IC contact for lastvoyages

[cactusy]

[If I don't have an active post up, feel free to use this post to have your character call, videochat, text, or knock on Shaw's door.]

Comments

[themostfun]

[ Hell yeah she's a smartass. How do you think she survives high school in small town Texas? ]

I force my way onto your team. Nobody chose to let me in. You guys put me in a cage and only let me out because you need my skills. You don't even like me for like... a year.

[cactusy]

Does all that stuff matter so much if you're with us now?

[This is a genuine question.]

[themostfun]

It means nobody chooses me unless they can get something from me. Nobody just wants to get to know me.

[ That isn't fair. Her future self clearly doesn't see it that way. But at fifteen, still trapped in Bishop, still looked upon with scorn by more than a few members of the community, that's what it feels like. Nobody respects Samantha Groves, and nobody likes Root, but they need Root. That's how everything always starts. Someone needs something she can do, and then they bother compensating her, or giving her the time of day. ]

[cactusy]

[Oof, what a teenage thing to say. Shaw sighs, leaning back against the ladder as she studies Root.]

I thought you were cool and interesting, even when I didn't like you much. You ever show up from 2012, though, and I'm denying it forever.

[themostfun]

You're kind of proving my point.

[ She lays a hand on the back of Bear's head and watches him relaxing. She's trying so hard to be strong, to become impermeable, but being here, away from the sufficating small-town air, is making that difficult. She's not angry. She's frustrated and lonely and desperate to grow up. Her future is pretty awesome. ]

I'm not mad at you. You never do anything wrong to me.

[cactusy]

I mean, I thought you were cool and interesting because of who you were. I'm talking back before we were working with you, when you were just a pain in our asses. You were a cool, interesting pain in the ass who I wanted to catch and take down.

[She pauses, clears her throat, and mutters under her breath:]

I dunno.

[themostfun]

[ Sam shrugs, keeping her eyes on the dogs. It still feels like she's forever away from the way things end up. ]

Okay.

[cactusy]

[Shaw's quiet for several long moments: watching Sam pet Bear, watching Jet sniff at the collar of Sam's shirt.

She makes a small noise in the back of her throat that's halfway to a chuckle.]

Told you I suck at people.

[themostfun]

[ Finally, Sam looks at her, barely moving her head, reaching up to pet Jet. ]

I don't think you suck at people.

[ Just sitting quietly with her is more than pretty much anyone has ever done for her. ]

[cactusy]

[Guess your weird taste started early, Shaw almost says - but this little proto-Root is so sensitive. So this time, she just shrugs, clearing her throat again.]

Thanks.

[themostfun]

You too.

[ She's not really sure for what, but at the very least, Shaw has let her stay and pet the dogs. That's cool.

Not that she doesn't feel awkward at all-- she's still just fifteen-- but still. ]

[cactusy]

And-- whoever hurt you and that friend you talked about, when you were a kid.

[Shaw shifts on the floor, drawing a leg up to wrap her arms loosely around it.]

He get what was coming to him, or do we still have some work to do?

[themostfun]

[ Sam looks away again, tensing for a second. There's nothing to be done about it. The truth comes out in the end. Hanna gets justice. ]

I took care of it.

[cactusy]

[... Huh.]

You're what, fourteen? Fifteen?

[There's no disbelief in her tone, but that's still a hell of a thing for a teenager to take on.]

[themostfun]

Fifteen. I did it last year.

[ She doesn't regret it. She'll never regret it. ]

[cactusy]

Do you wanna, like. Talk about it? You probably can't at home, right?

[themostfun]

[ Sam shrugs. ]

There's not much to talk about. I saw him take Hanna. Nobody believed me. I made it so someone stronger than me killed him.

[cactusy]

I don't know who Hanna is.

[Shaw admits, with some level of shamefacedness.]

Not because I don't care. You just don't like talking about your past when you grow up. I know barely anything about your childhood.

[themostfun]

[ If she could curl up into herself and disappear, she would, right now. She does the best that she can instead, gently curling her fingers into the dogs' fur, voice going soft and distant. ]

She was my friend.

[cactusy]

You know--

[Shaw angles her body so that she's facing Sam a little more openly.]

I had a friend I haven't talked to Root about, either. She knows about him, but not who he was to me. His name was Cole.

[themostfun]

[ The name doesn't sound familiar, but the next twenty years are full of so much information, she's not surprised. Staying coiled into herself, Samantha looks at Shaw. ]

You were close?

[cactusy]

He was my partner in the ISA, and he was important to me. He was... the only friend I had, for a while.

And then he was killed.

[themostfun]

[ The ISA does ring a bell. Facts from the future start to align and make clearer sense. ]

Did you find who killed him?

[cactusy]

They were just government mooks following orders, so I did one better: I found the guy who let the kill happen.

[themostfun]

Did you kill him?

[ her priorities are fine ]