Alec & Abby -- An Awkward Talk

[Wade Von Doom]

"Hey, this is all wrong, bruv," the Bohemian protested, as he was escorted off the ship to the Pathfidner jail by armed guards, "I thought we had good time! We were dancing, drinking, marrying, what's the big deal?!" He clearly didn't understand how magically drugging people back in Night City was a bad idea. "I even came back for you, what the hell!" No one was giving him the light of day. Everyone was tired, hungover, sore and in need of some medical attention thanks to all the fighting back in the suite. But, Alec, still stuck in woman form, didn't get out the ship.

She stayed in there for a long time, well after everyone left. She didn't want to see or talk to anyone, especially since the majority were going to ask about the sudden sex change. Everything that happened was a fiasco under her watch, a simple supply run turning into a night of debauchery they can't remember, and seemingly leaving a city on the brink of war by other invading scattered they may have unintentionally started. Not to mention the fight between her and Abby. By the time Alec finally walked out, it was when the hanger was mostly empty and no one was around to see her.

She dragged a stowaway on the ship out with her, a Kitsune that was actually responsible for Alec's change to the female form, and after a long discussion with her, went to her and Abby's room. She checked to see if Abby was inside, and when it looked like she wasn't, she was quick to start packing.

Where was she going? Hell if Alec knew. She just knew she couldn't be in the same room as Abby right now.

 

[Amber Franklin]

Abigail Delano, Courier Six-Character Sheet

When Alec turns her back to the door it slides open for Abby. She steps into the quarters they had chosen for themselves; they had yet to figure out the program for changing it from being more than four gray walls and basic needs with a door. Abby takes off the helmet, sets it and her Death Pod on a table. The Couriers eyes were on her, then what she was doing, and she let out a low sigh.

"You don't have to leave. I'll leave. If you…" the words catch in her throat but she forces them through. "…if you don't want to talk about it, I won't fight it." She grabs her rucksack, one of the few items to have survived her recent travels, and commences filling it with her other belongings. The rifle with the weathered steel and wood furniture, Abby ensures to be unloaded before being slung across her back by its strap. The Pip-Boy that had sat on a shelf is turned on then off.

The peculiar yet fun puzzle, she gives a few turns. A small smile graces her downcast face for a second before her lips and eyes fall again. This was a familiar routine for Abigail. Always going between places, never one place too long. Never one person too long either, except one she seems to always go back to.

Abby tells herself this is just another time to leave.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Alec was halfway packed when Abby came in. She couldn't exactly use her male clothing, since it didn't fit properly, or her armor, or even use Abby's stuff, since that was all about a size too small for her. All she really did pack was her armor, because of sentimental value, and just some food from the mini-fridge they brought in. In fact, upon Alec turning her head to see Abby's silhouette in the doorway, she had crumbs of Shepherd's Pie around her mouth.

She hadn't really eaten much in the past few hours. Or days, really. "MMPH!" Alec was startled by Abby, mouth still full of pie, and quickly threw the rest of it back in the fridge to hide; still warm from the microwave attached to the fridge. She prepared for another fight while trying to swallow, but... nothing. Abby just looked defeated, setting her helmet and Death Pod down. It was strange seeing her like that. Alec had never seen her this dejected before. Without putting up a fight or even wanting to reconcile, she just started packing up as well.

By all rights, Alec should be pissed at her. At least for the slap and belittling back in the hotel. And the Scotswoman certainly felt a mixture of fear as well, having never seen Abby so angry like that. A kind of anger that made a person lose control and forget all semblance of rationale. When she rose her hand up again, Abby looked ready to pound her partner's face through the floor. But, there was still enough reason in the back of her mind to pull away from completely destroy their relationship.

And Alec knew he was by no means a victim here. She lost control, she lashed out, and she was to blame for the mission going so awry. "... Abby," Alec finally spoke up before the courier made her way to the door after picking up everything she wanted, ".... I heard what you said. Back there in the hotel. 'At least this time nobody died'.... You're not that quiet when you whisper," Alec kinda joked, holding her hands behind her back. The conversation felt a little more awkward thanks in part due to Alec still wearing the white shirt from their suite, and nothing else underneath.

Again, nothing fit her now. "How... many times has something like this happened?" She then asked.

 

[Amber Franklin]

Abigail Delano, Courier Six-Character Sheet

At her name, Abby stops packing. Alec did want to talk after all. Then, she had been given a chance to talk before, and it had still ended badly. Her way with words scarred when they failed. Alec was worth it though; moving her feet to keep walking out only brings her back around. The attempt at a joke does not raise her spirits, she keeps her eyes downcast as she sets her ruck on the floor and sits on the bed.

"The last time someone left me because of what I did I…I…" Abby growls, seeths, closes her eyes "...I did something terrible. I felt…justified. I felt it deep in here-"She puts her hand to her armored chest, sighs "..that it was right for her. For everyone that I…I killed the people I felt would…keep hurting her until she was dead. She still left me. Forever." She swallows a lump in her throat, looks at Alec with wet eyes.

"That was Veronica. The last person I loved as deeply as I love you. I told her all the reasons I did it, that they would keep hurting her, hurting others just trying to live because they believed they were right to do it. It didn't matter. Because I killed the only family she knew, and I killed our love." Abby hangs her head, exhales and shakes her head slowly. "I hurt you and killed love again. Because that's what I do. It's all I'm good for!" She yells and hits her shins, making a loud clang as beskar hits beskar.

"Veronica was right to leave me. So are you." Abby picks up the helmet, turns it around to look into the visor as if staring into its eyes for answers. "So I'm leaving for your sake. Before I hurt you again. You don't want me now anyway, knowing what I did to Veronica."

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Alec didn't respond after she finished.

