[open; here there be catch-all!]

[cmdreffingshepard]

Characters: Commander Shepard, Arthur, Booker and YOU! Yes, YOU!
Date: Throughout November.
Location: Various locations.
Situation: Various. This is a catch-all log for all three of these characters. I'll post at least one open starter for each (plus some pre-determined closed threads). If there's something specific you'd like to set up, feel free to PM any of my character journals or pp me on plurk @ frodabaggins!
Warnings/Rating: Pre-emptive warning for some discussion of violence-related trauma in Booker and Elizabeth's thread. Will update this as necessary.

Comments

[washitaway]

"...Huh." Frankly, Booker was still too drunk to try and figure out the whys and wherefores of that. Or maybe it was safer to say he was never drunk enough to try and figure that out. He rubbed absently at his jaw, staring at the teacup in his other hand, and finally shook his head, as though dislodging an annoying insect.

"So we're not goin' anywhere for the time being," he finally said. Yep, that's all he got out of that.

[beunbroken]

"Right." That was easy enough. The next part? Not so much.

"I've been talking to people here with us... Apparently time stops while we're gone. If we go back, we're put right back where we were when we were taken." The gravity is evident in her voice, the tea sloshing slightly from side to side, so she placed it back down.

[washitaway]

If we go back. Booker'd been talking to a few people, too. People who'd been sent back, even. He nodded slightly. "Then I guess we'd better not go back," he said eventually.

The thought of Elizabeth just one day being sent back there, no warning, no way to stop it, made him see red. Made him want to shoot something, make something bleed. Accept the things you cannot change, he could hear a voice in his head, and it sounded like - someone long gone. Booker had never been good at that, never known how to deal with feeling helpless.

He usually answered it with violence, or drinking.

[beunbroken]

Not the best words of encouragement, Booker.

She shook her head. "We won't. And if we do- Booker, they've turned it into a hospital. An insane asylum. I don't know if it's to dishearten me or what- but I won't give up on you. No matter how long it takes. When they're not with me- I'll find a way to make it easier for you. Find a way to defeat Songbird." And if she couldn't, she would kill herself.

[washitaway]

He nodded. He knew it wasn't the greatest response, but he wasn't really sure what else to say. He wasn't used to having another person around who needed to be reassured.

But, still.

"I don't - " He started, then paused, scratching at the back of his neck. "I can't say I really believe in myself, much. But I'm glad you do," he finally admitted. "And I won't stop tryin', if you're ever in trouble."

[beunbroken]

"I believe in you." Above all else, she believed in Booker Dewitt. "I know you won't. And the same is for me. If you're in trouble, Booker, I'd die to save you." She went with Songbird, to save him.

[washitaway]

That made him grimace a little. "I don't want you to. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Dreams. Things to look forward to."

[beunbroken]

"My entire life has been made of dreams. Dreams I've had alone. If you think you're going to try to get rid of me that easily..." She sighed. "We should speak with the Emperor. See if there's something she can do to ensure we don't have to go back."

[washitaway]

"Not tryin' to get rid of you," he said quietly, sipping at his tea. He stopped short, though, at her suggestion.

The Emperor? The one who brought them all here, sure. The one in charge. The one running this whole place. That thought made Booker uneasy.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," he confessed. "Might be more trouble than it's worth. What do we even know about her, besides that she has the power to bring folks here from all over?"

[beunbroken]

OK so the last time the two of them wanted to see someone in charge, there was a lot of death involved. But there was going to be death involved here, too.

"We don't know much about her. Apparently she used to meet with us foreigners, when we first arrived. But all that's changed, and this bad guy, whatever he is, is bad news. Really bad news." The way Sei had explained him... She wasn't too eager to go up against him any time soon. "We can't even say his name."

Booker, you are so lucky she's never read Harry Potter.

"But, if you ask me, anything is better than going back to Columbia."

