[After the conversations he's had with Fiona, after the way she'd torn into him for not coming clean, there's a part of him (even in spite of Jack's warning) that wants to tell Athena the truth.
There's also a part of him that feels like she'll decapitate him before he can finish scrubbing his conscience clean.]
Come on, you know me. In what universe could I ever run Hyperion?
[ More than ever she feels that she is missing something. Some sort of big revelation, or event. Something. She's felt it since she last spoke to him and Fiona - there is something they aren't telling her.
Athena sits the beginning itch of frustration gnawing at her mind and inhales. ]
No, I don't. Not really. But I know enough to know you're hiding something.
Aside from a lifetime of bad decisions and disappointment all building up towards Hyperion exiling me while a crazy woman kidnaps my friend and tries to hold him hostage so I'll help open the biggest Vault the known universe has ever seen?
The moment she gets the message she is out, gone, previous task left abandoned. It doesn't take long, when you're constantly being chased by skags or bandits or kraggons you develop really good running skills. Only it isn't any of those things chasing her now, just the words Aside from Scooter dying echoing over and over and over.
When Athena makes it to the park you could easily assume she has come with the intention of killing Rhys. Eyes wide with a combination of fear and anger, chest heaving, stance generally imposing. Only upside? She's currently unarmed, not that it would stop her. ]
[He's backing away the second he sees her storming towards him, nails picking nervously at the polished metal of his right arm; there's something inherently terrifying about her when she's livid and switched entirely on, and it doesn't matter where she means to direct it.] I-- he-- he-he uh, there was...
[Deep breaths, Rhys. Deep breaths.] We built a ship to get us to Helios but there was a uh, there was a problem. With the engines. And my dead boss.
He got stuck in it and Fiona detached it and he... [It's so agitated an explanation that it's barely coherent, but eventually Rhys manages to get out an entirely sincere, weighted:] I'm sorry.
[ It's bad, a raging storm barely contained underneath her skin. There was worse, she has been worse, back at the facility for instance but there is something more desperate about this. Less uncontrolled anger, more fear.
Scooter is dead. Something happened and all she can think about is Springs was with him. Close proximity to a man that died, whatever happened to him could have befallen her too. It makes her stomach sink and her throat close.
People like Athena, Vault Hunters, they don't have connections. They don't have relationships. People tend to die around them, dropping faster than flies. How many has she lost now? If there is one more ─
Rhys' voice comes in like a detached echo, faded at first, then progressively louder. His words sinking in a few second later. For a moment she forgets to breathe, sucks air through her teeth and holds it there. ]
[He'd never really met her, Springs, that is. It was Fiona that dealt with them more than he ever did, and aside from being barked at by Scooter, the two hadn't shared all that much. But he catches on, then, that it's Janey Athena's worried about, and it shifts him away from his own panic to something more attuned to hers - voice low and careful.] Oh, no no no she-- she's fine.
[ All at once the anxious energy that has kept her upright since she set foot in this city, the storm of anger and fear, leaves her limbs like water gushing from a broken damn. Leaves her numb, weak, legs unable to hold the weight. Athena stumbles, instinct throwing a hand out to grip something; a tree, a bench, Rhys himself, whatever she can reach.
Janey is fine and Scooter is dead. A bitter mix of relief and grief mix in her mouth. On Pandora it's only a matter of time, everyone expects their own deaths. Always been a matter of when not if. Even so. ]
He was... [ Inhale, exhale. She forces breaths, focuses on them, it's all too much otherwise. An overload of emotion she can barely control. ] Scooter was a friend.
Yeah I-- [He licks his lips, feeling like an intrusion - feeling guilty for the fact that yet again he'd been on the spot and dropped his nerve. He wanted to tell her the truth about Jack, but not over the network, and not when she was storming for his neck, and now...
Now she's upset because he'd thrown her and Fiona and a host of excuses under the bus to protect himself. There's no getting the truth out.
[ A moment passes, then another, before Athena forces herself to stand straight. It is a trial but she does her best not to show it, not to show the aches and pains she had been ignoring finally coming to the surface. Compounding upon ontop of another.
