trailofblood | (no subject)

[ From across a VAST OCEAN of NOPE, ]

... This is the Echo everyone keeps talking about.

[ Less a question and more a distraction. ]

[taking a moment to absorb the instructions, but it doesn't take long for him to get pissed]

If you mean Nyssa, yeah, this seems like her style.

[kicks a wall]

[ Watching him, jaw tight. The instructions are crystal clear, but... ]

We can't play, Wolfwood.

[ "play," jesus christ ]

Doesn't work that way. Not with her.

[angry pacing, though he pauses when he spots the 'ink' bottle, picks it up and reads it]

[looks like he's seriously tempted to smash it against the wall]

[ Don't destroy the room Wolfwood ]

We have to be in agreement, right? Do you really think I'm gonna agree to off somebody?!

[. . . well, you have a point there. but]

[stares at the bottle, sets it back down, shoves his hands in his pockets]

[glares at vash]

[kicks the wall again. repeatedly. with a stream of curses and threats mainly aimed at nyssa]

[and we are (relatively) calm now]

You won't have to. If it comes to that, I can handle it myself.

[ MAYBE YOU ARE ]

So you can do something stupid, or worse?! Absolutely not! No!

Our choices here are limited, spikey. And no matter what we choose, people are going to die.

We just gotta make sure it isn't us.

So you don't want to die, but it's okay if other people do? What the hell kind of logic is that?

If we make a choice, we're buying into the system she's using to torture and kill people!

If we don't make a choice, then we both die and nothin' changes! There is no savin' everyone here.

And how is ensuring someone else dies in our place any better? Why do you always try to choose the easy way out of things?!

[burying his fist in the front of his shirt in a fresh burst of anger]

What did you just say!? You think I'm doin' this 'cause it's easy? Don't fuck with me!

[ His eyes narrow, but he doesn't try to pull away ]

You heard me. Pulling the trigger is easy, Wolfwood. Anyone with a gun can do that. It's refusing to that's hard.

[his grip tightens]

Cut the crap! What are you tryin' to say, we should just lay down and let her off us!?

[ His own hands tighten into fists, and the response comes only after a lengthy, stilted pause. ]

Yeah. I guess that's what I'm saying.

[. . .]

[yeah you're getting punched]

[ He has the good grace to at least take the full brunt of that punch. Congratulations, do you feel better now. ]

[no]

Bullshit! What the fuck is that supposed to accomplish!?

[ He's just going to nurse his PUNCH WOUND for a second, thanks so fucking much. ]

You wanna talk about accomplishing things? Here? There's no point to any of this, no matter what choice we make!

There is a fuckin' point! We can try and make it out of this alive, that would be a fuckin' accomplishment!

Yeah? That's the reasoning of a coward.

[ Not that he's super stoked to die, if the pallor is anything to go by. ]

[yeah he can see that]

You're so full of shit. I'm tryin' to save your goddamn life, and you're just all 'fuck it Wolfwood, you should die with me 'cause I don't wanna deal with this game.' And I'm the coward?

Nobody has the right to pick and choose who lives and who dies! You really think playing along with this is gonna make you happy one way or another?

We win, somebody else dies in our place. We lose, we die anyway. There's no winning!

Games like this aren't about winnin'. It's about survivin'. You're just afraid to make a choice, so you'd rather roll over and do nothin'.

Liter an' I have already died once thanks to this bitch. I don't plan on lettin' that happen again.