IC Contact

[pluggedintheoverlord]

 

"Hey, this is Joker.  Leave a message and I might get back to you.  Unless you're trying to sell me something or I really just don't feel like talking to you-- in that case, take a hint and quit calling me."

Comments

Re: [ACTION]

[withastick]

[Oh good]

[He didn't shoot lasers at her on sight]

It's, um, for you.

[Duh.]

...To say sorry.

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

...Oh. Right.

[This wasn't really how he expected this to play out. He'd thought that Gunny would be pissed at him, not making him sandwiches.]

Thanks.

[Well, this was awkward.]

I guess we need to, y'know. Do the talking thing.

[ACTION]

[withastick]

[With a nod, Gunny leaves the plate in Joker's lap before shuffling on to the co-pilot's chair, where she slowly takes a seat, almost unsure if she's allowed to do so.]

[Once she's settled in, she looks up at her big brother, careful not to catch his eye]

You go first.

[Because talking about serious things is scary]

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

[There wasn't really anywhere else for her to sit, though it was kind of weird for that seat to be filled by anyone who wasn't EDI. But that was a whole other can of issues that didn't need to be opened yet.]

Yeah, okay.

[He paused for a few seconds to figure out what the hell he was going to say, because he really hadn't prepared this in advance and was starting to think that may he should've.]

I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. [Okay, that was probably a good place to start. Y'know, at the beginning, which was where he had started fucking up.] You were right that I shouldn't've been drinking, I was just pissed that you called me out on it. I don't have any right to be pissed at you for that. I was drunk and stupid and didn't mean pretty much everything that I said.

[ACTION]

[withastick]

[As he spoke, Gunny's legs folded up against her chest, so her chin could rest against her knees. She never wore shoes while walking around Normandy, a habit she kept from civilian life (if she could be considered living in military life now. That was still very much up in the air.) so she played with the leather with her sock covered toes.]

[She still has trouble meeting Joker's eye, but hearing his apology definitely helps her resolve]

I'm, um, I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have gotten as mad as I did and. I dunno. I should've been more calm about it or something, and I overreacted because I was kind of scared and, and,...

[Yup. Not going well. Overly emotional teenager SUPER TASK FORCE GO]

[There's a hiccup]

I'm sorry for being a pain in the ass, and I'll try harder to listen and I really, really didn't mean what I said about you and not being Dad, I mean, you're not, but I don't want you to be, I just want you to be you and I'm a dumbass for making that something hard to do.

[She pauses JUUUUST long enough to take a shaky breath and we're all really lucky she hasn't gone into full waterworks yet]

And forget what I said about Tiptree, okay? I know you wouldn't leave me and Dad behind like that. I just said it because I was mad.

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

[They were both doing a very good job at completely avoiding anything like eye contact. Joker, at the moment, was finding that sandwich she'd made him particularly interesting, or at least a lot easier to look at than her.]

So long as you don't believe any of that shit I said about not wanting you around. I mean, you shouldn't have to look out for me, because that's my job, but... yeah. I want you around, because even when you're a pain in the ass, you're my pain in the ass. I know I'm not real good at showing it, but, y'know, I love you and all that crap.

And if I didn't keep an eye on you, Mom would totally come back just to kick my ass.

[ACTION]

[withastick]

[That earns a grin, even though her eyes insist on leaking to high hell. One emotionally stunted sibling, while the other is on emotional overload-- awesome combination]

And Dad would totally come back and kick your ass for saying I shouldn't keep one on you, too.

[She sucks in another shaky breath, finally mustering up enough courage to... stare at her brother's new, still growing beard. Okay. Well. Baby steps.]

We're a family, Jeff. [All that's left of it] That means we take care of each other. Kind of like being a pain in the ass team.

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

Yeah, but let's face it, Mom was a lot more terrifying.

[One of them was going to have to man up and look at the other, and it looked like that was going to be him. Any second now. Aaaaany second now.]

[Okay, there. See? Eye contact.]

I know we are, Gunny. Thing is, though, you're still a kid. And I'm glad you've got my back, but the division of responsibility here isn't equal. It's like, seventy-thirty. Maybe sixty-forty. Just want to make that clear.

[ACTION]

[withastick]

[Holding that eye contact's a challenge in itself]

[But she's managing it! Just barely, but it's better than before]

...Make it sixty-forty and you've got yourself a deal.

[She knows Joker well enough that leaving him up to managing his illness doesn't bother her. It never did. After all, nobody knew his own body better than he did, and outside of an emergency, she'd just be an unnecessary nanny. Her brother's kind of like a cactus-- prickly (well, to anyone he wasn't really close with), and he only needed to go out into the sun once or twice a week. As long as that was taken care of, along with eating every once in a while (which she didn't mind prompting him to do) he was good to go.]

[She's also fine with the idea of him taking up a good chunk of the slack when it came to the division of guardianship between the two. As independent as she'd like to think she is, Gunny knows better than to think she could get by on her own. The Loki taught her otherwise. Besides, if nothing else, taking care of her provided a decent distraction from everything else going to shit]

[Which led to the root of the problem: their shared, excellent, personal traumas. Even before the Purists did... whatever they did to him (she didn't want to think about it), he just seemed haunted by something. At the very least, he definitely wasn't the same big brother she'd last seen a couple of years ago, although she didn't pry. All she could do was be there whenever he needed it. That was her forty. And it sucked that it couldn't be made up of more, especially since she'd pretty much agreed on the split (even if he hadn't yet).]

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

...Okay, fine. Sixty-forty it is.

[The last time Joker had seen his sister before their reunion on the Thor had been before he'd gone to war-- and not just any war, but a galaxy-wide struggle between every organic race and an incomprehensible threat. Second-hand, he'd seen things that would have given anyone nightmares; husks, colonists being melted into genetic slurry, the fall of Thessia. People died, sometimes right in front of him. Sometimes because of him.]

[The Purists hadn't had to do anything. The Reapers had already done more than enough.]

[He never let on that anything was wrong, though; he was the pilot. They needed him to be in top form at all times, no matter what, and he didn't disappoint. And if it meant having to bottle up his trauma until it was contents under high pressure, then that's what he would do.]

[ACTION]

[withastick]

Pleasure doing business with you, sir!

[And Gunny reached between the chairs, leaning precariously over the edge of her own, for a good, old fashioned handshake]

[ACTION]

[pluggedintheoverlord]

Pleasure's mine.

[He leaned over and took her hand in his, giving it a business-like shake.]

[ACTION]

[withastick]

[And with that, Gunny can definitely feel a huge weight lifting off her shoulders. It's enough to bring a genuine smile to her face, even as she dabs away at her puffy eyes.]

Thanks, Jeff.