84 (audio)

[absinthe_eyed]

You have fifteen minutes until midnight.  I would suggest you draw this lecture to a conclusion. Say what you mean to say.

[Not surprisingly, there's no audible reply.]

Disappointment? [Justin's voice is flat and dispassionate.] I could say the same to you. You were supposed to be the one who would be there for me. We both know she didn't

Comments

This comment technically does not exist

[prefers_chess]

[This is Rudy about to remark...and then quietly turning off his Network device instead.

Some things are simply not done, and hassling guys who just got the lecture of their life from their dads is one of them.]

Neither does this one

[absinthe_eyed]

[Rudy has inadvertently done A Rather Good Thing. He'd best be careful or doing Rather Good Things might become a habit.]

[chasingmorning]

[She's been near enough all day. Close enough to be in contact but far enough for there to be some kind of an illusion of privacy...or what she intended to be privacy. Her heart has been bobbing up and down like a cork, glad that Justin is able to say what sounds like should have been said a long, long time ago but not glad enough to hear that it's still difficult. Nathan Wallace was not the only impossible father. When it's finally midnight she feels like she can be more than part of the scenery.

For someone who doesn't raise his voice often or swear he did both very well in her eyes.

Her arms slip around Justin's middle.]

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin hasn't seen Shilo hardly at all today. All by design, of course; when an illusion of your father is following you around and giving you a rather sound scolding, it's best to be alone. Well, not all that alone. There's always that bothersome network device, prepared to switch on at the worst of times.]

Shilo.

[He hugs her back tightly. His voice is muffled in her hair.]

...Was your father here today?

[chasingmorning]

Yeah.

[That was also a part of the distance. Even though Nathan Wallace was not there in their apartment, it was vital for Shilo to keep them apart. At least a room apart or sides of the room.

He hadn't stayed the entire duration. If he had it his way, he would have stayed much longer. She hadn't expected him at all, given the last Father's day. She could have been lucky...or unlucky. Their exchange was as touching as it was frustrating. Apparently all boys are just as dangerous as the outside world had been, and they too spread diseases. She should be careful.

He apologized, she apologized. She yelled, he yelled. In the end, both of them were still not ready to say goodbye. Shilo felt just as conflicted as ever. Maybe with a slight degree of relief that he still cared about her very, very much even after all he did.

Her sigh is lost mostly in his shirt. At least Dr. Wallace was around. What kind of a person was Justin's dad?]

He wasn't here all day. It was enough.

[absinthe_eyed]

[That, at least, explains the yelling he had heard from the other room.

Justin doesn't know exactly how to reply. He knows that Shilo's relationship with her father was--and, in a way, continues to be--immensely complicated. A visit from him could have been a blessing, a curse, or a little of both.]

What did you talk about?

[dreamsofnoah]

[Not really saying anything. Yet.]

[absinthe_eyed]

[Don't you have a father to harass, Road?]

[dreamsofnoah]

[That doesn't mean she can't harass him too.]

[absinthe_eyed]

[Her odds of getting a decent present for her birthday might decline.]

Voice

[dude_imbatman]

I think that's normal. To miss it no matter what dicks they are.

Voice

[absinthe_eyed]

Maladaptive, maybe, but normal.

Re: Voice

[dude_imbatman]

[That word it just went over Dean's head]

Yeah...well it seems to be happening a lot today.

Voice

[absinthe_eyed]

[It's okay, Dean. Justin already lumps you in with Chris, Ray, and other well-meaning police force members who don't quite speak the same language as him.]

It's human nature. We bond to our caregivers; we don't have a choice. It's only natural to want their company even after we've decided to distance ourselves from them.

[der_freischuetz]

[Unfortunately, Rip is neither as decent as Rudy, nor does she see a reason to wait. And Justin getting a moral lecture is horribly amusing to her.]

From one monster to another~, let me tell you, they always miss the point. We're all rotten to the core, nothing to be ashamed of!

[absinthe_eyed]

I'm not a monster.

I haven't decided whether or not you're a monster, either.

1/2

[der_freischuetz]

Aren't we all.

[der_freischuetz]

-You haven't decided? Oh, that is rich! Both of these aren't for you to decide now, are they.