Movie Night IV: Movie Harder

[unrecovered]

Who| Wash and anyone who wants to join
What| Movie night!
Where| The same lounge movie night is always in
When| A few days after Silent Horizon and No Sanity Clause
Warnings/Notes| They're watching Clue, because Tim Curry is the cure for everything.

It has been, to put none too fine a point on it, a shitty week. Everyone needs a place where they can relax and get their minds off what's happened; to that end, Wash figures it's about time for another movie night, and goes for a comedy this time. Sure, Clue is technically a murder mystery with a slow build, but he's pretty sure people will enjoy it as long as he's up front about it.

There's tables full of snacks and drinks set up, per usual. Extra blankets are piled on the arms and backs of chairs and sofas, because blankets make things better and therefore need to be available. There's a sign outside the door with the movie's title, MPAA rating, and a brief summary, along with a note at the bottom: Movie night is neutral territory. Might as well make it known up front.

Comments

[vata]

The bottle's snatched away in an instant, expression suddenly sharp enough to cut. Oh no. You don't get your brandy back. Not after that.

"—you're comparing me to him? Seriously?"

[unrecovered]

Fuck you, that's his brandy. The hand stays out.

"The pattern is the same, and I just learned I don't know the first thing about you." His tone is pointed, but the volume isn't going up. He's trying to make a point, not bait her. "The last time I fell for a ruse like this, a lot of people died. I can't afford to ignore it."

[vata]

"It's called an alias, pendejo, everyone here has one. And my reason for using it has nothing to do with you."

If he wants it back, he's going to have to reach for it, because in this— for this— she isn't meeting him halfway. Isn't budging so much as an inch where her heels are dug into the sand with a stubbornness she hasn't worn in her posture since she wore phosphorescent paint high across her face.

"You want proof? Ask Cortana. She was in my head— if I had anything to hide, she'd have seen it long before you even bothered to double check my name."

[unrecovered]

Hadn't they just had a conversation about pride? Wash gives her a long look and shoves his hands in his pockets. Fine, then.

"You know I don't give a shit about why you chose your alias, right? I really don't care what past you're bringing with you or trying to hide from everyone else. What I care about is my friends, and what I want is a guarantee that you're not running some long game that's going to wreck us all." It's a little dramatic, but so is his entire goddamn life. For once he'd like for something not to go to the extreme.

The offer is tempting, but...well, Azucar doesn't need to know that Cortana doesn't exactly like him. "Define in your head - compatibility's weird across dimensions."

[vata]

She lifts the span of those dark blue and pale, glowing curls across the left side of her head, revealing at least part of the expanse of her circuitry - usually hidden on the off chance Lena crosses her immediate path. "Hard to define in the first place."

Maybe Cortana understood the full depths of it more than she ever did; maybe York and Delta just as much. She was too busy running half the time.

From everything.

"I could hear what she was thinking, she could hear what I was thinking. We shared memories. Experiences."

Her lips purse for a beat, she shrugs her shoulders stiffly. "That's as close as anyone here's gonna get to seeing right through me, so you either take it or leave it."

And with that she steps forward, shoves the bottle against his chest with a firm hand. "But you need to understand that what you know about me is dangerous."

[unrecovered]

Huh. He isn't sure if it's odd that the only set of implants on board that doesn't give Cortana full access to the user's brain is the one native to her dimension or if it's smart. Things to consider later, or possibly never. "I'll take it." For now. If there was anything imminently dangerous in there, Cortana would have told someone about it, or done something about it herself.

He wraps a hand around the bottle. "Dangerous how?" There's a huge difference between it'll get me killed and it'll end the world.

[vata]

Please, does she look like she's from the Halo universe?

"Dangerous para mí, güey." There's no charm in it, no easy rhythm to her voice; maybe it's nice, getting to speak so bluntly for a change to someone other than Gabe— but if it is, she's not stopping long enough to dwell on it. "If I was really so afraid of you finding out the truth about me— if I was the kind of person that'd kill for it? Believe me, I would have done something about it already."

And she wouldn't have tried to level a deal for a weapon she could've just opted to take instead.

"You say you only care about your friends, that you don't know me; I don't know you, Agent Washington, so if I seem a little unhappy about the fact that someone I'm not sure I can trust is holding me over a barrel for nothing in return, that might have something to do with it."

[unrecovered]

"If I thought you were the kind of person to do something about it, I would've gone to Kid Q instead of meeting you here. But here we are." He takes a long swig of brandy to punctuate the statement. He'd chosen to trust what little he knew of her - the part that was willing to show up at movie nights and participate in food fights, the part that seemed to genuinely give a shit about York and Locus - instead of taking what was probably the safest route. He's had trust blow up in his face more than once, and yet that still hasn't stopped him from trying.

"When I said I don't care about your past, I mean I don't care that you have secrets. You want me not to tell 76 that you know Reaper? Fine. And I'm not prying into anything else, either. As long as you're not trying to fuck people up or overthrow the Legion, you can keep on being Azucar and I won't say a word about it, to you or anyone." His eyes flicker towards her - overthrowing the Legion sounds like a ridiculous thing to throw out, but if they already have a mole, he needs to make sure she's not planning on making things worse.

[vata]

Her arms fold tightly across her chest, puffing out a critical little scoff that's punctuated by yet another eye roll— though it's a little less sharp than before. "Fine."

Fine, it's fair enough, provided he keeps his word on not being nosy.

"It's a deal."

Not the easiest one she's made in her entire life, but he's clever enough that she figured it'd be an uphill battle from the start. Besides, if he decides to start causing trouble, she'll at least have the benefit of seeing it coming. The support of her own friends...and his.

"So." She starts, eyebrows pointedly lifting, "Are we good here?"

[unrecovered]

You'd have to be blind and deaf to tell that Azucar isn't happy with the situation, and Wash is neither. But she's agreed, and for now, that's going to have to be good enough.

"We're good." He offers her the bottle back. After a moment of thought, he adds, "And you can tell Reaper he can have his gun back when he can either apologize sincerely or fake it well enough to fool me." A beat. "Or you can tell him you know how to get his gun back and make him work for the information." If he knows anything about Azucar, that latter option will be appealing.

[vata]

She takes it from his hands, this time looking for all intents and purposes like she's going to hold onto it this time - not out of cruelty, but agreement. In her favor.

As is customary when it comes to her, apparently.

But his comment about Reaper draws out a mild scoff, the start of a smile or a laugh that's only half present when she's still settled firmly on her haunches. Maybe it won't be so bad, their truce. "You know if you really want to know my story," Sombra starts, pulling another sip, "You should ask Locus."

[unrecovered]

He's not getting that bottle back, is he. Easy come, easy go.

Wash's knee-jerk reaction to that reply is denial - he just said he wasn't interested in her past - so it takes him a moment to realize there's another layer to it. Chief has Wash's story; Locus has Azucar's. She trusts him enough to open up to him. Good to know. "I'll keep that in mind."

[vata]

"This is the part where we get to have a normal conversation again, right?" Asked from behind the lip of that bottle, looking more herself than— well, cornered animal. Figurative fur smoothing out by careful, easing degrees.

[unrecovered]

"Sure." They managed to get through a whole conversation without going at each other's throats, he's got some tenuous but hopefully solid assurances, and all he's out is a half-bottle of brandy. May as well consider this one a success. "Do you plan on ever actually staying for a movie?"