@yalena.yardeen

[motivation]

what the hells?

[ that's it. guess who definitely wasn't expecting to be on a train to new tokyo? yeah. ]

Comments

[blyat]

always
where is it

[reneger]

( cain gets a response with a cart number--wherever the hell the closest bar to jason is. he doesn't know where the hell cain is hiding out at, so. )

your treat

[blyat]

whatever
fine

[Can't help but be reminded of how he'd promised Jason beers in repayment - what feels like months ago now. Is months ago. In any case, Cain drags himself up from his seat and walks the length of three full train cars before he reaches the correct number. More subdued than usual, he claims a bar stool directly beside wherever Jason's perched.]

[reneger]

( they're all having a terrible day. jason's slumped over forward, an empty glass in front of him and absolutely nothing else. the dreams were--well. only the rare few were as bad as his usual dreams but there's a reason he avoids REM sleep as much as is possible for his body to withstand.

jason turns to face cain, purses his lips. )

Yo. Fancy meeting you here.

[blyat]

[Ordering a whiskey, he waves his hand to Jason - indicating payment for both of them - and exchanges the credits in the silent transaction.]

Really didn't think we'd be waking up on a train. Didn't sign up for this shit. How long's it gonna take to get back?

[Cain's foot jostles on the rung of the bar stool, a physical indication of his discomfort. He doesn't have time for this stupid field trip.]

[reneger]

( another whiskey, because cain does have decent taste even if he's obnoxiously noisy. jason's eyes move to watch his leg for a moment, before he's raising a brow at cain himself. )

Depends. What's got you so nervous 'bout it?

[blyat]

[His foots slows to a stop, and he scowls, knocking back the glass of whiskey in a few sharp swallows. Narrow-eyed.]

Hideki Maeda's in my car. [Nods back in that general direction.] Thinks we're buddies now, me and Prompto.

[reneger]

Want me to fix that for you? It'll only take me a second.

( considering their history and previous engagements--he doubts hideki would stay behind if he caught sight of jason. )

[blyat]

No, it's for... uh, reasons.

[How descriptive. Cain grimaces behind the lip of his glass of whiskey, leans in closer, voice low.]

Think the idea first came from your brother? We're trying to get info out of him.

[reneger]

Hafid. ( better known as damian wayne, pain in his ass. jason takes a drink of his own whiskey, uses it to give himself a moment to think. )

Clever. Hideki doesn't seem like he knows much, but he has connections.

[blyat]

So you know him, too?

[Cain slumps forward over the bar, feeling exhausted even after sleep, pillowing his cheek on folded arms. His fingers lay around the base of his glass. At least they aren't talking about Alexei or anything else they saw in the dreams. At least he can use this to distract himself from the impending dread that is Fitz and Markus in one hour. How drunk can he get before then?]

Ugh. Had to pretend to give a shit about sports and social media just to get on his good side.

[reneger]

Yeah. We had a run in a while back, not long after I ended up in this hellhole. Didn't turn out so well.

( probably the reason damian sent cain and prompto after him, honestly. jason raises the glass to his lips, downs another good amount of whiskey. grins around the rim when cain starts complaining about sports. not that jason can blame him. pretending to be into shit isn't fun for anyone. )

Now he's here joining in the relief efforts, that's cute.

[blyat]

Take it that means you pissed him off.

[Although it's difficult to imagine Hideki angry, since he's usually inebriated in some fashion. But if anyone could do it, Jason could.

With a sigh, he drains the rest of his glass and orders a second.]

You think we'll get back in time for the next batch? Shouldn't they be coming in soon? The date's different, though. [Maybe Jason noticed. A quick skim of the news via the implants serves well enough - and there are screens all over the train to tune into, most covering New Tokyo's snowstorm. Not monsters.] This whole fucking thing is messing with my head.

[reneger]

( didn't piss off hideki, did piss off his mother. and it wasn't even his fault. what kind of kid bets his mother's animal? jason's not responsible for his bad life decisions--that's on hideki himself. but whatever!! )

Why? Is there someone you're waiting for?

( jason is, too. so he can't say shit. every new batch of arrivals he spends a decent amount of time sifting through the safehouse for familiar faces. ) We're a few days behind. Shit is fucked up, and it's pissing me off. But there's nothing we can do about it right now.

[blyat]

[Jason's words reflect exactly how he feels. It's a relief, one he doesn't know how to describe, and it feels like something's shifted between them. Or eased. He doesn't feel as on edge as he did before, the last they spoke. It doesn't feel difficult to speak with honesty.]