[washitaway]

"I'm right on board with stayin' here, too, but I'm not sure talking to the Emperor is our ticket to a quiet, peaceful life here," Booker pointed out with a shrug. "War or not - whatever's goin' on with this evil spirit or whatever it is, I'm not so sure I'm ready to put my trust in this Emperor not to just send us back on a whim, or do God-knows-what else just because she can."

[beunbroken]

"From what I've been hearing, she can do that, too. I just hope that doesn't happen to either of us." She took another shaking sip of tea. "I'm trying to get as much information as I can. But no one really seems to know much- everyone's just really in the dark. And I don't like it."

[washitaway]

"Just - be careful," he warned. "Just because no one's shooting at us yet doesn't mean they're friends."

He was torn, though - torn between wanting to protect her, and keep her safe, and wanting her to do all the things she wanted to do.

[beunbroken]

She looked down, at her hands, the cup resting on her knees. "I know."

[washitaway]

It was probably the lingering effects of the alcohol making him so loose-lipped. Whatever it was, he felt like elaborating tonight.

"Most folks want something. That's not always bad, you just gotta be aware." Like rescuing her from her tower to repay some debts. "I wish I could tell you it's easy to tell the good ones from the ones who'll hurt you, but it's not. It's always a risk. If you're lucky, though, you'll find one or two good ones. Maybe a really good one, eventually. But you gotta take the risk to have it happen."

[beunbroken]

"I want to think people are good," she said slowly, tasting each word before she said it. "I always thought they were. People were good, or they were bad, and there was no gray area, just black and white. But... That's not the real world. It's not even fiction- people want something. Like you said. And when what one person goes against what another wants, you get conflict. You get people pointing fingers, calling each other bad and good. The bad don't know they're bad. They think they're the good ones just as as much as the good ones do. It's what makes people so... human. But it's what makes them complicated."

[washitaway]

Booker nodded. "People'll do terrible things for good reasons, or good things for terrible reasons. You just... You gotta look out for yourself, is all. And... I dunno. I'm probably not making much sense. I want you to make friends, but I don't want you to get hurt."

[beunbroken]

"No, you're making a lot of sense." She smiled, her lips pressed together tightly. "I want to make friends, too. And at this point, if I get hurt? It's... It's another life experience." There was always a silver lining. Maybe.

[washitaway]

"Anyone hurts you, I'll break their arm," he said mildly, though, well. He probably would.

[beunbroken]

"Or you could teach me to do it. Unless you can find a wrench lying around here." Isn't it great, they can laugh about this, now!

[washitaway]

"Not sure that's something I'd need to teach you," he pointed out with a slight smile and an unconscious rubbing of his temple. "You handled yourself pretty well when we got ambushed."

Just because he was screaming in pain from that knife through his hand didn't mean he didn't see what she did to that guy who tried to grab her.

[beunbroken]

She shrugged, a faint blush rising on her cheeks. "It's not anything I'm proud of. But from you? That's a huge complement. Thanks, Booker." She nudged him softly with her shoulder.

[washitaway]

"Nothing wrong with havin' good instincts," he pointed out with a shrug. "No one should ever lay hands on you without your say-so." Mostly he was thinking about those things Comstock was doing - or planning to do - to her.

"If you want, I could teach you to shoot," he suddenly offered. Might as well give her a fighting chance, right?

[beunbroken]

"I don't plan to let them. Ever again." She'd fought them, once they'd gotten her inside. But he was right.

Wait. "You... could? You'd want to?" She didn't know if she should agree, or tell him no way in hell. She hated violence. But... She'd already killed someone. She'd seen him kill. She knew that violence, as much as she hated it, was going to be a fact of life.

[washitaway]

He sighed. "I can't say I much relish the thought of you wieldin' deadly weapons, but... Thing is, I may not always be able to look out for you, for whatever reason. Might be best for you to acquire some of that skill."

He paused, trying to figure out how to word what else he was thinking. "Shooting's... easier than stabbing," he finally said. "Lets you keep your distance."

Makes it even easier to take a life, he might've pointed out, but he didn't want to get too far into that.