open log :: time made me soft around the edges

[synergismus]

Who: Everyone.
What: The Harvest Festival!
Where: Howl Barrow outdoor park
When: Through the weekend.
Notes: The companion OOC post for this log is here if you have any questions or concerns!
Warnings: Please give me a head's up if a thread contains something that should be edited into this section.

Locations: COSTUME PARTY, COSTUME PARTY - VIP, MARKET STREET, CARNIVAL GAMES, THE PARK.

Comments

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan smiles a bit himself. "No - it's fine. Glad to see you got yourself out in one piece." Since they'd gotten separated toward the end.

"I'm doing alright. How've you been?" Any reprisals?

[captaincocksure]

"Likewise--on both counts." He's glad Raylan also made it out, and he's been all right himself.

"Little bit of disapproval at work," he adds, but he's perfectly good-natured about it. He's a professional, he knows what has to happen.

He also knows the reprimand he got was all for show, between him and Integra. But he knows what the boundaries are, knows they have to be heeded, knows Hellsing needs plausible deniability as much as he's useful.

[toooldforlosing]

"Yeah, more than a little for me," he says with a small smile, "but I didn't get fired, so at least there's that. Seems like everything's been relatively quiet, since." Too quiet, if he's honest with himself.

[captaincocksure]

"That's good."

He glances over at Raylan, eyebrows raised. "No kidding," he says. "Not that I'm complaining, but..."

But they both know how this place is. They both know there's always something out there waiting. It's sad that peace is a suspicious thing here, but it is what it is.

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan shrugs. "So I'm at a large gathering of people, just in case." Because clearly, he can't just go to a party.

[captaincocksure]

Jim nods. "Just like last time," he deadpans. The smile tugging at his lips is knowing, but not unkind.

[toooldforlosing]

"Well, not just like, thankfully. I have been called paranoid before." Though it was probably more apt back home. Then again, given the amount of trouble Raylan found even there, maybe not.

[captaincocksure]

"We can hope, anyway."

He pauses a moment, both to choose his words and to make sure no one's lurking suspiciously within earshot. "So I gathered you're not a fan of the status quo."

[toooldforlosing]

He doesn't quite glance over his shoulder, but Raylan is more than aware of the fact they're in a very public space. Still, he says, "If people are already pulled here against their wills, can't help but thinking it might be good to make things better for them, if I can." He can try.

[captaincocksure]

Jim nods, as if that makes up his mind about something. "That's pretty much how I feel." None of them chose to be here, chose to have this life forced on them. He feels like he needs to stand up for them, as much as he can.

"But I know we're both in positions where are hands are, at least officially, tied."

[toooldforlosing]

"Seems like it." Raylan's cautious, not yet entirely sure what Jim's getting at, but listening all the same. "Don't know what's to be done."

[captaincocksure]

"Yeah, me either." He shrugs, good-natured. "I guess all I really want anyone to know is, if they did think of something, and I could help. Well. I'd be open to it."

It's a little safer than going So can I count on you if I have a plan? Offering, not assuming or putting the other party in a difficult situation.

[toooldforlosing]

Rayaln nods, slowly. "If someone did think of something," he said, speculatively, "that someone might be looking around for people he could count on."

[captaincocksure]

"Yeah, exactly." Jim shrugs a little. "I figured I'd get that out there. Just in case anyone ever thinks of anything. Or if I somehow think of something, I guess."

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan smiles crookedly. "Well. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Long as you do the same. Meanwhile..." he glances around. "Have you tried any of the drinks at this party yet?"

[captaincocksure]

"I'll do the same," Jim promises, solemn despite the smile on his face. And then his smile grows wider.

"I haven't yet, but I want to. Shall we?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Sounds like a good plan. After all," he adds with a small grin, "we can keep our ears open at the refreshment table as well as anywhere else."

[captaincocksure]

"That we can. And look less suspicious doing it."

They head over, grabbing a couple of seats. "How long have you been in the city?" Jim asks--hey, for once, it's not the very first question he has for someone.

[toooldforlosing]

"'bout a year, year and a half. You?" It seems odd to be calmly getting to know the man now, but he'd earned some points for being willing to put himself in harm's way for others, even in a bit of a crazy maneuver.

[captaincocksure]

"Just about a year, myself." It's always a little disheartening to learn someone's been here longer than he has, because it feels like he's been here forever.

"Things ever get quite this out of hand before? In the time before I got here?"

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan thinks for a moment. "Not the same way. There was a pretty big monster attack, not long after I got here, but nothing like this."

[captaincocksure]

"Yeah, I've had monsters, too, but this is the first time it felt like... I don't know, like the city itself was turning on us."

Maybe it had always been the city turning on them, all along. But monsters, ghosts, creatures, that had some distance. It didn't seem like anything that was or should be part of the city. This was different, this was part of the city's infrastructure. It was harder to feel like it wasn't this place trying to come at them.