infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[She notices, but she's used to people being kind of interested in the wings, and as long as he doesn't ever try to touch without permission then she doesn't care.]

Had a few of those myself, usually not on purpose.

[Sometimes she'd pick up strays, occasionally they'd belong to someone she'd killed that she didn't have the heart to like. leave their dog alone.]

More than.

[She lifts up her own bottle and shakes it a little. It's just cheap scotch, but that's all she needs.]

[He nods at the scotch, turning to head out of the yard and around it. Gunther is a good boy, follows at the side Kara doesn't or behind if he has to. De Chima's got plenty of woods nearby, right next to the housing—they don't have to go far for somewhere quiet. A moment of rifling in that bag has him pulling out a bottle of whiskey that looks more suited to sitting in an office for show than actually being consumed.]

Thank you present. [That's half full half empty, depending on who's looking.] Roommates are fine and all, but it's not something you just share with anyone.

[One is on an all blood diet. Another, he's not sure if Mike Parker can really appreciate it at this point. And the other makes clocks, which is a problem.]

[She tucks her bottle under her arm to free up her hands to light a cigarette as she walks, because it's been at least a few hours since she's last had one and that's getting ridiculous.]

Does that make me special or something?

[Will don't do it don't have feelings near her there's been far too many today.]

[It's not the cigarette that gets her the odd look as he puts the bottle back tosses the bag over his shoulder like a giant alcoholic purse. He's used to it, can't even be bothered to wrinkle his nose. Unlike other people, she could blow smoke right in his face and he wouldn't be too bothered.]

Nobody in that house— [A tilt of his head.] —gets anyone crawling up their ass because they killed people. We don't do that. Maybe consider it a golden rule.

[Good enough?]

[She won't blow smoke in his face; she's actually considerate enough to try her best to keep the smoke away from Will.]

Lucky you. Guess this is what I get for trying to talk to fucking heroes and shit.

[More blessings.]

Do they call themselves heroes? That word doesn't mean so much anymore. [It could be bitter, but the way Will says it, it's like reading from a textbook.] Everyone's a hero. The villain? Hero in their eyes. Their story.

[Will Graham might have a few feelings about heroes and villains. Perhaps.]

Talking to heroes is like talking to sinners or saints or...it's everyone.

Nah, but they're the type.

[She gets what he means, she's seen history books written and rewritten, but shes apply the label, rather than listening when people call themselves heroes.]

I don't fucking get it.

[Part of him wishes he had a hat to adjust, give him something tangible to fiddle with. The dog, dumb in some ways it may be, recognizes it and moves in closer, just enough that Will can get a moment's eat scratch it before he cuts down a path that leads away from lights, from TV, from society.]

Be glad you don't. [Will gets it. He doesn't like it, by God he does not like it.] So you wanna say what happened? What got them up your ass about it?

Some idiot tried to attack me the other night, so I was gonna stop him.

[Permanently. But putting a knife in him, but she figures Will can make the connections there. She's hoping he isn't going to be all weird about it, so she doesn't mind telling him.]

Guess that makes me a monster.

[And she isn't going to argue that she isn't a bad person, but that of all things is fairly low down on the list.]

[He can get plenty of connections from there, vivid, real connections that turn to mental images in his head. For someone who's got the picture of Kara beating a schmuck to death, complete with a sort of flip book involving possible weaponry, he doesn't seem to have it going on when he looks at her. There's no judgment, no sizing her up, there's something much different: he relates. Not to the same extent, of course, but with certain experiences and that empathetic sponge of his...difficult not to.]

Monster's lost a good bit of meaning, too. [Less textbook this time.] But it's different when it comes from someone you think you know. Or knows you better.

[Ah, ah, that's the ticket, that's the part he relates to the most. The part that has something like a smile out of him when he stops to push aside a particularly thick, heavy, thorny bush to not just let her pass, but let her see. A small clearing in the midst of forest that only gets denser the further out they go, complete with one boulder. One boulder and some smaller rocks around it, nothing but the night sky above, and not a single city light in sight once she gets in a few steps.

It's quiet.]

