Wiping the floor with our faces

[kimp]

:: Liberty cocks her head and then turns in her stool so she's facing Eden. Once she has Eden's attention, a feat in itself considering how many directions the convo is going in, she shifts her gaze significantly to Victor then back to Eden. In a dropped down voice she asks ::
Is that the way all normate children act? How is it their parents don't drown them in the bathtub?

[vVv]

victor's shoulders soften a little with the various reassurances offered to her back, and eventually her whole body seems to just let go into a slump. looking every bit the part of the stereotypical teenager, victor rolls onto her back, slowly, lazily, and sort of slithers off the hearth to a crouching position on the floor before stretching herself, vertebrae by vertebrae, back to standing. the outburst seems to have cleared away some of the forboding and bitterness that has sat 'round her head like a raincloud since her return from the hospital, just before the battle's end.

she shuffles her way over to sally, accepting the offered cookie with a benevolent look, if not quite a smile, and sits down ceremoniously on the other side of hartighan, looking almost serene as she nibbles her treat delicately, pinky outstretched.

"why donsha lemme go 'long to talk to 'em neshtime?" she says around a mouthful, swallows, thinks, "i just wanna hear what they have to say is all. maybe i can understand more 'cause i.. y'know," she looks down, "i had a bad dream a few nights ago, y'know? and i don't want the world to be the same forever. this place is kinda pretty, always shiftin' and changin'.. i don't think they really want that either, though, they can't. how's that fun? anyway, i wanna help out with keepin' things like they are, much as i can. an' it's ok if some people wanna ignore it.. but me, i like it here, this town, bein' in the middle of all these big happenin's.. what's the point, just bein' safe and comfy, til whatever happens gonna happen? no point. boring. makes me WANNA die."

[Eden Jones]

Eden gives Liberty a look of sardonic amusement and says softly, "Yeah, most of us were like that or worse when we were teenagers. I know I was. Our parents didn't kill us because they were the same at that age."

She sighs, but smiles. "Not all of us had as...regimented a childhood as you did. Some of us ran wild in the Appalachian hills and caused endless trouble. It's how we figure shit out."

[Nixon]

Hartighan listens to Eden's rebuke. Takes a deep breath.
"Don't be a...

nevermind."

Hartighan nods to Sally's words. "You don't need to say that Sally. I know why I was on the field. They only see what they want to see."

He then puts down his drink and stands up.
"Have a good three weeks, folks. My desire to... socialize... has waned."

He walks over to Victor and hands her a card. "You have a phone? This is Nile's line. You gonna be safe here? Let us know if your situation changes."

[Sally]

Sally laughs heartily at Eden's comment, "Caused trouble an' figgered shit out is one way to put it."

As Hartighan stands, so does Sally, with a shrug, "Folks gonna folk,"

He extends his hand out to Hartighan and says, "Gonna have to find me a noose to bronze and put on a plaque fer you, ya know?

"You keep that Lady of yers hydrated," he winks, before popping off a salute, "An' get yerself some shore leave, there, Commander. You earned the everlovin' shit out of some time off."

Sally says this, directly to Hartighan, eye to eye, as he clasps the man's hand.

[Henry Gondorf]

"May I suggest the next time we must resort to diplomatic measures, whoever we send goes armed to the teeth with Eden's cookies...maybe a few sides of bacon even?" Henry offered as he swiped a cookie from the tin.

"I say Alice might have an idea going there. If we get the screws put to us when we try to welsh on a deal, maybe they get it worse you know? Maybe what they are ain't the greatest of things when turned on them. Hell, why bother putting them on the ground when we can just make them lose face?"

"Goddamn, these are good..." Henry mutters after a quick bite. He stares at it making sure it was still a cookie and not a Whisper Hill Surprise.

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey put her hands up when Sally chastised her, as if to show she didn't have any weapons in them. "I wasn't bad-mouthing him or anything! Just letting him know how things happened the way they did. I figure any of us could've stepped forward."

She raised an eyebrow at both Hartighan and Sally, confused as hell at the defensive reactions. She turned to Hartighan before he up and left.

"Look. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of ours. I know you don't want my help, but if you did, I'd fix you up same as I would anyone here. We can disagree on shit and still be on the same team."

Then she smiled at Victor. "If I ever go out to talk to them, I'll look for you first thing."

Kelsey nodded her agreement to Henry's words, but didn't have anything to add.

[vVv]

vic smiles in kelsey's direction (oh good, i really didn't wanna be mad at that one).

she takes the card from hartighan, her eyes widening and *mayyybe* tearing up a little before she jumps up and wraps her arms around him in a quick, fierce hug.

"i'll be ok! you guys get some good rest, and i will too, so i can be in top form if you need me!! ..and thanks for watchin' out for me.. people get jealous when you're really awesome, and say mean shit, believe me i should know, but other awesome people got your back, ya know, so, like, don't you let 'em get you down 'cause they're just bein' dumb if they think YOU'RE dumb, and i won't either, deal?" a brief sidelong look in eden &liberty's direction, and she turned her grin back on hartighan again and stuck out her hand ceremoniously.

[PoeticJustice]

"Gabriel can do as he wants," Alice murmured quietly to Sally with a shrug. Her eyes opened a slit and she glanced over towards where the man in the suit has been sitting. "I do not believe he and Mason get along overly well. Mason isn't fond of any of the chain gang."

[Eden Jones]

Eden sighs and looks over at Sally, "Goddamn, Sally, it's like you only heard my half of the conversation." She flicks her gaze over to Victor and then back to Sally. "If you think I'm the bad guy for getting tetchy when condescended to, just say so." She gives Vic a half-smile, "even if that makes me the dumb one."

She looks over to Henry, "If one of you wants to carry my cookies to the negotiation table, you're welcome to try. I think Ness's s'mores pie would really seal the deal, though."