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 Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:15 am
Rep had not been sleeping well since the run in with Protection, Knowledge and Circe, his dreams had been mingled between the usual troubled activities in blue kingdom and the memory of being pinned against a wall, slowly dying. He woke frequently and when he finally gave up trying to sleep it was pretty much morning anyway. He had no idea if Mark would be in his office but headed down there anyway, the guy usually knew more than he let on and maybe he’d be able to shed some light on it all at the very least. He’d lost count of the number of times the guy had saved his life at this point and he wasn’t sure if it had been Mark he heard telling him to stop when it had been so important to.
The stress of looking after Carl had also taken a toll on the already rather anxious man, the kid was an escape artist, able to sneak right out from under the nose of the people trying to keep an eye on him. If he got hurt it would be on Rep's head.
When he got to Mark's room he looked like a man with too little sleep, too littler worries and hair that hadn't been brushed at all. He opened the door. "You here? You up?" he asked the trash filled office.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:58 pm
Mark was there looking more despondant than usual. He saw Rep, but only managed to make a half-committed "S'up." An even bigger pile of papers were now stacked on both sides of the desk.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:06 pm
Rep slouched over and found himself a seat in the mess. He liked Mark's office, it felt like the hoard, and therefore to Rep who found some kind of strange feral animal comfort in crowded rotting surroundings, it was a nice place to be.
"Think you've got enough paperwork?" he asked in a grim attempt at humour. He exhaled.
"I couldn't sleep so I figured I'd come bother you about s**t. Have you been here all night?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:13 pm
It looked like Mark wanted to say a long rant about how pointless actual paperwork was compared to digital stuff, but all he managed was stroking his cellphone while feebly pointing at the espresso machine next to him.
The attempt to pick up his cellphone also failed. "What-what time is it?" He managed to slur together, "How's uhhhh...." Apparently he also forgot the name he had given their collective problem.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:21 pm
"Really ******** early." Rep said. "I think it was four when I gave up trying to sleep and got dressed. I made hot chocolate before I got here." He didn't make espresso for Mark, not out of being obstinate but because he had not a ******** clue how you made anything that wasn't alcoholic or hot chocolate.
He winced at the mention of Carl. "He keeps trying to run away and he's really good at it." he clenched his hand. "Mark, I think Circe has Excalibur. I think that's what happened. Will "Carl" ******** die? Does he have a weapon right now?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:32 pm
Mark was still sadly staring at the espresso machine as if willing it to work and somehow go into his mouth through Jedi mind powers. He stopped just long enough to stare at Rep as his expression moved comically slowly from resignation to confusion to surprise. "Why didn't you say anything - I thought it was just you know," he trailed off for a second as he just waved one hand trying to gesticulate, "Grail touching."
It took him a second longer to get the part two of the memo and he groaned. "So this actually is your fault?" Another pause and he rolled over sadly. "Anyone can die Rep, even me, from paperwork."
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:36 pm
"Aye." Rep said, hanging his head as if the comment about it being his fault was a pronouncement of guilt. "And I couldnae say anything with Carl there. She saved me I think. Protection was killing me. Not intentionally. It's just.." He tried not to think too hard about it.
"I hope she's all right, I hope Cael's all right." He gave Mark an actually sympathetic look. "And hope for your sake he is cause once people figure out you are the ******** heir to Death division you are going to be dealing with more than paperwork."
He shrugged. "That or you are going to be out of a job, back to rank and file." Rubbing the back of his hand where he'd seen the crest of protection before he wondered if Protection had abandoned him for his weakness. "I can help with the paperwork though." he said.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:48 pm
There was some strange somewhat impressive struggle as Mark slowly ploughed his way to the espresso machine, popped the lid open, and hit the button. When that failed he decided the next best step was just to literally shovel a bunch of roasted beans in his mouth and chew very carefully. It didn't sound pleasant at all.
"Dude," he finally said, mustering enough of a second wind to sit back onto his chair and finally pick up his cellphone, "leave me out of your weird lovers triangle thing. I'm sure if we leave him alone, he'll fix himself, it's fine. But um, you know, just in case you oh, I dunno, might have destroyed his weapon with Excalibur how uh, how is Steve now?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:53 pm
Rep thoughtfully watched Mark eat the coffee beans without too much surprise, as far as he was concerned it was an acceptably manly way to ingest caffeine.
He did however look a bit hurt at the dismissal of his issues. "I didn't use Excalibur on him, I used it on the grail thing I think." he said, a bit surly. "I wouldn't hurt him. And it's no a ******** lover's triangle, Circe is SCARY. I want <********> to do with her on a personal level. She's fine in his hands, nowhere else."
