Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dustin wasn't sure what he was doing here. It wasn't exactly convenient, and the way Ever described the job didn't sound like any kind of fun at all, although he did mention that the boy who lived here was quote-unquote "******** adorable," so there was that. Still, he had supposed the Negaverse - particularly Ever - had done enough for him to adjust to his new identity and life in the Negaverse, he could try and reach out to someone going through something similar, minus the whole loss of previous identity.

That wound still stung, and the now $100,000 reward on the missing persons poster for his former identity didn't ease that pain.

He stopped at the apartment door with a frown, ready to back out at the last moment before giving a reluctant knock or three.

"Yo, is there a Sawyer in here?" he called out.

"Yeah, yeah, name's Dustin. God sent me down to see you so you're gonna want to let me in," Dustin explained with a shrug.

He examined the boy hiding behind the door. Ever wasn't wrong. The boy was pretty adorable, although the exterior of his apartment was a s**t-hole and he had good reason to suspect the interior wasn't much better. Not that Dustin should really be one to judge, having spent several nights sleeping in alleys and parks just a few short months ago.

"Eh, God's just a douchebag really, ******** him," he continued, his focus more stuck on the miserable living environment. It wasn't the worst place he stepped foot in, and he could definitely see himself crashing there, but he was far too sober for it at this moment. "s**t, I thought they'd set you up with a nicer place. They're gonna be giving me my own damn apartment."

He raised both his brows as he tried to shake off his focus, and back onto the boy. With a full look now, he gave Sawyer another look or two over.

"Ever did mention you were ******** adorable," he said, more of a matter-of-fact statement than a flirtation. "He also said you might want some help getting used to things so sent me over to talk to you I guess. I used to be in the same situation."

"Only I was teasing fifty-year-olds to get into their apartment, feign tiredness, crash for a few hours and rob them while they slept. So a little different," he added. Meh. Who hadn't been there, done that?

"Oh please don't salute me, that'd be so ******** weird," he teased. He lacked any level of authority required for such treatment, both in terms of his low rank and his non-authoritative personality. He flopped onto the futon at the suggestion for a seat, eyeing the boy not quite sure where to begin.

"Look, I was just sent here to talk to you, and make you feel ******** welcome to the Negaverse party or whatever," he said, perhaps not so great at the task. "As I said, they've been good to me. They're setting me up with a new apartment to myself, trained me how to fight which made my body even better than it was before. The work's pretty fun sometimes too. And oh man, everyone they recruit is ******** sexy as hell. Or mostly, at least. But even so, I've had sex with one, made out with a few. I mean honestly short of a blow job service they've got everything you could want."

"So stop being a little b***h about it," he added, noting the sulky tone. "We good?"

Dustin was so helpful.

"Well I'm sorry for your baby-d**k but it's time to sprout up and be a man about s**t," he started with only small hints of mild frustration. He knew he wasn't quite getting through to Sawyer, and trying at anything was so hard. Ugh. He really shouldn't accept doing any more favors. "And good for you on all your s**t that you still have? You know what I lost? ******** everything. I was goddamn Dylan Von Hootensberg before I wasn't, I lived in a goddamned mansion ready to inherit a fortune. Then the Negaverse stepped in and that all changed. Next thing I knew I was homeless, but hey, s**t happens. Things got better - hell, s**t's pretty awesome now. You could be worse off, man."

He reached into his back pocket for a cigarette and lit up. He didn't bother to ask if it was okay to smoke in there. He normally didn't care, especially not in this dump. He took a drag of the cigarette and blew smoke up to the ceiling.

"As for the rest of it, you'll learn all that crap from someone better than me," he said, copping out a bit. He came to talk, not to teach. "You got anything to drink?"

Sobriety was sort of a pain.

Dustin rose from the couch and searched for the ashtray under the bed, a reasonable place for it. He grabbed the tray and two beers from a mini-fridge before settling back down on the futon, offering Sawyer one of his own beers. He took another drag of the cigarette and placed it in the ash tray between them.

"I dunno man, just gotta make nice with people and reap the benefits," he explained. He wasn't really sure how he came to have the nice perks he was offered, but he couldn't complain. "I know there's people in the group meant to look out for us newbies and set us up with a nice life, so maybe go to them."

"What's your name, anyways?" he asked. "Not your real name, I mean your codename or whatever."

"The name's Typhon, and I dunno, we probably should be more secret about it I guess," he said, a bit uncaring. He wasn't really the best agent with the most solid grasp of the severity of the war, even if he proved himself useful from time to time. He cracked open the beer and took a swig while he tried to think of a way to explain, albeit nothing helpful - just mostly obvious information. "We're both playing for the same team here, but if you're not sure its probably smart to keep your mouth shut about things. You don't the bad guys coming after you just cause you slip-up."

"Are you looking for something?" he asked, unsure how he really kept track of anything here.