TLV Inbox

[viking_seer]

"Anderson here. Leave a message and I'll get back to you. Thanks."

Comments

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

[He hasn't done it yet, but he goes for the keyboard once he's able, requesting Hope County for them, just wanting to do some walking in familiar ground. He opens the door and lets Mae run free into a field near the river.]

Home. Or, at least what was close enough for a while.

[He does at least try to include her.]

[viking_seer]

[She nods and she'll open the door, holding it for Mae to go running down before offering a soft, warm expression to him. Once he goes, she'll follow. ]

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He shoves his hands in his pockets, taking something out as he sets off down the dirt road towards John's church. It's a long walk, but that's the point.

He has a music box in his hand, but doesn't open it yet.

[viking_seer]

She isn't going to ask. Not until he talks and makes it clear he's brought her for a reason.

Until then, she's just here for support.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He walks a while, not opening the box just yet. But eventually, he speaks.

"Today is a shit day," he mutters.

[viking_seer]

She looks over to him and she considers if she wants to ask. She decides that yes, she does.

"Something happen or... this day every year?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Time doesn't matter here," he tells her. "But I'm stuck in that place and I can't fucking get out."

Hence why he came to Saga and not Sweeney. He doesn't want to commiserate; he wants to snap the fuck out of it.

[viking_seer]

"Time matters," she says as she watches him. "You feel the minutes and the hours, you can act and people will feel the consequences."

A glance around.

"Why come here if you wanted to get unstuck?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"I mean that I don't fucking count this as the same months and days as home," he explains.

"And I came here because I like it here."

Mae runs off ahead of them, barking at a squirrel.

[viking_seer]

She just nods.

"Where is here, incidentally?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Montana. Hope County," he explains. "This is where we established our community."

He gestures ahead. "That's John's church."

[viking_seer]

"Is this where your family is from?" She asks as she looks ahead, "Or just the place that worked out for what you needed?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"No. We're from Georgia," he explains. "Worked hard to get that accent out of my mouth."

He sniffs. "This is where John could get land."

[viking_seer]

"Do you miss it?" And she'll clarify. "Your accent. Sounding like you did."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Nah. Left a lot of that behind me," he explains as they head into Fall's End. A water tower looms overhead with the name of the town written lazily on it. A few buildings - a general store, a bar, a smattering of homes and shops - are scattered around the main road. The church is down the way.

"But everything just seems so - fucking bland. Like Dorothy before she went for a ride in that twister. Out here, it's a little less..."

[viking_seer]

"I figure that's part of the intention behind it," she admits as she keeps walking along with him, "give people the opportunity to color it in themselves."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Yeah."

He doesn't sound convinced. The things that haunt him are louder here, not in the Enclosure, but here in this afterlife. He doesn't have control, feels like everything is slipping out of his fingers and out of his grasp.

Lark told him that he'd end up losing control here, spilling his secrets, giving people exactly what they want.

"Told you I was in the war, didn't I?" he starts out, trailing his fingers along the top of the music box before it gets replaced in his pocket.

[viking_seer]

"I think so, yes. Or I picked it up from your general demeanor. The dream." She nods. "I know, anyway."

cw: war stuff, cannibalism

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Did two tours before they sent me home with a 'fuck you' for my trouble. I was the one who closed up those big graves. Pretty sure they weren’t dead, but - " He frowns as they walk. He just followed orders. A good little soldier. Stuffing the feelings down to make it work.

They pass the bar and general store but he doesn't give them a second look.

"While I was there, a buddy of mine got stuck in the desert together. IED went off, blew everyone to hell. We were two hundred kilometers from the nearest civilization and they - thought we were dead."

Jacob doesn't look at her. "Miller was his name. We walked for nearly ten days in that sand. It was - fucking endless. I knew he wasn't going to make it. He was slowing down and keeping us back. So I killed him. Used him to survive. You know what human flesh tastes like? I do."

So he doesn't understand why the Admiral would bring him back. He had been free from the nightmares and the darkness and the slog. Now he's back, with no purpose, no control, and nothing save for what he can salvage for himself.

Re: cw: war stuff, cannibalism

[viking_seer]

There are, in Saga's experience, a surprising number of reasons why someone might tell you they've consumed human flesh. The fact that they're in what feels like the middle of nowhere is not lost on her; she wonders if he's even put together some of the connotations around the fact that he's a foot taller than her at least, has a hundred pounds on her, brought her to a remote location and now he's talking about killing and eating people.

She doesn't actually think so. But she doesn't miss that either.

"Do you wish he'd thought of it first?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He didn't like doing it. It was survival. But there is a reason that he doesn't miss a meal. That he carries his water with him.

Also, in this moment, she isn't a person. She's a sounding board. Someone as faceless and nameless as the people at home. He doesn't look at her, doesn't give her a designation, hasn't said her name at all.

He whistles sharply and Mae turns, returning to his side and trotting there as he walks.

"I wish I was given the choice. Just another fucking facet of my life to endure."

[viking_seer]

"It sounds like a lot of your life has just been enduring and giving things up," she says quietly, watching him, watching Mae.

"Why'd you join the military?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Went to juvie after I killed our foster family," he says without much emotion behind it. "Got a light sentence, considering."

He turns to the church and walks in, leading with no expectation of following. Mae gets treats along the way for staying close.

"Military seemed like the best plan when I turned 18."

[viking_seer]

She isn't startled by that revelation. In a lot of ways, it makes the puzzle pieces come together better.

And she follows along behind him, into the church.

"'Considering' your age, or were there extenuating circumstances?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Considering they made us sleep in the barn and made my five year old brother do chores until he dropped after school," he says in a half snarl.

He spreads out his hands, dropping into a pew.

"I told my lawyer everything. My age helped. Meant I wasn't tried as an adult."