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[lifetothefullest]

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[evocation]

Hey!

[That's rude.]

No, he was standing outside the Speakeasy in his armor, just staring at the place, and I asked him if he was gonna go in or stand outside all night. And then I sort of hid him from Ephemera.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance doesn't care in the slightest about displays of affection, so although he notes it he doesn't think anything of it and won't unless he has reason to believe there's something to it besides the obvious.

But his gaze flickers briefly toward Kyna at the mention of Ephemera, not sure if he should make any mention in front of Washington that Lance knows him, and decides to hold off on that for now. He can comment on a different part of the response for now.]

What was making you so unsure about the Speakeasy?

[He's genuinely curious, considering Lance now avoids the place for a few reasons himself.]

[hardwearing]

I wasn't staring, I was considering. And the first thing you did was talk me into taking my helmet off.

[ He doesn't argue that she protected him, though. ]

...I was unsure about everything. I'd only been around a few days, and had already been attacked twice. Going into a crowd of potential enemies, even still armored, seemed like a bad plan.

[evocation]

[Kyna shrugs. She did do that.]

You're welcome.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance watches that interaction with faint amusement, observing body language and tone more than listening to what they're actually saying, but he's still aware of the latter.]

You weren't wrong. It's not always the most peaceful place.

[There might be the faintest hint of bitterness in his voice as he says it, because he had a particularly bad experience there is also not a huge fan of the owner.]

But then again, nowhere here really is.

[hardwearing]

[ They're still cuddling and their voices are mild despite sort of bickering, Wash's tone at least obviously fond. ]

Anyway, she made a really questionable decision and let me crash with her so I didn't get set on fire again.

[evocation]

It wasn't questionable. You know, if you ended up being some psychopath I could have just set you on fire again.

[Yep, Kyna's tone is still weirdly fond.]

What happened at the Speakeasy?

[lifetothefullest]

Be that as it may, it was still questionable.

[Lance is with Washington on this one, Kyna, but fortunately it seems to be the case that Washington isn't a huge creep. Hopefully, anyway.

He's heard the fire story from Ephemera--sort of--but this is a good opportunity to get Washington's side, so--]

Set on fire 'again', though?

[And as for Kyna's question, he gives a half shrug and finally does pull one leg up onto the couch, but doesn't answer. He's still trying to decide if he wants to explain any of it, and if so, how to do so.]

[hardwearing]

[ See, Kyna? Lance agrees with him. You don't just take random strangers home.

Wash looks hesitant about answering Lance's question, but after a moment's consideration he shrugs. ]

The guy Kyna mentioned, Ephemera... we've got a history. He was trying to kill me back home and when he saw me here just sorta picked up where he'd left off. I won, but the next day a friend of his used magic to set me on fire. Ironic, maybe? Since I wrecked his flamethrowers in the fight.

...don't worry, things aren't that bad anymore.

[ He's curious about what happened in the Speakeasy, too. Gonna spit it out, Lance? ]

[evocation]

[Kyna just shoots Lance a betrayed look. Whose side are you on!]

[lifetothefullest]

[Don't make questionable decisions, Kyna, gosh.

He listens to Washington's answer, considering it in comparison to the other things he's heard, and so far it all lines up well enough.]

I'm glad the situation isn't that bad anymore, but why was he trying to kill you?

[And no, not stories about the speakeasy just yet.]

[hardwearing]

[ Wash isn't a liar. He's terrible at it, in fact, literally anyone would be able to tell if he was bluffing and Lance is a psychologist. No way is he going to fudge things here. The next question has him frowning a little, though. Generally speaking, this isn't first meeting conversation, and it's a complicated topic. Much more so now than when he first arrived.

His arm around Kyna goes tense, but he answers. ]

Revenge. My old unit killed his.

[evocation]

[And this is where the conversation potentially gets awkward. Kyna trusts Lance to handle this gracefully, but she knows how uncomfortable it's going to be for Wash, so she just stays quiet and scoots a little closer to him, letting them talk.]

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance definitely doesn't want to make this difficult on Washington, because the point is just to get a sense of whether this is a case of two people clashing in a difficult situation, or something that indicates more about either of them personally. Too many here have presented themselves as upstanding citizens only to turn on everyone when it's best for them, so he's being cautious.]

By 'unit', I presume you were on different sides in a war or something?

[He knows, pretty much, that this was the case, but he's asking specifically instead of vaguely to make it simpler for both Washington and himself; Washington can basically say yes or no, and Lance can read if he's lying, and they can be finished with the topic.]

[hardwearing]

Not exactly. We were with rival private groups at that point. There was no right side, but for what it's worth, I thought mine was at the time. They lied to us about who we were fighting and why. What the missions were for. The experiments.

[ He knows this makes him look naive at best, but it's the truth. But he's getting off track. ]

Anyway. It wasn't anything personal, but his family wound up dead. He wants to make me pay for that.

[evocation]

[Kyna's not sure if Wash is doing a great job making himself look good here with that last part, but she just wrinkles her nose and stays quiet. She's not going to add anything, because it doesn't really feel like her place.]

[lifetothefullest]

[Yeah, that's not exactly the best way to put it, because it sounds a bit flippant. But he'll overlook that for the moment, considering the rest of the situation, and the answer lines up with what he'd been told before enough that he thinks this really is a case of different sides and not individual malice. At least in how it started, anyway.]

While understandable, I don't believe that warrants immolation attempts.

[Which he'd told Ephemera also, but he says now to indicate that believes Washington is being truthful and so Lance isn't going to hold the situation against him. At least that is more or less resolved.]

[hardwearing]

[ Wash shrugs, tense and uncomfortable. Revenge is something he's wanted, too. He can understand Ephemera, that's part of what makes this all so complicated. But. ]

He's not trying to kill me anymore. We're...

[ He can't say getting along, exactly. How to put it? Wash looks to Kyna, like maybe she has the words. ]

We had a truce, but it's something a little better than that now.

[evocation]

Um. Allies?

[That sounds right, she thinks.]

I've been hanging out with Ephemera too, so it's... You know. It's fine.

[lifetothefullest]

[Alright, well, that's all promising too, and Lance is willing to trust Kyna's judgment on the whole situation. So he just nods in understanding, ]

That's good. Everyone here has enough to deal with without having to worry about threats from each other, as well as from the gods and the Null.

[And he means that.]

[hardwearing]

[ Wash nods, both at Kyna's assessment and Lance's statement. ]

I fixed his flamethrowers the other day -- he got to meet Olympia.

[evocation]

Wait, you did?

[This is... news. And it's not like she expects Ephemera to lose it and torch the city or anything, but.]

Did he ask you to or something?

[lifetothefullest]

[Yeah, Lance wants to know the answer to that too; as big of strides as Ephemera has made lately, Lance is not sure letting him have flamethrowers is the best idea. He doesn't think he'll just cheerfully burn down the entire city or anything either, but the potential for problems is still much higher than it would've been without fire-producing weapons.]

[hardwearing]

No. I just felt like after what we went through... like, I don't know if I'll be able to fix my EMP and losing part of your arsenal makes you feel vulnerable. I broke them in the first place.

[ He's aware Lance probably doesn't know what he's referencing, but Kyna will get it. ]

[evocation]

Yeah, I know, but... He had someone set you on fire.

[And maybe Kyna is just a hair vindictive, but she's not sure she would have helped fix them if she were Wash.]