lastrat: (it may never fulfill you)
James Bond ([personal profile] lastrat) wrote2014-09-11 10:54 am

♠ | 033 | Spam + Video

[Spam/Narration]

[He's been thinking about home a lot, lately.

That's an understatement: he's been thinking about it almost every minute of every day. He's been thinking of it every time he jogs in the gym, every time the CES shows him something like Regents Park or any of his other habitual running spots in London. Sometimes it shows him Skyfall, and even his reaction to that has changed.

He's been thinking a lot about his results for active duty, too. Not the false ones M gave him - not the ones she passed to him, knowing he would need to be buoyed for the coming mission. The true results, shown to him on a series of screens on an abandoned island while he was tied to a chair. It's always alarming when truth comes from your enemies, but recently Bond's found it more alarming when the truth comes from him.

He doesn't belong here. He hasn't belonged here since he graduated.

He knows that, and still he's stayed. For M, he told himself. He's been waiting six months for an inmate, six months hoping he'd have an inmate who didn't just vanish. Six months spent doing nothing but avoid floods or cope with the after effects at his liquor cabinet - he's even stopped going to the pub as of late. Elena was right, he's become a recluse. He hasn't bothered to meet any of the newcomers, really - he hasn't bothered to keep up well with any of the people he could still say he cares about. He hasn't been a presence in anyone's life - not even his own.

It doesn't help that he's sitting in his room now, with a glass of scotch in his hand. He's actually grown used to 50-year Macallan. That's disappointing all on its own, but of course, it makes him think of the psych eval. Substance and alcohol abuse indicated. He throws back the rest of the scotch and runs a hand over his jaw. He needs a shave.

Heading for the bathroom, he finds his razor and shakes his head quietly. Sometimes the old ways....well. Going back in time didn't help much, in the end. That's why he's here.

He thinks, as he drags the cut throat razor over his skin, that maybe that's just the excuse he's been using. Would M thank him for being here all this time, accomplishing nothing, turning into a hollow shell of himself? Silva asked him if there was anything left of the man he was - then, the answer was yes, unequivocally. Now, maybe it wouldn't be so clear.

After the shave, he shrugs off his clothes, kicks off khakis and tosses away his tee shirt. When he dresses again, it's in a tailored suit. Part of him thinks it's ridiculous: suits are for occasions, and there are none here. But as he adjusts his collar, he thinks that maybe it's time to make his own occasion.

He hates it here, he realizes. He really hates it here, where he is never on a mission, where he never has the ability to act. Where, left drifting, he acts badly.

In the end, he heads for the deck, for one last, long look at the stars. He's always enjoyed the view, though mostly because it makes him feel small. Now, it convinces him that this is the right decision. This is no place for a man like him.]


[Public]

[When he finally turns the video on, he's still freshly clean-shaven, still wearing a suit. He's leaning on the rail on deck, eyes on the stars before shifting down to the camera.]

I'm heading off.

[He's tempted to leave it there, even shifts his thumb toward the power button. But he pauses and straightens instead, looking around him.]

Never chose to leave, before. [Well, once, but he kept that a secret then and it still is. At least now he has the spine to say something, first.] To be honest, I never should have come back in the first place. Seems I'm not much for authority figures.

[Pathological rejection of authority based on unresolved childhood trauma. It hadn't really surprised him. He knows how he lives his life. He knows how he copes. And he is not built for making deals with unseen men. He's not built for trusting what he can't see.

Bond exhales through his nose.]


I haven't done any good here.

[James is not one to apologize easily, and he's certainly never apologized to his enemies. He doesn't start now, but the admittance is close, as close as he can come. He knows what he did, here, he knows who he hurt, and he knows he hurt people he never intended by failing to think things through. For that, he's sorry. But it's too general for him to put into words, requires more eloquence than he has to give.]

I'll be around, for a bit.

[A few hours at most, because there are only a handful he'll seek out, if they don't come to him first. He doesn't bother smiling, but he looks clearer than he has in a while. He's needed elsewhere.]
robinwishes: (Not Buying It)

Spam

[personal profile] robinwishes 2014-09-11 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She's probably not what he expects to find him. Not one of his people. She told him boundaries, though, and he oddly respected them in his way. That, or he simply didn't care to test them. Mindy paints the situation in the light that makes her the most badass, without question, even though she knows that may not be true. ]

[ She's got better bandages now, wrist to elbow, and she's calmer. Chris helped. Allison and Stephanie helped. Bond helped in his odd way. She could look at see where he tried, even if... even if he didn't know how to deal with her. ]

[ When she finds him on deck, she just perches on the railing. Makes himself comfortable. ]


Hey.

