Brady Somers (bradysomers) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2012-10-31 13:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | brady, brady and matt, day seven, matt |
Unsolicited Advice
Characters: Brady and Matt
Setting: Balcony overlooking the courtyard, morning
After his chat with Jae, Brady was feeling more and more like things were going to go from bad to worse real quick here. He’d thought about going back to his room, maybe attempt more sleep, though he doubted it would happen. Sleep just didn’t come that easy to him, and he wasn’t sure he could remember a time when it did. No, he probably wouldn't sleep, and so Brady saw no point in going back to his room just then. Instead, he just stayed where he was on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, observing those below and wondering what insanity would come next.
Matt for his part had been doing pretty much the same thing but unlike Brady, he had been doing it since being woken by the helicopter passing overhead, bar the few moments it had taken him to dress and step outside his door, from where he had a largely uncontested view of the courtyard and the goings on there. He'd been marginally too late to see Caroline's fall but everything that followed it he had seen, carefully observing people's reactions and listening to what snippets of conversation he could. Only once had he been tempted to leave his post and that had been on seeing Edan so distressed but there had been others there with her, people who, unlike him, were able to offer her an arm when she clearly needed it. So he had stayed put though he resolved to go see her later, the dark clouds overhead only strengthening his resolve to do so as he recalled her talking about her fear of storms.
The arrival of Jae and Brady on the balcony had made him pull back a little, edging just around the corner so the support pillar would obscure their view of him but his caution proved unwarranted as neither of them so much as glanced his way. He was however privy to the entirety of their conversation, a risk if he was caught listening but one he deemed worth it given what he learned from it, intrigued by their talk of a sheriff type figure. When the two parted ways however, he was quick to turn his attention back to the goings on in the courtyard, unintentionally knocking his hood back in the process forcing him to scramble to pull it back.
Although he was standing in front of a row of rooms, Brady had figured it was early enough that he wouldn't have to worry about their occupants. After all, it seemed like the commotion from the morning hadn't stirred quite half of this block out of their beds. Still, when he heard a faint noise a little ways away, he turned in the direction, brows furrowing a bit at the man standing near one of the support columns. It only took him a second to place where he'd seen the guy before, or rather whose room he'd seen the guy leaving. "Hey," he said with a nod toward Mr. Hoodie. "Matt, right?" It may have been worded as a question, but he had no doubt that this was the guy Edan was sweet on.
Mentally berating himself for having caught Brady's attention, it took Matt a moment to realise that the older man not only recognised him but had addressed him by name. Belatedly he nodded, taking the time to rearrange his hood properly now he had actually been spotted. "Th...th...that's me," he replied, his stammer coming into full force. "How d...d...did you kn...know?" The most likely answer was of course Edan given he was fairly certain she was the only person they had in common but he didn't like to make assumptions.
Brady quirked a brow at the stammer, but he didn't call him out on it. He thought about messing with the guy, dragging it out a bit, but with the events of the morning, it just kind of felt like it would have been in bad taste. "Edan told me," he answered instead, simple and direct. He brought his mug up to his lips, took a long drink of the already cooling liquid, eyes never leaving Matt, wanting to see whatever reaction might be there to Edan's name.
Suspicion confirmed, Matt nodded again, smiling a little in spite of himself and Brady's quirked eyebrow. "You m...must be Braaady then," he replied. Granted he knew that already and not just from listening in on the conversation; even though Jae had only referred to him as Soldier, it wouldn't have been much of an intuitive leap.
That little smile was a little reassuring. If Matt had seemed irritated or anything less than positive, Brady might have been more concerned. Even so, he wasn't going to write Matt off as harmless when all he knew about him was that Edan liked him a lot. "Yeah, that's me." He found himself fighting back the urge to question him, knowing that he had no right to this protectiveness he felt toward Edan, a girl he barely even knew. "Edan's a very good, special person," he found himself saying, in spite of his knowing that he probably ought to just stay out of it.
If Matt had been a different sort of person, he might have rankled at Brady's comment, taken offence at the implication behind it; he might never had been on the receiving end of it before but there was no mistaking protective behaviour when he saw it. Instead however he could appreciate the sentiment, even if it was arguably misplaced. "She really is," he said, the conviction in his words temporarily freeing him from his stammer. "I've not met anyone like her before, it is most perplexing in the best possible way."
Brady's expression remained unreadable for a minute before he broke out in a wide grin, chuckling. "Well, fuck man, the best kinds of women are the most perplexing ones," he told him with a smirk. "Little piece of unsolicited advice, though? She might enjoy hearing that." Even if he remembered Edan saying she wasn't sure she believed the sweet things Matt apparently told her. Matt seemed to have a kind of formal way of speaking, though, and he wondered if he was always like that.