It was hard finding the right words. Hell of a thing to say, murdering in the name of love. As romantic as that sounds, someone might also call it psychotic. Like Alec, for instance, but obviously she wasn't going to say that. It's what made finding the words harder. As the silence filled the room, and Abby sulked in her armor, Alec wiped away the crumbs from her mouth, and leaned against the wall beside the fridge; looking down to the floor in search of what to say.

Or even what to feel. "... How many did you kill?" She was almost afraid to ask that.

 

[Amber Franklin]

Abby was not expecting that. She looks at Alec again, lowers the helmet to rest in her lap. What was the harm in telling her? Alec had already made up her mind by now. Even though it stabs at her heart, to be at least talking to Alec feels better than being alone with her thoughts until she could drown it all in whiskey.

Speaking of, Abby walks to their mini fridge for a drink. This brings her close to Alec, but being a foot away must feel like a mile now that she knew what kind of person Abigail Marie Delano was. Is.

"Twenty-five." Abby answers Alec before taking a swig of the whiskey they kept chilling in the fridge. "I killed twenty-five people in that bunker that night." She says without emotion, having another swig and setting the bottle atop the fridge for Alec to have, if she wants.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

For now, Alec wasn't feeling the drink would do either of them good. With a slightly wide-eyed expression, Alec grabbed the bottle to just hold by her side. Just to keep out of Abby's reach. "... Did you... know them?" She asked further, "Veronica's people... did you know them at all?"

 

[Amber Franklin]

"Some better than others." Abby admits, looking from Alec to the whiskey, and wanting another drink but has the read on the situation that Alec was not going to let her have the rest of the bottle. Which is annoying, but Abby just goes back to resume her packing as she talks.

"The Elder seemed a good man. So did Torres. Ramos." She says these names slowly, remembering their faces before she took the life from their eyes. "Hardin was a real asshole, the only one I don't regret." Abby explains with a touch of venom as she grabs a handful of her clothes from a drab dresser and stuffs them into her ruck. "But they weren't going to change. They were ready to die in that bunker for their mission. I told myself I gave them what they wanted when it was done."

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Alec was hopeful she was going to describe them as bandits, or marauders, or some sort of villainous group from the wasteland. But no. Instead, what she was saying so far sounded much more like a massacre than a rescue. "And what was that mission?" She asked next, watching Abby pack. Knowing more was maybe a bad idea now, as Alec felt even more uneasy.

 

[Amber Franklin]

"Their mission?" Abby stops packing to sigh, compose herself as she mentally goes back to the reasons she had felt right that night. "Only they knew how to use high technology for the right reasons, and that made it right to take anything more advanced than a firearm from everyone they met. Didn't matter who they hurt or killed. Even their own." Abby sighs again, sits back down onto the bed.

"Veronica left them. I found a group of real good people for her to join, do more good than her family was ever willing to do. And what did her Brotherhood family do? Killed them, tried to kill us. I thought...." Abby struggles with the words again. "...I thought because she witnessed that slaughter...that would make what I had to easier to accept."

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Once again, silence filled the room. Alec looked down to the floor after she spoke, trying to comprehend it. Abby didn't slaughter a group of innocents led by a few bad apples. She reacted to one group's violent ideology against another's. A rationale she could understand, but still struggle to digest.

"... Hmph," was the only thing Alec said as a first response, "okay..." With a shaky breath of her own, Alec tried to come up with... something to say at least. "I don't... really know what to say right now. But... I do know at least to say this... I'm sorry," Alec finally looked back up to Abby upon saying that.

"I lost it back down there. And you didn't deserve that. It was all my fault for how things ended up being, and I shouldn't have lashed out." An apology was in order. She felt that much needed to be said. "What you did after... And, what I'm learning now... I'm... not sure how to feel. But... this whole thing started as a fling, and became something we both care about deeply. I don't think it should end on a sour note like this," now she took a swig from the bottle, because things had become much more heavy to handle sober, "how to fix it, not a clue. And maybe that answer won't come for a while. But it's better waiting to find it than calling it quits."

 

[Amber Franklin]

Abby looks up from the floor at Alec. She is also at a loss to what to say at this moment. She supposes, best to start how he did.

"I'm sorry too. It wasn't right for me to hit you like that. I thought I'd just slap you outta the panic. And…ugh.." Abby groans and sighs "You did piss me off. Saying all that. Like I chose the life I've had." Abby throws her hands up, huffs "Most of which I don't even remember! Not really. I been trying to change that. Not living like I'm still in a wasteland.But that don't make it right. I got pissed off. I'm sorry." Abby finishes with another apology and looks at Alec again, her eyes still downcast.

"I ain't no dummy. I know you said it ain't over, but I don't know what else to do except give you space. Give myself some space. I can't be here without knowing how we both feel. I'll go see about somewhere else to sleep until you want me back here. Back to whatever you want us to be. Because that's what I want. Us. Together. Only if you do too." Abby gives a sad smile, kisses the palm of her hand and waves it at Alec as if throwing the kiss at her. Abby is out the door and it closes before Alec can say another word.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

"Abby--" Alec tried saying something before she left, but it was too late. The door closed. Out she went. Alec was all alone. Slowly, she sat down on the bed, like Abby did, and pulled her knees up to her chest; wrapping her arms together on top with the bottle hanging off the edge of her fingers. Alec simply stared off into space between her legs, trying to contemplate everything.

She had never been this alone before. And never this scared. There was a whole multiverse out there, with a machine army waiting for them, and god knows who else waiting to fight them too. And no support from anyone on this station that believed she could lead them into it. And a litany of failures as proof for why.

And nothing Alec could do to prove otherwise. The rest of the night for Alec was spent drinking away at the bottle until it was empty, with tears forming down her face as the silence of the room settled around her.