empathicfault | IC Inbox

[I'm trying just gets a small nod, and plenty of time to get his words out. She knows patience isn't exactly one of her strong suits, but, well. She can try, too.]

It sucks that it had to come to that. You got any idea what you want to do, now that you're out from under Jack and Hannibal's thumbs?

[ And this is harder to answer. He blows out a breath in a sigh. ]

I'm working on that. I'd been focused on Abigail, but that's done, now. Something that utilizes my...ability, the way I want. Probably.

[ More quietly: ] I have a lot to re-evaluate. It would probably help if my mind didn't feel like gumbo.

[... Well. There is one obvious thing.]

You think you're gonna have any use for a magic deal after you graduate, Will?

[ He chuckles quietly. ]

Uh...well. I don't think bringing Hannibal back is gonna be on the table, so- not really?

But it's not like everyone is here for a deal. Maybe.

[There's the soft sound of a chair scraping back on hard flooring, and footsteps as she gets up to pace.]

This is a crappy place to make a life long-term, Will. Use it for what it's good for, then figure something else out. You can help people at home, too.

I'd give you a job. I ever tell you about the kind of work I do?

[She knows she hasn't. She also knows that he could possibly have picked up on a few things.]

[ Is it a bad place to live? Iris seems happy here. Maybe it just takes a certain type of person. Will puts that elsewhere to think about later. ]

You haven't, but- federal. Not FBI, though. Black ops? CIA?

Not anymore, I'm with a freelance team now. Small, under the table, off the books - completely, not just officially. My boss is-- he's a good guy.

We save people by trying to stop violent crimes while they're still in the planning stages.

I can appreciate a rogue group. How do you stop violent crimes before they happen, though? That's...you can't be sure they'll go through with something. Right?

Mm, we keep an eye on things and do pretty extensive recon. We're not... preemptively taking people out or imprisoning them based on hunches or thought crimes, if that's what you're worried about. Boss'd throw a fit.

[ Will smiles a bit at that. ]

Glad to hear it. Better than the things Jack would start yelling about, anyway.

[ He sort of distractedly pets Winston as he thinks, imagines what it would be like to be in that sort of situation. A separate group, on their own, doing what they think is right. ]

I'm guessing I don't have to go into how badly I usually work with a team.

However bad you are, there's no way you're worse than Root.

[She sits down finally, cross-legged on the floor instead of taking a chair (... or dog bed) .]

When I got back from that whole captivity thing, they needed back-up; we couldn't really afford for me to take time off. They all made me sit out a week anyway, to make sure I rested and recovered or whatever. That whole thing with Jack? Wouldn't've happened to you with us, or any solid team.

[OOC: just noticed that five-ish tags up I forgot this was action now and switched back to audio formatting; I am so sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me this week!]

[ Winston can't help it- someone is on the floor. And Will seems- well, more normal-ish, as much as he ever is. So Winston trots over to request some pets from Shaw.

Will, meanwhile, nods appreciatively at Shaw's description of an enforced recuperation from work. She's not the type to lie, but it still feels weird to him, the idea that even a bunch of rogues would take care of each other better. Having faith that someone would at least try to back you up when you needed help-- wait, he had that once before, didn't he?

He narrows his eyes and then sighs, as he realizes it's not his memory. It's brief, though. He rubs his eyes and then looks to Shaw. ]

Uh- think I just remembered something of yours. Did your group work with something called The Machine?

[Shaw doesn't know if she'll ever stop feeling a sharp, sudden burst of suspicion when people on the Barge ask questions like this. Honestly, she hopes she never does stop. When it comes to graduating an inmate and working towards a deal, it's best to assume that the Barge is real and act accordingly - but when it comes to talking about home, and to sharing information that Decima and Sameritan would be all too happy to get their hands on, she can't lose sight of the fact that this could all be an elaborate ploy to get her to let her guard down and give away more than she should.]

Yeah.

[She says guardedly, rubbing a hand over Winston's back and letting him flop down in her lap.]

What do you remember?

[ He can feel the suspicion spike, bursting in his ears briefly like radio static. But that makes sense, and he's certainly not going to take offense at it. He'll talk to her about it, see how long it takes for her to get the rest. Because he knows how off-putting this is, and it sounds like sensitive information.