Really Matt could have done without the smirk or the swearing but he was grateful to be staying on the good side of Brady; the former soldier had already proven himself in their short time at the facility to be quick to anger and a man of his size would be able to inflict some severe damage. He couldn't help but frown a touch at the advice given though, his brows coming together a little in confusion. "I have told her that," he said, starting to worry about whether he should stop talking about Edan before the conversation took a turn he wasn't yet prepared for which, when it came to her, covered an awfully large amount of ground.
Matt looked so concerned at that that it took some effort to keep from laughing outright. Really? With as serious as this guy seemed, Brady was starting to wonder why Edan doubted whatever it was Matt had told her. Probably just one of those girl insecurity things, he thought with a mental shrug. "Well, that's good then. Repetition never hurts, though," he said, shrugging visibly then. "Look, I don't know you, and I barely even know Edan. It's her choice who she spends time with, and I got no place to tell you to stay away from her, and frankly? At this point, I see no reason to want to say that anyway. She's not my sister," Or daughter, "but I got every intention of looking out for her as much as I can." And only partially because of their connection through Evan.
"As do I," Matt replied, tone completely serious. The truth of the matter was he'd been drawn to Edan from the moment they'd first spoken and even if things were developing between them the way they were, he would have still felt that compulsion to look out for her. Of course, what with everything that was happening, things he had never even considered before let alone done, that feeling had only intensified.
Brady wasn’t sure if he was more annoyed or relieved by how damn serious Matt was about it. He was definitely relieved, though, he couldn’t deny that, and he was only a little annoyed because it kind of took the wind out of his sails for his not-quite-threat. At least Matt knew now, that was the important thing, because if the guy did anything to hurt Edan, it wouldn’t be as much of a surprise if Brady went after him for it. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement at the serious tone. “You see what happened earlier?” he asked, nodding his head toward the courtyard, letting the subject of Edan go for the time being.
Grateful for the change in topic, Matt shook his head and turned slightly so he could look back over the courtyard whilst still keeping Brady in view. "The helicopter woke me but by the time I made it outside Caroline was already on the ground," he said, a note of regret creeping into his voice. Whether that was regret for the tragic loss of life or the fact he hadn't been witness to what had happened was unclear. "I'm inclined to believe she fell." He'd heard people below voicing the opinion that it may have been suicide but that didn't sit right with him in the slightest.
“Yeah, me too,” Brady said simply, lacking that note of regret. He still thought that if she’d died trying to escape, then it was her own stupidity, no matter how cold and callous that might make him seem. “Carried her out of here down to the clinic for Cal. Dunno what’s gonna happen with her now, though,” he offered with a shrug. Who knew what procedures this place had in effect for the death of a resident. “Never talked to her myself, but I doubt she jumped. Took a hell of a lot of effort, I’m betting, to get on the fucking roof - why go through all that just to jump?” he posed.
"One w...would hope that our overseers have some kind of procedure in place for this kind of event," Matt posed. After all, new residents were brought in easily enough, not to mention the car that sat in the workshop, and another resident had been removed so it was hardly beyond the realm of possibility that they could remove a body. Hearing that Brady shared his view on Caroline's demise, he found himself nodding and indicated towards the smear of blood on the wall. "She was determined to get to the top. Had suicide been her intention, there are plenty of less strenuous options available here. It's clear to me she was trying to get out."
Maybe Matt just had more faith in the administration than Brady did, but he just shrugged and took another drink of his coffee. “You’d hope so, but it’s not like they’ve fucking done anything about it yet.” He was just going to keep on the thought that they’re going to make them dig a grave for her here, as morbid a thought as it was. It seemed like just the kind of fucked up psychological crap they would do, like it would be a permanent reminder of why they shouldn’t try to escape. Brady glanced up to where Matt was nodding, noticing the blood on the fall for the first time. “Yeah, exactly. So odds of it being suicide are pretty fucking small. Nothing to do for it now, though.” He just really didn’t have a lot of sympathy for Caroline if she died trying to escape, and he didn’t care what that said about him.
It wasn't so much that Matt had faith in the administration per se, rather he recognised the colossal amount of planning and organisation that undoubtedly went into the facility and whilst not every conceivable eventuality could be accounted for, people who went to that kind of effort undoubtedly had measures in place for something as simple as a death. Still he had to concede that Brady had a point. "No they h....haven't," he said quietly. "Perhaps they are gauging our reactions first."
Now that was something that Brady could agree with. “Maybe they are. Hell, they probably are. Pretty sure this is just one fucked up psych experiment,” he admitted with a shrug. Not that it mattered. There was no discernible way out, so they had to figure out a way to survive with what they had. He glanced up at the sky as rumbling thunder sounded overhead. “Storm’s coming. How fitting,” he commented absently.
