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]

[ 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 ]

[cactusy]

Yeah, I did. Don't regret it, either.

[themostfun]

Good. Nobody should get away with killing people who don't deserve it.

[cactusy]

Yeah. And he really didn't. Didn't deserve to be seen as the traitor they tried to make him out to be, either. He was-- moral. Brilliant, honorable, the kind of person who really thought about things.

[Carefully, Shaw nudges Samantha's knee with her own.]

You wanna talk about Hanna?

[themostfun]

[ She may as well. Fair's fair. Whatever reasons she has in the future for not talking about Hanna... they get married. It's kind of weird not to tell your spouse about something so important.

Samantha looks at Jet as she talks. ]

She was so nice. She was older than me, so because my mom was sick, Hanna watched out for me. She loved reading. She was really bad at Oregon Trail. [ There's a flicker of a smile at that memory. ] Everybody liked her. I don't understand why he did it. I don't want to understand.

[cactusy]

I know exactly why Cole was killed. Knowing doesn't always help so much in the end.

[Shaw pauses, then starts to lift her hand. Hesitates. Almost puts it back down again.

In the end, she rests it on Samantha's arm instead.]

[themostfun]

[ Once again, it's Shaw offering her sympathy like no one else did, only this time, she knows what Samantha did, and she believes what Samantha said she saw.

Sam's throat feels tight. Her eyes start to burn. She forces herself to focus on the dogs, their fur and warmth and characteristic scent. ]

Does it ever stop hurting? It's not like we can bring them back.