what if? Who: Jack and Mannix Where: trader's circle When: mid day Warnings: language
Mannix had made December coffee before he left, then slipped out to head down to the doors. He hadn’t yet decided what he should do with his day, but it was a good place to meet up with his brother and discuss long term arrangements, just in case the door didn’t open. At this point, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted it to. He was enjoying his stay in Delphi, even if it wasn’t planned. “What do you think would happen if we stayed here?” he asked his brother, watching as the argument over the locked door became more heated. “You think dad would send someone after us?”
"I think he's already sent someone after us, because we're officially late to our next job." Jack said. He wasn't in a great mood. In fact, it could quite accurately be described as cranky. He wasn't sleeping well, he was antsy about the fucking doors not being opened, and more than that--he was pissed because no one seemed to know shit about anything. It was frustrating at best. That, and the only person he really wanted to spend much time with he hadn't been able to catch.
Jack was not a happy bunny. "And if we were trapped here," he said correcting Mannix' language. "Then we go with my idea. Brothel. In fact, I've actually already got a few interested parties." He'd had a lot of time to kill, and he'd done his best to fill it.
Mannix might have been in a worse mood if it hadn’t been for spending the night with December. Something about that girl really got to him, even if it wasn’t her cheery disposition. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ve just got to wonder. If we really disappeared, how would he know where to look?” It would have been a bad train of thought on the road, the kind that might make Mannix want to drop off the map, but in here it was different. At the moment, they didn’t have much of a choice.
“Seriously?” Mannix asked. “I was telling this girl about it and she thought it’d do well in here. And I planted my some of my seeds, just in case we want to add that route.” Not that they’d have anything substantial for a while, but it seemed as good a time to start as any.
Jack eyed his brother critically. "...did you drink the fucking kool-aid or something?" he asked. "And he would know where to look because our last stop was meant to be here, so it'd be pretty obvious where shit went astray." he added. "What the fuck is up with you? You actually want to, what, make a go of it here? Are you fucking serious?" He skipped the part about some girl who apparently thought it was a good plan too. He'd ask about that in a minute, after he figured out if his brother had up and lost it.
“No, I know,” Mannix sighed. “If we were seriously going to disappear, this would be the worst place to try.” With their sister here, it would never work. And Jack was right about this being the first place their father would look. Even if he didn’t expect to find them there, it was where he’d start asking questions. “I dunno. A part of me thinks I’d be bored out of my mind. But then I get to thinking about it and I feel like we live our lives to meet his needs. At what point do we get to live them for ourselves? At this rate, we’re likely to die before he does.” Okay, that was just a bit morbid, but it was true and Jack probably knew it.
Jack was again left staring at Mannix. "...who the hell have you been talking to?" he asked. Because that, to Jack, didn't sound like Mannix. They'd had talks before about getting out, doing something else, and his brother always seemed like he shut that right down. With good reason. But a couple days locked in a dome, and now he was all optimism and butterflies? Someone had to have been filling his head with this shit. Especially if he was bringing up the fact that their lives were more or less totally devoted to shit they had no choice in.
“Just December, mostly,” Mannix laughed, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m being ridiculous. I know. We’ve been here too long.” It was only a few more days, but it was enough that he’d had too much time to think. Add that to the fact that he’d found someone interesting and he was well on his way to getting himself killed. Mannix didn’t think he had the balls to kill his father, but he was pretty sure his dad wouldn’t hesitate in offing him for such a rebellion.
"And she, what?" Jack asked. "Turned you around and made you want to jet out on your own, doing whatever you want?" he asked, an honest question.
“No,” Mannix answered. “She’d probably say to get out of the dome while I can, that we’re all doomed. But I guess talking to her made me realize that we don’t have anything. Nothing. If I got taken out on our next run, what would you do?”
Jack didn't say anything to that at first, looking away. "Who says I would make it if you got taken out?" he posed instead. Which really, he figured would be the way it would go down. He knew if Mannix did get popped, Jack would make it his brand new, top priority mission in life to kill whoever did it.
Mannix looked over at his brother, hating the truth behind that question. They only survived because they had each other. Mannix couldn’t do this on his own. Without someone to watch his back, it was only a matter of time before he went down, and the same went for Jack. “I guess I’ve just got to wondering, if our time is short, why the fuck are we living it for someone else?”
"The imminent and very real death sentence that comes with independent thought." Jack answered, because that was it, really. It wasn't pretty, it was just how it was.
“Life would be so much easier if I didn’t think it was bad karma that to kill your own father,” Mannix said, his expression turning sour. He couldn’t trust anyone else to do the job and couldn’t do it himself. That pretty much left him screwed. Both of them.
"It's crossed my mind." Jack admitted. It had been distant, dark thoughts when it happened, but now and then, it did actually occur to him. That if he just took the old man out first, a lot of issues would disappear. Of course, a lot more would crop up. They had other siblings, and there was their mother, and it wasn't like the only dangerous one in the bunch was their father.
Mannix was quiet for a minute, in agreement with his brother, but finding the same holes in the plan. Their old man wasn’t the only problem and he wasn’t willing to kill everyone he shared blood with just for a chance at freedom that might get him killed in trying to go for it. It was too risky, almost moreso than the job they did. “When we get out of here, we should go off grid. Seriously. Drive across the country, change our names, and no one will be the wiser.”
Jack might have answered that, but that was when the world took a cue and a commotion caught his attention. He hopped down from the truck bed, and frowned, looking in the direction of the doors. Shit was hitting the fan, apparently.
The yelling escalated and Mannix saw the first punch thrown. From that point on, there was suddenly no holding back from either side. When Mannix saw a guard knock a girl to the ground was when he could hold back no longer, retaliating in defense of someone he barely knew, but felt obligated to defend. Plus, he’d been wanting to hit someone for a while now. “Hey,” he called, and when the guy looked over at him, Mannix’s fist connected with his face.
Jack was heading into the fray quickly, his first pick being someone who was grabbing shit off of another trader's table. He'd already quickly slipped the brass knuckles out of his pocket and onto his fingers, so when he yanked the guy backwards off balance, the strike to the guy's jaw was hard and fast, with a follow up once he hit the ground.
This was better. Jack loved a good fight, and this was promising to be an all out brawl. He loved every second of it.