InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I am Boy Wonder not Sunshine!"

Matt Cavanaugh (palehorses) wrote in we_float,
@ 2010-05-14 07:20:00

Current mood:	curious
Current music:	"This Ain't The Way I Came Up" :: Jake La Botz
Entry tags:	gabriel wilder, matt cavanaugh

You can't tell the devil it's a frameup when he calls your name up
Who: Matt Cavanaugh and Gabe Wilder
What: Curiousity and conversation
When: May 10, 2096
Where: Leaving the Anhalt
Status: Closed, Incomplete

He'd found himself walking out next to the man with the blue hair; Matt did what he did whenever he met someone with blue hair, or feet, or a pulse: he said hello.

Sort of.

"So you think this is going to wind up like the unions and all that? Man, we're the freaks here, the union members could at least pretend they weren't. Or are you an idealist, using that to make an analogy to where we are?" He considered that, and added "In my head, the difference makes sense."

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	afterwedie 2010-05-15 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	"Uhhh..." Gabe turned his head, trying to figure out who the stranger was talking to. When he realized it was him, he shrugged. "Dude, I dunno. Which 'this'? The Act? This.. um, what the fuck ever thing Katherine wants to do?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

palehorses
2010-05-15 11:58 pm UTC (link)

"I don't even know any more," Matt said after a minute. "I guess I really don't. I'm not feeling very committed to doing what she wants, but at the same time, I'm not so sure it's going to be okay to be a wild card, at least for a while. I mean, at least I'm not an obvious one, but I am one, and you can bet they've got that fact on file for me. Kind of makes me wonder if I can afford to turn down her offer, you know?"

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afterwedie
2010-05-16 12:16 am UTC (link)

"I dunno. I mean, I don't trust the government..." And Gabe was edging towards the corner of the room as he said that. "But like, what are we supposed to do? Couldn't she just force us to do it?" He looked troubled as he said it. "Then again... dude. She didn't. She could've but she didn't."

It was more than he usually managed to say at one time but he was just disconcerted enough to talk.

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palehorses
2010-05-16 01:03 am UTC (link)

"And she could've set us up to be killed," Matt said slowly, the same realisation occurring to him. "Might mean ... we could trust her. Maybe. Some, at least."

He automatically lit a cigarette as he thought that over. "If she's got a card of her own," he added, still in the same slow, thoughtful tone, "it's not one that she could use to force us to do anything. Or else she would've. And she doesn't have the force of arms to do it either. You think?" As a question, it invited the other man's comment.

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	afterwedie 2010-05-16 01:06 am UTC (link)
	"You think she's got a card?" He looked interested. "Um.. I dunno. But uh, if she works for the fucking government, can't we just, like, look her up?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 01:17 am UTC (link)
	"We could do that too," Matt said, with a smile. "I was sort of wondering why she ... well, pretty much asked us. Didn't force us. You know?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

afterwedie
2010-05-16 01:22 am UTC (link)

Gabe bit his lip. "Well. Yeah. I dunno... maybe she thought we'd want to do it. Threats don't, like, do much for some people."

He thought about it quietly. What had Matt's letter said? He didn't know that he'd seen it. He fingered his own, thinking about what it had said. What was Julie going to say about all of this? Gabe thought to himself that he didn't know that he wanted to tell her.

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palehorses
2010-05-16 01:31 am UTC (link)

"Oh, I didn't say I didn't want to do it," Matt pointed out. "I just said that, far as I can tell, the balance of her actions've been that we can most likely sort of trust her. For now, and not without reservation, but ... she didn't make us. And there are people who could've. You know that as well as I do."

His eyes were attracted by the movement. "What was your letter? Not a threat. Well ... probably secret, never mind."

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	afterwedie 2010-05-16 05:26 am UTC (link)
	"It was about my mom," Gabe said quietly. "Um, at least I think it was." He scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno, man. I just dunno." And he didn't. He sighed as he looked at his feet. "It's just... dude. I've got a girlfriend... um, fiancee, you know? And it's fucking hard for her to be with an ace. This... um, fuck. I just dunno what she's gonna do." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

palehorses
2010-05-16 05:31 am UTC (link)

"Hard for her to be with an ace?" He looked at Gabe curiously. "You mean, before today? I can see where what's happened today - here and there" - he gestured expansively - "would make it hard, yeah."

Before that, though, he didn't understand. It wasn't as though Gabe were a joker.

"So ... we should look Katherine Athena up, see if she's what she says she is, maybe talk to her about it, make a decision from that. Or just make a decision." The light in his eyes suggested what his decision was.

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	afterwedie 2010-05-16 05:36 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah. My ace is..." He shrugged. "Julie just wants a normal life. Two kids and a house, yeah? Except nobody has that anymore." Gabe looked a little embarrassed as he glanced away. "Um. Anyhow." He shifted his weight a little before saying, "What're you gonna do?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

palehorses
2010-05-16 05:52 am UTC (link)

"I was promised robots," he said, the light in his eyes becoming something almost unholy. "I'm staying."

Then he shrugged, and the glee disappeared. "Honestly? Probably I'm gonna agree to do it. I mean, I'm already in their files, they know who I am, they know where I am and what I can do - I need some time to breathe, to figure out how else I'm gonna live. Maybe ultimately I'll emigrate, but for right now, I'd really like to stay out of the government's hands long enough to plan something else. And I'd kind of like to do more with that time than just ... hide out in a priest-hole or something. Maybe it could be good."