[The lack of judgement is what she was hoping for, and it's surprisingly refreshing after Skye and Lydia's reactions. She knows that Jesse wouldn't judge her either, but that's because Jesse already knows the type of person she is. It's why he hired her.

Which means Will's kind of hit the nail right on the head, except Kara didn't quite realize that's what the problem was.]

Oh.

[It's a considering oh, mostly to herself as she looks through to the clearing. She moves past him easily, the takes a second to peer up at the sky, glad to be away from the city lights so she can pick out familiar stars.]

Nice spot.

[She hasn't dropped the subject of her killing people, she's just taking a break from it for a second, while they get settled.]

Edited (no one saw that) 2014-09-04 01:11 (UTC)

[An Oh he recognizes easily and lets it go, gives her some time and space while his dog finds a small patch of mud and proceeds to take great interest in it. Will carefully puts that bag next to that one boulder, taking out two glasses that are totally not meant for shots. But they're not doing shots, so he doesn't see a reason to stand on pretense.]

Found it when we first got here. [There's some cheap stuff in the bag, too, but it's not what he's going for. Kara brought something, but he'll go ahead and pour one glass, offer it after he offers a bit more. A bit more from his own mouth, not from Freddie Lounds or what he'd put in public. There's an ease to the confession that he never would have found had it not been for the knowledge he was released and Freddie being the one to slam it down without warning. People who didn't take her seriously were a breed he didn't like being able to understand.] Found all the little hidey places like it I could. Ever go home, I'm headed to a small, single room with bars. Probably in the basement. Taking advantage of freedom to move about outside while I can.

[He looks up, nonchalant—does he go ahead and pour for her, too, does she take the one that's ready, or...?]

[She'll take the glass he first offers her, sniffing the whiskey without tasting it just yet, because she's more interested in what he has to say. There's a small part of her that wonders if Jesse really is right about Will, but it just doesn't fit.]

Thought you were one of the good guys.

[It's a question without being a question, casual enough that he could easily brush it away if he doesn't feel like answering.

She even takes a sip of the drink, like she isn't that invested in his answer, like it doesn't matter.]

[The way his face changes, the nod, the eyebrows, the smile it fades into—so did he, he thought that, too, thought everyone knew as much, and they apparently did not. It's bitter, it's so so bitter, a taste that hits the tongue and is immediately spat back out. Intolerable, but perhaps not surprising when someone's been around him long enough to pick up that he seems more capable of negative emotions than positive one. Even as he pours himself a nice glass of the good stuff.]

So did I. Thought everyone knew it. Little different, not right, but not so off I'd... [He waves the glass, pulls a face, sits on the ground like he belongs there. Just dirt and grass and stars and sky, this is the sort of simplicity he can revel in.] ...go that far. [How far, though? That's not something to throw out (or throw up), right off the bat.] But I'd totally beat the shit out of someone who tried to attack me and if it came down to one or the other...

[He'd stop him, too. He's not really a hero outside of roles he fills, but even if he was—hero does not mean martyr. Hero does not mean sacrifice at the drop of a hat that means absolutely nothing in the end. Hero does not mean total fucking idiot, and he can drink to that.]

...don't gotta be a monster or a hero to want to keep from being turned into a corpse.

[She watches his expression change, watches him sit down and takes a seat nearby, not quote crowding but close enough that she can watch him.

She still doesn't think Jesse is right. From the way Will's talking and the bitterness in his voice, it seems like he's behind bars for something he didn't even do.]

Wasn't even gonna beat the shit out of him, just kill him.

[Since they're apparently getting back on topic. And there is a difference to her; she's strong and fast enough to kill someone quickly, and she meant what she said to Lydia. She isn't a sadist, she doesn't need to hurt someone more than necessary, she just needs to survive.]

And I don't think you ain't right.

[Trying to. be comforting. At least a little. Will's kind of weird, but she knows people who aren't right, and he doesn't seem like one of them.]

[The attempt at comfort ends up absorbed, same as everything else, sponge that can't keep itself together...at least, when physically sick. He's not sure how to approach that, how to go about it in a way that doesn't come across as degrading to the both of them, so he props his elbows up on his knees, that glass dangling between them as he swirls it a bit.

