[open, narrative]

[in_verbatim]

What the people in the Nexus did was ruin him. It's as simple as that.

Last year it was only mental. He'd wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, his body shaking, thinking about Crane and fire and bugs, and he blamed this place. He slept with the lights on. He was miserable, but he was okay, he was still kicking, and that was what

Comments

[jmlevitt]

"I don't have to save you from shit!" Jeff is shouting now, his face turning red with anger. "Fine. You want to know why I let Kaa do that? Because for once, I could fucking do something to keep people from getting hurt, and that's something you will never fucking understand, because you are completely fucking incapable of seeing anything outside your own fucking comfort or your own fucking survival, and God help anyone in your way.

"What do you suggest I do instead? Trust you? Believe that you'll be a good boy and only shoot people who attack you first? Bullshit. Trusting you got me stabbed in the back twice. Do you expect me to feel sympathy for you? How many people have you killed that couldn't defend themselves? One of them's standing right in front of you, you son of a bitch."

He stops himself there, reaching in for another cigarette. His hands shake as he lights it. "'Quæ enim seminaverit homo, hæc et metet,'" he says quietly, more calm now. Soze may find himself not needing a translation. "'For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' I can't save you from the consequences of your own actions. All I can do is get out of the way, and make sure you don't take anyone else with you."

[in_verbatim]

He flings the chair he's been holding across the room, bam, and it skids across the
hardwood floor before coming to a stop.

Jeff's anger. His anger.

The words he didn't need translated.

"Just shut up!" he barks. "Just shut up and get the fuck out of here!"

[jmlevitt]

He felt the anger and hatred rise, crest and crash like a wave as the chair sailed across the room. It was cathartic for them both. He doesn't answer when Soze barks his orders at him; he just stares for a moment, then leaves without a word. The door slams behind him, hard enough to rattle the walls.