exsiliumlogs | [open] funny how fast things change

Entry tags:

[open] funny how fast things change

Date & Time: April 18, morning/afternoon
Location: The Hold, the police station
Characters: Saul & you!
Summary: It's not laser tag, but at least he gets to shoot something. Pissed off as Saul may be, he knows he has to go get Jesse's records. First, though, he's going to blow off some steam and finally get acquainted with his weapon.
Warnings: n/a at the moment.

[Early morning finds Saul, surprisingly enough, in the Hold.

He doesn't like this place.

Then again, that can be said about this whole place, not just the Hold.

Anyway, there he is, down in one of the training rooms with his weapon and a box of cartridges that look just like the ones his weapon is meant to use but aren't quite. They're not electrified, these cartridges — he doesn't see the point in firing those at a training dummy. It'd be a waste.

And because someone made the mistake of telling him this thing is supposed to be sentient, he's talking to it.

The dummy he's been firing at has few cartridges sticking out of its torso. The rest? Stuck to the wall behind it.]

Come on, you piece of junk. Be sentient, or whatever. Aim yourself. God damn —

[He aims, fires off another round. This one winds up jammed at an awkward angle in the floor.]

Son of a bitch!

[Here's the thing: he doesn't know how to fire a gun like this. He also started the day off mad — actually, he hasn't stopped being mad since he talked to Lisbeth — and he's just getting madder. Mad enough that he almost flings his weapon across the room, but stops himself before he lets go, so all he really manages to do is tweak a muscle in his arm.]

*

[Luckily, being angry takes a lot of energy, so by the time he finishes off the box of rounds and changes into a suit (a suit that's in dire need of tailoring and a splash or two of color, but beggars can't be choosers) for his field trip to the police station, he's much more subdued.

Still mad, though.

He has no idea what he's going to come up against, once he gets there. What he'll find out, what will change as a consequence of him finding out, yadda yadda, blah blah, shit sucks. And while it's true that he wanted the chance to do his job again, he wasn't really hoping for this.

After pacing on the steps of the station for a solid three minutes full of fidgeting with his briefcase and tie, he passes through the door and assumes as cool an exterior as any, then strides up to the front desk.

And smiles.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It occurs to Saul that she could have just bought the suit from Hot Topic or the internet or something and brought it along here with her, but — no.]

One of the best at age... what, twenty? Give or take?

[That's not a skeptical question, and it doesn't sound like one; he's just curious.]

Give or take.

[Twenty is right, actually, but she's not going to tell him that.]

We tend to start young. [And die young, too. Sometimes she's shocked she even made it to twenty.] And I'm, you know, baseline human, so I'm not comparing myself to metas or anything, but there's not much I can't handle.

[Okay she couldn't handle like. Darkseid. Or Doomsday. But those don't count.]

That's pretty impressive.

['sup, understatement?]

Well, if I'm ever in trouble, I hope you're on patrol when it happens.

I just want to help people.

[It's as simple as that really.

Which is why she frowns a bit, looking something between concerned and thoughtful.]

Do you think you're going to get into much trouble?

[Maybe she should make a Batsignal.]

[Allow him to answer in the form of another question.]

Do you know Jesse Pinkman?

Seen him around on the network, but I've never met him.

[Bruce would have said "I know everyone", but that felt a bit over the top.]

Friend of yours?

Client.

[Saul's sudden shift in tone might make it sound like he could never imagine he and Jesse being friends.

Whoops, look who's mad all over again.]

When I hooked up with him and his partner — [note the sarcasm] — back home, my life was filled with all kinds of trouble. Given what he's been up to here in my absence... I expect that trend to continue.

[He can already hear Jesse bitching about it in his head: I fired you, yo. You ain't my babysitter. I'm an ungrateful little punk. Blah blah blah. Whatever.]

[He's been working with the United Earth drugs; it's something she needs to look into more, figure out what's going on there, but for now she just nods.]

You could always stay away from him, unless he's actually paying you to keep him on as a client.

[It might be designed to get a reaction, to see if the relationship really is as simple as Jesse being a client.]