Although, as he starts, he laughs a little. ]

I think it's Root. Did she tase you and drug you and zip-tie you to a steering wheel? [ That might not be helpful, if Shaw doesn't have it, so he continues on. ] Uh, wavy brown hair, brown eyes, black leather jacket, about my height probably...pretty flippant about kidnapping.

[ He raises an eyebrow at Shaw. Does that sound right? ]

[Whoopsie-daisy, is she about to be called out for thinking Hannibal is clearly bad news while she has Root lurking in her history? The fact that she doesn't look remotely surprised upon hearing this story is probably telling, but she at least has the grace to look mildly sheepish about it.]

Yeah, she, uh-- she got better about that. Mostly.

[But not until well after Shaw started sleeping with her, so really, feel free to judge away, Will.]

She zip-tied me to a steering wheel? Not a chair?

[ The slight amusement is as far as Will intends to judge, promise. Because while Root might enjoy a little kidnapping and tasering, Will is pretty sure she's not an unrepentant cannibal. (although hey, who knows?) ]

No, it was definitely a steering wheel. I think Root just wanted you to listen for a bit. She kept calling the Machine 'she', and said that it needed her help. That the first part of that was getting your help.

You were, understandably, pretty mad about the whole thing. Apparently, the Machine talking to Root was unusual? You didn't expect it.

Edited 2023-04-26 19:27 (UTC)

So really early days, then.

[Shaw murmurs, half to herself.]

She say anything about us keeping her locked up?

No...

[ And he was going to continue on, but as he processes that, he has to raise an eyebrow. ]

You kept her locked up?

To be fair to us, the drugging and kidnapping and tasering habit wasn't a one-time thing.

[The locking up is something that Shaw doesn't particularly regret, though she feels more conflicted about the involuntary commitment to a mental hospital than about the extra-judicial imprisonment at their home base. Purposefully keeping her in places where she was cut off from the Machine, though, is something she wishes they'd done differently.]

I decided to go with her, didn't I. She convinced me.

[ Will just nods in acknowledgement at the reasoning. He knows it's something he's particularly sensitive about, but he doesn't know all the details. He's not going to judge. ]

You did. She said something about your father. Gave you a date. Pissed you off, but I think it convinced you that The Machine trusted her. And that she wasn't lying about trying to save people. Or- no. Save The Machine, but that would save people.

Smug little asshole.

[Shaw murmurs, closing her eyes as the memory starts to leak its way back into her.]

Yeah, that was a couple years ago. We went on a quest to save this guy who ended up joining her nerd squad and being pretty useful to us later on, so. Things turned out okay.

[ Will smiles slightly as Shaw clearly starts to remember. Okay, they're really getting the hang of how this works. ]

Had a feeling. And yeah- she clearly didn't care about you holding a knife up to her throat. Was that the first time you met?

Second. Or, third, depending on how loosely we wanna define "met".

[Does Shaw shooting her in the shoulder and then holding her at gunpoint after she'd kidnapped and traumatized Finch count? A question for the ages.]

It was the first time we worked on the same side, though. And--

[Huh. She's never really thought about this in context before, but now that she is--]

I'm pretty sure it was when she decided that I was someone worth knowing.

[She remembers the look on Root's face when she'd gone back to make sure she got out of her end of their caper okay (a wise decision, considering she'd found Root facing down the enemy with a bulletless gun). In retrospect, the big, genuine smile Root had given her had been telling.]

[ Will can tell the feelings are sort of fading- which is nice, because it allows room for him to look back at it with almost an outsider's fondness, as a fun story. ]

Yeah? Figured it out pretty quick, then.

Did she join the rest of your team, later on, or did she mostly stick with her...uh, 'nerd squad'?

[Shaw, on the other hand, is perturbed by the process of the memory returning. She wants it back, of course, but feeling it fill out the empty space it had left behind is weird, almost as if she's experiencing it again for the first time. It's disorienting how the annoyance and frustration of that day in the car feels every bit as current and fresh as the dull thudding she's starting to recognize as her version of grief, and the warm oozing sensation she's starting to recognize as her version of love.]

No...

[She says slowly, trying to use the question as a way to reorder her thoughts.]

No, she was dangerous. To us, I mean. And Finch thought she might be dangerous to the Machine.

[The fact that she hasn't explained the Machine to Will doesn't ping her radar; she's half-talking to herself here, anyway.]

He locked her up in a room at the library. She wanted to help, but he didn't trust her yet.

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