But she is a soldier, she pushes it all aside and keeps on going. Bottling up emotion and pain until there is nothing left on her face but her flat piercing stare. One foot in front of the other, no time to sit and grieve. This isn't the first loss she has suffered and it won't be the last. ]
Don't mention this to Gaige. [ She sounds cold, emotionless, her tone hard as she re-focuses. Scooter was close to the Vault Hunters, anyone with half a brain knew that. And with what little she knows of the youngest of that group? She won't take it well. Especially coming from someone who works, or worked, for Hyperion. ] If she hears about it, it is better from me.
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what?
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Is it true?
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[ Right here? No. Right now? Yes. ]
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come on, don't
do this to me right now.
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[After the conversations he's had with Fiona, after the way she'd torn into him for not coming clean, there's a part of him (even in spite of Jack's warning) that wants to tell Athena the truth.
There's also a part of him that feels like she'll decapitate him before he can finish scrubbing his conscience clean.]
Come on, you know me.
In what universe could I ever run Hyperion?
[Good job, hero. Way to keep on lying.]
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Athena sits the beginning itch of frustration gnawing at her mind and inhales. ]
No, I don't. Not really.
But I know enough to know you're hiding something.
[ Denial just wasn't quick enough. ]
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But yes, aside from that.
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Aside from Scooter dying?
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[ Deflection successful, congratulations. ]
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[Not having his neck snapped: more important than giving her a straight answer, clearly.]
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Now
[ Scooter was with Springs, he was with her and now ─
Panic wells up in her throat, constricting like a snake. If something happened to her. ]
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Tons of trees and
grass
I'll
just give me a second and I'll scan it.
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Near the entrance.
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The moment she gets the message she is out, gone, previous task left abandoned. It doesn't take long, when you're constantly being chased by skags or bandits or kraggons you develop really good running skills. Only it isn't any of those things chasing her now, just the words Aside from Scooter dying echoing over and over and over.
When Athena makes it to the park you could easily assume she has come with the intention of killing Rhys. Eyes wide with a combination of fear and anger, chest heaving, stance generally imposing. Only upside? She's currently unarmed, not that it would stop her. ]
Start talking.
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[Deep breaths, Rhys. Deep breaths.] We built a ship to get us to Helios but there was a uh, there was a problem. With the engines. And my dead boss.
He got stuck in it and Fiona detached it and he... [It's so agitated an explanation that it's barely coherent, but eventually Rhys manages to get out an entirely sincere, weighted:] I'm sorry.
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Scooter is dead. Something happened and all she can think about is Springs was with him. Close proximity to a man that died, whatever happened to him could have befallen her too. It makes her stomach sink and her throat close.
People like Athena, Vault Hunters, they don't have connections. They don't have relationships. People tend to die around them, dropping faster than flies. How many has she lost now? If there is one more ─
Rhys' voice comes in like a detached echo, faded at first, then progressively louder. His words sinking in a few second later. For a moment she forgets to breathe, sucks air through her teeth and holds it there. ]
Springs isn't─ [ Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. ] Fuck.
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She wasn't up there with us. I promise.
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Janey is fine and Scooter is dead. A bitter mix of relief and grief mix in her mouth. On Pandora it's only a matter of time, everyone expects their own deaths. Always been a matter of when not if. Even so. ]
He was... [ Inhale, exhale. She forces breaths, focuses on them, it's all too much otherwise. An overload of emotion she can barely control. ] Scooter was a friend.
[ Her girlfriend is alive and a friend is dead. ]
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Now she's upset because he'd thrown her and Fiona and a host of excuses under the bus to protect himself. There's no getting the truth out.
Not like this.] I know.
He was a good guy.
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But she is a soldier, she pushes it all aside and keeps on going. Bottling up emotion and pain until there is nothing left on her face but her flat piercing stare. One foot in front of the other, no time to sit and grieve. This isn't the first loss she has suffered and it won't be the last. ]
Don't mention this to Gaige. [ She sounds cold, emotionless, her tone hard as she re-focuses. Scooter was close to the Vault Hunters, anyone with half a brain knew that. And with what little she knows of the youngest of that group? She won't take it well. Especially coming from someone who works, or worked, for Hyperion. ] If she hears about it, it is better from me.
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