4. voice

[rickitikitarr]

All right, this is all good fun and games, kids, but I'm going to be the one who spoils it by asking the question.

What the hell is going on?

And, for that matter, if we're the ones apparently running the show now, is anyone steering the boat?

[Ricki does not want the barge to smash into a sun and everyone to burn up, even though he's currently in the inmate-reclaimed bar and part of him is rather enjoying the fiddling.]

Comments

[thelastbullet]

[He tucks the packet back inside his breast pocket without any more urging, choosing not to take one for himself right now.]

I'm grateful anyway. [For this, and for the fact that Ricki apparently trusts him enough to talk.]

The below-the-table gun trade or just the lack of otherworldly monsters?

[rickitikitarr]

Both. Maybe just doing something serious that actually makes physical sense. Improvising explosives to fling at otherworldly monsters is all well and good, technically within my abilities, but feels a little like an unexpectedly bad acid trip. The rest of it is so... banal. Laundromats, library books, cups of tea.

[This is a nice, happy medium. He gives a little wince, is aware that it sounds a bit like he's glad for Jimmy's misfortune, and it certainly isn't that- but still. It's homey.]

[thelastbullet]

[He lets out an amused huff, looks at Ricki's hands where they're hanging over the railing.]

Queer thing about this whole affair is that this fella looks exactly like someone I knew back home. Someone in the business.

[rickitikitarr]

What do you mean?

[Because there's exactly alike and then exactly alike.]

[thelastbullet]

I mean that I called him by the other fella's name when I first saw him. They're exactly the same, down to the scars.

[rickitikitarr]

Jesus. How does a thing like that happen, I wonder?

[He's immediately wondering whose face he'll meet here.]

[thelastbullet]

Aren't there those two fellas here, too? Dean and Ben? One of 'em's a little younger than the other, but they look like the same guy. [He shakes his head, and gives in to the urge to pull out another cigarette.]

Fucking unbelievable.

[rickitikitarr]

I know Dean, but I haven't seen Ben yet. Unless I have and I mistook him for Dean.

[Shaking his head. This fucking place.]

[thelastbullet]

[He huffs a little laugh.] They look alike, but hey don't act alike. You would've known.

[rickitikitarr]

I'm keeping an eye out for it, now.

[He flicks his cigarette butt overboard. Dusting his hands off, before straightening up, tucking them in his pockets.]

Well. Best get to it.

[thelastbullet]

[He's not done with his own yet, but he lets it hang between his lips as he turns around.]

Alright, Tarr. Be hearing from you, then.