gunsforhire | Log: This Place Was A Shelter

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Log: This Place Was A Shelter

Who: Agent Louisiana, Agent Texas, and Agent Florida
What: Making good on a promise after returning.
Where: Safe house given to L by Florida
When: 6/21 Sunday Evening
Warnings: Cursing, Florida being on drugs and weirder than usual

Louisiana hasn't been in this safe house in a couple of days. She comes in to make sure it's stocked with the proper supplies. At least now there were towels. One of the kitchen cabinets was filled with different varieties of teas. A lower one packed with medical supplies after everything that transpired here.

Those were some fun memories. Not really. Rather bloody though it had placed them on this weird path of theirs. Her hand going down to rub where the new scar lay. Setting up a kettle of water, she tries to figure out what to do next.

She rests her helmet on the counter and pulls up a chair. A toothpick in her mouth to prevent her from biting her nails. The psych exams had left behind a deep impression. Passing them was great but not what they had dredged up. All of those fears forced to the surface and confronted. It didn't help that people were there to record and watch. Made her feel less of an employee and more test subject.

Pulling over her holopad, she flicks through the apps. There was still some time before company would arrive. So Louisiana selects the keyboard to play whatever she can manage to remember. Anything to keep her mind off of what followed her from Armonia.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I'm not allowing for them to know that I am. Jersey is doing it. All I'm doing is keeping the illusion of compliance. Back in Armonia, they tried to mess with things. Plant ideas..."

Ideas that wouldn't leave her alone. They kept nagging at her in the back of mind. Her back turned towards the couch. She crosses her arms, almost hugging herself but not quite.

"I will break off from them. I'll do it," she admits to them. "Then I'll...huh rejoin the For Hires."

"Your partner is tattling on you and you still care enough to keep him safe?" she asks flatly. "I hope he was doing that before deciding he wanted to break out of his contract too, not after." If it was after, the guy was a bigger fucking scumbag than Tex thought.

"Do what you want, kid. But I hope you're getting help from reliable people because it sounds like you're already in over your head and listening to those 'ideas' they're planting."

"Hey," Florida says, reaching out to touch Lou's arm. "I'm not saying join the Hires. I was very serious when I said I would help you, Jersey, and Oquirrh set up your own unit. There is too much pain for you with our group. And too much pain with our group to work with Deadeye."

But he wants her to live by her own rules. "And no matter what they said to you, remember who you are, what you believe. Trust me, the result otherwise isn't pretty. Just look at me. I still have trouble believing I'm capable of actual, genuine affection, much less love."

Louisiana focuses on Tex. "No that's not what I meant. He's doing the research into our contracts. Trying to find ways out of them. You can't buy out from Control."

"If I listened to their ideas, I would be killing Florida," she growls out. Louisiana glances at him, wanting to return the reach out but not with this. "They think you were the reason the mission failed years ago. How convenient it was that a recruit of yours was the one to be captured. To be left behind for days."

"If I rejoin the For Hires, it isn't for you. It's for Maine and York."

For York? Since when were Lou and him friends? Either way, this is a conversation she feels she should really be involved with and folds her arms over her chest.

"You should join for yourself," she mutters with a shake of her head.

Kill him? Florida recoils a bit at that, looks to Tex. He promised her. Promised that he wouldn't die. And the idea that Lou would actually do it after implying to care about him...

No, he shakes that head off. "I'm not asking you to join for me. I'm not asking you to be a For Hire. And I..."

God, did he admit to things? Yes. "I didn't know you were still alive, Lou. My contacts told me they had found your body. I was betrayed, though not like you were. They gave me a charred corpse and said it was you. But when I saw it, when I was there, Maine called about you."

"I would be making my own choice, Florida." If anything, Tex was right. She'd have to do it for herself before anyone else was to be accounted for. "Just like how I don't listen to Control's what ifs."

Louisiana sighs softly, dropping her arms. "Regardless I believe you before them. Someone gave away the plans. It doesn't change anything."

She hesitantly reaches out to him. All the analyst had said was a lie. He needed to be believed dammit.

She sighs and stands so she can stretch. This conversation is making her restless and talking about things that are long done. It's not her place to say much, this wasn't anything she was involved with.

"Make your plans for the future and if you need help, get it. You have people who give a shit, don't waste that."

"It doesn't," Florida agrees. "Our past is what makes us what we are. Who we are. What we do. That is all I can say about that I guess," he sighs.

"Ain't that the truth," she remarks. Louisiana was done talking about the past anyway. It wasn't necessary to have something else haunt her during the night.

Once her brief stretching is done, she folds her arms over her chest as she watches the pair.

"You know how to find us if you want back-up," she says with a head tilt towards Lou.

"I'll always be here for you, if you need it," Florida insists, moving back to Tex now. "That's what family does. Support each other."

Louisiana gives a brief shrug. "I know that. Seems like what I've told you is sticking," she remarks to Florida. That was a good sign she supposes.

He's moving towards her, she's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. At least the two of them are playing nice. "You two want some time alone before we head out?"

"I'm learning," Florida answers. "And... do you want alone time?" Tex asks Lou. He's not sure he's ready for it, with how his head is right now.

"I suppose it'd be nice," Louisiana answers. However it was hard to tell what Florida would want. He was hot and cold this entire time. Never consistent in how he reacted to her.

"You can call me back if you need it," she says more to Florida than Louisiana. His head might not be in the right place, but it's hard to tell where she fits in with this dynamic.

She glances over at Florida once more in case he changes his mind before she heads for one of the bedrooms to wait.

Florida waits until Tex is gone before he sits back down. "I'm scared I've ruined everything between us."

Louisiana moves to perch herself on the arm of the couch. Her back towards him. "What makes you say that? I thought this would be showing the very opposite."

"Being okay and feigning it are very different," Florida points out. "I've done the latter most of my life."

"I try to make a brave face nowadays. It's better than simply shutting down." As if that even worked all the time. Sometimes she still got distracted by everything. "I want to not look so broken. Bad for work really."

"...I also want to not be afraid anymore."

God he knows that feeling. So much. He wants to reach out. To hug her.

"The... man that made me? He wasn't the only one of the kind. There are more out there. Who take children off the streets and make... people like me. And I'm so scared they're going to come for me someday. Always have been. Living with fear... comes with the territory I think?"

"I doubt Tex would allow for that to transpire," she says, shrugging. Louisiana flexes her hands out anxiousness.

"I wasn't always like this. Guess the occupation molded me to be whatever I am now. There's a difference in living with a healthy dose of fear and being plagued by it. The same what if playing over and over again."

"Do... do you mind if I hug you?" Florida asks, desperate for it now. "Please? I'm worried about you, and I can't do anything but hug you."

Louisiana mulls it over for a brief moment. Then she's up and moving to take a seat on his good side. "No I don't mind at all."

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