[8] Video/Action for Goldenrod, backdated to around the 9th

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Jail is fucking boring.]

[They'd stuck Blake in a cell for a while until they figured out something about community service. It was a lot faster than back in the real world, but even crazy bullshit island has red tape. Blake's not sure whether that's nostalgic or not.]

[Cells are the same everywhere, too. He's never been on this side before. The novelty wears off fast.]

[He wishes he had a ball to bounce against the wall or something. They didn't even leave him any of his animals for company. Maybe that's a good thing. He doesn't know how he's going to explain this to Steve.]

[There's nothing but a book, and there's only so much anybody can take of The Dratini Code.]

[Blake leans back on the hard bunk and tosses his phone in one hand. When he got in here the one thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to talk to anybody, but nothing weakens that conviction like a couple hours alone with the hot, uneasy feeling in the back of his head.]

[He flips the phone open before he can think about it too much and says the first thing that comes to mind.]

[The face that comes up on the screen will look a lot less combative and more withdrawn than usual.]

Hey.

You think they have the Shawshank Redemption around here?

Maybe with one of those stupid puns in the title, and he digs his way out with one of those mole things. A little tiny one for finding rocks.

Seems like everything around here is like back home but turned the local kind of stupid. Do they even make any real original movies?

[In the crappy florescent lights shared by jails everywhere, the lines on his face look deep and weathered.]

I'm tired of nothing but the same old thing.


((OOC: Open for calls and visitors! Blake's in jail for punching Parker, but you don't have to broach the topic if you don't want to. He's not real proud of himself, so he'll pussyfoot around it unless asked directly. If you definitely don't want it to come up, just put in an OOC note.))

Comments

[strongestoftheturks]

Bad experiences?

[Hmm. A five and six. Rude decides to keep the hand and raises.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Fuckin' understatement of a lifetime, there.

[Blake calls, as one hand drums on the side of the table.]

You say your job's not the safe, clean type. Whoever you work with, you must watch each other's backs a lot.

[strongestoftheturks]

[Rude flips over a card; an eight? Hmm. Getting a bit risky, but Rude's always been one for risk. He raises.]

I trust my partner with my life.

[And he says as such with a tone of finality; there is no questioning his faith in Reno.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake doesn't notice that it's his turn. He's also not aware that he's gripping his cards until they bend.]

Ever been stabbed in the back?

[strongestoftheturks]

Yeah.

[The state of his cards aren't going unnoticed, but he keeps mum on that and just waits.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[His other hand stops tapping and is instead gripping the edge of the table, by where it's pressed up against the bars.]

Somebody you trusted? Somebody who'd been playing you for a fool all along?

[strongestoftheturks]

...once.

[...this is going to be one of those opening up moments, isn't it? Rude's starting to feel a bit awkward and nervous...not that he's showing it.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake doesn't have a lot of skill at that opening up thing either.]

[But he's real, real good at mad.]

Did you get to kill the son of a bitch?

[strongestoftheturks]

No.

[Rude folds his hand and gives up the round; possibly the only indication he's going to give that this is a topic he's not comfortable with.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Never that lucky, are we.

[Blake is staring unseeing at his cards.]

We don't even get to finish it.

[strongestoftheturks]

[There's a moment of silence that follows after Blake's statement, as Rude sorts out his own thoughts on the matter and attempts to string it into a coherent sentence.]

...your partner.

He betrayed you?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Carter smacks the cards down hard on the tabletop]

He betrayed everybody. Used us, and I fucking fell for it.

[He falls suddenly silent, staring hard down at the table.]

[he asks abruptly] What would you say a cop's supposed to be?

[strongestoftheturks]

[There's no reaction from Carter's card smackdown, Rude's expression still betrays near nothing out of him save for a brief moment of thoughtfulness as he considers the cop's question.]

Public safety.

[That's the first thing that pops to mind, but Rude adds an addendum to the answer shortly afterwards.]

...making people feel safe.

[That better suits the answer that Carter might be looking for.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

Yeah. Protecting people. Getting scum off the streets.

[Blake's face is frozen. His eyes are unmoving.]

Taking out murderers.

[strongestoftheturks]

...sometimes.

It's...unavoidable.

[Rude's no stranger to murder; he's killed and nearly been killed in the line of his work, but he can't really claim that his motives were entirely altruistic. Still, part of his job now is to ensure the overall safety of humanity and if he's given a mission he'll damn well finish it to the end.

He watches Blake very carefully; it feels like he's threading on a very delicate topic. Perhaps pertaining to the small boy who had claimed that Blake had murdered someone back from their world.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

You do what you have to. I don't lose any sleep over it.

[Anybody Blake has killed has had it coming.]

[He's been avoiding talking about it for a long, long time, and he's not sure if he can now, but it's been seething in the back of his head, eating at him.]

It's the one I didn't get.

[strongestoftheturks]

...what did he do?

[There's more to this case than a partnership gone wrong, and Rude's going to need a little more context to understand exactly what's happened.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake's teeth clench together hard enough to make his jaw ache.]

Went against everything we stand for, and he was laughing in our faces the whole time.

[strongestoftheturks]

[...damn. That's rough. Rude looks up at Blake and frowns slightly, a gesture of slight sympathy for the man's situation.]

...sorry to hear that.

[He leans forward slightly, gloved hands resting on the table.]

...he got clean away?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[with a strange mix of cold anger and bitter satisfaction] He's dead.

My partner did it. Ran off on his own like an idiot and nearly got himself killed, but he did it.

[strongestoftheturks]

...but you didn't get to finish him...yourself.

...I get how that feels.

Wanting to complete something with your own hands.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Yeah.

[Blake lifts himself out of his bad memories to get a good look at Rude. He does sound like he understands. There can't be too many people in the world that's true of.]

[With a hint of surprise] You really do get it, don't you.

[strongestoftheturks]

...I've kinda been there.

[Idly he picks up all the cards and starts shuffling them. As he deals them out he recounts more of his own story to Blake.]

Someone hurt my partner, real bad.

So I went to fix things.

[The light glances off his shades, temporarily causing them to flash expressively. Even behind the dark glass Rude's gaze is sharp as he remembers one of his earlier missions, back in the day when AVALANCHE was more than just 6 dissatisfied guerilla small-fry.]

Didn't work out too well.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[He sounds like he has.]

[Blake takes the cards and fans them out, barely seeing them. His hands are on autopilot.]

[If somebody hurt Jayden he wouldn't give a damn, maybe shake their hand, but other partners he's had...]

[Yeah, he'd go out swinging for revenge.]

[There's only one thing to ask.]

Is he dead?

[strongestoftheturks]

Yeah.

...didn't get to kill'im. But he's dead.

[Double Kings. Awesome. He raises.]

I tried to take him down myself the first time.

Nearly cost the mission...and my life.

[Does that still leave a bad taste in his mouth.]

Learned a tough lesson.