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[treadstone]

Well, here he is again. And it might be completely unsurprising that it took him a moment to remember that he’d been here before but once he’d finished figuring that out he moved on through the crowd and wandered, actually, completely out of the forum.

Right, he remembered his question from that last time and thought some on what would come out of his mouth this time around but first, he got a coffee. No idea how he knew where to go in this kind of place, but never the less. Webb returned and observed the forum for a small while. His brows ebbed in a little and he decided to not make his question political again. That always ended the same way.

Instead he sat and chose to ask something a little more personal. “Do you have a family?”

Seemed liked a good time to talk about family.

[ooc: PS sorry about dropping off the face of the earth :/ ]

Comments

Welcome back!

[juststeverogers]

"Sort of." There's a slim man bundled up as much as possible with a shopping bag in his hands who stops at the posed question. He sounds a lot older than he looks, that's for sure.

"Blood family, no. Not anymore."

[brave_heart_verity]

Oh hey, she remembers him. He gets a friendly little wave. "I do. I have the one I was born in, and the one I helped make. The latter's the only one talking to me right now. Holidays getting to you, too?"

Thanks!

[treadstone]

Christ, kid looks like a draft could knock him over. David spared him a good look over just by habit and narrowed his eyes a tick, momentarily. Whatever he was thinking, or whatever he noticed, didn't reveal itself in his words.

"Sounds like a story," he waved to the seat beside him on the couch and brought the cup up to his lips.

[treadstone]

She looked familiar. Yes, he remembered her too and he shifted through the information in his mind to recall what it was they talked about. There was a time where he was getting better with this memory thing but somewhere between point A and point B the soldier came back. Suppose that kind of conditioning can't disappear forever.

"Mm," he gave her the slighted of a smile and raised a hand in a wave. Oh, yeah. Their conversation got personal pretty fast. He remembered it now. "Same shit different time of year. There's no better cover for an assassination than someone having too many drinks at a holiday party."

A moment, he can't say from personal experience but. Well anyway. "I hear that's common. Making family."

[onemorebounty]

I have the family I was born into, the family that raised me, and the family I've gathered around myself.

[juststeverogers]

Steve will look down into his shopping bag, decide that this is an acceptable delay in getting home, and take a seat on the couch.

"Not a long one. Ma died of tuberculosis. Was just me an' her. My best friend got into the army for The War the day I ended up stuck here. I consider him to be close enough to be family." Another rummage and Steve will offer a container with four blueberry muffins to David. Would he like one?

"How about you?"

[treadstone]

He shifted just a little, turned his body to better face the young man who decided to sit. Cup still in hand, David gave the man a one-over again when he mentioned War. David himself looked every bit the soldier even if he wasn't wearing a uniform. The way his shoulders rested, the way he kept himself neat - not a hair out of place - and his overall build. If Steve was from wartimes (wait, when isn't there war?) then he might pick up a thing or two.

"Sorry to hear about that," he said, and it was genuine. Sure, he'll accept the muffin and give a nod of thanks.

"According to some paperwork I had a family once," David said as he picked away at the food in an incredibly meticulous way. Like everything else he does. "I don't remember them, though." A beat, "What war, if you don't mind me asking?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Very few people have perfect memories. One brief conversation months ago doesn't have to be particularly memorable. But he can manage a smile, so whatever he remembers can't be that bad.

The casual reference to assassinating someone gives her pause. "A good reminder to be careful about any suspicious-looking punch."

She gives a little shrug. "For those of us in need of one, probably. It can be nice until they start bugging you because then you've got nobody but yourself to blame for their being around." She's joking about that last part. Even at their most annoying, she loves her brothers.

[treadstone]

"You're still on good terms with all of them?" Some people have it good, he supposes.

[treadstone]

He blamed himself for that one. Should have seen it coming. Maybe he was getting old, too slow, new people came in to these programs with a lot more promise than he had. Every generation people get smarter, faster, evolve. He was an outdated design. Nevertheless determined. Until the day someone manages to catch him and take him out, he wasn't going to stop.

"Even the most independent person needs someone around sometimes, better for them to be friend than foe." A moment. "How have you been?" David learns socializing 101. Look at him go, what a pro.

[brave_heart_verity]

Evolution is great for the species, if not the individual. Pity there's no retirement plan for someone in his line of work. If only he could find a place where nobody cares who he is or who he was...

"I've been... I'm okay." Things have happened, as she knew they would. It might explain the black-on-black wardrobe. "I've been lucky my friends have been here. I don't think I would have survived surviving otherwise."

[treadstone]

He's not sure he could survive here. The only time he managed to find peace of mind was in India with Marie, and look where that landed him. Once you're in the system, you're there for life. Either you're a friend or a foe and if you're a foe it didn't matter how far removed from the grid you where. They'd always find you, and he knew that now. Besides, what was he doing when he was with Marie? Odd jobs, kept up his health, and somewhere in the back of his mind was this burning nagging feeling. Kept up with news, always waiting for that one big fuck up that would call him back in action. If he was being honest with himself.

