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]

[ 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.

[smokedout]

[He shrugs sullenly; lighting a new cigarette as the old one had burned out too quickly.]

I figured being straight-forward would work better for me than the shit I usually pull. [Because apparently "approaching from an angle he'd appreciate" means "manipulating him into thinking it's a good idea", in Dodger's head.] How exactly do you put "I want you to take over my life and change who I am" in a way that someone who's not a fucked up son of a bitch will take you up on it?

[aeturnus]

By showing, not telling. Genuinely. [ He sighs, shaking his head and crossing his arms for lack of his usual jacket to dig his hands into. It's as close to a nervous fidget as he gets nowadays. ] You realize that this is the sort of thing you have to be patient about?

Also, the sort of thing that people not raised in that sort of environment might never get? Because there's that. Trust me.

[ It's not even something Cain necessarily wants to help Dodger go through with, so much as maybe help him along in realizing there's more to it than just giving yourself up and forfeiting control of your own life. Fighting so hard for the "easy" way out of living your own life would be sad if he didn't understand it so well. Only thing being Cain was on the other side, inside looking out and terrified of what would be on the other end; Dodger's stuck outside, too occupied with trying to get back in to look around at what else he's got going for him. ]

[smokedout]

[He'd had another teenager-y grumble lined up, but he paused when he hears "trust me". Trust him, huh... he has experience with this sort of thing. Dodger hadn't even considered anyone having real concrete experience to work with, so at the very least he's listening a little better.]

I don't think I've got long enough to be patient. [He huffs quietly.] What exactly do you mean by 'showing'?

[Can flashing count. And not actually doing anything vulnerable.]

[aeturnus]

[ There's a lot to Cain that most people don't get to see. This is something he's loathe to show, but on the other hand... it's already been bared to the population for him. And it's useful now, so he might as well draw on that experience while it's once again fresh in his mind. ]

You say you want him to change who you are, right? Show him that it's even possible. Being a stubborn mule just shows you're a lost cause. Make a change somewhere.

[smokedout]

[Yeah... just like he expected, it'll take some hits to his pride.]

Sounds a bit like what he told me.

[Except what Reaper told him was more along the lines of "I don't have time to figure out what the hell is going on in your head". Which really just spurred Dodger to be more open about his obsession.]

...I've uh. Never changed without someone else forcing it on me. How do you- uh. Keep yourself on track with that sort of shit?

[aeturnus]

Friends. Journal-keeping. Having a goal or reason for doing it helps a lot.

[ He dips his head in understanding of its difficulty, however. ]

Don't try to do it all at once. You have to take small steps to get started.

[smokedout]

...I can tell you honestly I haven't had a single one of those things before.

[Maybe friends. But considering every friend he's made before Riverview has tried to kill him at one point or another, he doesn't think that really counts.]

[aeturnus]

Now you've got all three. Well, maybe not the journals if you don't keep journals. Probably should, though.

[smokedout]

Calling us friends is a little presumptuous.

[Like god, they just eat meals together a lot and play games? And he ran over here because he was super worried? That doesn't make them friends.]

I keep notes, but I'm not about to start keeping a diary. The uh.. introspection. Isn't up my alley.

[aeturnus]

After just admitting you've never had a friend before, isn't it presumptuous to say we're not?

[ Tit for tat. Cain's pretty sure Dodger wouldn't know a friend if one tossed him into a black hole. If he doesn't say something now, he'll just walk the walk all while thinking they're using each other without allowing himself to consider enjoying it. There's not much point to that. ]

You don't need introspection, you just need to notice the pattern. Keeping notes is good enough; pay attention if you're going forward or moving backward.

[smokedout]

[Dodger just rolls his eyes at this. He has his mouth open for a moment to mutter "You sound like-" before stopping, because noooo way is he giving Cain a lead to find out a single thing about his past without a fight. He has his pride to worry about.]

Fine... noticing patterns. I can do that. [He grimaces.] And what, just... having the goal be to be a less shitty person?

[aeturnus]

[ Look, he's too much of a dad to not give advice the best way he can. For someone like Dodger, he has a strong feeling that it won't be easy but it has to start somewhere. ]

Is there anything this guy's told you to cut out or do better? Give him the head start and do it for him.

[smokedout]

[That... takes him a while to reason out. The downside of letting all of Reaper's distasteful comments go in one ear and out the other is that... when he tries to think of what the actual problem is, he draws a blank for a very long time.]

Probably... actually listening to him when he tells me to stop shit.

[It's going to be a long journey.]

[aeturnus]

That's a good start. [ He pauses, actually, because wait... ] Or—a good goal? Actually pay attention?

[smokedout]

Not a habit I picked up with my old bosses, so yeah. A goal.

[Half of his self-sacrificing lack of inhibition is caused by the fact that he relies solely on his bosses to set him straight when he fucks up. The only habit he's really learned since coming here is too not touch Reaper's mask.]

I guess to just... not wait until he's trying to kill me to stop pissing him off. That's. Probably a decent start.

[Wow, when they say it like that it actually sounds pretty bad.]

[aeturnus]

We'll call it the first steps.

[ Pretty bad, pathetic, just a poor starting foot. Better than ignoring there's a problem at all, though, and Cain isn't one to look down on small accomplishments that took the same amount of effort. ]

You about ready?

[smokedout]

[He nods quietly, but.. a thought occurs to him, and he figures it's better to ask than just let it sit.]

So are you just being supportive, or you got some sorta stake in how this goes? You're... a lot more decent about this than I expected outta you.

[aeturnus]

[ It's a fair enough question, so he merely shrugs. ]

I'd like to see what happens, but it's not going to get me anything. You asked for my opinion and help, so I gave it. You lucked out on who you asked, since it's like I said. I've got similar stuff in my past.

[smokedout]

On uh.. which end of it?

[Dodger does Cain look like someone who would control people.]

[aeturnus]

[ No, he looks like a college dropout who should be in a Starbucks with a tablet watching The Office while he tweets about social climate. ... okay maybe not that bad. ]

I was raised as a slave.

[smokedout]

[Alright. Cain is getting no sass from Dodger, he has his full attention. And he's just sort of giving him a somewhat impatient "go on" look.]

[aeturnus]

[ That slight impatience gets a slightly sharp look in return. Cain isn't so fond of talking about these times for a vast litany of reasons. ]

By now, I don't even know what it was like before that, so all my—foundation, if you want to call it something, was of serving a master and his family. Eventually it got to the point where it was stick around and die, or leave and at least have a chance, so...

[ There's no need to mention Remus, even if his brother was the one who eventually convinced him that it had to be done. He'll be the first to acknowledge it was easier with someone at his side... then the ultimate hardship when that support, that lifeline, was gone. ]

[smokedout]

[Well, he notices the sharp look and trains his face back to mild curiosity.]

So you left.. and you didn't get dragged into something else?

[aeturnus]

[ He tilts his head, takes a deceptively easy breath. ]

Not like that, but it's probably more to do with having a mental breakdown leading into a sort of fugue state for the next decade or two while trying to follow through on a promise I made.

[ His tone is fairly blithe because generally speaking? He's over that, the part of his life where things were confusing and muddled and weirdly good and he'll look back at it fondly for the escape that it was but it doesn't make the pain or struggles any less. ]