IC Contact [Folkmore]

[nomansundertaker]

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probably the night after the network post | audio | un: incendiary

[fogsong]

You still up to talk about your brother? [ Sorry, she didn't forget. ]

audio | un: theundertaker

[nomansundertaker]

[ Wolfwood groans. Is it better or worse it's a relic call? Both. It's both.

Not that he was ever up to talk about his brother. Sharon doesn't let it go. ]

You're a worm with a vibration. You're done being happy?

[fogsong]

[ As if she could ever let go of a piece of juicy Wolfwood lore. ]

No, but if I waited for that, we'd never talk about it. [ She's thinking it might be a couple of more weeks. ]

[nomansundertaker]

That sounds great. Go be happy, and forget I ever had a brother.

[ All he's doing is delaying things. She won't let it go. She won't just go off and be happy. That doesn't mean Wolfwood's gonna fold. He's a goddamned professional of fighting losing battles. ]

[fogsong]

Do I need to remind you that you brought him up to me? You could've lied, you could've said any other name, but you said his. [ In some way, he wants to talk about this—even if it's unconscious. ]

Being happy doesn't suddenly mean I stop being curious or giving a fuck. He's gotta be important to you for you to mention him. [ And that means it's important to her. Plus, how is she supposed to keep an eye out for his brother if she doesn't know anything?? ]

[nomansundertaker]

Ah yes, lying to your friends, a tradition of great standing. Either you'd find out and get mad, or I'd get to know I'm lying to you forever. [ Can't do that all the time, baby. Not that it's meant to be forever. What he's lied to Sharon about, even if it's been around a year, is only until he talks about them with Vash. Which. He will. In time. They're bad at talking about things, both of them. Unlike Sharon. ]

It'd be nice if being happy distracted you a moment longer. Not like what happened with Livio will get any less happened.

[fogsong]

[ As if she'd get mad to find out he lied. Maybe she'd be a little disappointed, maybe a little hurt (as if she'd tell him), but she'd get over it. She knows sometimes you need to lie. ]

Happiness doesn't distract me from anything, Wolfwood. [ Let alone when it comes to someone she cares about. ] I let it go yesterday because it made sense. I'm sure you didn't want my mom to hear.

[nomansundertaker]

[ Wolfwood stares, annoyed and cared for. Sharon's something else, though the way she doesn't give up on anything reminds him of Livio, for all Livio was a giant crybaby. ]

No. Don't really want anyone to hear. [ He pulls out a smoke, closes his eyes, and tries not to think about smoking worms on the orphanage roof with Livio. Dumb stuff, but it lives in his memories. ] Smart people know to look the other way and to move on once those people get their hands on someone. Once they've noticed someone, that's it. Your future's solid as stone.

[fogsong]

They? The people you worked for? [ She uses the word 'worked' rather loosely here. ] Did they want to use Livio, too?

[nomansundertaker]

Yeah, them. [ Wolfwood sighs. ] After they took me, Livio followed after me. Volunteered to take my spot, whatever that meant. He didn't know. I'd refused until then, but that's when I made the deal. I agreed to become a killer, but they had to let Livio go.

[ It feels like getting his heart ripped out again. ]

They didn't let him go.

[fogsong]

[ That's not quite the story she was expecting. The final sentence nails home just how awful it was. Why would they let him go when they found Wolfwood's weakness?

She'd made a similar offer to Claudia but that bitch was too stupid to lie. ]

Shit. [ Hushed. ] Did they turn him into a killer or...?

[nomansundertaker]

They made him a killer, and they broke his mind.

[ Wolfwood gets a bottle of alcohol and drinks a good portion of it. ]

He didn't even recognize me anymore.

[fogsong]

[ You know it's a rough topic when someone brings out the liquor. ]

He could've still been in there somewhere. The mind can do some pretty powerful shit when you need to protect yourself. [ Not that the knowledge is any help. ] Maybe he found a way to protect the part of himself that knew you.

text; @firstclass; hey drinkin buddy...

[zacrifice]

u wanna come get wasted
usually cant get drunk but im gonna try

text | un: nomansundertaker

[nomansundertaker]

[ Ah shit, something bad must have happened. Wolfwood's a pro on the getting wasted invitations, and this one isn't a celebratory one. ]

Count me in. It always takes me more than average to get drunk.
But next to you, I might be the lightweight.

[zacrifice]

cool
u know a place that doesn't mind ppl getting rowdy on the booze?

[He doesn't have a broad range of places he goes, since it doesn't matter that much what you drink or where, when it's super hard to get wasted. Suddenly this is important.]

[nomansundertaker]

[ If anyone's done a halfway decent tour of drinking place in Folkmore, it's this guy. Admittedly, he's never been back to Tides after that first trip, but he doesn't need to pull that deep to find a place to drink with Zack. ]

Yeah, the fighting pits have a bar, or well a place where people there drink.
Drinks strong enough to burn the back of your throat.

[zacrifice]

sounds perfect
meet u there then thanks

[Time to find the grimmest hole in the fighting pit areas and shove his face in a bottle for a while. He's definitely not his usual perky self today.]

[nomansundertaker]

[ It's the kind of place that reminds him of home. All the desert and dry heat of Cruel Summer only enforces the idea. Shit's happened, and that is a place in sand with booze raw enough to burn a hole in your stomach.

It's not a long journey, and the pit in Wolfwood's stomach is heavier than the punisher he carries with him. It gets a few eyes running over it as he makes his way to the bar. ]

Two glasses and a bottle just above the worst stuff you got.

[ No reason to wait on each pour. ]

[zacrifice]

Better make it two.

[Zack will cough up the lore for it, it's no problem. But one bottle of even the worst isn't likely to even get him buzzed. He does manage to muster the smallest of low-energy smiles for Wolfwood, however.]

Thanks for comin' with. Drinking alone is too depressing.

[nomansundertaker]

Two glasses, two bottles.

[ Wolfwood confirms it with what passes for a bartender. He holds up his spoon to pay for it. He's had the less shitty day or week or whatever. He can pay to try to get Zack wasted. ]

Before I met Vash, I wouldn't have wanted to drink with any of my potential drinking partners, so it was that and whatever company I made in a bar for me. Before Folkmore.

[ You know, depressing. ]

[zacrifice]

[Zack doesn't even try to protest the payment, even though he should be the one paying since he asked for this. He just pours each of them a glass before lifting his own to take a swig as he listens.]

How come you didn't want to with anybody else?

[nomansundertaker]

[ Wolfwood needs a drink before he answers that question. He takes his glass, sighs, and empties the glass. He pours another but doesn't drink it yet. ]

They were all a bunch of assholes I didn't even want to work with.
I wasn't going to give them any more time of day.

[zacrifice]

Oh. Yeah, guess that's fair. [One more swig, and he's already refilling. Barely even burns, dammit.] Well... glad I made the cut.

[nomansundertaker]

[ Wolfwood chuckles. It's easier to laugh about them now, a universe and a couple years away. ]

You're way better than anyone I've worked with, but that's not much of a compliment.