Comments | beyondtherift: Some grow wiser, you just grew older...

savesomelight in beyondtherift

Some grow wiser, you just grew older...

Apr 01, 2009 14:49

Today is Piper's seventeenth birthday... Not that anyone would actually know that, because she hasn't really made it a point to exchange birthdates with anyone. A year ago today, she became a demon and her entire world that had consisted of quietly blending into the background and being unobtrusive went out the window. She hasn't spoken to her ( Read more... )

dev and ace caulfield, gray raines, bambi dalton, piper paxton, cy, victor van dort, maka albarn, casey wyatt, buffy summers, desmond descant, rusty hunt

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trivialsublime0 April 2 2009, 03:38:40 UTC

Rusty Hunt is not selling drugs for once. It's nice. It's cloudy, but not cold. When 50 degrees means not cold, it has obviously been winter too long. He is in the back corner of a bar in a shitty part of town, smoking, which is nothing out of the ordinary for him.

There's a glass of whiskey on the table in front of him. Rusty can not really handle the hard drinks, but he thought he'd give it a whirl. He's a tough guy (ahem), and it's his day off after all. However, he's only managed to drink a painful sip or two of it before he gave up and let it sit.

Rusty had forgotten how much he enjoys not selling drugs.

theshameofcain April 2 2009, 03:49:01 UTC

Bambi wanders in, looking agitated and flustered and kinda hating that she chose to walk across the whole damn city looking for Rusty. A lot of sick fucks in this part of town. Thankfully, she has angelic strength on her side, even if it's not cool enough to have her wings out and hidden by her coat.

She breathes a sigh of relief when she finds Rusty in the last bar she thinks to check- she was half-expecting that to come up negative too and just intended to hang out there and drink herself sick, but, well, apparently it's her lucky day.

Or not.

She shakes off the anxiety and agitation and forces herself into her normal cool, casual veneer and then wanders over and slides into Rusty's booth. "You're a tough man to find, Hunt," she muses casually, like this is just a little social call and there's nothing of the ordinary about it.

trivialsublime0 April 2 2009, 04:10:10 UTC

Rusty looks up when Bambi slides into the booth. He didn't even notice her until she did. It's good that his job doesn't require him to be constantly alert, because he would fail always.

Even if she says it casually, he tenses. People don't look for him for good reasons. Not usually.

"Sorry," he says with a halfhearted smirk as he takes a drag from his cigarrette and looks from her to his whiskey. Rusty can't seem to meet her eyes right now. "There ain't exactly a lotta people tryin' to find me or nothin'."

No, he's not going to ask why she was looking for him.

theshameofcain April 2 2009, 05:14:55 UTC

Probably for the best. She could have contacted him over the journals, but then he would have asked questions and it would have made this infinitely harder.

"Count your blessings for that. I know what it's like to be on the other end." She fishes a cigarette and her lighter out of her own pocket, reminded that she desperately needs a smoke, and then gestures to the whiskey as she lights up. "You finishing that? I could use it."

She is going to avoid the actual subject for as long as humanly possible.

trivialsublime0 April 2 2009, 05:31:17 UTC

Rusty eyes the whiskey on the table. It doesn't look much different than when he first ordered it, hardly looks like he's touched it. It's starting to seem like he could use it, too, but he doesn't really think he could tell her no if he wanted to. Anyway, it's not like he can't order another and try to choke that one down for the sake of drinking.

He pushes the glass toward her, and then focuses on the fire drifting up from the tip of the lighter before glancing at her, again. Never look her in the eyes for too long. "Go ahead. Never could drink the shit myself."

Rusty leans back, attempts to act more relaxed than he feels, as he takes another drag from the cigarrette and watches the smoke drift out of his mouth.

theshameofcain April 2 2009, 05:48:52 UTC

Bambi balances the cigarette between two of her fingers and picks up the whiskey glass with her free hand and raises it in a mock toast with a bit of a smirk, "Cheers," she says, before taking a rather hearty sip. It burns enough to make her flinch and she shakes her head. "Goddamn," she mutters under her breath. It's strong, but she likes it that way.

She's silent for a moment, enjoying her cigarette and running through ways to avoid this conversation, but she's running low on topics... "So. Flagg got elected."

She has no idea if Rusty's figured out that Flagg's their guy or not, but if he doesn't know, well, she'll be happy to tell him. That's what this whole thing is for, after all. Telling Rusty, of course, won't get her killed.

trivialsublime0 April 2 2009, 21:14:00 UTC

Rusty hasn't even heard that Flagg got elected. He had heard of the campaign and that Flagg was likely to win, but that's about the gist of it. Yes, he is the most unaware person in Chicago.

He's the type of person that keeps his head down, doesn't ask questions, and does what he can to get by without dying.

"Yeah," Rusty says, because he doesn't want her to think that he's as much of an idiot as he actually is. "He... did."

A better person might ask her to just come out with it already, but Rusty isn't that kind of person. He's the kid that takes his band aids off slowly. Avoidance is the name of the game. He doesn't know what she wants, but he knows he can't handle it.

theshameofcain April 2 2009, 21:42:38 UTC

That is probably for the best... Not that Bambi isn't about to shatter that little bubble of unawareness, but she trusts he'll take that information and not get killed. She hopes.

That's the trouble with Angels of Knowledge. They can't not ask questions. They're a horrible commodity in businesses like this, which is why they're better if they Fall. They keep their brains, keep their skills, but they don't have that pesky moral center and those compulsions to stick their nose where they don't belong. That's Bambi's theory anyway ( ... )

trivialsublime0 April 2 2009, 23:23:29 UTC

Rusty snorts without much humor when she says the thing about this world is that it's bullshit, cause it's her and well, somehow it's the last thing he expected to come out of her mouth, too.

