major_west | 136 - LOOK WHO LIVES

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136 - LOOK WHO LIVES

I suppose turning off communications for a fortnight is as close as one can come to a holiday around here. I trust you'll forgive me for falling off the face of the, ah, Barge. After spending two years in this place, I felt a break was long overdue.

Anyway, it appears I've missed some departures, as well as new arrivals. Since introductions are in order, I'll begin: I'm Major Henry West. Welcome to the Barge. You've been promised salvation, no doubt, or perhaps a favour from the Admiral. I could tell you myself what to expect, but I'm sure you'll find out well enough on your own. We're about overdue for another crisis, after all.

[OOC: LOL I KNOW THIS IS BAD FORM, but I'm going to bed. Tags will be returned uh. When I can get to them.]

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[She realizes somewhere in the back of her head that he's joking but she really can't return any humor]

I didn't chase after the car, if that's what you mean.

[He says nothing for a moment, then nods slightly.] Well. Good for the girls, at least. [He has no ill will towards them, really. He never did. They were simply a means to an end.]

[She considers her words carefully, not certain how she'd like to broach the subject with him, knowing already she really doesn't want nor really have the energy to fight with him about it.]

If it's good for them, will you allow, at least, that he'll be able to protect them, if he lives?

[He just stares at Morgan and says flatly:]

He killed my boys.

[And that should be answer enough. As far as West is concerned, his boys mattered more than those girls.]

[Morgan sits forward, and she speaks quiet but firmly. Almost like Rube. But there's something a little darker there.] Henry, there comes a time when you're going to have to accept that much as you felt responsible for those soldiers, that boy owed them nothing and was given no reason to feel any way otherwise. Just like if he and those girls had been between me and you I would have killed them to get to you. I don't expect you to ever not hate him for what he did. You're not required to. But you're not entitled to any form of retribution.

And that's where you and I will always disagree, Morgan. He went beyond what was necessary, and he deserves no mercy from me.

The lines between necessary and unnecessary get really blurry when there are people devouring each other in the streets. I'm not telling you to show him mercy. I'm telling you, for your own good, to put him out of your life and never let him back in for any reason.

[He says nothing for a moment, then nods.] Unless he returns to the Barge. Again. I'll do ask you request.

If he returns to the Barge again, you come to me before you think of doing anything else.

[He stares at Morgan.] I'll come to Billy first. [Which is roughly the same thing, since in this matter, Billy will suggest the same as Morgan would. But it's a matter of pride for West.]

I don't care who the first person you talk to happens to be, so long as it's not him and so long as you see me before you approach him.

Fair enough. [He smiles thinly.] Jim and I have exhausted all forms of discourse by this point, anyway.

It doesn't help that he keeps forgetting you've had them. [Morgan finally sat back, crossing her arms, and with a sigh --] I don't know if I wanted to talk to you about all this because I wanted to try to tell you I think I understand. But I'm not sure I do. You still lived with it longer than I did, and I had fair warning and time to prepare before I stepped into it.

Hm. [He looks away, thinking.] I don't think anything can fully prepare you for Infection.

Maybe, maybe not. But looking for strange eye colors and bringing a lot of ammo doesn't hurt. [She shakes her head.] Certainly didn't move me any faster, but I don't think I was meant to interfere with anything that happened there.

Believe me, you couldn't have interfered much. I doubt anything short of divine intervention [Spoken sardonically] could have changed things.

Yeah. It's hard to look at it that way coming in, though. For a while all I could think was "If I hadn't stopped to sleep" and things like that.

[He nods slowly.] For a good, long time, I was tormented with much the same.

[Only his were along the lines of "If I'd just killed Jim, myself."]

Needless to say, I think a little differently about how you reacted to that port. [A breath] It wasn't the same place, but they weren't altogether very different, either.

[He's quiet for a while.] And I've been thinking about that, myself.

[Pause.]

Perhaps I acted rashly, with the Marquis.

You did. [After a beat, just to show she's not just going to jump all over him.] But I don't think you could have thought to do anything else. You have been through a lot, and you hadn't really been tested since you came here. Not like that.

[He rubs his chin, thinking, and looks away.] But there have been tests, and every time, I've failed them. [Mostly, he's thinking about the Daleks. The Borg. Every other menace whose purpose was to either consume or spread their own infection.]

Then perhaps we should look into finding ways to strengthen you in those times. [She wrings her hands in her lap] But when it comes to the people here, you're going to have to find a way to separate yourself from that. What happens in ports, you leave in ports. If that means you have to rebuild bridges once all is said and done, then do it. This place has its twists and turns but we have to do everything we can to make it home. To keep the bad out. Right?

[He nods, then runs his hand up over his hair.] Yes. I suppose what happens after the crisis is every bit as important. [It's somewhat difficult for him to wrap his mind around that, since so many crises end in death, both here and back home.]

I don't even know where to begin with the Marquis.

[It's only just now occurring to her how weird it is to have a serious conversation anymore that doesn't eventually devolve into an argument.] What were the last words said on the matter?

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136 - LOOK WHO LIVES

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