We'll see. [A vague shrug. Nothing they can do about it now, but that won't last forever.] I mentioned somebody to you, a while back. Named Abel.

[That if Jason ever came across anyone with that name, he should let him know.]

That's who. Been waiting this whole time.

[reneger]

There's no guarantee he'd show. Abel. And even if he did, the dates're all wrong. Dropoffs have been roughly every two weeks--it's not time yet.

( but jason's raising a hand up anyway, moving to shove his fingers through cain's hair. ruffle it up a bit. it's innocent enough; there's a glove that separates any skin contact, because that's definitely something neither of them need right now. but cain is being open, honest. it's--cute that he has been waiting this whole time, but there's no need to give false hope, is there? )

No one'll probably show, and if they do while we're here? Gaby's there. They figured out how to handle the first round of dropoffs, they'll figure out the next.

[blyat]

[A scowl affixes Cain's mouth as soon as his hair's ruffled, grateful at least not to initiate the empathy bond. He's too keyed up, too cagey, too much going on in his head to want to share even the slightest thread. No doubt Jason feels the same. He does make a half-hearted attempt to swat the hand away.]

Yeah... the date's the weirdest part of all of this. Does that mean we went back in time? Sounds like such bullshit.

[Then again, now they've plunged into dreams and memories and shared those between each other, although Jason has yet to confirm that part. Still feels like something's changed between them. A palpable shift.]

Guess that's no big deal to people who can drag a bunch of freaks from different fuckin' universes. [He rubs his forehead, sips at the whiskey.] Fuck. Sometimes I can ignore all this crap, just forget about it for five minutes.

[reneger]

( it's contact enough to be grounding, not enough to mean anything outside of that. he's not trying to stress cain out, just--lend a hand. even if it's only for a moment. )

No, I doubt it. Given how shit's shifted, I bet it's a lot more that--whatever happened, the universe itself shifted. Shit's different back home than it was on this day when we were awake. It's not time travel, it's universal changes.

( which is, honestly, even more concerning. but he guesses that they're both one and the same anyway. )

Ignoring it's not gonna make the weird shit stop or go away. I saw Hideki's mother fucking around in the dreams--doubt he knows anything, but she does.

[blyat]

[Universal changes. That's nothing something he even considered, but it makes sense, given the rest of what he's read and heard.]

You saw his mom? Shit. You really think she knows more?

[How involved is that family? Are they a direct tether to everything else that's going on?]

What else has changed for you?

[reneger]

She knows something. ( she knows about them, about bruce. about damian's relationship with him. about his relationship with jason and dick. that's enough to know she's more than just an annoying pest--she's dangerous to them. )

The Warlocks are involved in some bid to take down the Maeda empire. They definitely weren't stirring that much shit before.

[blyat]

Huh. You're involved with the gangs?

[Cain leans his chin into one palm, thoroughly distracted from his own problems by the conversation and glad to take his mind off it. And because he is interested in what Jason's up to -- their second-ever conversation proved those connections. Not surprising to learn the roots go deeper in the Maeda family, and that people like Jason and his brother are bound up in it.]

Well, I'm social media popular now. People want to know what I think about trends, keep blowing up my inbox so I had to switch off notifications. This whole Hideki thing is a fuckin' hassle.

[reneger]

You'd be surprised by the amount of information you can dig up from kids living in the underground.

( and jason intends to not only get that info--but pull apart the underground from the inside out. overtake it, build up his own street cred, then untangle them bit by bit. )

Social media's easy. Give 'em a few smiles, post some pics of you wearing ridiculous shit, flirt a little. You'll handle it fine.

[blyat]

Maybe you should be the famous one, already sound like a natural.

[Eyes rolling, but without the usual flare of exaggerated annoyance. Gloved fingertips push the whiskey glass a few inches across the counter, wet ring of perspiration smearing, ice clinking.]

So. The Warlocks? How'd you get in with 'em? You running it, or just a nosy fly on the wall?

[reneger]

No. I don't have the patience for it. I have a temper, it'd blow up in flames in minutes.

( what jason does have for a cooltalk is just. pictures of loki, pictures of clubs, of post-fight bruises. enough to establish a presence, not enough to get others after him. )

Haven't been around long enough to start running shit without--going for drastic measures. ( which he can't do freely, here. ) I fight. Deal on the side, but not to everyone. Run errands.

[blyat]

[He laughs short and sharp at the image of famous Jason picking fights over social media.]

What, like I'm patient? [They have more in common than perhaps Cain is comfortable admitting, now, but there it is.] ... You deal? Why? To who?