inbox;

[stressors]

● "Hey, it's Shiro." ●

"Sorry you missed me. Leave me one and I'll call you right back. Thanks."

☏ call. ✉ text. ⌨ video. ☄ action.

code over at pagans

Comments

[impulsors]

[ i've only used it three times in the last sixty comments, leave me alone!! ]

I'm not gonna sit around and watch you sleep.

[ . . . ]

I can come back. In the morning.

[stressors]

I appreciate it.

[ well, seeing as this is going to be such a charming working relationship - ]

. . . how's the neighborhood where you're stationed at?

[impulsors]

It's old. It's got a lot of backways. So far, the mobs've been sticking to main streets. Places with a lot of big shops and Company clients. Buildings where they know Company supervisors live.

I'll be fine, Shiro.

[ - which is only half-reflex, the excuse to curve lip and tongue into an echo, a familiar name. ]

[stressors]

It's not that I'm incredibly worried.

[ because keith? looks like he can take care of himself. he wouldn't be in his line of work if he didn't know his way around the streets.

there's also the inexplicable feeling of trust between them, but that could also be their last kiss talking.

. . .

or something like that. ]

For you, I mean. The mob's a different story, although hopefully you won't have to break an altercation up in the future.

[impulsors]

I don't think anyone's gonna pay me for that anytime soon.

[ a little ironic, but a little sharp too -- there's too much truth to it. ]

. . . how many riots have there been in the last couple weeks?

1/2

[stressors]

On a major scale? Three or so have required intervention from higher ranking Enforcers.

If we count the smaller riots that have still resulted in damages to local businesses, we'd be here for a while.

[stressors]

. . . either way, this can't sustain itself.

They've stopped logging body counts altogether back at the Company. Besides a handful of people that would like to see a peaceful resolution back at headquarters, I don't think we're going to see any mediation otherwise.

[impulsors]

So, what?

[ snapping each word. his fingers tighten along the wheel; one heel grinds down. ]

Is the Company gonna keep going until they run out of people? What else does can't sustain mean?

[stressors]

Easy, Keith.

I'm just as upset as you are, but let's think this through.

[impulsors]

[ silence cracks open between them, all its pieces jutting sharp -

but the line of his shoulders unravels just a little. ]

The mobs do a lot of damage -- but the Company's the side that's sending people out to kill. If there's any way to finish this, it has to start with the Company.

[stressors]

. . . you're not the first person to think that.

[impulsors]

What's that supposed to mean.

[stressors]

You know about the Resistance.

Don't you?

[impulsors]

Did they make a statement?

[ a blink, reassessing, and his eyes drag from the road to shiro's face, flickering beneath a reel of passing streetlamps. ]

Hold on. Are you - ?

[ i can't believe they're so stupid that they're talking about this in a likely bugged car. ]

[stressors]

[ he has too much faith in his hacked tech to make wiser decisions, alas ]

. . . we'll talk about it in my apartment.

For now, make a right at the next light.

[impulsors]

What? Oh -

[ look, he's been distracted -- it's forty miles per hour, now. reflex jerks the car into an abrupt ninety-degree turn.

this isn't, of course, the greatest experience for passenger necks, but who cares about that. ]

[stressors]

[ HE'S WEARING HIS SEATBELT BUT HE STILL GOES SLAMMING UP AGAINST THE WINDOW ANYWAY ]

Keith.

[impulsors]

Sorry.

[ his mouth's screwed into a grimace; at once the car dips back down to twenty-five, recalcitrant. ]

- should've warned you. Are you okay?

[stressors]

It's fine.

[ his arm's only rigged with a bomb, nbd. ]

. . . I'm good to park in this district for a few hours. We can pull over.

[impulsors]

[ it isn't like he's really guilty -- he's seen a little of what shiro's capable of. but there's a sense that he isn't behaving as well as he ought, and that keeps him quiet, his grip measured as he steers up the dawn-reddened street. there's a space between two cars, just beneath a cracked lamp, cramped but doable. he turns his head, keeps an eye on the bumper as he veers into it, and parks.

only then does he seem to look around, considering: the sleepy grey buildings, every window still unlit in their hooded steel frames; a lone figure staggering along the crosswalk at the mouth of the street. ]

This is it?

[ for a town overrun with mobs, this part looks pretty dull. ]

[stressors]

Demoted, remember?

[ but he's turning the radio on -- and keeping his side of the feed on mute, as per usual. there's more of an exchange going on, raised voices and clamor in the background. oddly enough, nothing too alarming. ]

I don't exactly know what they have planned, but I've got a busy month ahead of me besides.

I'd look forward to it, if I didn't know any better.

[impulsors]

Busy waiting around in cars. Right.

[ the radio earns a brief squint, but not much of one; shiro's voice rings level, and so keith takes his cue. he slouches back against the seat, flicking through the few keys on the ring. ]

They're wasting your time. What do you even do while you're waiting?

[stressors]

Sudoku.

[impulsors]

. . . you're kidding.

[stressors]

Yes, absolutely.