InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm the oh God of Hangovers."

Michael Corner (inthedarkness) wrote in inpoormerit,
@ 2010-03-15 11:27:00

Entry tags:

eden, eden and king, king

You son of a beach
WHO: Eden, OPEN
WHERE: The beach
WHEN: Late morning

When Eden got up, she felt a little more comfortable about her situation. This clearly had nothing to do with her connections or her previous employment. That meant that she didn't exactly have to hide what she was or anything about herself. Okay, she probably should have because not everyone agreed with her view points or how she handled things but that was tough. They could deal with it.

She had gone down to the beach early that morning clad in only a bra and panties with a towel wrapped around herself. It wasn't that she was overly modest - it was that other people were. No sense in causing a riot due to holy crap near nudity. Whatever. She'd gone for a swim, not going out too far but going far enough that she was certain she'd find some kind of small fish darting around. She'd only limited her swim as she didn't want to give the Commissioner some kind of excuse for torturing people.

And now? She was emerging from the water, taking a moment to flip her hair over her head and wring it out. Her towel was spread on the sand, waiting for her along with her necklace. She was not going to risk losing it to the ocean, thanks.

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chasingphantoms
2010-03-30 02:06 pm UTC (link)

"Mmm..." King's expression remained serious, despite Eden's joking tone - he had many skills, but being able to find the humor in things had never really been one of them. That was just another one of the reasons he'd loved his family - Roxy could always make him smile, and he'd never laughed so much as when he was playing with his children. Not that he'd ever see them again, on or off this accursed island.

"It's a possibility," King conceded after a moment of thought. "But I think we're jumping to 'The Most Dangerous Game' conclusion a little early. It seems like any hunter could entertain himself quite well with those wolves alone." He let another moment pass before he decided that it was high time for a change of subject. "But that's so much speculation. What did you do before they took you?"

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inthedarkness
2010-03-31 03:30 am UTC (link)

It was alright. She could find enough humor for the both of them. It wasn't like she was actually trying hard to make him laugh. He seemed the serious type and she wasn't about to put up an effort for some guy she didn't even know. Now, she put in the effort for Cathair as she'd kind of kneed him in the groin so she had to make it up to him some how even if it was just laughter...

Eden shook her head a little, "The wolves may be part of it... But I don't know." She licked her lips frowning, watching the ocean waves for a long moment Picking up the silver chain sitting on the towel beside her, she slipped it on like using the pair of golden rings dangling from it like a guard against the horrible thoughts of what those wolves were for. Ed was a little startled by his question and sighed heavily, "That's... complicated." And yet it didn't really matter here did it? They were trapped and he was an American. What the Hell could he do? "By definition I'm a retired eco-terrorist. By personal belief I was just trying to stop people from poaching endangered animals."

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chasingphantoms
2010-03-31 03:45 am UTC (link)

King watched his new friend slip the chain around her neck in mild curiosity, though he didn't ask. Rings were an intimate symbol, and he'd already asked an intimate enough question. Besides, asking about hers would probably prompt her to retaliate by asking about his, and he knew himself well enough to know that talking about his wife and children was an almost sure way to get his shield of stoicism to crack, and that was the last thing he wanted. And given her answer, it seemed that the topic at hand was interesting enough.

King let out a low whistle. "Eco-terrorist, huh? I'm sure you've got quite a record. Seems like you wouldn't get much of a pension out of it, though." His tone was even and completely void of disapproval - if anything the slight glimmer in his eyes betrayed the opposite. In special ops he'd had to deal with several such of Eden's fair (mostly American citizens, though), and he'd always had a strange fascination with the ones who thought they weren't terrorists. Some were too far gone to even make the argument, but he had to respect the ones who really, truly believed in their cause. After all, he believed in his, and sometimes he wondered if the only difference between them was the fact that he could kill people legally.

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inthedarkness
2010-03-31 03:59 am UTC (link)

Eden breathed a heavy sigh, keeping her eyes off of him and instead listening to his voice instead of watching him. She really wasn't sure she was comfortable talking about this. Still, might as well not hide anything. In the end, it would come out and make things complicated. They all had enough complication right now. "Yeah well... Some of it I'm quite proud of it. Other parts I could do without," cryptic much? She just did not enjoy the killing part of the job. Okay, she enjoyed the ass kicking part but that was entirely different.

"No... Instead once the group was done with you, they threw you to the Nairobi cops as a sacrifice and a bribe," she shrugged her shoulders dismissively. Ed wasn't about to explain what happened and if he asked, all she had to do was roll over and show him her back which she did not want to do. The idea of doing so made her feel ill to be honest. "Don't get me wrong, for a long time I thought it was worth it. Now I wonder."

