snowblindrpg | [log] yikes all around [closed]

Entry tags:

[log] yikes all around [closed]

Characters: Adelina and Cassel
Location: House 126
Date: 195
Summary: Post labyrinth shenanigans!
Warnings: Possible description/discussion of injury, but there shouldn't be anything more!

[When she wakes up from that awful scene, it's with a gasp despite herself. It was... Was it an illusion, a memory of someone else? Either way, calm down, calm down. She has other things to attend to, so she doesn't let herself focus on whatever it was she just saw quite yet.

Instead, she's automatically pushing herself off the mattress, looking around to see where she is now - it's where she remembers. She pushes her hair out of her face, giving herself a quick once over to make sure everything is in order, before she stands to look around for her companion.]

Cassel?

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[Despite a valiant effort at not listening in on his conversation... Well, they are traveling in close physical proximity. It's hard not to notice that he seems to be in a particularly sour mood after all that, too. Part of her wonders if she should just let him deal with it in his own way. but - it cannot hurt to ask him, at least.]

Are you alright?

I'm fine.

[He's super not fine. He's pissed about Lila—not at Lila, he lies to himself—and he's angry that Adelina overheard all of that, not that it was her fault. It makes him feel vulnerable, exposed, and he hates it. And there was a part of him that liked the fact that Adelina didn't know anything about his life before coming here. It was nice to pretend he was a good person and not just faking.]

You heard most of it.

No, I didn't, but it's obvious that you're upset.

[It's a lie, but it comes naturally and easily.]

Did the two of you know each other in your home?

[He knows she's lying, but he lets it go. Strangely, it feels like that puts them on more even footing.]

Yeah. She used to be my best friend.

[Which is not at all adequate for the weirdness of their relationship, but.]

You had a falling out, then.

[It's not phrased as a question; it's obvious enough by the past tense, and he can supply the details if he chooses.]

[Cassel smiles, but it's much more hard-edged and bitter than it should be.]

You could say that.

[He thinks "my family ruined her life" is more accurate. He's quiet for a moment.]

She's right. I'm not conning you, Adelina, but I'm not a good person.

[He was hoping saying it would make him feel better, but it doesn't.]

[She's almost expecting him to go on, so she pauses before responding. When she does, it's simple.]

I do hope you're planning on giving me more information than that.

[Cassel scrubs his hands over his face. Everyone knows this at home, so he's not sure why it's so hard to say to Adelina.]

My family is full of con artists and criminals. We've had ties to one of the big U.S. crime families for... decades. Close ties.

[She looks at him for a moment as though he's a puzzle she's trying to decipher. After a pause, while she tries to decide the best way to move forward...]

You and your family, or just your family?

[To her, it's the most important distinction.]

All of us. I don't work for them, but that doesn't make a difference.

[An inhale, and a frown.]

Of course it makes a difference. If you know it's wrong, you don't have to repeat it.

[His mouth twists.]

It's not that simple.

Then tell me in what way it's more complicated.

[If he's claiming to be a bad person, she thinks she deserves to know the particulars if they're traveling together.]

[That's why Cassel is telling her any of this at all. In any other situation, at Wallingford or back home in general, he'd clam up and deflect. They're spending almost all their time together here and getting locked in at night, and if he's going to be any better than he ever was, he at least has to try, even if it makes him feel raw and exposed.]

I've screwed up a lot. With Lila, but with everyone else, too. My dad wasn't teaching me to pick locks for fun, he was doing it so I could help him and my mom. I've been stealing things and conning people since I was a kid.

[God, he hates saying this. He doesn't even realize how much his posture tenses up as he talks. It's breaking that ironclad oath his mother always taught him, but then, he did that when he joined the feds. What's one more girl in a place his family will never even hear of?]

[It's definitely not the answer she wanted to hear, and it shows in her face. Still, there's something missing that she thinks is important. It's a simple question.]

Why?

[Was he forced? Was it his own choice? That distinction, she thinks, is large as well. The fact that he told her this of his own volition makes her less angry than she would be upon finding out any other way.]

Why what?

[It's a broad question, and he realizes he's trying to figure out what answer she wants whether than how to answer it truthfully, which only makes him more disgusted with himself.]

Why did you do it? The stealing, and everything else you mentioned.

[For a long moment, he's silent. He's so, so tempted not to answer, to crack a joke or tell her it's none of her business or just walk away. He hates analyzing this side of himself, let alone actually revealing it to anyone else, but he finally answers.]

I wanted to be good at it like my brothers were.

[It's probably the most honest answer he's ever given.]

[She can't deny that it angers her. As a leader, she's been trained to have little tolerance for those who break laws as he's describing; more than that, it just seems wrong.

But there's one final piece she doesn't know yet.]

Do you want to continue to do so?

No.

[He shrugs. His discomfort is far outweighing whatever internal insistence he has that he should tell her, and he crosses his arms.]

Now you know.

[A pause, as she takes that in as well. She thinks she knows the most important parts of this equation, even if she doesn't know whether she can trust that they were all honest.

She assumes he's waiting for a response, some reassurance or rejection, but she simply nods after a moment.]

Thank you for telling me.

Sure.

[It didn't make him feel better, and he's not sure how she feels about it, but he can guess.]

If you want to split up in the morning, let me know.

[She pauses. There's little doubt that in some ways, it will be more difficult for her to trust him... But he didn't have to tell her these things, and he did. That makes a difference to her, along with him saying that he wants to change.

She knows what it feels like to want to break every chain connecting you to who she used to be, to realize that there are people who will never stop looking at her through the lens of her past. If he doesn't want to be the person he was anymore, she's not going to spurn that.]

I don't want to split up. I look forward to seeing you prove that you don't want to repeat your past actions.

[Well, that's... not at all what he was expecting. He stares at her for a long moment, considering. He's not sure if he can prove it—he's screwed up so many times before that he's certain he'll just let her down, but he wasn't even really expecting her to give him the chance to.]

Uh. Okay. Thanks.

[He clears his throat.]

It's fine if you heard the whole thing.

[She doesn't have to lie about it.]

I didn't hear the whole thing.

[It's not a lie, even if she heard much more than she'd like to admit.]

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[log] yikes all around [closed]

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