood and he seems to be standing just fine under his own power.

Seeing Dodger and how quickly he got there, his expression softens into exasperated, but kind of fond. ]

Hey. Thanks.

[smokedout]

Don't mention it.

[Like really. Don't. He doesn't want to be reminded about how worried he is.]

Jesus, though, you scared me. Might've lost out on those free meals.

[aeturnus]

[ He gets that, but he will keep it in mind. ]

Sorry about that. I didn't realize she'd make a call or... what happened, actually.

[smokedout]

Well, be more careful next time.

[He pauses, and glances around. He doesn't expect Widowmaker to be around, but it's sort of an instinctive thing to see who might be listening.]

What were you doing outside the inner city, anyway?

[aeturnus]

I know someone who's decided to live out there.

[ He shakes his head, moving off to somewhere more concealed to change his shirt. Better here than walking around the inner city like he is. ]

Think I'll take a raincheck on seeing him if there's monsters romping around so close, though.

[smokedout]

Fuck is wrong with some people...

[Says Dodger. Who is Dodger.]

...You need anything else from me?

[aeturnus]

[ That gets a laugh. He tilts his head at Dodger consideringly. ]

Can you teleport other people?

[smokedout]

[He nods.]

You're gonna need to give me a second if you want me pulling you all the way back to the communal hall, though.

[He needs a smoke break and... to catch his breath, which he hasn't really done because he's too busy pretending to not be out of breath.]

[aeturnus]

Take your time. It'll still be quicker than walking.

[ His wound is basically healed up by now, though. All shiny new like nothing happened. ]

[smokedout]

Well, that much is right.

[He shrugs, smoking in quick puffs that slowly work into long breaths.]

Hey, can I ask you a ah... loaded question?

[aeturnus]

You can ask, we'll see if I answer.

[ He probably will, though. ]

[smokedout]

Do you know... how to convince someone to take advantage of you?

[Apparently this question is completely serious, because his face is turning red when he asks it. And with how pale his skin is, the blush makes him glow.]

[aeturnus]

[ His head slowly tilts to the side as he considers that. Coming from Dodger, he's... well, he first needs to ascertain a few things. ]

Take advantage of you... or just have sex with you? Or are we going for a third meaning here?

[smokedout]

All of the above. At varying levels of urgency.

[He offers... an awkward shrug? If anything, he sort of looks like a teenager asking for dating advice.]

I was.. a dog, for my boss back home. Just- available, for whatever he wanted. There's someone I want to ah... be my new... master. And... he's not interested. [God this is fucking awful.] And I guess I want... your thoughts. On that.

[aeturnus]

[ Oh hell. Cain rubs a hand over his face and then back up into his hair, biting his bottom lip and pulling it out slowly. This is uncomfortably familiar to the issue he had just a few weeks ago, when he was himself but... younger. ]

I mean, not for nothing, but people really hate the idea of slaves or unequal behavior here. During all that stuff with the Chalice, well—I wasn't in the best position, either, and nobody wants to hear about it.

[ Except it's not as easy as just telling someone "that's bad" or "don't do that" when it's... their life. They can't just turn their lives off because of other peoples' discomfort. ]

What's your criteria for masters, and-or why this guy?

[smokedout]

[Okay, he's got... he's got a lot of questions about that. But he guesses it's not really his business and for once, he's got better things to do than trot around in things that fall in that category.

It takes him a little while to reason it out. There are a lot of stark difference between Reaper and the men who have ruled his life before. But there are also a lot of reasons why he'd be the same, or... better.]

He's fucking beautiful, intelligent, he's worked as a criminal and... he's got the means to kill me, if he wanted to. [All traits he sees as not only positive, but all in the category.] Just- back home, every time I got away from one boss or another, someone would snatch me up. Got used to it, now I'm stuck without one... and if I can get another one, I want it to be him.

[And he's done... fantasizing for a moment, and clears his throat awkwardly.]

Just... he thinks I'm a dumb kid, and doesn't... trust me. And it turns out it's fuckin' hard to get someone to trust you when all you want at the end of the day is to follow their orders, most people figure there's a... underlying motive.

[aeturnus]

[ Wow. Very complicated. Much difficulty. He isn't about to go poor Dodger but he's definitely got a pang of sympathy for the difficulty, if not at all how it's going along. And all this because he fed the guy... ]

Like you might expect, that isn't going to be easy at all. And you'll probably have to make a compromise instead of just throwing your head at it constantly. It's what you do for things you want that badly.

And, uh... worked as a criminal? Past tense?

[smokedout]

Past tense. [A fact that he's mildly annoyed about.] We've both worked for terrorists... he regrets it a little more than I do.

[He's not commenting on the compromise bit yet... if he even listened to it in the first place.]

[aeturnus]

[ Don't think Cain isn't noticing the lack of comment on his other point. Asking for advice and then ignoring it is not going to be worth his time in the long run. ]

Then you should probably approach it from an angle he'd actually appreciate. No one likes it when their preferences go in one ear and out the other.