019 - [Video] - Infirmary :| (FEEL FREE TO SPAM OFF THIS)

[hatestriangles]

[ALSO BACKDATED BECAUSE ROS AND I WORK AS A FLIST-SPAMMING TEAM?: Perry has just woken up in the infirmary after being knocked out by Arthur. It's probably been an hour or two since Arthur's post. He's not happy about being knocked out or being in the infirmary. He doesn't like doctors. :c As Arthur isn't in the immediate vicinity at the moment for

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WELL, WHAT THE HEY: AWKWARD SPAM

[stopthat_destro]

[Well, since Rex works in the infirmary, it's bound to happen. He's on gruntwork duty at the moment, which mostly means cleaning things and making sure all the infirm get their meals. So, he's wordlessly handing people their meals, mind on other things, like his sister's return, the weapons he's planning on building for Wanda... Normal stuff.

So, he's sort of half-zoned out by the time he gets to Perry's bed. He passes a tray over to him with all the love and care of a school cafeteria worker. Then, he does a double take when he realizes who the bed's occupant is. What the hell? Somebody beat him up?

Well, okay. Part of him's pretty happy to see that. The other part... not so much. It's weird. And awkward. And he doesn't like it.]

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[Rex is tempted to point out that, cheating or not, Perry's still the one in the hospital bed, but he decides against it. Instead, he just looks confused by the admission. It's not something he expected.] Stupid? How?

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

[Another long silence before Perry answers. He still doesn't actually look at Rex when he does. His voice is low and angry--but it's directed at himself now.] Arthur's fast. He's good in a fight. And as much as I hate to say it? He's not an idiot. He was ready for it--he's always ready to fight me. But I lost it and I stopped thinking, so he got a lucky hit on me with something I should've seen coming.

[Yeah, Rex, maybe it's awkward but you're the only one here for him to rant to about this.]

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[Rex listens. Weirdly enough, it's a subject that's not too weird for him, if only because he's spent so much time with soldiers, both as one himself and as the man in charge of perfecting them for MARS operations.]

What set you off? If you come into the next fight more aware of your triggers... He can't hold onto that edge on you. [Rex could see a similar dilemma coming from Duke on a bad day-- ughhhhh. Here it goes again, his mind conflating these people.]

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

[As much as this should be an uncomfortable conversation, those months of mirrorverse friendship mean that while Perry's absorbed in mentally going over his fight with Arthur, he basically forgets to feel weird about it. Mirror Perry talked to Rex so much that, when he's not thinking about it, this just feels... kinda normal.]

He's a lying fuck. [Pause.] He's been lying for months about the shit he does for a living at home, pretending to be-- [He shakes his head.] Fuck. It's screwing with people's heads, just like mind-control. [Rex knows why that's a big deal. Perry's tense muscles give away how completely frustrated he is, even while just thinking about it.] And now he knows I know about it, he wants to have a big goddamn talk about my feelings. He comes to my room, gets in my face and when I tell him to fuck off, he kicks my door in. So I threw down. That's what set me off.

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[Okay, that's not what Rex expected at all. Mind control? Maybe he and Arthur really are more alike than he realized. Whatever, Rex still hates him. He actually pulls up a seat now, mind far from the awkwardness because this doesn't feel so alien to him the more they talk.]

So he... messes with people's heads for a living? [Pause.] And if he did something to you, you wouldn't even know it until it wore off-- if even then. [Twinge of guilt right there. Just a smidge.]

Telling them to fuck off just makes wardens come on stronger. Sometimes, I think they provoke us on purpose.

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

[Perry nods as Rex lays it out. That's exactly it. He doesn't know--can't know--if Arthur has done something to his mind. He doesn't actually think it's all that likely, but the fear and paranoia and disgust with the idea of that happening again is still strong. The first time, it fucked up his entire life. The second and third times were just added trauma and a chance to relive those memories.]

It's their job, right? To get in our faces and talk at us until we give up on what we believe in. [Perry's voice is very unimpressed and he breaks off. He's absently scratching at the few stitches he had to get and one of the wounds has started to bleed.]

When that version of me-- [He starts awkwardly, glancing at Rex and then back down. Calling the mirrorverse to attention makes this instantly uncomfortable, but...] Before the breach ended, that Arthur did something to him. Messed with his head, tried to get him to... [Awkward shrug.]

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

Right. And the floods certainly help them with that. [Rex looks at Perry as the big man scratches at his sutures, and he gets all doctorly with a brusque:] Stop that. [REOPENING WOUNDS IS GROSS.]

