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[preseance]

This is Eugene Hicks. If you've a personal need of me, go on and leave a message, I'll contact you when next I'm able. Thank you.


T E X T ✘ V O I C E ✘ A C T I O N

Comments

[identifier]

[ better than his current accommodation. ]

Yeah, probably two or three. [ he'll install a skylight himself. ]

Guess we've got a date in the woods?

[preseance]

( he laughs a bit. )

Guess so. Let's meet at the Church an' go on from there.

[identifier]

See you there in fifteen?

[preseance]

Yessir.

( he's nearby, so it ain't so much of a jaunt for him. dick'll find him outside the church. smoking, because although he's tryin' to cut back he still needs the occasional dose of nicotine. when he sees dick, he puts the end out with his fingers and tucks the half-smoked dart away. )

Hey. We'll be out there for a few hours, you got the supplies for it? Forgot to ask.

[identifier]

I told you to stop that. [ he gets that in before the line cuts. but he didn't sound mad. just bemused by gene's manners.

outside the church, dick approaches him with a smile. look closely and he hasn't slept much in the past few days. but he's nocturnal. ]

Yeah, I've got supplies. [ he has a backpack with him. ]

[preseance]

( if he had to hedge a guess, gene'd figure ain't a one of 'em that's sleepin' well, or long, or dreamlessly. death ain't bloodless, an' he has his doubts about whether or not any one of 'em here died from somethin' as peaceable as a heart attack in their sleep. so though dick's tiredness is noted, it don't warrant comment. gene just gives him a thoughtful look, a faint furrow to his brow that maybe one day would'a been a frown line if he'd lived that long. )

All righty. Well, it's your place. Why don't you go on an' lead the way? You got an area scoped out yet?

[identifier]

Yeah. It’s not that far. [ he’d looked and the trees seemed sturdy.

he leads by walking a little ahead. quietly and purposely into the woods. he doesn’t need the lantern to show him the way but holds it up in front anyway. ]

Have you done much exploring? [ gene’s probably been busy with the clinic. ]

[preseance]

Some. Wade an' I, we're tryin' to insist everyone what goes off adventurin' oughta take one of us with 'em.

( gene has a healthy concept of personal danger, and an understandin' that all that falls to wayside when there's work to be done. )

But I ain't seen much beyond that, no.

[identifier]

[ he nods. people are prone to danger. more so when their lives here are so fragile. who knew putting out a lantern could kill you.

his life is in his hands. enclosed by a bat. jeez. ]

Not much to see, honestly. You'd think there was more in the woods, but they're empty.

[preseance]

( eerie, in an' of itself. there's supposed to have been other folks that were here first, but five said that when the resets happen everythin' goes back to. how it was. how it'd been since the beginnin'.

which means they oughta be careful, because this whole damn city could be like nothin' else so much as a chessboard. one wrong step, an' they're lookin' at eternal limbo. )

Seems like that's a consequence of the resets to me. Don't rightly know how I feel about that.

[identifier]

[ kinder than him, who's been a bitter bitch since he got here. it's not going away. it seethes around.

if he had something to fight. a purpose to achieve. ]

Pretty shitty, to say we died to get here and we're hoping there's not another reset.

[preseance]

I wouldn't say it's shitty.

( he says that speculatively rather than correctively. his opinions are his own, ain't no need to foist them on others. dick doesn't have to like it, that's his business. )

This is already somethin' of a second chance. Who are we to argue for more time than we've been given anyhow? I think I'd rather look at this as a gift, an' every breath as a blessing.

[identifier]

[ it's optimistic.

but it chokes off his anger. it dissipates. he's left feeling miserable and small. gene came from a war. he's probably not eager to go back. if going back is a possibility.

(it is. he has to believe.) ]

Looking on the bright side?

[preseance]

Lookin' for the light in the dark.

( a better metaphor, but he smiles when he says it an' ducks his head some. )

[identifier]

Got a lantern right there.

[ he's real funny, gene. ]

[preseance]

( hilarious. gene just laughs, soft and sure. )

Got us a real wise guy, huh? Well, c'mon, wise guy. Cut down a tree or two, make yourself useful.

( he tosses his pack at dick, where he'll find a couple of axes and several handheld tools. #justparatrooperthings. )

[identifier]

[ dick ducks his head and smiles to himself.

and nice toolbox dude. ]

Came with all your stuff? [ says the guy who still has his utility belt. ]

[preseance]

Jump ready.

( it's a bit of a catchphrase for the boys in the 82nd. ain't a soul among them ever needed to finish it with to fight. that was a given. paratroopers jump into the thick of it an' always will. didn't matter if it was silicy or salerno or anywhere else in the war. jump ready. )

Didn't see much point in comin' out here unprepared.

[identifier]

I hear that. [ if they could choose what they came with. he'd rather he had some place he could already sleep. tools he could already use. ]

I've started an emergency cache. [ in case the store's goodwill runs out. ]

[preseance]

( he laughs. )

Me too. Got it buried on grid coordinates. Five an' Doc Wade know where, if somethin' ought to happen to me. Guess paratroopers an' cops have more in common than I thought, huh?

( he's startin' to wonder if maybe dick had a background in soldierin'. he moves like an army ranger in the woods, that's for sure. )

[identifier]

[ bet he could find it if he looked!!!! he’s been walking around the woods in the dark. familiarizing himself. if ever the path has to be taken at a sprint.

they can be “dead” but who’s to say what will happen here. ]

Guess so. [ only billy knows about the combat training. dick doesn’t plan on keeping some things secret. but he’s lived that life longer than this one. its shadow lingers. ]

I’ll let you have what I don’t keep, then.

[preseance]

That'd be mighty appreciated. We can use every spare bit of anythin' useful.

( he's a product of his time. used to makin' do. )

But I don't mind showin' you if you want to know. I'd rather not tell too many folk, but enough that it can be used if there's a crisis.

[identifier]

If you want to. [ and he wants to trust gene. who he feels wants to trust him too, only he isn't struggling with it. ]

So far, nothing major's happened. [ there's few threats out in the woods. ]

But you never know.

[ always waiting for the next shitshow. gotham city has too many supervillains. ]

[preseance]

( he never has struggled with trust. it comes easy. folks always earn the benefit of the doubt with him, an' his regard is hard to revoke. disappointment follows more easily than distrust. )

Well, paratrooper contingency is always a matter of hopin' for the best an' plannin' for the worst.

( he smiles, nudges his elbow gently against dick's side. )

So, reckon it couldn't harm none.