Yeah, well, I guess they're extra pissed at me for not caving and just giving them your stuff. [He looks down at their hands, frowning.] Besides. They backed off. We got a chance to get away before the authorities could show up. They might even have been sorry.
[She raises her eyebrows.] First time for everything. [Their parents. Sorry. Sure. She runs her thumbs over his knuckles.] I never thought they'd go that far. I know they didn't love us, but I didn't think they hated us.
[He smiles thinly.] I don't think they hated us. I just think they loved their ratings more. Being the ones to bring me in would have been gold for them.
And death for you. [Which they obviously realized if they backed off and were maybe even sorry.
She questions she knows better than to ask. Like if they might have a change of heart when they find out she's alive and suddenly realize they should have been loving her all these years. No, she knows it's not that simple, and even thinking the question hurts because really, she knows the answer.]
Well, it helped when I reminded them that I'd be their third dead child and second dead son. Mom didn't love that. [Shaun hadn't loved having to be the one to point it out either, but the Masons were supposed to be smart. He hadn't gone into hiding for fun.]
But yeah. Not much has changed. Apparently, I was destroying the brand.
Fuck the brand. [She spits out the words. She knows Shaun will agree with the sentiment, but sometimes it still needs to be said.] And fuck them. How badly'd she take it?
[She sighs lightly, looking down. Philip. The son the Masons had actually loved. The son she and Shaun had never really been able to replace. Yeah, she knows exactly how well their mom would have taken it.]
[Goddamn, she can't help the flutter of happiness at the words. Dad, actually proud of them. She's wanted to hear that for so long. She wants to believe it.] Do you think he meant it?
[She doubts Shaun would have said it if he didn't, but she can't trust her own judgment here. Shaun's always been better at catching their parents' lies than she was. If he says it's okay to believe it, she will.]
Because you're not planning on living longer than it takes to get my revenge.
[It's not surprising, even if she hadn't voiced the thought before. What the hell else would keep him going? He's as dependent on her as she is on him, and she never anticipated outliving him by long. She reaches up, touching his cheek.]
Because you don't know I'm alive.
[If he can keep his memories, he can come save her. But if he can't, well, that's just another deadline to add to the probably far closer than is comfortable one of when the CDC will decide she's no longer useful. Hers is probably closer, of course, but he needs to be saved as much as she does. They can save each other.]
[If he makes it that long. He's been getting worse for a while now, and he's not sure he will be able to see this through, though it's not like he has any other choice at this point. With anyone else, he might pull on a smile he doesn't feel and make a flip remark to brush off her comments, but this is George. Even if she didn't know him too well for that kind of distraction to work, she's the only one he's really completely honest with.]
Yeah. So I really hope that either I keep some of these memories when I wake up, or we find each other soon, because things have started to move kind of fast, and I feel like we're approaching the point of "win or die trying."
[Or die anyway once he's won. Or at least entirely break with reality.]
If we don't find each other soon, it won't matter anyway. I don't know how long I have either. If the EIS can't get me out in time, or if they catch us....
[Well, it won't matter if Shaun knows she's alive or not since she won't be anymore.]
For us? Never. [But that's not entirely true. Being here, in Wonderland is easy. No matter how many events mess with them and take away her mind or her Coke or anything else, she has Shaun, and she has freedom in a way she's never had before. No parents, no audience of millions... no matter how much she misses the internet, in some ways she'd be all too happy to never go back. To just be here with Shaun where no one can ever find them.
But that choice isn't up to them, and if it were, they wouldn't be able to make it. They have to finish what they started. Even if even thinking about going back to the CDC makes her heart start to race a little faster and her stomach clench.
She leans against Shaun, taking comfort in the closeness and the fact that they aren't there. No matter what might have to happen in the future, right now they aren't there.]
It won't come to that. I'll get out. We'll find each other.
Yeah. You said someone's trying to break you out, right? That will help.
[He hopes so, anyway, because the alternative--them just missing each other and then dying not knowing--is just too much to handle. If they're really fictional somehow, like the running theory seems to go, their author would have to be a real asshole to pull that one.
Not that there aren't asshole Fictionals out there, but that would just not be a satisfying ending to their story, and no one wants an inbox full of shitty reviews.]
[She nods.] The EIS. They managed to get me a gun. [She still has it, tucked safely into her waistband just in case she needs it. Sure, she has her trusty .40, and that's going to be more useful speaking practically, but a part of her can't shake the feeling that this could all vanish at any time, and she wants to know she'll be armed with what she had when she came in.
Besides, it's not like she's ever gone into a situation and wished she'd brought fewer guns.]
They've clearly got connections and ways around CDC security, but... [She's still fucking terrified. This is the CDC they're up against. No one's better funded or more powerful. What chance does she have? She swallows.] It'll have to be enough.
It will be. [He wishes he felt as confident as he sounds, but maybe if he keeps repeating it, he'll start really believing it, too. Besides--] If they got moles into the CDC it stands to reason that they should be able to get people out, too. Even highly valuable assets. [He gives her a wry grin.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
She questions she knows better than to ask. Like if they might have a change of heart when they find out she's alive and suddenly realize they should have been loving her all these years. No, she knows it's not that simple, and even thinking the question hurts because really, she knows the answer.]
Same shit, different day, huh.
no subject
But yeah. Not much has changed. Apparently, I was destroying the brand.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Are you okay?
no subject
no subject
[She doubts Shaun would have said it if he didn't, but she can't trust her own judgment here. Shaun's always been better at catching their parents' lies than she was. If he says it's okay to believe it, she will.]
no subject
no subject
Because you're not planning on living longer than it takes to get my revenge.
[It's not surprising, even if she hadn't voiced the thought before. What the hell else would keep him going? He's as dependent on her as she is on him, and she never anticipated outliving him by long. She reaches up, touching his cheek.]
Because you don't know I'm alive.
[If he can keep his memories, he can come save her. But if he can't, well, that's just another deadline to add to the probably far closer than is comfortable one of when the CDC will decide she's no longer useful. Hers is probably closer, of course, but he needs to be saved as much as she does. They can save each other.]
no subject
Yeah. So I really hope that either I keep some of these memories when I wake up, or we find each other soon, because things have started to move kind of fast, and I feel like we're approaching the point of "win or die trying."
no subject
If we don't find each other soon, it won't matter anyway. I don't know how long I have either. If the EIS can't get me out in time, or if they catch us....
[Well, it won't matter if Shaun knows she's alive or not since she won't be anymore.]
no subject
[He laughs softly.]
Nothing is ever easy, is it?
no subject
But that choice isn't up to them, and if it were, they wouldn't be able to make it. They have to finish what they started. Even if even thinking about going back to the CDC makes her heart start to race a little faster and her stomach clench.
She leans against Shaun, taking comfort in the closeness and the fact that they aren't there. No matter what might have to happen in the future, right now they aren't there.]
It won't come to that. I'll get out. We'll find each other.
[They have to.]
no subject
[He hopes so, anyway, because the alternative--them just missing each other and then dying not knowing--is just too much to handle. If they're really fictional somehow, like the running theory seems to go, their author would have to be a real asshole to pull that one.
Not that there aren't asshole Fictionals out there, but that would just not be a satisfying ending to their story, and no one wants an inbox full of shitty reviews.]
no subject
Besides, it's not like she's ever gone into a situation and wished she'd brought fewer guns.]
They've clearly got connections and ways around CDC security, but... [She's still fucking terrified. This is the CDC they're up against. No one's better funded or more powerful. What chance does she have? She swallows.] It'll have to be enough.
no subject