Duplicity IC Contact

[bothbarrels]

 I suppose if you've reached this message I'm not around to accept your contact.
So, you can just leave it here, and I'll be sure to contact you back as soon as I can.

Comments

text, un: dakota

[ownperson]

[ It's not until she's been here a couple days she gets up the nerve to text him. She's had his network handle since day one, this York doesn't know and maybe it's selfish not to lay it all out, but... it came in useful, for now. He had no reason not to give it to her.

She's not really sure what she's waiting for. Does she want to see if he sees the post the others did and come to her first? Maybe. But after a while it becomes clear he hasn't, or if he has he isn't responding on purpose. Does it feel too much like violating their agreement from back on the rig, to message him first? Also maybe, but she doesn't even know if this is that him. So all there is to do is bite the bullet.

It still takes her an hour to actually send the message even once she decides to do it, sat on her bed in her apartment—nice, but too quiet after sharing space with people for so long back on the rig. A whole hour of writing, deleting, re-writing, then just... staring, until she finally hits send. ]

so are you like, deliberately ignoring my existence, or are you predictably the only one of the team who somehow didn't see me waving freelancer's name around on the network

[bothbarrels]

[ It's not hard to figure out what the handle means. It's his sister, here in the flesh. He's not the version of North she last spoke to, so he is clueless about what things they've worked through. He just responds, plain as anything. ]

It would be the latter. I didn't know you were here.

[ownperson]

[ Okay. Okay. Not ignoring her. She lets out a breath, holds her device against her face, then reins in her expectations. There's not enough to go off in that message to tell anything else (though perhaps that says something in itself) and her turning up in a shithole like this seems like exactly the shit that'd make him break the agreement. ]

surprise, i guess! the others let me know you were here. york gave me your handle

he also said you told him you came from somewhere else before here, was it the

do you remember the rig

what's the last thing you

[ She types, erases, types again... finally actually sends: ]

are you busy?

[bothbarrels]

Nah, I'm not doing anything. Did you want to meet up?

[ownperson]

no, clearly i asked because i was hoping to avoid you

[ Snark snark. ]

yeah, i wanna meet up. wherever's best for you. i uh

ended up in the up. and also blanked out a lot of the official tour

[bothbarrels]

I can come to the up if that's what you'd like. I'm flexible.

[ownperson]

sure. why not. i'm just in my apartment, you come up and i can come let you into the building or whatever

text; un: foxtrot12

[infailtration]

[ The night he sees South's memory of what happened when North died is rough. He jolts awake covered in sweat, shaking with distress. There's going to be a reckoning, South... but not right now. Not at 3am when he's this emotional and can't get into her apartment building unescorted.

York gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom to strip off his damp shirt and splash some water on his face. It doesn't do much for his emotional state, though. He's not sure anything would. Except...

He shouldn't bother North at this hour.

But when it turns out he can't get back to sleep, when he still hears the other man's cries in his memory?

He bothers North. ]

hey north


hey


are you awake?


wake up


north


don't make me actually call you man

[bothbarrels]

[ There's a lot of things one could say when woken by a string if texts at 3am. One of them is not to mention the time. Something is obviously up. ]

Hey york. You okay?

[infailtration]

no
can I come by?

[bothbarrels]

Sure, if you want to, that's okay

[ North hauls himself out of bed so he can be there to answer the door. He figures whatever's up, if it would be okay, they can head back to lounge in bed while they talk. ]

[infailtration]

[ York doesn't bother getting dressed properly -- he isn't even leaving the building. Just pulls on a fresh shirt and heads to North's apartment, knocking softly on the door so hopefully no one else hears. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ North's right there and opens the door when he hears the soft rap. ]

Hey.

text, un: dakota | after york convo

[ownperson]

yes i know i literally just saw you and didn't stop to chat, shut up

york'll fill you in no doubt but i wanna give you the heads up from my side too

no, i didn't tell him fuck shit when i got here and yes, that was dumb. yes, he now knows all my sins. yes, i've promised again to try and do better

also, wear a turtleneck next time i see you i am trying to think about your sex life as little as possible i've heard and seen too much today

[bothbarrels]

[ There's a touch on confusion on North's part at this message. Obviously she and York have had a talk. How did that part come up, though? ]

So he told you we got together last night then

[ownperson]

i mean i saw the hickey on my way out and there's like. no one else you'd be fucking right now but also

yeah he dropped that into conversation

either to torment me or to cut the tension it was pretty thick there for a bit

[bothbarrels]

Oh, okay

I'm glad you decided to come clean

He was incredibly upset when he showed up last night

[ownperson]

yeah i'm

not surprised

i re-lived that memory twice last time this memory shit happened and it's uh

i'm sorry he had that sprung on him w/o me telling him first

i shoulda, but

[ She wanted one friend to not be judging her right off the bat. Selfish choice, really. ]

[bothbarrels]

That would definitely have been preferable

I guess I'll have to ask him about it when he gets here

action; down, patch's

[ownperson]

[ She's not been avoiding North, but only because it doesn't count as 'avoiding' when the other party told you that he needed to sit on some stuff for a while and hasn't said he's y'know, stopped doing that yet. Though, okay, maybe it turned into something closer to avoiding after that network post of his. And the whole... carnival everything. But still, it's not technically avoiding him, if he's the one who started it.

She's started a new daily routine, since she got answers about where to go for an actual good workout. Patch's really is more her speed than the places in the Up. Sometimes she's here with Wash so they can spot each other, sometimes she's been with Lina, sometimes it's just her and that's today.

She's already gone through most of her regimen for the day, and is now just going to town on one of the ratty punching bags. Getting out some of that latent aggression in a more— constructive? Way? Can you call it that? Ugh, whatever, it helps. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ North had no intention of running into South when he came here today. He honestly just hasn't had much time to think about their situation at all, what with the carnival happening recently and all. He gets to the gym, dresses in the locker room for a workout, and goes to head to the punching bags to get in some warming up. The way he approaches the bags, though, he comes around the corner only to see that his sister is punching the bag next to the one he had chosen. He pauses, hesitates for a moment, but it takes him long enough that he knows she's noticed him by now. He finishes coming around the bags and nods to her. ]

Hey.

[ He knows this attempt to act like things are normal isn't going to work, but he's not going to turn tail and flee, so that's their situation now. ]

[ownperson]

[ There's a barely perceptible tensing of her shoulders when she sees him, so slight as to be easily excusable by the way she's holding herself. She doesn't quite breathe for the whole moment of awkward silence before he nods and greets her, which is— it's stupid. This is all so stupid.

She huffs, tries to blow her hair out of her face but she's too sweaty for that, so she has to comb it back with her fingers. ]

...hey. I'm uh. Almost done. If— y'know.

[ Fuck's sake. Pinnacles of communication as ever. ]

[bothbarrels]

[ The expression on his face goes from hesitant and carefully blank to disappointed, of all things. He knows they're not really talking, but he hadn't meant for things to be that way. Not after what happened under the Dome. ]

If you want. 'S fine.

[ownperson]

[ God, fuck this shit. It's like the uneasy silence on the rig again and fuck she hates that, hates that she's let herself accept it so easily again. Following his lead doesn't mean letting herself get walked all over.

She groans overdramatically and faceplants against the bag in front of her with a solid thud, holding it steady so she doesn't just fall forward when it swings. ]

This is stupid. Like— this is so fucking stupid.

[bothbarrels]

[ He sighs. His arms cross and he looks slightly off to the side. ]

Yeah, well, I don't know what you're expecting out of me.