004 | video;

[grndnpnd]

[ Click. On pops the video feed, and Tommy is looking... Well, relaxed isn't quite the word for it. But there's something looser about him anyway, not as much of a weight on his shoulders, even if his posture isn't any better than usual. He's frowning, as per usual, but the frown doesn't seem quite as deep.

Sometimes having a drink's the best plan a guy can have, right? ]

When I was in-- [ Iraq, he almost says but stops himself and for the moment right after, his brows do furrow before clearing again. ]

Doesn't matter. Most of you won't have heard of it. When I was a soldier, we used to get new kids shipping in pretty regular. Some of them were excited to be there, and some of them were scared shitless. Me and a couple of the other guys who'd been there a while used to take 'em aside and tell 'em, "This is a fucked up situation you've landed in, and it's not your job to un-fuck it up." Because we all knew that's the fast way to fuck things up more.

[ It seems to occur to Tommy that this is more talking than he does basically ever, and the corner of his mouth twitches in the suggestion of a self-conscious smile. ] Now, I sound like I'm at some fucking VFW support group. Whatever, you get what I'm trying to say.

Comments

video;

[tumbleweeds]

[ She doesn't actually realize the video is on, one hand tucking some of her hair behind an ear -- an ear that, coincidentally, has one of her silver wolf earrings as decoration today. She's frowning though, staring at the screen with her brows furrowed before shaking her head.

No. Not Dominic. No matter how much she'd like him to be. ]

video;

[grndnpnd]

[ Tommy's not exactly a jewelry kind of guy, but he recognizes the ones she's wearing because you don't forget that time you thought you might be a werewolf. He juts his chin out a little, lips pressed tight but not quite frowning. ]

What?

video;

[tumbleweeds]

[ Well shit. Jaye tenses, jaw setting; of course she accidentally turned the damn feed on. She doesn't reply for a moment, trying to catalogue the differences; there are fewer here than there were with Eames.

Eventually, she shakes her head. ] You look like someone I know.

video;

[chromosomes]

[ There's a slight clink! of dog tags as Reaper shifts to get a better look at this guy. ]

We might've heard of it.

video;

[grndnpnd]

[ There's a pause. It's strangely hard to say it still, even with a stomach full of alcohol and not much food. Hilarious. ]

Place called Iraq?

[video]

[the_vishual]

But isn't trying to 'un-fuck it up' what soldiers do? Fighting for a cause, and change.

[video]

[grndnpnd]

That's what they tell you when you sign up. [ It comes out harshly. ]

[signatures]

Please feel free to expand regardless.

[grndnpnd]

[ Oh, you. ]

We told 'em that because you run into things thinking you're gonna be a hero or fix things or save people or get home again, you make it worse or you die. Or both. End of story.

[theyalldieforme]

Scared shitless is a pretty good reaction. It's a pretty good reaction after, too.

[grndnpnd]

Sometimes, maybe. Not when it means you act like an idiot.

video;

[puppydogeyes]

[Taylor had told him - and it felt like forever ago, now - that she felt like she was meant to help. Every mission she'd run had an end goal, an intended outcome. This one, she doesn't know what it's meant to be, but she's been doing her best, and yeah, finding out all those people were in trouble down on the station and she wasn't there is bothering her. A lot.]

So what're we meant to do?

video;

[grndnpnd]

[ Tommy'd told her when they first met that he wasn't sure being on the security team was going to do anything. But even then, even with his natural inclination to assume the worst, he hadn't thought it was going to do quite so much nothing.

It -- and her face showing up here now -- makes him feel a twinge of... something. But he doesn't want to think about it too much. ]

Dunno. Never gave orders. Only took 'em.

video

[redhotsummers]

Yeah...I do.

[Alex shrugs, shaking his head.]

Ain't gonna help if they don't listen, though.

Some people coming here? Ain't got any clue what it's like. They aren't prepared, and won't listen.

video

[grndnpnd]

Had kids back home who didn't listen either. Usually didn't end well for them. [ He frowns for a moment and then breaks eye contact, looking vaguely off to the side. ] But then it doesn't end well for most people in a war, does it?

[Voice]

[realslimstrider]

Yep.
But you can only give advice. Not that it ever hurts to do that. You can still go hey I warned you, bro.

video;

[grndnpnd]

Yeah, sure. "Hey, bro, remember how I warned you about how rushing into dangerous fucking situations would get you killed? Whoops, should've listened."

Voice;

[theblogger]

War was a bit more straightforward than this.

Voice;

[grndnpnd]

You think? [ It sounds mostly like a real question and not just Tommy being sarcastic. ] None of this seems that complicated, and the war I was in wasn't that straightforward.

( V I D E O )

[wont]

[ Relaxed isn't quite the word for what Tommy looks and, to his credit, drunk isn't quite either. But Alayne has seen Tommy Conlon tense and more than tense; she's seen him agitated and uncomfortable and his version of worried. This is different. It's worrying.

(Because bad things happen when people who don't usually talk suddenly find themselves with loose tongues.)

She stares for a moment, her mouth threatening a frown, only to tip her chin like a proud animal (like this doesn't upset her or doesn't threaten to). It is no secret that Alayne does not enjoy drunkards. (They have been rough with her in the past.) Almost petulantly, she asks: ] What's wrong with you?

( V I D E O )

[grndnpnd]

[ Tommy would be the last person to sign himself up as a good role model for other people. He's not a good person, he doesn't do good things, and for most of his life that's been fine because he hasn't known anyone who would expect anything better of him.

But now there's Alayne, and Tommy frowns then winces a bit and rubs the bridge of his nose. ]

Nothing's wrong with me.

[northerner]

You've had a drink.

[ the implication or two or three hangs in the silence after his words. ]

[grndnpnd]

[ Tommy lifts his eyebrows back. ]

Only one. Just happened to be a big one.

video ; locked

[unparental]

...Can I ask?

[ she means: can i ask 'was it iraq or afghanistan'. ]

video ; locked

[grndnpnd]

[ And Tommy's been asked enough that he doesn't need the full question to know what she's asking. ]

Iraq. Two tours.