gunsforhire | LOG: Crappy take out and some beer

Entry tags:

LOG: Crappy take out and some beer

Who: Texas (native) and Florida (native)
What: Chillaxing and relaxing. Oh and Florida has some feelings and things to talk about.
Where: One of Florida's safe houses.
When: 5/22 evening
Warnings: Possible adult situations and talk? Will edit this if it becomes a thing.

More scarves. He's saving her a bit by making them for her and she's not sure if she needs to thank him or not for shoving Omega into approaching her to hang-out. If only her brother didn't need that shove in the first place.

She's picked up what passes for Chinese take-out on Adaptive and brings it with her to his safe house. She's packed herself an overnight bag and a few things to occupy her time since she has a feeling he'll be knitting at least part of the night. It sounds like he's being doing a whole helluva lot of that lately and she's not sure what 'frustration' has brought that on.

Her bike is parked in the garage next to his Isis and she enters into the house with only a short knock of warning.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Which?" Florida asks, accepting the container. He stares at the container and the beer and finally puts the container aside in favor of the booze.

"I've got too much of it lately."

"Whichever you want to talk about. Not my choice to make," she replies and lets her container rest in her lap as she sips at the beer. For someone that doesn't drink much beyond appletinis, he made a good choice of beer.

"Hell, I don't even know the list of frustrations you have right now. I thought they had cleared up."

Florida sighs and looks away from her, sipping his beer again. "I... can I trust you not to tell anyone?"

Trust is important, always important, and god here he is asking her to be trusted with some of the most important parts of his life. The problem, he supposes, is that he's already given her so many pieces.

"I haven't breathed a word of anything else you've told me," she answers. "And I'm not intending to start now."

It'd be mutually assured destruction if she did. Never mind that somewhere along the way, she began to care about his well-being. Whatever is bothering him will be a well-kept secret.

Honestly, she'd have nothing to lose if she did spew it all. Except maybe Florida retaliating by outing her family, and he won't do that. He won't... hurt her like that. He cares too much. God what a mistake.

"Two of my problems are related to Lou. Of course," he sighs. "I... Apparently she stopped caring to find her father's killer. I can't imagine that. She... I can't even tell her. One of the things I regret the most, and I can't tell her."

It's both frustrating and painful to know that.

Louisiana. Of course. She should have known that woman would be the center of more of his concerns. At least this time he doesn't have to hunt around the entire city for her.

"So, she's stopped living in the past. That's a good thing," she says carefully. "It means she can move on and focus on the future. Do you think it's worth telling her the truth at this point?"

"How do I redeem myself to her if I can't... let her know how I've hurt her?" Florida asks quietly. "How do I explain how important it is to me that she considers me like a father when she doesn't know what I stole from her?"

He shakes his head and downs more of his beer. "I wasn't supposed to care about stuff like this. About people. This is so against my training."

She shrugs and watches him out of the corner of her eyes. He's drinking quickly, but it's only beer at least. Not a bottle of tequila.

"Training you didn't ask for," she reminds him. "It isn't enough that you carry the guilt of killing him yourself? I'm guessing you and Louisiana have a better relationship normally than the glimpse I had."

"Our relationship is... new," Florida answers. "And I don't want to carry this guilt. I want the option to tell her and to know that she'd care. Because I..."

He wants to die someday. He knows his training won't allow it, except with her. He's certain he can have it from her. And only from Lou.

"Anyway, it sort of... hurt. It's stupid. More than stupid. But it is what it is. The other issue is her... friends."

Their relationship is new? She thought it had been going on for a while. She leans lightly against his side, more to give him a physical reminder that she's here while he speaks.

"Can't help what hurts sometimes," she says. "By friends are you including Maine in the bunch?"

"No," Florida answers. "Control has... sent more mercenaries from her team here. One the equivalent of Niner, less skilled of course, who seems to be doing information stuff. I went to make it very clear to the girl that she did not cross me."

HE shakes his head. "The man is... He... I don't want to think about what happened to me on that faked meet. But I can't hurt the man because Lou won't let me. God this is my fault."

Wonderful. More unknowns thrown into the mix.

"It's your fault they sent more of her team down here? How? And if he's a threat, you can send me his way."

"I failed her and drove her to Control. And now because of how close we are and how I act toward Control, they..."

