[log] It's ice to meet you [open?]

[darkincrement]

Characters: Gabriel, Billy, and Ven/Vanitas.
Location: Maintenance Tunnels
Date: 348+
Summary: Ven!itas wants to help out Gabriel. Billy is being dragged along. Also guilt. Lots of guilt.
Warnings: n/a yet. Might have to add some later.

[ Post is a lie ]

Comments

[termineur]

Maybe. But-- seriously, what's she going to do with that knowledge? You think she's going to try and blackmail you or something?

[ Kesara is learning how to 'play the game,' and that's a very delicate time for her trade. Gabriel would like if she survived it. Here in Norfinbury, at least the stakes on trading info are rather low. No one benefits from secrets. ]

[darkincrement]

Not worried about blackmail. Who would she even go running off to share?

[ The only ones who might care actually like him. Strange concept, but it works his favor here. ]

She wants to prove she isn't scared of me. [ Now to hit on the thing that will be a problem. ] I can't cut away my emotions here. If she hits on the wrong thing, I will kill her.

[ What are normal coping skills? If he kills a kid, even if she comes back, then it'll make things annoying for him here. He was lucky before when people just shrug Charles off as an asshole.

Kesara has people that care. Al and Steph cares about her. Then there's Gabriel. If Al and Steph give up on Vanitas, then what will Gabriel do? There's also Billy who traveled over to make sure he doesn't lock Kesara out. He hates thinking about this. Hates that this is now a worry he actually has. ]

It'll make things complicated. [ He's going to pointedly look away as he says that. He hates this. ]

[termineur]

Yeah. Murder tends to do that.

[ He says it like a joke, but it's really not. He lets out a thoughtful sigh. ]

If she comes at you again, will you let me know? I think I can convince her to be smart about it, but if she doesn't listen...

[ He trails off and shrugs. He's not likely to be the one to stop Vanitas. The fact that Vanitas seems worried about hurting her is a good sign, right? Even if it's probably not for the 'right' reasons. Gabriel doesn't really worry for the right reasons either. ]

Was she trying to push your buttons last time?

[darkincrement]

Does't help that there's a change the victims will come back.

[ Unless they are anti-social.

He does pause to study Gabriel for a moment or two. Trying to figure out the why. People being protective of him isn't normal, and it makes much more sense if people are protective of Kesara.

Though the shrugging doesn't line up with wanting to protect Kesara. ]

I'll consider it. [ He says it carefully. He knows he doesn't want to lose this, which means he's likely to share. ]

She was following me until I brought up her long nap in the drawer. [ Kesara sitting idle and being useless seems to be a big button for her. Not going to talk about Ventus and her hitting his PTSD on purpose. ]

[termineur]

[ Gabriel nods in faux annoyance about the victims coming back. It certainly changes things up, doesn't it?

As for the protection issue...Gabriel's used to being the one that's not protected. It sucks. So he notices that more. Maybe he's not the best person to be watching out for Vanitas, but he's committed to do so now. ]

Ah, so you pushed her buttons and she pushed back. You're worried about your emotions getting out of control? I've been there. I was sure I was going to end up offing Al for awhile there.

[ And he's pretty sure he won't now. Maybe having the Admin turn off the procedure isn't the worst idea ever. Maybe he could handle it. Regardless, he understands the feeling, even if Vanitas doesn't have any love lost on Kesara. ]

[darkincrement]

[ And then he remembers that Gabriel was a victim, too. Making a face at the realization because he does feel bad. Not going to say it because Gabriel probably doesn't need a reminder about it.

Just going to focus on the other part of the conversation. ]

I hate it. I used to be able to send my emotions out and cut them down.

[ It's a good thing his Unversed wasn't there with them.

He looks up at Gabriel at the Al part. ]

Not surprised. I still think about it at times. [ Al does bring out some odd emotions, but he looked ready to snap last time. ]

[termineur]

Do you? [ You'd think Gabriel would be upset at that revelation about Al, but he just smirks. ] Al sure makes friends with the right people.

[ That's not as much of a sarcastic remark as he makes it out to be. ]

You know, if I had the ability to send my negative emotions out of myself and turn them into monsters, I'd never want to give that up either. I can't imagine having to deal without it. Think you've been dealing pretty well, all things considered.

[darkincrement]

I even offered to put him out of his misery when he was his weaker self.

[ All skin and bones. It was hard to be around him like that and the conversation that followed... ]

He got mad. [ Looking away at that. It took a deeper turn that he really hadn't wanted to touch with Al.

Vanitas does laugh at the dealing pretty well. ]

I'm not, but I am getting better.

[ He remembers all the furniture he's destroyed when he first got here. ]

[termineur]

What a surprise.

[ 'His weaker self'. He wonders if Al took even more issue with that than the offer. Gabriel chuckles and shakes his head.

But he does notice Vanitas getting a little uncomfortable about that. He'll just pretend he didn't notice. Al is great at getting to the heart of matters and stubbornly making you talk about the thing you don't want to talk about. Gabriel gets it. ]

And okay, that 'all things considered' counts for a lot here. I didn't exactly knock it out of the park when I first got here, either. I didn't expect the rules to apply to me, y'know? They usually don't. Having to deal with all the limitations the rest of the chumps did- well, it just wasn't fair.