originallutece | (no subject)

I employed him for a day a few weeks ago.

"I need to stop talking to Jack" isn't an explanation, Tony.

I'm not sure there is an explanation. The whole thing is Janet asked Nicole because Denise girl's bathroom drama
Short of it is he gave me a warning about the memories messing with us and I told him it's already come up
Convinced as he is we're not on speaking terms he sics this Dave kid on me who is desperately looking for some help that's not Jack
I think you can understand why

As the Denise in this situation, you should give the kid a call. He could use some support.

By the way if you tell anyone I did something not 100% for personal profit I'll deny it to my deathbed

Edited (CLARIFIES since events) 2017-05-18 06:00 (UTC)

He's upset, you know. Jack. He is convinced you're never going to speak to him. Far be it for me to play emotional counselor, but you ought to know that, at least.

[God, but this is a mess. He's absolutely not wrong when he phrases it like a really fucked up high school drama; this is becoming far more of a he-said, she-said than Rosalind cares for. But she is fond of both of them, and so she mentions it.

There's a pause before she adds:]

I'll contact Mr. Strider again soon, though.

Have you gained anything new since we last spoke?

Edited (listen it's 2 am, it takes me a few rereads, you saw *nothing*) 2017-05-18 06:13 (UTC)

[There's not an immediate reply. On some level Tony does understand he's being kind of a dick. That things got out of hand and Jack lost control. It happens. He makes light of it, but what's being done to them is truly cruel and unusual.

But. For all the fights over the years. For everything Jack's done. For everything Tony's complicit in with him. —And there are things, screwed up things that should make him unable to sleep at night and yet have never bothered him— Tony has never felt Jack was the enemy. Didn't matter how much other people told him he was the other man. That he needed to grow a spine, step up and kick Jack out of the picture.

That isn't the feeling he had the other day when Jack was choking him. Tl;dr man drama.]

Yeah. I know.

And I did. But you don't get to discuss this one with me. I can handle it.

Ah. Is that how we're going to do this?

[...He doesn't usually talk about this, hell he doesn't even talk about this with Jack, but:]

Rosalind, my father used to lock me in the basement when he got tired of looking at me. I'm the last person to be dramatic about a memory. When I say it's not up for discussion there's a reason for it.

If it revealed any insight into our situation I'd let you know. Promise.

[Good god. Rosalind stares down in horror at the phone for a long few seconds, utterly uncertain as to how to respond to that.]

I wasn't asking simply because of our situation.

I worry about you. I won't persist if you truly don't want to tell me, but I am worried about you.

[Not really the reaction he meant to cause. He feels a little bad about it. And also kind of uncertain how to convince her he's alright; people have a tendency for not really believing him, see subject Jack.]

I'm fine. Boy scout honor. Haven't been drinking any more than usual.
Guessing Jack told you something. What'd he say?

That you two got into a fight, and it was worse than usual. That you weren't talking to him, and that you'd likely hate him for good.

[. . .]

That he wanted to make you afraid. And that he did, through means that I suspect reminded you of your childhood.

You two really armchair therapisted this
Yes, I was afraid. I think that's a pretty standard reaction when someone chokes you
And yeah, it did remind me of a few things. But Rosalind, I haven't seen my parents in thirteen years. Haven't lived with them since they kicked me out at eighteen. I'm over it. If Jack can flip into a psychopath (his words) because of false memories, I'm probably allowed a momentary lapse of character with all my baggage
This is not the worst thing that's happened to me. Hell, it doesn't even make the top five

I'm not having sleepless nights over this. Not locking myself in my room crying to Linkin Park. And, jesus, I promise I haven't written any late night rants on my myspace page about how no one loves me and I'm so alone in the world.

I'll talk to Jack when I have some spare time. It is kind of crunchtime for the movie premiere of Monkey Paw.

Feel a little better?

No. But as I don't think you're going to do anything dreadful to yourself, you don't have to fear my dashing over to your home.

I'm not defending what he did, you know. Not in the least.

[...He can't even say he should have seen it coming. That it's his own fault for not expecting it. He knows what Jack's capable of. Of which his own capability and culpability is tied up in. He hasn't forgotten a night twenty something years ago after Sofia's murder.
"I killed the guy."
"Good."

But where Jack takes control through violence, Tony assumes it by becoming the victim. His fault. Should have known. He made mistakes. He'll know better next time.

He can hardly go around telling people he knows what Jack's truly capable of and it's a lot more than just breaking a nose or two, though. He's not that much of an ass. Also he'd let Jack's daughter find out over his dead body. She doesn't need Jack's fucked up drama in her life.]

I don't care what he did. It's done. Over. There's no point living in the past. If necessary I'll carry pepper spray or something.

Edited (Clarification) 2017-05-18 08:04 (UTC)

[She almost tells him, then, what she and Jack are planning. Almost. Except if she does, Tony will undoubtedly object, not only because he's fond of her but because he's got basic common sense. And while he'd be perfectly right in protesting, Rosalind doesn't want to have to deal with it. She'd had a hard enough time convincing Jack to let her run the experiment at all.]

Or a taser.

[That's what she's going to use. But perhaps it's best to move on, so:]

Strider's upset, you said. I'll talk to him, but tell me more about what's upsetting him, if you can. Or what he wants from me.

[SURPRISINGLY GOOD CALL he'd actually be hella pissed. Which would kind of be a trifecta of "how many times can Jack fuck Tony over in one day" (answer: infinite). The question though has him shrugging. How does one say life, the universe and everything?]

You now have a softspot for a guy who may or may not even exist. How well did you take that? Kid's not dealing with anything less wildly out of his depth. And he's coming at it with a few less years to give him skills to cope. It's a scary thing, having feelings you have no right to be holding and no way to get rid of them.

He's not going to be the only one. This is just the start.

[And he's uncertain what to do about that. Far be it from him to be a generous soul of compassion; he's pretty sure he doesn't possess either of those things. But scared and hurting kids get to him. He's been there. And he fought particularly hard to keep Jack's daughter from dealing with similar experiences over the years despite Jack's shitshow tendencies and her more conservative extended family.

So. Yeah. Kind of not the best thing to have thrown at him in the middle of the night yesterday, but what can you do when fucking Jack gives your personal number out like candy.]

Edited (This is probs typo ridden I'm still hella tired but fixes html at least...) 2017-05-19 01:28 (UTC)

[Truth be told, she's about as good with children as he is, but at least this is someone she vaguely knows. Strider had made her laugh; that's enough to at least give her some incentive to do as Tony's asking.]

All right. I'll text him before the night is out. Though I think this app ought to drag in a few psychologists soon, lest we all end up destroying one another's mental health.

Just what I always wanted: another round of therapy. Retrospec's been reading my Christmas list. Thanks, Rosalind. Owe you one.

I may take you up on that soon.

[She has something in mind, actually. But it can wait for a better night.]

Keep in touch, Tony.