(canon is Sin City/That Yellow Bastard)

[thelastday]

Couldn't just leave an old man alone, could you?

Comments

They wouldn't know each other, but would a younger version of Bob from another movie work?

[gonnabite]

That's usually how it happens from what I've seen.

yesyesyesyes! (and if I've miscaught your meaning/if this is wonk, just let me know)

[thelastday]

[There's something familiar about this guy, though I can't put my finger on it. Something about the smirk playing across his lips, the casual slouch, the way he flaunts his style like a hurricane through hell. Where he came from, what he wants, I can't say. I'm on my guard.]

Some truths are truths the whole world 'round. [Look him over without making it obvious, give him a thorough run-down in every way you can. Something here doesn't sit right.] What do you know about it?

Not wonk at all! I figure Vic/Mr. Blonde here looking like Bob would be interesting for Hartigan.

[gonnabite]

I've seen it myself a couple of times. [Vic leans back against the wall. Casually drinking this fountain soda, don't mind him. He chuckles.] You see it in the movies a lot too.

And so it is, and so you win, heh.

[thelastday]

Have you?

[The guy's playing it inconspicuous. Or maybe it isn't playing. Maybe for this guy, it's a permanent state of being.]

I don't watch much television.

WE BOTH WIN

[gonnabite]

Don't even go to the movies?

[thelastday]

Don't have the time, don't have the interest. Don't care for the tacky floors, either.

[gonnabite]

You don't sound like you go to a lot of movie theaters then.

[He laughs.]

Vic Vega, by the way.

[thelastday]

[Very funny. Very astute. And there's that nagging familiarity, though the name isn't ringing any bell I can hear.]

John Hartigan. [No harm in giving a name, not now. Then something he does--maybe a shrug of the shoulders, a glint in the eyes--clicks it into place: this guy is the spitting image of Bob. The Bob of years past, before he showed his true colors but not before I knew there was something out of joint. For all his laughing, there had always been something unstable with Bob. Hell, there was something with pretty much every cop. I just happened to learn the hard way when Bob's turned rotten.] Huh.

[I'm wary. Real wary. Something inside tells me to get the hell outta there, but I can't turn back before I have a better sense of who this guy who could be Bob is. Better to understand the danger than let it creep up on you.]

Where you from, Mr. Vega?

[gonnabite]

Hey. [He holds up his Taco Bell soda in a half-salutation. Lucky for Hartigan, Vic never bothered to hide his nastier side. He was cheerfully and nonchalantly homicidal and he didn't give a shit. This was a man who just got released from prison, too. He didn't feel like being violent right now, but he could be dangerous when he wanted to be.]

What?

[He directs that at 'what' at Hartigan's 'huh', but the question temporarily distracts him.]

Chicago. I live in L.A. now. [He nods.] You?

[thelastday]

Basin City. Not a bad place to be if you can stomach the fallout of large-scale corruption. I can't say how it compares to L.A. or Chicago, though. Never been.

[gonnabite]

Basin City, huh. [SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP.] Never heard of it.

ps Hartigan kind of wants to jam that straw up Vic's nose yep.

[thelastday]

[It's like the guy's trying to get on my nerves. But maybe he just likes his soda, and maybe I'm being touchy. Not used to all these noises.]

Probably better for you that way. I'm sure L.A.'s got plenty to offer.

yes good vic is a shit anyway

[gonnabite]

What's Basin City got to offer?

XD

[thelastday]

A few thriving businesses, seedy restaurants, waterfront property. Tar pits. All the vice a man could ask for.

Beyond that, it depends on what you're looking for. You have any particular interests?

[gonnabite]

[SLURRRRRRPS one more time because actually his soda is pretty much gone dang

oh well he casually tosses it to his side and takes a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket]

Seedy restaurants are more my thing, but tar pits sound pretty interesting.

[careerendingmove]

...Fuck it all. John Hartigan! There's a face I never thought I'd fucking see again! Jesus!

:D

[thelastday]

Rafferty. It's been a while.

[And it's hard to see anyone on the outside again. Stings a little, a reminder of where I could be and where I've been. What I am now. What does he know, what does he think? It'd be a waste of energy to care, so I move on. Think about Jack Rafferty. What he's made of himself, because I sure as hell didn't hear anything on the inside.]

You still with the force?

omg I love it.

[careerendingmove]

They really did have you in solitary didn't they? [It's hard not to gloat, not to smile] Me and my guys on Narco. We've got the city nice and tight. Iron Jack and all that.

yessssss...

[thelastday]

Yeah? Good for you. [I'd like to wish him well in earnest, but it's hard when you know the way most cops turn out. Even the ones that start out well--and Jack had begun with real promise--end up wallowing in dirty politics and crooked rings. So I'm suspicious, though I try to keep it hidden. Maybe Jack Rafferty is one of the rare few. I don't want to do him an injustice.]

That's tough work. [And impressive, if it's true. The city hasn't been clean since the beginning of my time, at least. Maybe some things really have changed for the better. I have a hard time buying that, but it's a pleasant dream.] You must be proud.

Also oh god so rusty please forgive me.

[careerendingmove]

...Of course I am. [There's an arrogant look on his face and he practically preens] Making the streets safe. [snort]or as safe as they can be when you have guys like - well. You.

[He shakes his head] You should have played ball man. Should have played ball.

Pffff, 'tis lovely. (As lovely as Jackie Boy can be. >.>) And am all awkward on this end, so HEY.

[thelastday]

[I breathe hard and see red. Take your time, let it pass. Don't let it get to you, it isn't anything you can't handle. But amid red and my regrets, I lose hold of myself for a moment, and it's like I'm falling away and I'm back in the cell and back on the dock and I'm nowhere and everywhere at once. Can't tell what this means or what I am or how I got here.

God damn.

In my head, time stops, time stretches, it's no time and it's several hours before I've caught onto the conversation again. In reality, it must've been no more than a few seconds. I can see Rafferty again, that certainty on his face, a superiority I don't think I'm imagining. I'm back to this place that makes little sense but must be real. And there it is again, another one of them telling me I should've played along, as if I haven't played along enough by signing the confession. I already hate myself for that.]

You don't know a thing about it.

ugh your hartigan is perfect.

[careerendingmove]

[Rafferty snorts] I know I don't have a fucking record now and you do.

merci, and am so-very-much enjoying this and mr. jack, here.

[thelastday]

Astute observation, Jack.

ugh is he going to a game?

[careerendingmove]

Should have played ball Hartigan.

[He looks annoyed] Made us all goddamn look bad.

thinking about finding one... does jack have a home?

[thelastday]

[Excuse me while I shed a tear of goddamn remorse.

The nerve of this guy. My fist clenches without my say-so, but otherwise I keep still. Tell myself it's no surprise. You knew this was going to happen. You knew what you'd hear. And what harm can words do now?]

Last I checked, you don't need any help with that.