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chasingphantoms
2010-03-31 04:10 am UTC (link)

King nodded, noting her vagueness but purposefully not pressing her. If anything was important, he was sure he could get it out of her later. Given everyone's current situation, past transgressions didn't really seem to matter much. Unless on of them was a serial murderer or something, in which case it was just one more thing for them to worry about. Besides, he could say the same about his line of work.

"We all do our fair share of those things, I think." King said matter-of-factly. "It's part of being human. And at least you got out while you could. I've seen organizations like that implode from the inside. People die out of spite." He shook his head. "Human cruelty."

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inthedarkness
2010-03-31 04:58 am UTC (link)

The air around her seemed to thicken with an air of depression. She pushed a hand through her hair, laying back completely so her gaze was on the sky instead of him or the ocean. She needed something different... "This organization didn't have to implode for me to nearly die out of spite. I was just lucky I had some friends tucked away outside of it."

Her tone was getting annoyed and obviously so, "New topic. What did you do before you were taken?" If he could ask, so could she. It was only fair that she turned the question back at him.

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chasingphantoms
2010-03-31 01:47 pm UTC (link)

King moved from his squatting position to a more comfortable cross-legged one, seeming not to care that he was sitting in the sand. He was prepared for the question to be thrown back at him. What was it his father had said? 'Never ask a question unless you're prepared to answer it yourself.'

"I'm retired too," he responded evenly. "But until last year I was a military tactician. Special ops." He looked out over the waves, fighting the urge to add that terrorist groups weren't the only organizations that could refuse to allow their members to leave. King had been trying to get out for years and he was solidly convinced that his leaders' refusal to grant him permission to leave that had ultimately cost him his family.

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inthedarkness
2010-04-01 03:20 am UTC (link)

There was nothing wrong with sitting in sand if you didn't really worry about it getting in your pants. Likely he didn't care just as much as she didn't care. And thankfully, he was all too willing to answer her question as she tried to take the focus off herself.

Okay, that made Eden pause a little. She was now talking to a military man - the kind that might have shot her for some of the things she had done. But he was also retired so that also meant she was safe for now. He didn't seem to particularly care anyhow. "So you ever try to get rid of people like me?" She smirked a little. And it wasn't that Eden had left. She had been forced out because she'd lost her usefulness. Hence the sacrifice part.

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chasingphantoms
2010-04-01 04:09 am UTC (link)

King noticed the pause, having expected it in the first place. A small smile crept across his face as she renewed their previous topic. Her annoyance seemed abated, at least for the moment, and he preferred the lightheartedness to the heaviness of her previous commentary. He held up a finger, waving it gently back and forth in almost a mock-reprimand. "We preferred the term 'neutralize the threat.' It's more PC." He punctuated this remark with an ever-so-slight roll of his eyes. He'd never quite understood why it was so necessary to cloak what they were doing in such benign terms. If you were in the military, you killed people, and the special ops officers were basically little more than highly skilled assassins, they were just assassins who were paid by the government instead of the kind who ran from it.

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inthedarkness
2010-04-01 01:05 pm UTC (link)

Yeah well, it wasn't in the same line of thought as the last piece of their conversation. And in essence it was still about him. She wanted to know exactly what he'd done. Or was capable of doing. Eden laughed when he seemed to start showing at least a hint of a sense of humor. "Oh yes... 'neutralize the threat'," she repeated using air quotes, "And what we were doing was really standing outside a poacher camp with protest signs." She fully agreed with his opinion on all points. Really, everyone knew what they did - why sugar coat it? It was like what modern society did with fairy tales... Or how some morons still denied that the Holocaust happened.

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chasingphantoms
2010-04-02 02:44 am UTC (link)

King nodded and released a short, dry chuckle. "Exactly. But to answer your question, yes. I did 'neutralize some threats,'" he followed her lead with the air quotes, "quite a few of them, in fact, although never directly. My job was the planning and strategy. Other people held the weapons, but it was my job to say where those people went. Not that that absolves me from anything." He paused, glancing over his shoulder yet again as if something was watching him. Nothing was, of course. Why couldn't he shake this feeling?

"Anyway," he resumed, shaking himself a little, "all of that I just said is completely classified. But honestly I don't see how it's of any use to you. And you were honest with me, so the least I could do is return the favor."

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inthedarkness
2010-04-04 03:28 pm UTC (link)

She snorted a little, now kind of... not impressed. Oh sure, he probably had to do a lot to get into that position but to command and not participate? A leader should get his hands directly dirty as well. Still, there might have been a reason for it. "And why exactly weren't you in the field as well...?" Okay, maybe her tone was a bit sharp but she couldn't help it.

Eden chuckled darkly, shaking her head a little to get hair that had crept into her face out of the way. It didn't exactly work as it was wet and thus stick-ish so she tucked it behind her ears with her fingers. "Now does that pertain to people stuck here as well? Because I can't promise I won't disclose certain details to those who might be helpful. We might as well be starting our own militia for protection."

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