[ A beat. ]

You weren't a total shitbag.

[ Cue rimshot, laugh track. Ha ha ha, it's last minute bonding. ]

[ Ha ha ha, made a pun. ]
sickjoke: ([RH] Another World)

[private]

[personal profile] sickjoke 2014-09-11 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Good luck and Godspeed, Mr. Bond.

Can you pass on an apology to Vesper for me? I wasn't really to follow through on something.

[ She'll know, if she remembers. ]
beingdifferent: (don't play the player)

[personal profile] beingdifferent 2014-09-11 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
No, you haven't, but at least you enjoyed yourself.

Now, go beat women back in your own home.
patheticvillain: (ʭ lost all your youth)

spam

[personal profile] patheticvillain 2014-09-11 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Cassel doesn't come see him.]

[In fact, Cassel doesn't acknowledge that the post was made. Not even to himself. He listens to it, thinks about it for a minute, and then . . . shuts off his communicator and goes to do something else.]

[Kon told him that anger is a cover for all the other emotions you might be feeling and don't want to admit to. But the thing is, he doesn't even think he's angry. It would be stupid anger, anyway - this is the right decision, he knows. Bond doesn't belong here. He has people at home, he has home at home, and staying here without getting your deal - well, for some people, this isn't the right place. It isn't safe.]

[He doesn't feel angry, though. He feels nothing.]

[He goes to the places he normally goes - gym, dining hall, his room to check on Ilia - and then goes to the pub. This isn't too unusual, except it's early, and he's got drinks in his room, but, well. He doesn't have 50-year Macallan in his room.]

[The whole time it's burning his throat he's thinking about the accident, his dad's, and thinking, too, not for the first time, that maybe it wasn't an accident, that maybe his mom did it, or somebody else, somebody worse. Weird, how if it stays in the family it doesn't hurt as bad. He wonders how much family he's going to find and lose in this place. He wonders if he should get up, go, find him, tell him he's not mad.]

[Is he mad?]

[There's a mirror over the bar. He ignores it. He doesn't want to see what mask he's wearing right now.]
routemistress: (feather boa)

[spam]

[personal profile] routemistress 2014-09-11 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[Iris is busy as hell lately, but she shows up on deck in her ratty labcoat for a Bond break, dogs and all.]

Come 'ere, you.

[He's going to get hugged till his ribs creak.]
sickjoke: ([RH] Redsplaining)

[private]

[personal profile] sickjoke 2014-09-11 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks.

Take care of yourself, alright?
robinwishes: (Paying Full Attention)

Spam

[personal profile] robinwishes 2014-09-11 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She doesn't shy from the grip -- reaches out, hand ready, strong and tight. Not a little girl's grip. ]

I was off my A Game.

But it could have been worse.

[ Without Chris and Cassel, without the burst of violence, things might've been different. But they weren't, and she doesn't grieve. She doesn't have hope or faith here, and she doesn't particularly want to try. ]

[ In truth, she's jealous. He gets to leave, with most of his sharp, jagged edges intact. She should be so lucky to leave like he does. ]


routemistress: (black hat)

[spam]

[personal profile] routemistress 2014-09-11 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
You're such a wuss, James. I almost never break ribs by accident.

[He's not really on her mental wavelength, and she's not trying to read him: she knows him well enough to know how he'd take it. But her own affection for him shines in her touch like a soundtrack of swelling violins.]

I want to be sorry you're going, but I respect you too much to bullshit. Wardening never suited you and it's best. But I will miss you. And don't think you did no good. Peter, Cassel, Chris, Elena?
sickjoke: ([RH] Dapper And Faceless)

[private]

[personal profile] sickjoke 2014-09-11 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. I'll do my best.

[ Which is all anyone can do on this boat. ]
robinwishes: (Rare Moment of Calm)

Spam

[personal profile] robinwishes 2014-09-11 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't even care anymore.

[ She says it like truth, and the weariness is there, beyond just teenagers who think they know everything. Her experience is beyond that. ]

Chris sat on my bed the other night going on about his deal, how Slevin's close, he thinks. He doesn't know what to do. All I could tell him was that I can't help him -- his timeline and mine are different, and he's not giving me back my Dad. I'm here, and I can't do anything for him.