To... [Rex glances away for a moment, recalling their last encounter before the flood ended. That had hurt him-- the other him-- despite the apologies, the reasoning that it must have been Arthur's doing. He clears his throat a little.] Ah. Act like a jerk. [Putting it mildly.] To speed the graduation?

Do you know what he did?

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

[Perry hadn't really realised he'd been picking at the sutures and he lets his hand drop, glancing down at the blood on his fingertips. He nodded as Rex asked the first question.] Something like that. [He wasn't one hundred percent sure about it, but he thought that other Arthur had intended it to be the graduation. The other him had been angry enough to kill.]

Yeah, I know. Most of it. [The memories of the layers of the dream were indistinct, unclear. Flashes of Bill and Triangles, the Barge in the middle of a riot, Rex. He couldn't pin them down entirely.] I think.

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[He's quiet for a moment, mulling this over.] What was the... Directive? [Specifically, Rex wants to know if it the goal was to create a general shift in Perry's demeanor, his motivations, or if it was more targeted. That look in the other Perry's eyes, the way it was directed at him, specifically, had stuck with him.] I mean... [Rex stands, retrieving some gauze and alcohol, because he's anal retentive, and wets the gauze and passes it to Perry for his light bleeding.] Do you still feel whatever impulses he drove the... other you to feel?

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

No. [The bro feelings were too strong for the inception to stick. Knowing where the rage came from, and directing it at mirror Arthur, had helped him fight it off. Perry takes the gauze--not without a little 'you're kidding me' look at Rex--and presses it to the cut.] It didn't-- [Wince. The alcohol stings.] It didn't take. I-- He fought it.

[He looks at the gauze to avoid looking at Rex. There's still guilt and shame about what the other him had almost done, about how close he'd come to attacking the other Rex.] I'm pretty sure he was supposed to kill him.

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[Rex just gives him a flat "I AM NOT KIDDING" look in return, because cleanliness is not a joke, you know. He arches his brow a little when Perry mentions fighting off the mind control, then pales at the "kill" part.]

Him... You mean. [He points to himself, then hunches a little in his seat, looking around, just to make sure they were still alone. It has to be him-- his mirror self. That look, like he was a split second away from putting his fist in Rex's face... Now he feels a little sick.] Why?

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

Because you were my best friend. [Perry's voice is low and the words come fast. He glances at Rex and then away. It takes him a moment to realise he didn't distance himself from the other him then, and he corrects quickly:] His best friend.

[He pauses, unsure just what to say to explain it further. There's an awkward mess of anger and guilt inside him. There's still red on his fingertips--he took the gauze in the other hand. He stares down at it, slowing rubbing his thumb across the drying blood. His tone is dead as he continues:] He killed himself to save Bill, to... not do what I did. He gave up to save him. [He doesn't look at Rex. He sort of secretly wishes he'd done the same thing. It's not like killing Bill had actually helped him survive much longer.] I guess Arthur saw that as something that needed to be corrected. Without Bill on the Barge... You were the next best thing.

AWKWARD SPAM! - I KEEP THINKING I POSTED THIS, THEN FAILING

[stopthat_destro]

[Rex is quiet, absorbing that confession. He nods, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling-- he can't put it into words or coherent thoughts. He'd never been anyone's best friend; strange to think that his drug addled doppelganger was.]

So, he gave up to save Bill, then fought back to save m-- him. Whatever his faults, you can't say he wasn't a devoted friend.

[Unlike Duke. Somehow, that makes his former friend's inability to save him back in Africa burn more.]

That your warden would want to taint that with murder... It fits with that Barge. [He tries to think of something else to say about this, maybe move the conversation back to why Arthur totally sucks, but he's sort of brooding now.]

AWKWARD SPAM!

[hatestriangles]

[That 'devoted friend' comment stings like a slap to the face. That other him had been devoted, had been loyal. The look in Bill's eyes flashed into Perry's head, the look he'd given Perry when the huge ex-linebacker had stabbed him through the leg, when he'd dragged him into his apartment then pinned him out onto the wall and started beating him to death. Perry clenches his jaw, feeling sick. It feels like he can't breathe. He starts methodically cleaning the blood off his fingers with the gauze, slowly, keeping his hands steady.]

Yeah. [There's a long silence. When Perry does speak, it's a bit absent. He's not really thinking about the words.] He went and punched Arthur in the face instead.

AWKWARD SPAM!

[stopthat_destro]

[Rex laughs softly, almost reluctant at first, because his mind's still set on the past until the laughter forces it away.] Good. I would've liked to have seen that. He's always so smug. [UNLIKE REX. But he's not really thinking about Arthur's perceived smugness right now. The comment's pretty half-assed. It's only said to further distract himself from dwelling on the concept of being somebody who was actually worth fighting for.]