Log: All The Small Things

[notyourrookie]

Who: Wash (OU) and you!
What: Wash has completed his first job as a mercenary and is out to celebrate it
Where: Out and about in town, picking up some better equipment, and then to the Eagle and Asp for a drink
When: Afternoon to night 29/11
Warnings: None so far



It hadn't been the most glamorous of jobs, but any notion of glamour had been beaten out of him practically the day he'd enlisted. The important thing was that his first job as a registered mercenary had gone well and that was the first step to being able to take care of himself without having to rely on other people. Sure, it would take a few more jobs before he felt comfortable, but it was a start.

That was cause enough for celebration, right?

His first step is to head out to a supplier to stock up on equipment. Nothing fancy for now, but enough to get him started. A good gun or two, and a solid combat knife.

There's other things that he needs, an almost overwhelming amount, he realises now that he has the money to start thinking about it. Clothes that aren't fatigues or armour, and there's so many different kinds that it takes him far longer than it should to pick out what he needs.

And once that's done, he heads to the Eagle and Asp for a drink. It feels appropriate somehow.

Comments

[notyourrookie]

"Yeah, people say that. That you're friends. But in the end, it's always about what you can provide. You have to be useful or..." Or they'd leave you to die on a crashing spaceship, mind shattered, because there was always someone more valuable. "Have to be useful."

[alphawho]

"...Okay, Wash? Buddy? Really hoping that you understand how that sounds coming out of your mouth. Do you want me to get York again or...refill your drink with something stronger or like...ask around for some medication or something?"

[notyourrookie]

"I'm fine," Wash says, a harsh note to his voice. "I'm not crazy. I don't need to be drugged up, and I definitely don't need York or anyone to come after me."

[alphawho]

"Okay, jesus, fine," he says, lifting his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I'm just saying that maybe there's a reason people react around you the way they do."

[notyourrookie]

"It's a good thing that I don't. need. people. then, isn't it?"

[alphawho]

He leans his arms against the bar and leans toward Wash. "Y'know," he starts amicably, "you're being kind of an asshole." Pot, kettle! Kettle, pot! "I'm gonna get you something with more kick than this so you can go back to celebrating having a job. You sure as hell did it quicker than I ever did."

[notyourrookie]

"I am an asshole," Wash replies. He knows that. At least one person seems to get it. He's not a good person. He knows that he isn't.

"Yeah, yeah that would be good. And I was a good soldier. The skills are fairly transferrable."

[alphawho]

"Assholes gotta stick together, I guess. I mean, exhibit A, asshole primo." He goes about throwing something stronger. No umbrella because fuck you you already got a couple. "Anyway I mean, I didn't have any skills when I started looking for jobs. Did a lot of shit I probably shouldn't be proud of but actually kind of am in the meantime. So, y'know, it's good you got shit going pretty much right away."

[notyourrookie]

"I don't know how to do much else," Wash admits, waiting for the next drink. "You did what you had to to survive. Fuck them if they object."

[alphawho]

"You can always learn to do something new." Church gestures to the space around him. "Bet you could learn bartending. Or being a store manager. Or knitting."

[notyourrookie]

"Are you offering to teach me?" Wash asks, smirking at Church. "I'm not sure knitting would pay the rent."

[alphawho]

"I'm just giving examples, man. It's not like I got here knowing how to sling bottles of vodka like a pro."

[notyourrookie]

"You sure? You seem like the kind of guy who was doing it when you were still wearing diapers."

[alphawho]

"Is that you saying I was born awesome? I will totally take the idea of being born awesome."

[notyourrookie]

"Sure I could be saying that," Wash agrees, "or I could be saying all that booze as a child obviously had lasting effects."

[alphawho]

"My baby liver was a liver of steel straight from the womb."

[notyourrookie]

Wash snorts and shakes his head. "Right. Of course."

[alphawho]

"I picked pockets." It just kind of comes out when he slides over a Long Island, and he shrugs. "I know that's nothing like killing a man for the sake of a war, but. You do what you have to do, and you build from there."

[notyourrookie]

He glances up at Church for a moment and then nods. "If that's what you had to do 'm not gonna condemn you. You survived. That's what mattered."

[alphawho]

"Other stuff happened. Stuff I probably shouldn't say in my place of work. I didn't have anything, y'know? I didn't..." He waves a hand aside. "This isn't about me and my stupid story. What I'm saying is, what you can do right now? Is not all that you can be."

[notyourrookie]

"It's not stupid," Wash says quietly. He doesn't think it's stupid. Church is about the only person who seems to get stuff, who reacts in any kind of way he can understand. "It's hard to think of doing anything different. I've been a soldier my whole adult life. I worked so hard at it."

[alphawho]

For someone who was just this close to ripping off his head about his sanity and how he doesn't need people, that's...kind of...surprisingly sensitive of this version of Wash to say. He drums his fingers nervously on the bar, not sure how to react to it.

So he chooses not to react to it at all. "I'm not saying quit being a merc when you just landed a job. You, uh, just seem super, I dunno, narrow-minded? Straightforward? Tunnel vision? About it. Like it's literally all you can do."

[notyourrookie]

He doesn't respond for a moment, taking a drink of whatever drink Church has given him instead while he mulls it over. "It's the quickest means to an end," he says finally. "And I'm good at it. And I guess... to get where I was, I had to be focused. It had to become my entire life. It was the only way to keep going and, in the end, to survive."

[alphawho]

"Guessing transitioning into civilian life wasn't ever gonna be an option, huh?"

[notyourrookie]

"Not the way things were going." Oh sure, he'd had thoughts of getting his record cleared, going off to find some nice out of the way planet and settling down, but how realistic was that really?

"I was doing nothing for a month or more when I got here and it was driving me nuts."