EXSILIUM - contact.

[hostage]

UNIT№409



_“ Hey, it's me. Wait for the thing. _”

Comments

[affections]

( Oh, Jesse. She hangs back, keeps from latching onto him with a hug, although it is extremely tempting. )

They hate us because they're scared. Hybrids are dangerous.

( Gently, stepping a little closer, and crouching down with the coffee table between them. In light of this information, the puncture scars on her body might make a little more sense. )

We've got a bad reputation.

[hostage]

Okay, but... I mean, you never hurt any of us.

[affections]

I'd never hurt any of you.

( Desperate, a little raw. ) I've done bad things, but I'd never hurt you or Lisbeth or Stanley.

[hostage]

Then we're okay, Jules. I mean really. It's cool.

[affections]

( There's so much more to tell him, but that puts all this at jeopardy. Months of good stuff. Accumulated good stuff.

Maybe it can just... wait for later. She needs a hug, so she's pushing the coffee table out of the way. )

Thank you.

[hostage]

[He draws her in for a big, warm hug, squeezing gently.]

You don't gotta worry about this stuff with me, okay?

[affections]

Yeah.

( Let her just rest her cheek on his shoulder, squeezing him as well before she pulls back. )

You're a good man, Jesse.

[hostage]

I'm not.

[It's said in a matter-of-fact way, not self-deprecating.]

I am... really fucking terrible, actually. But that's how come I know the difference between being bad and just being born a certain way that people don't like. And that's bullshit. And you don't deserve to be treated bad 'cause of it.

[affections]

I was born bad, Jesse. I hurt people for my own sake.

( It's just what hybrids have to do. But, as Max said, she could be doing worse with the hand she's been dealt. Easing back, she sits on her heels. )

Hey, now. I mean, my dental work alone. Horrific.

( They can laugh their way out of this, right? )

[hostage]

[He's not quite comfortable with laughing about this when she was looking so upset a minute ago.]

I'm not saying it's okay to hurt people, but there's a difference between doing it because you have to and doing it because you want to. A big difference.

[affections]

( Faltering a little, Jules brushes her hair back. )

If you regret it, that's different, too. Not everyone does.

( Those are the people she has to hurt. The ones who are guilty with no regret. )

[hostage]

[He thinks she's talking about herself.]

Yeah. Yeah, so... don't beat yourself up.

[affections]

I'll do my best. Purely out of my affection for you.

( Trying to be light, because that's the only real way she has of coping, even if it ring false. Excuse her, she is going to just wrap him up in a hug and rest her chin on his shoulder. )

Is it okay if we just hang around here for a while, or do you need to go somewhere?

( her finest coping methods, contact and booze )

[hostage]

I got nowhere I'd rather be.

[They have similar coping methods. He draws closer and snuggles right up to her.]

[affections]

( HI JESSE HAS SHE SAID RECENTLY THAT YOU'RE HER FAVOURITE

BECAUSE HE IS

whatever she is just going to hug him for an embarrassingly long time, that's the way to adult. )