Curiously:]

So...somebody caught you? Stopped you? Took him out before you could make your move or...how'd this come out where anybody got a hold of it?

[Because really, shield maiden. He's sure if she wanted to drop a fucker without anyone knowing, she would have. That this would have not ever come up had it not been for a witness. Someone who probably didn't get it.]

Ran into us might be more accurate.

[Maybe that's just her pride talking, but she doesn't want to say that Lydia caught her.]

She talked me outta it. Didn't want to kill anyone in front of a kid.

[Not that Lydia is entirely a kid, but she is to someone who's as old as Kara is.]

[More accurate has him nodding, looking down, face hidden for it as toes a moss-covered rock over for a tangible excuse to keep it just that. Yes, make it obvious he knows she can handle herself but give a pinch to the pride, being caught—well done, Will.

It takes a moment before he asks, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible.]

Why's her being a kid matter so much?

[He's unfortunately well-acquainted with children who kill. Kids killing kids isn't something he's been able to avoid in his work. His own views on childhood and how society treats children can be a warped, screaming mess at the best of times. But this isn't judgment (oh you thinking kids aren't as fucked up as adults)—it's genuine curiosity, nothing negative in it.]

Killing isn't pretty. Don't wanna fuck up some kid if I can avoid it.

[It's not that she doesn't think kids aren't fucked up either, it's just that she doesn't want to contribute to it or cause it in any way. Because for all her talk about not caring, for all her talk about having no morals, she does have something of a heart.]

[Idly, his fingers drum at the side of the glass. Perhaps he should step in or say something once his dog flops over in what mud he's found, but nothing comes out in the bearded monster's direction.]

I imagine what you consider a kid has changed over the course of time. [Will's probably a kid to her, but according to societal norms, he's definitely not. The age of adulthood has changed throughout time, varies from culture to culture, so the idea of saying aren't we all kids to you? is a little ruder than he can bring himself to be. Disrespectful. Telling her how to feel.] What's it now, 21 and under?

Depends where you come from.

[A child in the United States might not be the same as a child in a country in Africa.]

Tend to go by that; where I am. It's how they're raised, what they've learned, how they deal with the world.

[Most of the time she probably doesn't come across as very smart or thoughtful, but there are some things that she can be a bit more aware of. To her, there's no definite age for what a child is, but it's still something quantifiable.]

[He follows that, especially here. Here where there's...]

I was busy trying to survive high school at the same age some of the kids here were in big organizations, living behind Walls in fear of the world beyond it. Or going past them to keep them standing.

[Or breaking them down, apparently. Will's not saying any names, didn't see Kara talk to the Titan kiddos, but he knows things happen privately as much as they do publicly. He shrugs, pulls a face.]

I'd take the locker vandalism over that any day. Difficult to know that here, isn't it? Who's a kid but more mature than most adults. We're all from such different places, it's...little overwhelming.

[Or maybe that's his empathy problem speaking.]

Can be.

[Difficult to know it here, she means. Or maybe she means it can be overwhelming, but she doesn't have the same empathy problem that Will does.]

Usually doesn't take too long to make a guess. But I'm good at picking out soldiers.

[Since they're on the topic of the Titan kiddos.]

[The Titan kiddos are sure all right with Will.]

Comes with the territory of being you, doesn't it?

[He might not be well-versed in many religions or systems of beliefs, might not have studied mythology much at all, but he can use Google, or its equivalent in this universe. He can use the library. He can get curious and wonder what shield maiden really means outside of what media portrays, the weird armor on the chest that leaves the legs completely bare, teenage boy masturbatory fantasy shield maidens.

There's still on judgment, simple hints of curiosity. The territory of someone's nature is a crapshoot, can be a mess, but it's what he deals with as much as what he has to deal with on a daily basis.]

Yep.

[He's right there, at least; what a soldier is, what a warrior is, has changed a lot over the years but Kara still tends to be drawn towards them, can still pick them out in a crowd if she needs to.]

And I've just got used to 'em, spent most of my life around soldiers.

[Before she started working for the Council.]

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