056 - Pretending Truth or Dare never happened...

[major_west]

I thought that hangover would never go away...

I feel as though I've exhausted the possibilities for recreation here. I almost wish there were another port, flood, anything to break the tedium. I can't believe I'm asking this... Does anybody have a board game?

Nevermind that. I'm not that desperate yet.

I just need... to get away something to do here before I go completely mad. Something more to strive for than 'don't try to kill anybody for X amount of days'.



What's the point of this?

Comments

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

Maybe when we really and truly have no other options...

[Private]
I do, I think talking about home is probably good for us.

Can I come to your cabin?

[major-west.livejournal.com]

...would we even be able to find the die here?

[Private]
Of course.

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

Actually, I still have the ones from the high school flood, and the books, and the character sheets and I remember most of the campaign

[Private]

I'll see you in a minute then.

[At this point Billy closes his journal and heads out down to corridor towards West's room. It only takes him a few seconds to be knocking on the Majors door.]

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[At the knocking, West sets his journal down and walks over to the door, already feeling better now that there's the prospect of some company that isn't... well... like the others who'd responded to his entry. Opening the door, he offers a smile to Billy]

That was quick.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy turns his head to peer down the corridor he's just come down]

Well, you do know I'm only like, three doors away from you, right?

[He glances back to West, and smiles]

Doesn't take that long to walk it.

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He grins more fully now]

Good point.

[He steps back from the door, allowing Billy to enter, then closes it.]

Can I get you anything? Tea or... ah... juice. [A pause] The Admiral saw fit to give me my flat as it was the last time I'd seen it. [Another pause, as he scratches the back of his head] I, ah, hadn't gone out for groceries in a while.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

Ahh, juice would be nice.

[Billy comes in, and this... is actually kind of awkward. The room seems so clean, so much more normal than anything else on the barge. He gives a slightly awkward smile and glances at West.]

So we won't be cooking for each other here then? Due to long absent groceries?

[He turns and folds his arms a little awkwardly, still looking around the room.]

I didn't expect it to be so clean. I mean, I didn't think you'd be a slob or anything, but this place barely looks lived in.

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He goes into the adjoining kitchen to pour Billy and himself a glass of... orange juice from 2001. Mmm, vintage. Luckily, there's no real time here. He takes both glasses into the living room, then looks around]

Oh. I just... cleaned it.

[Better to say that than 'I was a workaholic who wanted to avoid having a personal life at all costs'.

...no wonder all of his relationships failed.]

Have a seat?

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy accepts the glass and sits down on the sofa, getting the distinct feeling that his very presence was making a mess. He motions for West to join him before tucking his legs up underneath him. Feet on the sofa is actually a deliberate decision on his part because damn it the room needs a bit of mess!]

So this was where you lived? In England?

[He pauses, glancing at West curiously.]

How come the Admiral didn't start you off here?

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[His hackles rise, briefly, when he notices the feet-- feet-- on his sofa, but he quickly gets over it. Who does he have to impress, anyway? And now that he's trapped on the Barge, he's pretty much forced to spend time in his flat. So, he joins Billy on the sofa]

Well.

[His fingers fiddle with the glass in his hands, then he takes a sip]

I spent my last days elsewhere. Perhaps he decided I needed a reminder.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy is totally breaking some sofa based status quo here, but he gets over his small victory and takes a sip of his juice, glancing across at West. He doesn't want to be overly intrusive for this, but... at the same time, he's here to talk about this isn't he?]

A reminder of what?

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't look directly at Billy, and instead adopts that dry, clinical tone he uses when discussing the last month of his life] Of... Infection. Of everything that went wrong in those last days.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy frowns, keeping his eyes on West as his friends demeanor suddenly changes. The sudden shut off of emotion in his voice is troubling]

What happened?

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He pauses, then reluctantly continues]

We tried to survive against increasingly impossible odds. By any-- [He stops, changes tracks] In under a month, our population was reduced to a handful of survivors. Try... imagining what it's like, living under those conditions, knowing that there's nobody to return home to when it's over, no future.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy reaches forward without thinking to press his hand on West's shoulder. He can't imagine it, doesn't want too. In his next question, he's not asking for a confession, it just sounded so hopeless, he had to ask at purely face value:]

What did you do?

