And suppose that is true, and I accrue power enough here to do as you've suggested. What makes you think I wouldn't offer that way home freely, without condition?
( if people want to return to their homes, he would of course do whatever he could to assist. he does not need recompense for that, it is a matter of doing what is right. it is more human to help than it is vampire. )
I have lived long enough that I would argue that, I'm afraid.
( he has seen it. time and time and time again. sookie was just the latest in a long line of humans he paid very little mind to. it is simply not in the nature of vampires, yet he is hardly one of those any more. )
[ It's a lie. A trick, some line to get people to fall in. Sharkface can't imagine it being anything else. There were only seven he's met in the entire universe who were good. Eight, maybe, if he counts Connie among them. It's easier to narrow everything into two camps. His people on one side, everyone else on the other. And now they're gone, torn to fucking pieces for Freelancer's private war.
People are monsters. He loses that sometimes, he slips up and forgets, but there's only one way this ends.
Sharkface holds perfectly still. Doesn't snarl out a retort, doesn't clench up his hands. He imagines smashing Washington's head into the ground, watching the armor crack and give, and that helps a little. Gives him something to focus on. ]
Maybe you have.
[ Liar, he thinks, viciously. You fucking liar. ]
There's still somebody here who took you down. Got you on a table and cut into your skull like everyone else. You really think it'll be that easy?
[ Godric's probably the strongest fucker he's ever met, in armor or otherwise. But he's still got an implant like the rest of them. Somebody made that happen. If appealing to power won't work, Sharkface decides to go for brutal pragmatism. There's always an enemy that needs to be eliminated. Strength in numbers. ]
( it's interesting to see what sets off this boy's rage. godric can see it seething in him, crawling beneath his skin like maggots in a corpse. a thousand years ago, he might have thought this one would make a good vampire. now, he believes he'd be a very poor one.
godric steps in close to him. tilts his head back to meet his gaze. most cannot bear the proximity, he thinks this one will stand stock still on the strength of his spite. )
You wish to ally with me because you perceive me to be strong. You hope that I will rally against this place and so, you have it in your head you can use me for your own ends if only you offer enough to me to appeal.
( it is... small. his own people used to offer sacrifices to gods that did not hear them. in that same soft, accented voice, he continues, )
I have killed thousands of your kind for nothing else but boredom. Slaughtered armies because I felt it to be my birthright to express the superiority of my kind. Women, children, warriors, I treated your species as a human might an ant, snuffing out lives beneath my heel. I have been monstrous. It is a choice of mine, to be otherwise these days. Please do not mistake me for one who can be manipulated, or pushed. If I tell you that I would expect nothing in return for rendering assistance, I would prefer you trust to that. Whether it will be easy or not is irrelevant. Should there be a cost, I will bear it.
[ Godric comes in closer and even though his face is calm, almost serene, Sharkface sees it as a threat. Crowding into his space. This close there's no way Godric hasn't clocked his bad eye, if he didn't realize earlier. Nothing for that, though it's his worst weak-point, easily exploited. But instead of snarling or lashing out, Sharkface stands perfectly fucking still. At attention, the way his old drill sergeants would have liked. Stand tall and wait for the dressing down. Easy, in the end. But it doesn't come, or at least not in the way he's used to.
It's more a laying out of facts. Here is where I stand. And here is where you stand, below me.
Sharkface bares his teeth. He had a nice smile, once. Not anymore. ]
I've seen planet killers drop. You think I don't know monsters?
[ There might have been a time he would have believed Godric, or at least wanted to. Because that talk about bearing the cost, that's what Hunter used to say. That's my job, little brother. Always looking out for them, always there to make the hard calls and take the weight of the fallout. Would have, once, but Hunter's gone now. Hunter stopped being that person when Connie died and he took on her name and her armor as his own. CT, he'd said, call me CT now, and then he'd gone and died alone in some fucking desert. All those good things they tried to do, none of it mattered. They couldn't save anyone, not even themselves. So why fucking try? ]
All I want is a way back. I don't care what you do.
( it isn't a contest. a matter of who's seen what, which is worse. this man speaks of zero g like one born to it, the future he paints for his variate world is not a pleasant one. the covenant, whatever they are, are likely as terrible an enemy as he has ever faced in all the long, long years of his life. )
I will do what is in my power to see that you are returned home. But not because of anything you have offered me.
[ Liar, he doesn't say. You fucking liar. But he smiles anyway, knowing very well what it looks like, and holds his ground. There's always a cost. No one does a thing out of kindness in this universe, no one but the dead, and if there's no cost now that only means that it'll come calling later.
