Text

[trenchknives]

This isn't funny. This is actually kinda bullshit. I mean, it ain't the worst curse that's ever happened, but it's still pretty bad. Who the fuck thought this was a good idea? I'm stuck as a goddamned girl.

[You can almost hear him sulking through the text.]

And don't even try getting me to talk or show my face until this bullshit is over, okay?

[Which means, of course, everyone should try to get him to do so. After all, he has a beautiful girl!PB that shouldn't go to waste.]

Comments

[trenchknives]

It's fine. It is what it is. Lotta people came back from the war a hell of a lot worse off than me.

[He's actually kind of glad when it slips peoples' minds. It means they don't just think about him as the guy with the limp.]

No, I sure don't need it on me, either.

[whitetwoguns]

They're not you though, Jim. Though the perspective makes things more rosy then they could be. Shit is still shit.

[He means to be encouraging, really.]

You know, we were talking about buying a racehorse earlier? In passing. I was sort of joking but the more I think about it... the more lucrative it seems.

[trenchknives]

Sure, shit's still shit, but I got a friend who's missin' half his face, so I figure I really don't have the right to complain much.

[A slow nod.]

Yeah? You think? I don't think it's a bad idea, myself.

[whitetwoguns]

...What?

[He heard right but...]

No shit... Damn.

[That would really put a damper on everything.]

All we gotta do is get a winner, find a jockey and then we'll get a cut. Perfectly legitimate.

[trenchknives]

Yeah, it was kinda strange the first couple times I met him. I mean, he wears a... mask kinda thing. 'cause he doesn't want everyone seein' it, but people still notice.

[Welcome to talking to Jimmy, where everything gets dark and bleak no matter what direction you approach the conversation from.]

Shouldn't be too hard to find a jockey around here, right?

[whitetwoguns]

Fucking hell I don't blame the guy. Bad enough you're screwed in the head from all that then you come on back with the marks to prove it. Back home, we got guys like that still. I guess not much has changed. At least your boys came back welcomed.

[Not to wander from the real mark. Jimmy. Jimmy's problems. The guy is young and full of trouble.]

I don't think so. Just need someone short who knows how to ride.

[trenchknives]

Welcomed, sure. Too welcomed, sometimes. Like we'd just been fuckin' heroes, like we didn't do our own fucked up shit over there.

[Those feelings are very close to the surface. It doesn't take much for them to come out.]

I think we should go for it. The horse thing, I mean.

[whitetwoguns]

Hey, man. You did what you had to do. And it's shit you boys have to pay the price for it all the way.

[Felons didn't go to 'Nam.]

You think we should get Al in on it? I mean, more hands in the pot the more the money is divided but if we hit it big...

[trenchknives]

I know we had to do it. Just doesn't always sit easy with me, y'know?

[A pause.]

Yeah, I'd like to get him in on it. Seems right to me. We worked together back home.

[whitetwoguns]

Fuck. I can only imagine.

[It's not like a heist. There's no end game but keep shooting and win the war. When you're a crook it is get who is in your way and vamoose. Over there you don't know who to trust, everyone around you is libel to be killed. Larry can only wonder. Taking one man's life, taking a cops life those are necessities. War is killing for your country and your own life nonstop. At least that's his own logic.]

If it did sit easy with you, like it was nothing you'd be crazy.

[Plain truth.]

Want me to hit him up?

[trenchknives]

Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you wanted to talk to him about it. I think he'd be interested in the idea.

[He ignores the part about how if it sat easy with him, he'd be crazy, because he's pretty damn sure he's crazy as it is.]

[whitetwoguns]

[Crazy can come with or without a military background. Poor Jimmy.]

I will. Might bring him some cheer if he was stuck as a lady the same as you.

[trenchknives]

Yeah, he was. It was pretty fuckin' funny.