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[weaponwithoutpurpose]

voice . text . video . action

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[reargunner]

What are you bringing??

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

My Barbies so we can play pretty princesses.

Just wait.

And he will knock at his door.

[reargunner]

"I swear to fucking god--"

He pulls on a t-shirt and scrubs his hands through his hair before he answers the door, though nothing can quite shake off the impression of someone who hasn't really slept properly in a few days.

"What."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He holds up a portable DVD player. "Want me to braid your hair first?" he asks with a grin.

[reargunner]

Alexei just gives him a look, like he's trying to be annoyed but he's too tired for it, then he pulls the door open and makes a gesture.

"Just get the fuck inside."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He walks in and glances over his shoulder at him. "When was the last time you got a full REM cycle?" he wonders.

[reargunner]

He makes a face.

The cabin isn't much to look at. It's sparse and simple, with very little about it to indicate who it belongs to at all. The couch has a few claw marks in the front of one of the cushions and the small table in front of it has a neat stack of five empty (used) foam coffee cups. The bed is entirely unmade, and there's an open book pages-down on the pillows.

"Dunno. Three, four days, maybe."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob lived in a hotel room, so he doesn't quite notice anything too unusual about it. He understands the need for it sometimes.

He sets the player on the table in front of the couch.

"Well, come on. This is the distraction. It's a movie player. Brought a couple of documentaries."

[reargunner]

"Pft, really?"

He drops into a corner of the couch and pulls his legs up, wrapping both arms around them and huffing out a breath.

"Fuckin' nerd."

As if he doesn't like documentaries.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Yeah, fuck you. They're good."

He settles on the other side and starts the movie.

"This one's about the arctic ocean." He picked it specifically.

[reargunner]

"Hmm."

From Earth, then. It hasn't really mattered much here, but Alexei's knowledge of Earth comes mostly from movies and things like this. The lack of interest was clearly entirely fake, as he focuses on the screen and listens to the oddly soothing voice of the narrator.

"This is because of the fishing thing, isn't it."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Would you believe me if I said that it was just part of my collection?" he asks, looking over to him, glad to see him engaged.

[reargunner]

There's a small shift of his eyes, as if he's aware of being observed, but he doesn't turn his head.

"You mean 'cause you're a fuckin' nerd? Yeah, established that."

And the only thing Alexei seems to have in here is the one book he's currently reading.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Shut the fuck up, Mr. 'I read a lot.' Wanna tell me more about what you learned in your psych book?" He didn't peek at the cover of the book on the bed, but he does remember what they talked about.

[reargunner]

"Not really."

His eyelids lower a bit. He watches the picture on the screen moving and shifts to uncurl one leg, keeping the other up near his chest while he slides his foot to the floor.

"Started hitting too close to home."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"That's the problem with psychology," he says softly, turning his eyes back to watch the whales. "Sooner or later you find yourself in it and it's not pretty."

[reargunner]

A small sniff.

"Yeah, something like that."

Some things had started to make sense, but not in a way he'd liked.

"Plenty of other things to read."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Exactly. Like I said, I got a real good book about the deadliest fish," he says, not quite serious but also - not quite joking.

[reargunner]

He lets out another little snort.

"Yeah."

Then he falls silent. He's still watching the screen, but it's fairly evident from his expression that his thoughts are somewhere else entirely.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

Jacob lets him go for a while, but when the boring parts about the plants start, he sits up. "What do you think?"

[reargunner]

"Mmh?"

He blinks a couple of times and slides his attention sideways, directing his eyes at Jacob without quite looking at him.

"About what?"

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He pauses for half a second. "You were gone there for a bit."

[reargunner]

Another pause, then his expression scrunches slightly and he looks annoyed for a moment. Annoyed, but in a tired, almost resigned kind of way.

"What do you fucking expect from me right now, man."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

"Nothing," he answers honestly. "You're going through it right now, I know."

[reargunner]

He closes his eyes to keep from biting back that Jacob doesn't know shit, because he knows that isn't fair.

"Doesn't matter if I am. Doesn't make any difference."