★ 016

[boutant]

[ There's a bit of a crackle of audio from this device, interference for both of the cities before it clears up. There's no video, but anyone who's crossed between cities or checked out the paperwork should recognize the voice of one of the deity's helper droids. ]

Name?

Ariadne.

[ Oh, so that's who this belongs to. There are a few minutes before the droid speaks again, telling her that her paperwork's been approved and she can go on ahead. ]

Okay, Eames-- [ Whatever she was going to say is suddenly cut off by a startled noise, followed up by the sound of someone trying to break free of... something. ]

You'll thank me when you get there.

Eames! Get back here! Eames! I'm not going-- [ And off goes the audio. ]

((ooc: Ariadne was just tricked into crossing over to the Glass City without Eames. ... and by 'tricked into crossing over' I mostly mean 'he tied her to one of those helper droids and left'.))

Comments

[boutant]

Not as far as I know.

[ But this is more important, at least right now. ]

You're both okay?

[whitetwoguns]

That could have been a way to keep you out of trouble.

[And he could be wrong. That big grunt of a limey is a mystery.]

Yeah. For the most part.

[boutant]

I don't need to be kept out of trouble.

[ Yes you do, Ariadne. ]

For the most part?

[whitetwoguns]

Just a theory.

[Yeah. He is pretty damn sure that she does need to be put someplace for safe keeping. Diplomatically he'll just...not say that.]

Orange has a hurt arm, nothing permanent though.

[boutant]

[ Smart move. ]

I ran into him the other day. I tried texting you to [ warn you ] let you know he was acting strangely, though it took me a while before I could get my device again.

[whitetwoguns]

[There are considerable factors working against Ariadne's case. She's small. She's a young lady. And from the looks of her, her greatest defense may be running. In the desert running can only do you so much good.]

Y'did?

[A heads up would have been nice but at that point, he really was not paying too much attention to anything but Mr. Orange.] Thanks for trying. He had one of those slug things.

[boutant]

[ She's got her daddy's gun and a thigh holster full of throwing knives. She's not an expert, but she can defend herself against some things. ]

Yeah. After I got out of the room he locked me in, at least.

[whitetwoguns]

[Seems defensive if Mr. White knew.]

He locked you in?

[boutant]

[ Well, Natasha's teaching her how to use the knives because Ariadne thought it sounded cool. ]

Yeah. My device ended up on the other side of the door so I couldn't get in touch with anyone right away.

[whitetwoguns]

That don't sound like it was your fault at all.

[boutant]

It was hard to tell he had a slug in him, but he wasn't... acting right. Saying weird things, that sort of thing. I thought maybe it was the heat so I said he should take a break and he flipped out.

[whitetwoguns]

Flipped out? What was he saying?

[Doing?]

[boutant]

He was talking about how he should kill some of the people in the safe zone. He ended up crowding me up against a wall at one point.

And like I said, he locked me in a room against my will.

[whitetwoguns]

[Damn. Just...damn.]

He's not like that. You know.

[Killing innocents just is not the Orange way.]

He didn't hurt you, did he?

[boutant]

I know he's not.

[ That's why she didn't knife him. ]

No, I'm fine.

[whitetwoguns]

Crazy bullshit.

[That's unsettling to hear. It's exactly the opposite of that protect and serve streak that will not be laid to rest.]

He's right back to how he used to be.

[Thank God.]

I'm sorry that happened at all.

[boutant]

You should have heard it coming from him.

[ No. No he shouldn't have, and she's not planning on telling Orange he said it. ]

That's good. He didn't do anything like that to you?

[ Oh, hey-- ]

It's not like you put the slug in his ear.

[whitetwoguns]

[He wouldn't want to. Now and then out of anger or a curse a heavy bomb drops out of his mouth and it really rocks a world. But...only so many people know that.]

I came out okay.

[No wounds to speak of.]

Naw. I didn't.

[But Freddy can't be offering up any apology right now. Maybe not ever, already he's on the way to feeling more okay with bullshit. Does he risk bringing him down with sharing this. ...Maybe Ariadne might have told him already.]

[boutant]

[ She's not going to have nightmares over it, not knowing that it wasn't really him, not with everything else she knows about Orange. His rifle slamming against her solar plexus was no stab wound to the stomach. ]

That's good, too.

[ If Orange had hurt White, well, that really would have done a number on him. Ariadne couldn't get to her device and no one let her out of that room until Jerry showed up. Everything could have been so much worse. She doesn't blame Freddy, not when she wasn't really hurt, not when things weren't worse and he was being mind-controlled by a slug. ]

If you did, I think this conversation would have gone a little differently.

[whitetwoguns]

[There are far worst things. And he is glad for minor offense. That doesn't make it any less of an issue to just...get over when he just learned about it. Don't worry. This won't become a thing.]

I don't even get where those things came from.

[He tosses that out, at a loss for what else to add. No one can control the slugs or what they made anyone do. Thankfully no big harm was done.]

[boutant]

[ Ariadne glances up at the sky. Clear and blue, the sun not beating down; calm, in a way skies in February in the Midwest aren't always. ]

I think it rained them.

[ Considering what else the City pulls, it's as plausible an explanation as any. ]