That's fine. That's fucking fine. Godric can say whatever he wants. Only thing that matters is he's got power and is positioned to get more of it. Sharkface turned mercenary a long time ago. He knows exactly what he is, and what's needed to fulfill his mission. There will be a cost. He'll just have to survive it. ]
Sure you will.
[ The offer's been made. It won't do to push the point, sound desperate. He's got other angles. Sharkface flexes his hands, thinking. It's not like dealing with Felix, who was loud and moody, prone to romantics; not quite like arranging things with Locus, either, who was all business and turned killing into an equation, when it was all pageantry and brutality with Felix. A style that didn't mesh especially well. That hadn't mattered, though. He had skills they wanted, an agenda that complimented their own, and they brought him in exchange for a suit of armor. A bargain, really. ]
That all, sir?
[ A jab, probably ill-conceived. Impossible to see it as anything but mocking. Authority is so rarely worn by people who deserve it. ]
( the creature he was a thousand years ago would have already killed this boy a hundred times over. for insolence, for presumptions, for pique. godric merely holds his gaze for the span of several heartbeats. )
Sheriff. If you're going to embrace formality, that is what you may call me.
( let the human be petty, it does not trouble him. his tone is lightly indifferent. )
[ It sets his teeth on edge to say the title, for reasons Sharkface doesn't particularly want to explore. Whatever. Just another job, another fucker to side with in service of the long view. It's a gamble, but most things are in the end. Have to make the jump. Survive the drop.
Doesn't matter. It gets him one step closer to home, and his mission. There's nothing else to do but see it through. ]
[ The fuck is he supposed to do with that? There ought to be clear lines with this sort of thing. A hierarchy. Someone with orders or at least a direction, a task, and then the fuckers who see it through. Like being back in the military, under the chain of command. And sure, that didn't end well, that went wrong in nearly all the ways it could. But it was simple. It was easy, and he could use some of that clarity now. A line in the sand.
Except this is happening, now. Sharkface just stares at Godric. Has to be a trick, right? ]
[ What the fuck. This was supposed to be simple. A conversation to clarify some things, try to ensure that Godric didn't go telling everyone about the night before. It would've made life more difficult, made it harder for Sharkface to operate around these people if he's seen as unstable. The sort of person who'd get blackout drunk and pick a fight with a vampire. He needs to be seen as useful, an asset instead of a liability. And most of the time his scars do a good job of maintaining distance. People look at him and see a threat. There's use in that, to a certain point. But this?
This is something else.
Sharkface twitches before he can hide it. Involuntary. ]
I'm not a good friend.
[ It's the only thing he can think to say. He can pretend, sometimes, but that's all it is. A performance. He has people he likes, even in this place, but he tries to maintain a distance. Keep them separate. Easier for everyone if they don't know what he is, or get hurt in the inevitable fallout. No matter how much he likes spending time with Angela, or talking with Gene. That's not real. It's temporary. A mask he's wearing, just like the name. And one day — maybe even soon — it'll be over. He only hopes —
Well. It doesn't really matter, does it? He'll try not to drag them down wit him, at any rate. ]
[ It's easier to take that as an order. Sharkface nods just once. Either way, it's a step in the right direction. Not an alliance like the one he's got with Angela, but it's something.
He can work with that. He follows Godric inside. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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( if people want to return to their homes, he would of course do whatever he could to assist. he does not need recompense for that, it is a matter of doing what is right. it is more human to help than it is vampire. )
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Nobody does a goddamn thing for free
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I have lived long enough that I would argue that, I'm afraid.
( he has seen it. time and time and time again. sookie was just the latest in a long line of humans he paid very little mind to. it is simply not in the nature of vampires, yet he is hardly one of those any more. )
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People are monsters. He loses that sometimes, he slips up and forgets, but there's only one way this ends.
Sharkface holds perfectly still. Doesn't snarl out a retort, doesn't clench up his hands. He imagines smashing Washington's head into the ground, watching the armor crack and give, and that helps a little. Gives him something to focus on. ]
Maybe you have.
[ Liar, he thinks, viciously. You fucking liar. ]
There's still somebody here who took you down. Got you on a table and cut into your skull like everyone else. You really think it'll be that easy?
[ Godric's probably the strongest fucker he's ever met, in armor or otherwise. But he's still got an implant like the rest of them. Somebody made that happen. If appealing to power won't work, Sharkface decides to go for brutal pragmatism. There's always an enemy that needs to be eliminated. Strength in numbers. ]
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godric steps in close to him. tilts his head back to meet his gaze. most cannot bear the proximity, he thinks this one will stand stock still on the strength of his spite. )
You wish to ally with me because you perceive me to be strong. You hope that I will rally against this place and so, you have it in your head you can use me for your own ends if only you offer enough to me to appeal.