He shakes his head. "That's why they went after me. To stop me from influencing her. And now they send more people."

"So, back-up a second. How did you drive her to Control? And if they think you're influencing her in ways they don't like, why haven't they ended their contract with her?"

Surely they have other mercenaries that could do the same work if involvement with Florida is an issue.

"She... when she came to Adaptive I watched over her," Florida answers. "She went Merc, so I used my right of tapping a merc to join the group. I brought her in, helped her be one of us. And then there was the job..."

Everything had gone wrong. Poor research on his part. Failing to cover her on his part. Not running to her side on his part. She'd...

"Long story short, she got hurt badly, and she left. Didn't feel safe anymore. There was a lot of tension between her and some of the others, so she left. Went to Armonia and joined Control and thins haven't been the same."

Not even remotely. His hand comes up to run through his hair, and he finishes his beer. Wishes there was more. "Her burns? Those are, in the end, my fault. But she's their creature now."

"Don't blame it all on yourself. Ultimately, she made a choice and that's on her. Getting hurt is the ugly part of the job."

She screwed up with York, though she wasn't necessarily on his team in that set of jobs. But he didn't run off to Armonia in search of another group over it at least. He stuck around and he seems to be doing better. It helps to alleviate the small amount of guilt she still feels over his injury.

She stares at her beer as she turns the bottle in her hands before taking another drink. "Is Control going to be causing you more problems now that more of them are roaming around?"

"Yes, and no," Florida answers. "They aren't allowed to touch me. I'm covered under Lou's contract as family. But on the other hand, I can't touch them. She's forbidden me from it. Which means I'm forced to give them and their scummy employer a pass."

He hates that. With a sigh Florida sets his empty bottle aside and grabs his take out. He opens the carton and moves a bit to stretch out, mostly so his leg brushes hers just a bit.

"So there, two of my chief problems that don't involve the fact that I can't work just yet."

"If they get to be an issue... Well. I'm not covered under this family clause," she says casually. She's confident in her skills and if it becomes a necessity, she won't hesitate to step in.

There's a small smile at the feel of his leg and she nudges him before pulling out an egg roll to start on. Her beer is on its last legs and she leaves it on the end table to finish later.

"I'm surprised you haven't gone stir-crazy yet. I get antsy if I spend more than a few days without a job."

"I... have my own ways of dealing with stress."

He'd found a gangbanger who looked like Jersey and... well, that man wasn't going to hurt anyone ever again. Florida had left his body in pieces near the Control base in hopes that Jersey would find it.

"I'll figure it out later I guess," he sighs. In the mean time... He pulls his leg away from Tex's. Clearly from the nudge she wants her space. Not that he can blame her. In fact, he blames himself for presuming.

"You didn't need to move away," she says with a quick glance down at their legs. She had meant the nudge to be more playful than anything, the contact had been nice.

"Is that why you've been knitting so much?"

"Yes... and no," Florida answers, his voice getting quieter when she asks.

That's his other problem. Two of his pressing problems he'd said. She's his third. With a sigh he puts his takeout aside for a moment before moving to grab his bag. He quickly fishes out the scarves, sky blue and forest green, and passes them to her. "Here."

"No?" she asks with a frown. What does he mean then?

The scarves provide a temporary distraction as she runs her fingers over them, careful to not accidentally dip them into any of their food. She's starting to wonder if there's something she should be concerned about hidden behind his scarf making. "They're beautiful. Thanks."

"You want them," Florida answers. That should be enough, right? "There aren't many people at the base who appreciate what I do."

He does it because...

If he has to guess? It's because he wants more attention from him. Something he's not used to feeling. "I didn't know what colors specifically you wanted, so I went with what I thought would look good on you."

"Then they're missing out." A fact she is just fine with since it means she gets to enjoy what he does more. She folds the scarves neatly to tick at her side.

And she's not about to let him dodge the question. Not completely.

"So why are you knitting so much?"

"To distract myself from Ana and her friends," Florida offers. "To give me something to do other than gossip, spreading rumors and collecting them. To keep my hands busy."

To not think about her and what he admitted to Louisiana or what he'd realized when he'd bought the yarn for the first.

"It's soothing, and allows the body to do while the mine does not."

He's said nothing new. He's hoping the speed at which he said it makes her miss that.

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