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	afterwedie 2010-05-16 05:54 am UTC (link)
	"That Indian guy makes robots," Gabe pointed out, grinning. "Dude, if this was all a blind date, I'm gonna be pissed." "Yeah. Maybe." He looked a little doubtful. "I gotta discuss it with a couple people first." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 05:58 am UTC (link)
	"Wow, where are you from that you get blind dates to orgies? Or was that, like, blind-speed-dating and we never got around to the dating part?" His grin this time was impish. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:02 am UTC (link)
	"Um." Gabe paused, then said, "Utah." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:05 am UTC (link)
	"So, no blind dates to orgies." He stubbed out the cigarette and lit another, his hands seeming to flail awkwardly through the task. "What part of Utah? I lived in SLC for a lot of years." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:10 am UTC (link)
	"I'm not actually from there," he grinned. "Uh, I just met Julie there. We moved too fucking much. I'm not from anywhere." Gabe lit a cigarette of his own, holding it in his hand for a moment before putting it to his lips again. "Salt Lake City, yeah, for a year. Then we moved to Aurora, out in Colorado." (Reply to this) (Thread)

palehorses
2010-05-16 06:16 am UTC (link)

"My family moved from Chicago when I was four, settled in SLC. Took a lot of years to get out, but I finally made it out and got up here. I'd like to do more traveling, but that's hard to do for me." He took a drag on the cigarette. "Julie's your fiancee? How long've you been engaged?"

Why are you engaged wasn't actually an appropriate question, even if Matt suspected it was a good one.

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	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:19 am UTC (link)
	"Um..." It took Gabe more than a few seconds to remember. "Three years, I think. About." He shrugged. "We haven't, like, set a date or anything." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:25 am UTC (link)
	One eyebrow arched. "You don't know how long you've been engaged. Man, I don't know what's up with your life, but it sounds like the most interesting thing I've heard since someone wanted me and a group of strangers to run around in tights for justice. You want a drink and talk it over more, or you want to go talk to the people you gotta talk to?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:27 am UTC (link)
	"Uh, can I get a raincheck?" Gabe asked. He was curious about Matt- mainly because he was having trouble reconciling the face in front of him with Utah. "But, um, like a soon raincheck, not like a raincheck for four years from now." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:33 am UTC (link)
	"Sure," Matt said easily. "Give me your number." He pulled out his phone, his finger poised expectantly over the keypad, and glanced up. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:35 am UTC (link)
	"KL5-2423," Gabe said. Digging in his pocket, he grabbed a pen out and said, "Um, how about you?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:40 am UTC (link)
	"RA6-1022." He watched the other man scrawl the combination down. "Call me - it's your raincheck, man, you get to redeem it." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:41 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, man, totally. Come over sometime and I'll feed you," Gabe offered. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:43 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, well, way to my heart that is," he said with a smile. "You're gonna feed me? Sweet." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:45 am UTC (link)
	He grinned. "Dude, it's my job. I feed everyone. Talk nice enough and it might not be synthetic." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 06:55 am UTC (link)
	"What, are you a cook or something, or just a weird guy who likes to feed people? That might not count as nice, I know, but I'm not gonna start sucking up to you yet, until I know whether you can cook or not. I mean, that just sounds like so much effort, to butter you up. " (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 06:58 am UTC (link)
	"I think not." Gabe grinned. "I like feeding people, yeah, but I hate the fucking shit they call food now. Dude. Meat shouldn't come in a tube. It's like soylent green, yo." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 07:06 am UTC (link)
	"It doesn't always come in a tube," Matt protested, but half-heartedly, because he did remember that it used to be different. It still wasn't an always thing, but it was definitely more common to have synthetic food now than it used to be. "I know what you mean, though," he added, more quietly. "Best part of hiking - eating what you could catch or pick." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-16 04:45 pm UTC (link)
	"Yeah," Gabe grinned. "You been up to Rainier yet? It's almost as good as the Wasatch." Truth was, it was probably better but back in the days of climbing the Wasatch, he'd felt a lot more free. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-16 08:43 pm UTC (link)
	"I've been up," he said, surprised that Gabe shared an interest, but more than willing to talk. "I kind of prefer the peninsula though - Anderson Pass, Skyline, all like that. You been out there yet? How long've you been here?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-17 12:45 am UTC (link)
	"A couple years. Not long enough to really settle in." Gabe shrugged. "I dunno. Nowhere really feels like home." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-17 05:44 am UTC (link)
	"Man, if you can't settle in in two years, you got something else going on." He lit another cigarette casually. "But I'm holding you up, you got people to talk to. Call me, we'll talk about where to hike and all of that. Figure out how to get you feeling settled. Yeah?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	afterwedie 2010-05-17 05:47 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah," Gabe said with a grin. He liked Matt, he found. "Dude, totally. Maybe we can head to St. Helens or something. Haven't been there yet." He waved at Matt as he started walking away. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	palehorses 2010-05-17 05:17 pm UTC (link)
	Matt waved back, watching him go as he finished the cigarette. He had the sense that he'd missed something major, but he at least knew that he liked Gabe and wanted to count him as a friend. (Reply to this) (Parent)