[ She curled her fingers around the rail, tucking her feet in the one beneath it. ]

I don't really care if it turns around. I'm not ashamed. I don't think I'll ever be. That's the problem, isn't it?

[ He'd know, right? ]
routemistress: (chinhands)

[spam]

[personal profile] routemistress 2014-09-11 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[She smiles up at him, radiant, luminous. She knows they did; but Iris also knows these things are never one-way.]

'E'll dine out on that story the rest of 'is life. And we can all come see you, sometime. Oh, and take this.


[She has it ready: it's a slip of paper with a London telephone number on it, one of the oldstyle numbers with the 01 code that hasn't been used for years.]


That goes to me answering machine in South Ken. You can call it from anywhere, any time, on anything, and if you need me I'll come, all right? If it's an emergency, you might get a version of me that's not met you yet, but I don't give out that number lightly. I'll still 'elp, no matter what.

[A beat, and then a grin.]

Calling to ask me out for drinks or book a massage is also acceptable.
myresponsibility: (Your dad is also intimidating fr srs.)

[personal profile] myresponsibility 2014-09-12 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter is not good at goodbyes.

First of all, he just doesn't feel like he actually gets to do them often enough. His last memory of his Uncle is of the look on his face when Peter basically accused him of being a shitty parent, not an adequate substitute for the people he'd lost. He hadn't said goodbye to his mom and dad, his dad had just said "be good", and it's only recently that he realized yeah, they did actually love him. They didn't want to leave.

And Gwen-

Anyway. He's not good at them.

So he sees Bond's post, and his throat goes tight. He knows he should say something, ask if he can come find him, but he just kind of forgets how to speak for a good fifteen minutes, and instead just stares at his communicator.

Bond's been a lot of things for him. A pain in the ass, a responsibility, an annoying, super old baby to sit, but also a friend, maybe even a mentor, and it's not fair to think this, but he doesn't want to let go of that. Not again.

At least he's not dead. He'll be going home, and hopefully, he'll stay alive. After all, he's James Bond.

When the knock comes, he knows who it is before he answers the door, and he tries to open it in a way so Bond doesn't have to see the mess he's made of his bedroom walls. He still hasn't taken the collage of notes and pictures and clues. He's not sure why. (To torture himself? Probably.)]


Hey. [He tries - tries - to look something close to normal, but he still looks too hollow eyed to really make it work.] I saw- I was going to come find you.

[That's true, at least.]
myresponsibility: (Blue screen of death.)

[personal profile] myresponsibility 2014-09-12 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter's mouth twists uncertainly, like he wants to say no, but decides against it. That's just going to make him more suspicious, right?

He takes a step back and holds the door open, looking at the floor of the hallway instead of at Bond, or his room.

So uh. Have fun looking at what probably looks like Peter lost his mind at some point.]
robinwishes: (Rare Moment of Empathy)

Spam

[personal profile] robinwishes 2014-09-12 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Man it better not be hinging on i-love-yous, I still don't even know if I like boys or girls or both or neither. [ Being fifteen -- technically sixteen now -- is confusing, okay. Growing up on the barge? Even more so. ] I know I'm not interested in anybody right this hot second. So I think I'm safe from the I-love-you graduation.

It's kinda adorable that your nougat-y center was all 'I love you' bullshit though, really.

[ Because it is. ]

[ She looks out over the deck, still perfectly balanced. She's thinking of Arya, gone, of all the people who made it off over time, over things-- people going away, people coming back, Chris's huge bouts of stupidity. ]


It's okay.

That you're going.

I think some things...

They can't be fixed. Not like this. Rewriting some part of life, you're-- never going to not know that... they died or what it was like to lose them or that a world is gone or whatever stupid deal someone is after.

I have to be okay with Chris saving a world that isn't mine because he's not my Chris and that won't be my Daddy. I'm not going to graduate and go away to some reward. If I graduate at all, it'll be to-- to trying to keep Dave alive and going underground because Marcus is a cop and I can't destroy his life by living mine under his roof.

I'm not going to stay here and get a deal to change any of that. That's the shit I died with, that's the shit I'll live with if the Admiral doesn't just put me down the trash incinerator first.

[ She looks over at him, jaw set and hard. ]

You learned to live with it too, right?

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