He sighed. "Steve who?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:14 pm
"Steve," Mark repeated, doing more weird hand gestures, "you know, your former boss?" He sighed and massaged one temple. "I don't even know why his weapon was helping you, but most of anything who do any legacy touching ever either explode or are a ticking explosion time bomb." A pause. "I mean the good news is, well, how much do you know about legacy pieces?"
The Death Assistant didn't wait for Rep to reply before explaining. "So like my espresso machine, that's a legacy. Well not a real one, it's a metaphor okay. And if I take out one coffee bean, that is one piece and one piece isn't going to really kill me or anything. But let's just pretend that like every piece is super radioactive and you could probably survive one but two together causes you to oh, I dunno, explode. If Steve was already carrying a radioactive coffee bean and then decided to carry another.... I'm not too sure why he didn't explode actually."
Mark scratched his head as a roach fell out. "Are you still, you know?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:24 pm
Rep didn't bother correcting Mark that it was Carl they'd agreed on, one name was as good as another right now frankly. He did find the concept of legacy pieces really ******** concerning though, especially the part about exploding. He wasn't sure why the guy was alive either, at all, or why he was.
"..I dunno how many bits of weird s**t I've been in contact with. I mean I've met ..the red one too?" he said. "I don't even know if I had something from Protection or where and when I got it." He didn't even consider the huge gem around his neck that made him dream of Vegas every night. And then for a moment he found himself considering if Mark had known all along that he was just some ticking time bomb and that any niceness he'd shown him had been just some sort of patronising might as well be nice to the dead guy thing rather than anything else. He looked irritable about this, crossing his arms.
"Still what?" he said standoffishly. "I'm alive. I feel all right other than kind of expected nightmares all the time. Still a ticking time bomb? I don't know, I let whatever it was go, I had to."
He gave Mark a grave look. "You let me go out there all those times."
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:41 pm
"Don't pin this on me bro," Mark ate another single coffee bean, "I don't know if people are going to go out and touch things all the time. Besides nine times out of then they're not like actually radioactive so who cares." A pause. "Those are called artifacts by the way, I'm only telling you because I have yet to see someone explode from too many artifacts. I'd go into details of how legacy balancing works but nobody, including me, is getting paid for that. If you're alive and not fourteen then like you probably didn't explode."
The long explanation seemed to have tired Mark out and he just sat there for a second, before lying down again.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:51 pm
"I don't touch s**t." Rep said, getting bristly that he was being put in the same category as Gale and Lucky. "I very carefully ******** don't. I try really hard to stay out of trouble so I can get back to Ace with as much of me left as possible. I'm just really ******** bad at it. Someone is always saving me or pulling my a** out of trouble. I just pull everyone into disaster around me all of the ******** time."
He put his chin dejectedly on the table. "Thanks though." he said, genuinely appreciating the explanation, one of the first he felt like he'd gotten in a while from anyone around him. "I guess it's good I didn't explode." he said. "But in terms of worth, I'd far rather Cael came back from a mission than me."
Closing his eyes he frowned. "I just feel very ******** lost all of the time and I don't know how I'm meant to help ******** anyone." He knew he was treading that awkward line of too much information and too much confiding in someone who wasn't comfortable with it, the way he felt sometimes with b0nez when he was veering over into the realm of "being a bit of a p***y". But it didn't matter, he was ******** tired and everything was horrible and it wasn't even time to wake up yet.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:05 pm
"Well, I dunno, you're not dead and you didn't exactly give all your money away to your ex and also get an STD so I mean it could be worse," yes Mark was still sore about the whole Melvin thing. He was now clutching the espresso machine in both his arms while lying down unevenly in his heap. "Do me a favour and just don't let Steve leave the island because I mean, look at all these problems."
Mark vaguely gestured to the death by paperwork. Seriously don't let him leave the island I mean especially since we just waged flat out war with you know what."
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:12 pm
Rep snorted. "Melvin walked right into those ******** problems." he said, knowing exactly who Mark was talking about. "He knew what he was doing."
He sighed, getting up from where he'd sat down with a groan. "I know." he said. "I'm trying to ******** stop him leaving but short of locking him the ******** up which I don't think I can do, he's a slippery b*****d. I'll try, but he keeps running away. I don't want him hurt, there's a lot of people who do but I'm no one of them."
"Guess I need to go find him. ******** sake." he rubbed his temples. "Thanks for talking to me though, I'll try and stem the tide of paperwork so you don't die too."
He didn't want to think about what Knowledge would do to a vulnerable Cael if it got hold of him.
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