neverjoinyou | lastvoyages IC Inbox

WANT TO GO OUT TO PORT AND MAKE A BREAK FOR IT?

Cute. No. You wanna try that again?

WANT TO GO OUT TO PORT AND FIND A NUCLEAR BOMB?

No.

If you want to go to port, you can go with me, and we will find useful things.

THE ADMIRAL SAYS HE WANTS ONE! I CAN DEPUTIZE MYSELF AS THE CLOSEST THING WE HAVE TO A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST!

YEAH, I'M GONNA GO WITH YOU, WE SHOULD TALK.

You're not, actually. A nuclear physicist. We'll do something else. And talk.

YEAH, YEAH, WE CAN TALK! WE SHOULD TALK. THAT'LL BE FUN! BUT I'M JUST SAYING, I KNOW NUCLEAR PHYSICS!

Really not an applicable skill set at this moment, buddy.

Okay. I'm ready when you are.

SURE, MEET UP ON DECK?

Ok. Five minutes.

[As promised, Luke is there. He looks much the same as ever, no longer utterly wasted by death toll, and true to his word he is ready to go; he's got his lightsaber at his hip and a backpack on his back, for whatever they might find. Or if he has to stuff Bill in. Either way.]

Bill has nothing. He was tempted to bring a gun, but Luke doesn't seem like he's in the mood for shenanigans.

It's good to see him up and walking, though, and Bill's eye bends up in a beam when he spots him.

"REALLY, I JUST WANT SOME FRESH AIR. I WAS IN A CRATE THE WHOLE TIME YOU WERE DEAD!"

"I'm sure that was awful," Luke says, not without sympathy, "but you can hardly blame them." He considers this. "I mean, not fairly. Okay, ground rules. You stay in sight."

He pauses.

"Okay, that's pretty much it. I'm just not willing to let you go down there alone."

"YEAH, WELL, BEIN' DEAD'S NO PARTY EITHER."

Bill floats up to bump Luke's shoulder with his side.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING? YA LOOK BETTER."

He can't help a little smile at the bump. It's affectionate--Luke likes it, and gods know there's been little enough affection in his life lately.

"Thanks," he says, and it sounds genuine. "I feel better. I mean. I guess I don't know what it's like being dead, but it does seem difficult to come back from."

He shrugs, and they go, because I honestly don't know how that works which is weird because how long I've gone here, but as Luke looks around at the blasted, recovering terrain and turns to Bill. "How about you? Doing, I mean."

"ANY TIME YOU DON'T EXIST IS BAD!"

Therefore anything you have to do to avoid it is preferable, Bill thinks.

By the time they get down, Bill is absently reaching into inventory he keeps above his tie for a spyglass. His fingers bounce off, and he huffs.

"OH, I'M ALWAYS FINE! DOING GREAT, ACTUALLY! HEY, ANY CHANCE YOU COULD GIVE BACK THE CLOSED TIME LOOP WHERE I STORE MY STUFF? I didn't even know that counted as a power..."

Having a closed time loop inside your face definitely counts as a power, it's just a stupid one.

Luke sighs.

"You know that most of us have to carry things we want, right?" he says. "I know it's hard. But maybe learning to think ahead would be good for you."

He's pretty sure that he won't get anywhere with Bill until 'I'm always fine' isn't the reply, but he's equally unsure how to get past it, without dying.

"I THINK AHEAD," Bill protests. "I JUST DIDN'T - "

Plan for anyone but himself.

"I ALWAYS WORKED ALONE BEFORE."

Edited 2019-05-08 04:25 (UTC)

Luke shakes his head sympathetically.

"Things change," he says softly. "I'm here to help you figure that out."

"I'M STARTING TO THINK IF I HADN'T TOLD ANY OF YOU GUYS WE'D ALL BE IN A LOT LESS TROUBLE."

Luke raises an eyebrow.

"Nooo," he says slowly. "We'd just be 'in trouble' for different things. Honestly, I think the only reason I'm still your warden is you did tell me."

Bill swivels.

"HUH? BUT YOU WOULDN'T BE CULPABLE."

How does this track?

Luke watches him for a moment.

"Do you think," he says finally, "that after all that, with what you put people through, that a warden who had not only let it happen but had had no idea it was going to happen at all would've been safe? I was allowed to come back because you told me. Because you trusted me."

"I THINK I COULD HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU KNOWING! WITHOUT ANY WARDEN PAIRED WITH ME KNOWING! EVERYBODY'S ACTING LIKE YOU STOOD A CHANCE OF STOPPING ME."

That's some of what's getting under his skin. Like he wouldn't have gotten rid of anybody genuinely standing in his way, regardless of who they were.

Luke turns from surveying the blasted ground to face Bill squarely. "What's actually bothering you?" he asks. "That I got blamed--which I would have been, regardless of my knowing--or the idea that if you hadn't told me, maybe you'd have gotten away with it?"

"I GOT AWAY WITH ENOUGH OF IT!"

He accomplished what he wanted to accomplish. He crosses his little arms.

"PEOPLE ARE BLAMING YOU MORE THAN THEY'RE BLAMING ME. BECAUSE THEY 'EXPECTED BETTER,' SUPPOSEDLY, BUT ACTUALLY IT'S BECAUSE THEY THINK YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS!"

Bill jabs his finger forward.

"I DID IT! ME! I PLANNED THIS, I BUILT THE CANNON, I FOUND THE COORDINATES, I PROGRAMMED IT! I UNDERSTOOD WHAT I WAS DOING, I'M - I'M CAPABLE OF KNOWING WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS WOULD BE! I THOUGHT IT THROUGH, I CHOSE IT, I DID IT, NOT YOU!"

He's built up a lot of steam by the end, frustrated shrieking. He's seen too many people acting like Bill is Luke's dog that went off his leash and bit someone, or that he's Luke's kid who broke something in a store - something that's not quite equal to being an independent person that should be expected to know right from wrong.

Edited 2019-05-09 05:55 (UTC)

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