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He allows the hand to rest on his shoulder without his usual flinching or jerking away.]

I... [He doesn't want to say it outright, not to Billy, one of the few individuals whose opinion truly matters to him. Okay, actually, he wouldn't say it to anybody but, perhaps, Morgan, and only because she already knows]

To keep order and give them hope, I... [He tries to choose his words carefully now] I made a promise that I never thought I had to fulfill. [What he neglects to mention is the fact that, when the opportunity arose, he quite detachedly followed through on his promise-- not only that, but he went through brutal lengths to do so. Anything to protect them, to keep them sane]

I just wanted to get us all through it.

[He seems oblivious to Billy for a moment, then something seems to click in his brain and he drops the professional demeanor, frowns, then seems to shrug that off as well]

But enough about that. It's hardly the most stimulating topic.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy squeezes Henrys shoulder lightly, offers him a half smile.]

Hey, I didn't mean I expected a confession, I just meant... [he pauses, then gives a small shrug.] If I was in a situation like that, I really don't know what I'd do. Where I'd go.

[He looks down a little]

I'm glad you weren't alone at least.

[And then, in a moment of brilliant and horrible clarity, for the first time Billy almost gets it. When Jim had been here Billy had hated him for goading West, for the possibility that he might hurt one person who he cared about. He was suddenly beginning to understand that when West talked about him killing "his men", that meant that for West, Jim had slaughtered the last human beings he'd ever known, ever tried to protect.

Without thinking about it, his grip on his friends shoulder has tightened considerably, and Billy is just sort of staring off into the middle distance. It's too late to want to kill him now, he's gone. It's pointless.

He looks down.]

Right. I mean, yeah, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want too.

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[When Billy's grip tightens, West looks over at him and offers a wan smile] It's just difficult, is all. 'Home' tends to make for unpleasant conversation. I'll be-- I am fine.

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Billy blinks, then smiles back, ever so slightly.] I understand. Just... like, I don't expect you to get all weepy and pour your heart out to me, but... you know If you ever do need to talk about it, It's cool, you know? [That was it, manly support. Manly support between men.]

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

Thank you. [He blinks, then looks down at his glass] I do appreciate it. And... as we are here to talk about where we're from, I suppose I can continue.

[He shrugs then and takes a sip] But I'd really rather hear about your home. [Finally, he grins teasingly] Where can somebody earn a PhD in Horribleness?

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

Ah. [Oh yes, that...] The university of embellishment and fibbing? [He offers West a slightly guilty smile] I needed a catch phrase, and people kept on assuming I was a medical doctor, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and...

[He trails off, this is kind of a stupid story actually.]

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

[He arches an eyebrow, clearly interested in the stupid story!]

And..? Is this going to end in a cliffhanger, not to be resolved until next week?

Re: Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[That earns him another grin] Actually it doesn't really have an ending, I just needed something vaguely catchy to say, and I was sick of Captain Hammer mispronouncing the word "physician" when he told me to heal myself after every single plan he foiled, so I went with "I've got a Phd in Horribleness".

[A pause]

Just... to clarify things.

[Another pause.]

My Phd is actually in Advanced electronics and engineering.

Action!

[major-west.livejournal.com]

Oh. [He tries not to, but a little laugh slips out and he covers his mouth. It isn't that he's laughing at Billy, so much as he's laughing a little in relief that the story isn't completely depressing or insane] I'm sorry. [He stops laughing and does sound genuine when he speaks] That sounds positively infuriating.

[He's quiet for a moment]

Why is there a 'Captain Hammer' where you're from?

Action!

[my-freeze-ray.livejournal.com]

[Yep, that was a stupid story, Billy gives an awkward little grin and adjusts his goggles slightly as West tries not to laugh at him. Still, it's nice seeing him happy.] Oh it seriously is. there are no words for how irritating that man is...

[He pauses as West asks his question, then gives a weak shrug]

I don't know, he was just sort of born like that. To balance out the Dr Horribles of the world I guess.