It's such a normal name to attach to her, this girl not meeting his eyes with a look on her face that isn't straining at the edges with manic malevolence. He half-wishes she'd kept it to herself.
He's not forgetting what she did or what she's capable of. The apprehensive caution isn't going anywhere. But Riley is like Sarah, or Taylor. It's a little bit less comfortable to hold certain possibilities in his head with a real name attached to them. Another degree less comfortable when she's offering to sync up narratives, opening a line of conversation he's been responsible for every time prior to now. ]
...mine's Krouse.
[ If they're getting stories straight. ]
And so far, it's that I'm a rogue. No villainy. No association with our other resident parahumans. It seemed cleaner.
[ The urge to retrieve a cigarette is back. He displaces it into picking at a thread on his sleeve, catching it between forefinger and thumb as he looks down at her, troubled. ]
I also come from further back than everyone else, in terms of time, so I really think I'm missing something here. Did you - quit?
[ It's a blunt, absurd question. People don't quit the Slaughterhouse Nine. It's not that kind of team. But he doesn't know how to square whatever this is with that, because he sure as hell doubts that Jack Slash decided they'd turn over a new leaf mid-ending the world. ]
no subject
It's such a normal name to attach to her, this girl not meeting his eyes with a look on her face that isn't straining at the edges with manic malevolence. He half-wishes she'd kept it to herself.
He's not forgetting what she did or what she's capable of. The apprehensive caution isn't going anywhere. But Riley is like Sarah, or Taylor. It's a little bit less comfortable to hold certain possibilities in his head with a real name attached to them. Another degree less comfortable when she's offering to sync up narratives, opening a line of conversation he's been responsible for every time prior to now. ]
...mine's Krouse.
[ If they're getting stories straight. ]
And so far, it's that I'm a rogue. No villainy. No association with our other resident parahumans. It seemed cleaner.
[ The urge to retrieve a cigarette is back. He displaces it into picking at a thread on his sleeve, catching it between forefinger and thumb as he looks down at her, troubled. ]
I also come from further back than everyone else, in terms of time, so I really think I'm missing something here. Did you - quit?
[ It's a blunt, absurd question. People don't quit the Slaughterhouse Nine. It's not that kind of team. But he doesn't know how to square whatever this is with that, because he sure as hell doubts that Jack Slash decided they'd turn over a new leaf mid-ending the world. ]