"You may be right," Matt offered. "For all the talk of rehabilitation, the environment they've created with the mix of people here could be seen as purposely inflammatory." It certainly wasn't without precedent either if he was remembering his psychology electives from university correctly. The sound of thunder had him looking up as well, frowning slightly as he did so, eyes dropping back to the courtyard to see if Edan had emerged from the gym. "Quite," he murmured in agreement.
Purposely inflammatory, Brady repeated in his head with a mental snort. Jesus fuck, could this guy be any more proper? "Yeah, exactly. Seems like they're just finding a bunch of different ways to stir the pot, drum up as much chaos as they can, then sit back and watch the fallout. Wonder if they eat popcorn and laugh about it, too," he mused darkly, eyes narrowing. It pissed him off to think about it, and so he realized he should probably stop thinking about it. He continued to look at the sky for a long minute, wondering absently where the hell they were. The weather hadn't been the most consistent even in the few days that he'd been here.
Matt’s frown deepened at the picture Brady had created and shook his head a little in distaste, instinctively pulling his hands further into his sleeves. "I would like to think that w...wasn't the case," he said, a touch of nervousness creeping back into his voice. "That kind of sss...s...sadism has n...no place governing somewhere like this."
Brady had always had a twisted way of looking at things, a morbid sense of humor as it were, and he could admit to himself that Matt’s reaction amused him a little. It wouldn’t surprise him in the least if it were the case, but he could understand why the thought would be unsettling. “Maybe not, but think about it. Who are we? Just a bunch of low-life criminals. The dregs of society. Sure, there are some people here who don’t belong in prison, who got fucked over or just made one bad decision that screwed ‘em over for life, but we’re all still convicts. It’s not like society as a whole is really gonna mourn us if we’re never seen again. Maybe in forty years when the truth about the experiment comes out. Isn’t that how it usually goes?” He vaguely remembered seeing shit on the history channel about stuff like that.
He might not have liked what Brady was saying but Matt couldn't fault his logic and while there were laws and ethical guidelines meant to protect people in their situation, regardless of whether they were part of some experiment or it was in fact a genuine alternative to prison, he certainly wasn't naive enough to think they couldn't be broken. "It has happened in the p...past," he conceded. "And you know what they say about history t...tending to repeat itself." Which was a distinctly grim line of thought but given recent events, an arguably fitting one.
“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat its’ mistakes,” Brady murmured, falling silent for a moment, dropping his eyes to stare into his coffee mug. It was cold now, but he suddenly found himself not very thirsty at all. “We just need to find a way to get some control in here,” he finally said, more just thinking out loud than actually talking to Matt. The problem was that he wasn’t really sure how they could do that. While he wasn’t always the think of the consequences type, the truth was that they had no idea what consequences there might be in this place aside from the stocks, and that really didn’t give him much faith that things wouldn’t get much worse given time.
Brady may have been thinking aloud but it was a sentiment Matt agreed with; while he made every effort to keep himself largely removed from the goings-on of the facility, if events continued to escalate he knew eventually he too would be drawn in. "I think that's something we c...could all benefit from," he said quietly. "Make people feel less helpless, improve mmm...morale."
Brady glanced over at Mat, staring at him in silence for a few beats before giving him one firm nod. “Yeah, exactly. And now, with Caroline.... I think there’s a lot of people shook up. Edan included.” His expression turned speculative then, wondering if his suggestion might not be well received, and then he realized that he just didn’t care whether or not it would be, he wasn’t going to filter himself. “Might already be planning on it, but you should check in on her later,” he suggested, remembering how happy she’d looked when she’d opened the door expecting Matt and how disappointed she’d seemed when she realized it was him instead.
Feeling slightly affronted, Matt's mouth tightened and an uncomfortable feeling began trickling down his spine. "I'm going to head down w...when she returns from the gym," he said, for the first time feeling bothered by Brady's commenting on himself and Edan and he tugged his hood further down over his head, wanting the additional barrier between the two of them.
“Well there ya go, then,” Brady said with a smirk, highly amused by the way Matt seemed to get his back up and shrink back a bit and not at all phased by his reaction.
Given that he had spent a lifetime purposely not antagonizing people, it caught Matt by surprise just how much he wanted to say or do something to wipe the infuriating smirk from Brady's face, indignation sending a flood of colour to his cheeks. He kept quiet though, hands bunching into hidden fists within the confines of his sleeves as he stared resolutely out over the courtyard.
Oh, he’d definitely struck a nerve with the guy, though Brady wasn’t really sure how or why. It hadn’t been his intention, and he wondered if he should feel guilty about it. He didn’t, though. Hopefully it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass with Edan, but that didn’t stop him from saying, “I’ll see you around,” or chuckling a bit as he walked away, intending to head down to his room.
Not trusting himself to speak and for once not because of his stutter, Matt just nodded as Brady left though there was little mistaking the extra tension that ran through him on hearing the older man chuckle and it didn't leave until he was once again alone on the balcony.