evocation | ⚡ ML INBOX

I didn't say everyone!

[It comes out indignant, disbelieving.]

I'm just saying we should help, and you're acting like... I don't know. Like some old boomer grumbling about bootstraps or something.

Some old boomer.

[ Okay, first of all, he is Generation X and completely unfamiliar with boomer memes. ]

You wanna help, help people. Have a great time. But I got other plans.

[ Time to stomp over to the vine-drenched safety wall at one edge of the rooftop, crossing his arms as he stares out over the edge. ]

Ughhh.

[It's a long, drawn out sound, and she scrubs her hands over her face.]

What plans? What are your plans?

Not this.

[Why. Why is every dude she knows so emotionally shut down? Kyna sighs again, drags herself up off the bench, and crosses the roof to join him.]

Sam.

[She really, really doesn't want to believe he's just a selfish asshole who doesn't care.]

Kyna.

[ His gaze moves down toward her, but his head doesn't. ]

Can you just talk to me?

[ He exhales. Maybe it's a sigh. ]

Last I checked, we were talking.

You know what I mean. Why don't you want to help? Seriously.

People gotta figure out their own lives. We all did it. They can, too.

Just because we had a shitty time doesn't mean we have to let everyone else have one.

Doesn't mean we have to walk 'em through it, either.

Sam, come on. What is this really about?

Told you--this ain't what I do. If you wanna show people how to hunt squirrels or something, knock yourself out. [ He shrugs. ] Never said I was a saint, Kyna.

[Her mouth twists, and she pulls away.]

I'm not asking you to be a saint. I'm asking you to be decent. I'm asking you to try.

[ Okay, so he clearly fucked up, but also: how and why. ]

And I do. When it's someone that matters.

What if it was Nate out there? Or me? And we didn't have any of our friends around to help us? Wouldn't you want someone else to?

Then I'd get you myself. [ Obviously. ] Why's it matter to you? S'not like I'm telling you not to go.

I said if you weren't around.

[Don't change the question on her!]

And I care because it's... heartless. This shit is probably our fault anyway. We're not in the fucking Aerie. This doesn't have to be everyone for themselves.

[ He rolls his eyes. ]

When's the world ever been anything else? Maybe reality's heartless, Ky. I didn't get these people killed, and I sure as hell ain't cleaning up after them now that they're wandering around New Amsterdam like a buncha lost puppies.

[Lost puppies. Jesus Christ.]

Do you realize what my job is back home, Sam? Don't talk to me like I'm naive.

Hey, you asked.

Fine. Whatever. I've got enough shit to worry about without trying to make you care.

[ His jaw tightens. ]

Fine. You know the way out.

[Historically, this has always been Kyna's expectation of how this sort of thing goes—an argument ends with someone getting kicked out, probably never talking again. It wasn't that way in the Aerie, of course. She'd had plenty of fights with her friends, and that's all they ever were, just arguments that were sometimes solved later.

This feels different, though, and it's so unexpected, especially from Sam, that for a second she looks like she's been slapped. Maybe she was just stupid to expect anything else.]

You know what? I was wrong. You were the same in the Aerie.

[It's so much safer to bury herself in her old, angry defense mechanisms, isn't it? Just like it's easier to give him what he wants, turn on her heel, and head for the door.]

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withmeinparadise - 2020-12-21 14:33 (UTC) - Expand