Not that he knew what to expect.

The sound of her chuckle makes him tense even more. He shifts in his seat and keeps looking from the room back to her, because he can't just look at her all that long, and then she starts talking about the truth about Flagg, and he doesn't look at her at all.

"Jesus," he mutters when she finishes as he holds the cigarrette over the ash tray, because his hand is too tense to bring it back to his mouth. "Jesus fuck ( ... )

theshameofcain April 3 2009, 01:55:44 UTC

"It ain't a fuckin' April Fool's Day prank, bucko, if that's what you're askin'. I've got more taste than that." She picks up the whiskey glass and takes another sip, although it's a smaller one this time. She still cringes a little as it burns its way down her throat ( ... )

trivialsublime0 April 3 2009, 03:03:44 UTC

Rusty swings his gaze back to her and doesn't look away this time, because this is the part where she tells him that she's joking cause she can't. She can't do what she's telling him. She can't go up against these big guys and make it out. There is no sign of it in her face.

He shakes his head, still holding the cigarrette over the ash tray. His fingers have tensed, but he can't move them at all, because he's so tense.

"No. No, you have to be shittin' me." He leans forward against the table like being closer to her will somehow drive his point home better. "They own the whole fuckin' city, Bambi. What the fuck? D'you think they won't find out about this shit, and then what's gonna happen when they do? Just cause you got the means and the way, don't mean that you gotta go stirrin' all this up. Angel or no angel, there's gotta be a better way. Drop a note in someone's fuckin mailbox and say, this guy is bad news and let them take care of it ( ... )

theshameofcain April 3 2009, 03:48:47 UTC

"Hunt," she snaps through gritted teeth, but that doesn't make him stop and she grips the side of the table like she has to hold onto something to keep from punching him or strangling him or whatever. Figures. He can't be like every other demon she's ever met and just accept that angels are fucking sticks in the mud who always have to do the right thing.

So she just waits until he's done. Stares blankly at him with her jaw set and her knuckles turning white as she continues to grip the table with ferocious restraint.

When he finishes, she starts talking, her voice soft, but firm, "Even if I did it anonymously, there's only so many fuckin' people with my mouth, Rusty. They'd weed out everyone they didn't trust, anyone they thought was expendable." She lets that sit for a moment. "They'd come after you."

And maybe he doesn't care, but she fucking does, like she's never cared about anything. He's a sweet guy, too good to be in this business for all that he's a demon, but even if he can't leave, at least they're not going to kill him ( ... )

trivialsublime0 April 3 2009, 04:42:20 UTC

Rusty doesn't say anything. He has never been one for words, never really needed to be before. He stares at the table. He lets her talk. The numb feeling sets deep within him and makes it hard to react. The thumping of his heart pumping blood through his veins echoes in his ears.

"Bambi..."

He can't even look at her as she walks away, and then this intense protest hits him. The last time that he'll ever see her is now. Rusty goes after her just before she reaches the exit. He steps out on to the street on her heels.

"So that's it then? You just fuckin' walk in there, tell me that, and walk out, again? That's all there is to it?"

theshameofcain April 3 2009, 04:50:08 UTC

She ignores him when he calls her name, too focused on getting out of here, but when he follows her, she finally stops and whirls around with a snarl and a grimace. "Yeah, that is exactly what I did and it's what I'm going to continue doin'. Welcome to the real world, Rusty Hunt. I told you the whole world was bullshit and this is the manure cherry on that little shitcake."

She's just going to keep walking. If she keeps walking, then maybe he'll lose interest and maybe he won't be a complete dumbass like she suspects he might be. Maybe he'll do the smart thing and actually survive through this.

Fuck if she knows what to say to someone to get them to not be an idiot. If there was a way to get him out completely before she died, she'd do it, but she can't do that. So maybe these people that Gwen Cooper calls hers can find a way to knock the O down a few pegs and let him out. Who knows?

All Bambi knows right now is that she has to keep walking.

trivialsublime0 April 3 2009, 05:06:03 UTC

"Ain't exactly a kid or nothin'," Rusty says. "I know that's how the fuckin' world works, but that don't mean I gotta like it. It just- It's a fuckin' waste. Y- you stop this one, and there's someone else right on his fuckin' way cause that's how the world works, too."

He is still following, even though he knows it won't do any good, because that's how she is. It's just that all the emotions still building up inside him. She's the only friend that he's got in this whole city- the only person he trusts, one of the only people that he thinks gives half a shit about him here, and it's more than that, too, not that that has ever mattered, or come up, cause it didn't need to.

And he doesn't want to lose her over something that won't matter in the end, because Chicago's a doomed city. If it's not Flagg... it'll be someone else. It always is.

"It doesn't fuckin' have to be this way." Even he is surprised by the emotion in his voice, as he keeps walking. Not forever. Not even for long, but he had to say something... even if it all came ( ... )

theshameofcain April 3 2009, 05:55:40 UTC

Bambi's getting twitchy and edgy with every second he keeps following her, trying to shut him out and block the entire universe out along with him, but it's nigh impossible to just ignore him and keep walking. Finally she whirls around and bridges the gap between them, getting as close to him as she dares, her expression half-crazed and half-distressed.

"Yeah, there'll be others, but they're just people. You don't kill the monster, but you can wound it enough that has to regroup and find a new patsy and this city... This fucking city. It's too big for 'em, Rusty. The further they get pushed back, the more this city will rise to meet them. They'll meet an army of people just like me once I get the word out." She shakes her head. "Do you think I wanna die? 'Cause I don't. I'm scared as hell to die, but I don't want to live in their world anymore and I'm stuck in it unless I do something about it. And that's all I have to say about that ( ... )

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