( it is... small. his own people used to offer sacrifices to gods that did not hear them. in that same soft, accented voice, he continues, )
I have killed thousands of your kind for nothing else but boredom. Slaughtered armies because I felt it to be my birthright to express the superiority of my kind. Women, children, warriors, I treated your species as a human might an ant, snuffing out lives beneath my heel. I have been monstrous. It is a choice of mine, to be otherwise these days. Please do not mistake me for one who can be manipulated, or pushed. If I tell you that I would expect nothing in return for rendering assistance, I would prefer you trust to that. Whether it will be easy or not is irrelevant. Should there be a cost, I will bear it.
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It's more a laying out of facts. Here is where I stand. And here is where you stand, below me.
Sharkface bares his teeth. He had a nice smile, once. Not anymore. ]
I've seen planet killers drop. You think I don't know monsters?
[ There might have been a time he would have believed Godric, or at least wanted to. Because that talk about bearing the cost, that's what Hunter used to say. That's my job, little brother. Always looking out for them, always there to make the hard calls and take the weight of the fallout. Would have, once, but Hunter's gone now. Hunter stopped being that person when Connie died and he took on her name and her armor as his own. CT, he'd said, call me CT now, and then he'd gone and died alone in some fucking desert. All those good things they tried to do, none of it mattered. They couldn't save anyone, not even themselves. So why fucking try? ]
All I want is a way back. I don't care what you do.
no subject
( it isn't a contest. a matter of who's seen what, which is worse. this man speaks of zero g like one born to it, the future he paints for his variate world is not a pleasant one. the covenant, whatever they are, are likely as terrible an enemy as he has ever faced in all the long, long years of his life. )
I will do what is in my power to see that you are returned home. But not because of anything you have offered me.
no subject
That's fine. That's fucking fine. Godric can say whatever he wants. Only thing that matters is he's got power and is positioned to get more of it. Sharkface turned mercenary a long time ago. He knows exactly what he is, and what's needed to fulfill his mission. There will be a cost. He'll just have to survive it. ]
Sure you will.
[ The offer's been made. It won't do to push the point, sound desperate. He's got other angles. Sharkface flexes his hands, thinking. It's not like dealing with Felix, who was loud and moody, prone to romantics; not quite like arranging things with Locus, either, who was all business and turned killing into an equation, when it was all pageantry and brutality with Felix. A style that didn't mesh especially well. That hadn't mattered, though. He had skills they wanted, an agenda that complimented their own, and they brought him in exchange for a suit of armor. A bargain, really. ]
That all, sir?
[ A jab, probably ill-conceived. Impossible to see it as anything but mocking. Authority is so rarely worn by people who deserve it. ]
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Sheriff. If you're going to embrace formality, that is what you may call me.
( let the human be petty, it does not trouble him. his tone is lightly indifferent. )
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[ It sets his teeth on edge to say the title, for reasons Sharkface doesn't particularly want to explore. Whatever. Just another job, another fucker to side with in service of the long view. It's a gamble, but most things are in the end. Have to make the jump. Survive the drop.
Doesn't matter. It gets him one step closer to home, and his mission. There's nothing else to do but see it through. ]
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What I would appreciate more than a lackey, Mr. Ephemera, is a friend.
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You want a friend.
[ The fuck is he supposed to do with that? There ought to be clear lines with this sort of thing. A hierarchy. Someone with orders or at least a direction, a task, and then the fuckers who see it through. Like being back in the military, under the chain of command. And sure, that didn't end well, that went wrong in nearly all the ways it could. But it was simple. It was easy, and he could use some of that clarity now. A line in the sand.
Except this is happening, now. Sharkface just stares at Godric. Has to be a trick, right? ]
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( he tilts his head. )
I have had thousands under my command, vampire and human alike. What need have I of such things now?
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This is something else.
Sharkface twitches before he can hide it. Involuntary. ]
I'm not a good friend.
[ It's the only thing he can think to say. He can pretend, sometimes, but that's all it is. A performance. He has people he likes, even in this place, but he tries to maintain a distance. Keep them separate. Easier for everyone if they don't know what he is, or get hurt in the inevitable fallout. No matter how much he likes spending time with Angela, or talking with Gene. That's not real. It's temporary. A mask he's wearing, just like the name. And one day — maybe even soon — it'll be over. He only hopes —
Well. It doesn't really matter, does it? He'll try not to drag them down wit him, at any rate. ]
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( humans can be so blind. )
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Breathe, little brother.
He flexes his hands. Too late to hold still now. But it's better than clenching them into fists, or thinking about the knife up his sleeve. ]
Sure. Why the fuck not.
[ Friend can be another word for ally, just so long as he remembers the lines. Godric won't draw them outright, but they still exist. Fine. ]
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Come. Let us return to the others.
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He can work with that. He follows Godric inside. ]