[He can tell she's fishing, and for that reason, he doesn't answer right away. It's a mistake, he knows. That pause just said volumes.

The explanation he settles on is intentionally vague:] It's a little more complicated than that.

Most things are, when you add multiversal travel into the mix.

[She hasn't paid much attention to Jesse until now, but he's friends with Collette, and it's making her a little concerned, how Saul talks about him.]

That, too.

[So hey, now's a good time to prep his gun for another shot as a distraction.]

Is there a lot for you to do in this place?

[Nice distraction, Saul.

But she won't push that topic, instead exhaling roughly at the question, an annoyed sort of thing.]

No. The only time I've been more bored was when I was waiting for a broken leg to heal and couldn't do anything but watch day time TV.

[At least when she was pregnant she could still go out, sometimes. The cast up her to thigh made life difficult.]

[Have a sympathetic flinch, Steph.

He's bored, too, but his life is considerably less exciting than a teenage vigilante's, so he's dealing with it okay.]

That sucks.

[HE'S SO COMFORTING.]

[As if to highlight her boredom with the world in general, she casually bends over backwards, kicking her legs up until she's in a handstand.]

Most of the missions aren't even interesting. [Except for the actual battle field, but that left her shaken enough that she doesn't really want to think about it.] They sent us to college, last time.

[Saul is so focused on aiming that he almost doesn't notice what she's doing, and then — whoops, more wall damage.

Gurl.]

College? To do what?

Focus.

[It's not snapped, but there's a sharpness in it that makes it sound like an order being delivered, rather than a suggestion. It's not the sort of tone that should be argued with, and it's very much Batgirl, the voice she relies on when she needs to talk to criminals, because she can't just growl at them like Bruce.

And the back to normal:] We had to steal some art project, apparently it was a power source of some kind.

[Wow Steph, way to sound like his mom. He actually straightens a little, but will otherwise pretend like that didn't just happen. Ahem.]

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

The Initiative are idiots.

[As if this should be the most obvious thing in the world. Regardless of whether there was actually a power source, they went about it in such ridiculous ways.

Regular handstands are boring, now, so she shifts her weight onto one hand, stretching the other out beside her.]

Was it contemporary art, at least? Something made out of re-purposed toilet seats? Please tell me you destroyed it.

[Better to talk about his dislike of recent trends than what the hell are you doing, Batgirl.

Batgirl. Hahaha.

He's okay with all of this, for the most part, now that he's nearing the one-month mark. But he still has moments like the one he's having right now, when he really looks at his surroundings and feels like he's in the Twilight Zone. There's a gun in his hands, an upside-down girl in costume off to his side, they're in the middle of a training room in the middle of a building in the middle of the fourth millennium and he needs to sit down.

Over to the nearest bench he goes.]

[Wait.

Wait what.

She totally had a snarky comment about contemporary art, but when she realizes he's walking away. Carefully, she rights herself, watching him with a frown as she tries to work out what's going on. A moment later she's following, taking a seat beside him on the bench.]

You okay?

Am I allowed to play the "I'm too old for this shit" card?

[Because he really thinks he's too old for this shit, despite the fact that he's not really that old.

He appreciates that she's joined him, though. That's... nice.]

[This feels like a trick question; she's fairly sure adults don't like being called old.]

I don't think you're old enough to.

[She gives him an apologetic look, but there's a bit of a smile in it, trying to be reassuring.

If he'll let her, she's going to take the gun and make sure there are no cartridges in it right now, just to be sure.]

[OH NO AND NOW SHE'S FOLLOWING HIS CUES STEPH GET AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN...

He lets her take it, then realizes what she's doing and gives her a sidelong stare.]

Really?

What?

[The most innocent of expressions, which is made a little difficult by the whole cowl, but she doesn't pause in her task until she's done, then she sets the gun down on the bench.]

[The look he gives her is a very clear you know what. But — okay, fine, whatever. Maybe she has the right idea.

He may not be too old for this shit, but he sure is too tired for it. He rubs his forehead for a moment, then glances over at Steph.]

Can you show me how to get to the police station?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject