Take a Walk [Closed]

[unrecovered]

[It had been a few days since Greg had come back - long enough for him to recover a bit, as far as Wash could tell, and long enough for Wash to reacclimate to Freesia. He'd headed by Greg's apartment early in the morning (but not as early as usual) to get Greg up for a morning walk. They'd work back up to the jog - for now, this was routine for the sake of normalcy.]

[It had been once around the high rises, and then into the park. About halfway in, Wash stopped in the shade of one of the larger trees.]

How're you feeling?

Comments

[unrecovered]

You think you've got it figured out- you think you've moved on, and then... [He shakes his head.] It's always different when they're standing right in front of you. You just...don't know what to say.

[Oh yeah, he's familiar with this.]

[panspermia]

There's all this stuff I wanted to say... but she's from way before all that. So it's just... complicated.

...Does that get easier, too?

[unrecovered]

[He may not be the best person to talk to about this one.]

That probably depends on how you handle it. I had a friend from much earlier on the timeline than I was, from before - [before Freelancer collapsed, before he went insane] - before everything went to hell. He knew something was wrong, I wouldn't tell him anything, and it...tanked our friendship pretty badly.

But that's me, and I'm pretty bad at this sort of thing. You're a lot more open, and a lot better at this than I am. You'll be fine.

[panspermia]

[It always seemed, whenever Greg hit a wall, Wash had hit it first, only harder. If nothing else, the poor guy was a lesson in what not to do. ]

Yeah... I'll be fine.

[After a beat, he eyes Wash. ]

How about you?

[unrecovered]

[North is in the Realm of Dreams, or back in the past, or...somewhere. Not here. Not something Wash needs to worry about.]

[He blinks and looks at Greg. He has no idea what Greg's asking here.]

What?

[panspermia]

You just came back from a whole 'nother war, right?

[ Like with genocide, and betrayal, and stuff. It sounded........ stressful. ]

You doing all right?

[unrecovered]

[...oh yeah. He takes a few moments to really think about it - to really do some searching - and...]

Believe it or not, I'm actually okay. I mean, war is hell, there's no denying that, but...I think I handled it better than I did being here. On Chorus, I was capable; here, I'm at square one. When you've spent half your life fighting - when it's what you're good at - that's...not easy.

[He shrugs.] Aside from that, as long as I can get back and make sure my team is okay, I'll be fine.

[panspermia]

[It's a little surprising to hear... but it certainly puts a few things in perspective about Wash.]

You're not too bummed about being back here, are you? Away from your team?

[unrecovered]

Even if I was, there's nothing I can do about it. Plus, they can handle themselves. They've always been good at that.

[panspermia]

Yeah... I guess you just have to trust them, at this point.

[He's sure his own friends back home are more than capable without him. They don't really need him at all, honestly. But he misses them.]

[unrecovered]

I do. [It's calm and level - he means it.]

Plus, I'll wind up at the exact same moment when I left. Either way, I'll be there when it plays out.

[He's going to get through this, get back to Chorus, and fight his way through as much of the staff of Charon as he needs to to extract his team. Step one is getting through the war in Freesia first.]

[panspermia]

Right... weird time junk.

[However long all this took, they could count on not missing anything important. It wasn't wholly a comfort, but it was certainly worth something.

Greg stretched, thinking over his words.]

Hey--for what it's worth... you're great at way more than just fighting.

[unrecovered]

Yeah, pretty much.

[That takes him by surprise, and he snorts. 'Having conversations' is probably not on that list of things he's good at that aren't fighting.]

Yeah?

[panspermia]

Yeah... you're real determined. One way or another, you never give up. That makes you good at pretty much anything you're up for, in the end.

Exercise... ukuleles... [He grinned, elbowing Wash gently.] ...or whatever.

[unrecovered]

[...oh. He's always just thought of it as stubbornness, an inability to know when to stop, a survival tactic - stopping meant death, so don't ever stop. But to hear Greg frame it like that...]

[He's smiling before he knows it, and he laughs when Greg elbows him - a small laugh, sure, but it's there.]

Coming from a guy with that much potential, that means a lot.

[panspermia]

[That gets its own look in return, and a weird laugh.]

Hah. See, that's another thing you never give up on.

[unrecovered]

[He's still smiling, but it's a bit toned down - even he can hear that something is off about that laugh.]

Well, yeah. I'm not in the habit of giving up on my friends.

[panspermia]

[He really doesn't get what it is Wash sees in him, though the kindness is nice. Nice, but hard to know how to respond to.]

So, uh. Should we get moving again?

[unrecovered]

[Hang on, the second they start talking about Greg, he wants to leave? Wash raises an eyebrow.]

You're changing the subject on me.

[panspermia]

[Greg blinked. Was he? He hadn't even been thinking about it.]

What subject? I'm just changing the pace, hah.

[unrecovered]

The minute the conversation turns to you, you change the subject.

[He folds his arms. This is stubborn territory.]

You do have a lot of potential, you know. Whether you believe it or not.

[panspermia]

Uh. Well. [ He shrugs, glancing away. ]

Sure, I guess. Thanks. [There, it's acknowledged. Good enough, right? ]

[unrecovered]

You don't believe me. [It's not an accusation; it's a statement of fact.]

[panspermia]

It's not that! I just... [think he's mistaken.]

I dunno. Maybe when I was younger. It's all pretty dried up by now.

[unrecovered]

I don't buy that.

[Namely because it's not true.]

I don't buy that the guy who was using magic from the moment we met and who currently has one of the best balances of power and control in the city has no potential. I think he just...can't see it in himself. But that doesn't mean it's not there.