David nodded and stayed silent for a moment. He wasn't about to pry and ask what the damage was but instead he offered her the seat beside him if she wanted to take it. David had always been better at listening than talking, anyway. Partially because what would he talk about? Most of his life he only remembered from the pages of confidential records.

"Does your ability to tell if someone is lying make it hard for you to lie, then?" He can sometimes be cheeky, though. When the mood strikes.

[onemorebounty]

As good as is possible. The first two groups are dead, but I remember them fondly.

*"Good" is a relative term.*

[treadstone]

"Sorry to hear," he said, genuine. Seemed to be a running theme with people he came into contact with.

[brave_heart_verity]

The Nexus is what each person makes of it. Even if he was always on edge, he and Marie could be safe here. They could have fantastic new lives. And surely he has the skills to make people back home think he's dead. But it's not a life to which everyone can adapt, and that's okay too.

Verity sits, hands folded in her lap, trying not to think about it. The question is a good distraction and gets a smirk. "Oh, I'm capable of it, but it's uncomfortable. I'd like to think I'm not good at it, but I am. About certain things. You know, all those polite social lies we learn to tell to make existing near other people easier." Her thumb starts to rub against her palm while she explains. "I can say 'I'm fine' and smile and most people don't want to know the truth so they pretend to believe it."

[onemorebounty]

*She accepts the sympathy with a nod.*

Thanks. You?

[treadstone]

Well, there was an issue with the whole Marie thing. That being the fact that she was dead. He wasn't sure if he was grateful for that or not, frankly. If she knew that he went right back into what he came from after she died the guilt might eat him alive.

He'd rather not think about that and spends his attention on what Verity is saying with a small nod. "A lot of people don't want to know the truth. So lying is a simple task to perform."

[treadstone]

"Same," he said with a calm sort of detachment. "Truth is, I don't remember them." Aside from Marie, but they weren't going to go down that route.

[onemorebounty]

My sympathies.

*She is terse, but sincere, and doesn't dilute the empathy with advice or justifications.*

[brave_heart_verity]

That does make it harder, but she's friends with two different kinds of zombies around here. She is literally not ruling anything out at this point.

"Just tell people what they want to hear, and they don't question it. But it's all a house of cards, and when it falls down..." She spreads her hands in a helpless gesture. "I wish I could say I don't know why people start."

[treadstone]

He's holding out for dead to save himself the grief. It has somehow become easier moving day by day, when he's not sucked out from his universe to partake in some crazy kidnapping adventure in some other universe, he's playing eagle and somehow it all makes a lot more sense than any other path he could probably wander down. It was a lot easier, too. Comfortable. Horrible, but known.

David, it seemed, was not without his weaknesses. It's just a shame those weaknesses often got other people killed.

He took a sip of his coffee and observed her a moment. "You think the world would be a better place if people were honest?"

[the_nicest_scarf]

[Family? The question doesn't fall on deaf ears, as a short human wrapped in bandages happens to hear the question. Despite looking like a walking mummy, the form of the human is clearly female. There's also a blue bag slung over her back, concealing a shovel and a gun of some sort. The Nexus brings in the strangest people nowadays.]

...I had an older brother once. [Her voice is almost mechanical, hidden behind a barely visible mask and blue scarf, her lone green 'eye' stares at the human cautiously.] We do not get along anymore due to conflicting ideals.

[brave_heart_verity]

Everyone has weaknesses. She's all too aware of her own. Luckily, they're not likely to lead to any further deaths.

She gives another little shrug at his question. "I don't know. It'd be very different. I'd be happier in a place like that, but it would take some getting used to. What about you, do you think you'd like it?"

[treadstone]

It's a really good thing that David has been through the ringer a couple times when it came to coming into contact with sentient beings that looked not-so-human. Not that his opinion would show on his face either way but by this point, he's pretty used to it. A place like this? He's figure it to bring a lot of weird traffic, always.

"Wouldn't be a family if everyone got along, would it?" Sounds like he's reading something out of a textbook. 'What a family is like for dummies'. He wouldn't know. He didn't remember if he got along with his. He must of, he was married once apparently. As for his parents though? Who really knew.

[treadstone]

"That's a tough question," he admitted, and looked down into his coffee.

Half of the time he popped back up on the grid because someone was lying and that lie was either destroying someone or destroying multiple someones. Although he knew the worst of mankind. He really did, he's experienced it thoroughly and he's even been the worst of the worst... full transparency? Well, keeping things quiet and a little ie here and there. Frankly, it kept the world together.

"I'm not sure truth will help humanity, a lot of humankind is beyond the point of repair. We're a trouble species."