[IC Inbox | Meadowlark]

[lifetothefullest]

@lance.sweets | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[wittingly]

( Forgive him, Nate. Launching into informative offshoots of lectures is just a personality thing and not a commentary on his opinion of the person he's talking to. You can take the boy out of teaching but you can't take teaching out of the boy.

Lance's offhanded commentary about moon-dying is not funny, it's really not, but the tequila's hitting him, too. It draws out a quick, unstifled snort from him that he tries to burry in his cup a second too late.

He clears his throat, still just a touch too much amusement in his expression when he joins them on Plan B. )

Yeah, I think maybe going through an organization for an official means of travel is probably our best bet. But, I'm--

( Framing, Fowler. Find a nice way to put it — nope, filter's a little too slow. )

They fucking hate you guys, though. I mean, sorry- maybe not you, for some reason your face is like an anti-hate forcefield—

( A kindly gesture at Nate with his cup. )

But they definitely hate you.

( Sorry, Lance. )

So I'd really like to be there to see the expression on her face when you guys ask her for a moon ticket.

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate quirks a delighted little smile at anti-hate force field in spite of the fact that he knows that's an inaccurate and biased assessment. In some parts of the world and in some small communities, his face instills a vicious, kneejerk sentiment of "I'd like to kill that fucking guy."

Admittedly, his first run-in with actual representatives of Morningstar was not good. It served as a pretty shitty impression if he's being honest, but he reached out to Gaby. Talked it out. ]

Won't know until I try.

[ Nate shrugs, because it's not like there's anything to lose in doing so. ]

Worse case scenario, they've got me on the hook for a future favor.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance offers a shrug at Ian's affirmation of his status with Morningstar, and doesn't argue about Nate; it is pretty difficult to hate Nate, after all, and with good reason. Besides, although Lance doesn't regret his choices to push boundaries, there's no need for other people to get into trouble with anyone they don't have to.

He concentrates on pouring himself another drink--less tequila this time--and then settles back into his chair again.]

Don't owe them too much of a favor.

[Not that 'favors' are exactly binding contracts, but still.]

[wittingly]

( Ian tips his head to one side like a concession. He's been an advocate of Morningstar openly, because for all of the potential for harm he genuinely believes the good they do outweighs it. The organization as a whole is admirable. The local chapter's population... he has his reservations. It's not even that he disagrees with their stance (or sentiment, at least) on most things, it's just that their approach leaves a lot to be desired.

That's the long winded way of saying he won't outright talk shit here, but yeah, he's very aware of the berth of material for it. )

Lemme know how it goes. I'm officially invested in Operation Moonscapade.

[nonscriptum]

[ Nate would argue that he's owed worse favors than whatever they could possibly come up with, but then, that seems like it might be testing fate in the same way that at least it's not raining tends to immediately summon inclement weather. ]

I'll keep you posted.

[ Which is the best he can do for the time being. That said, with more tequila under his belt and unburdened by the opportunity he was gifted to word-vomit his theories all over pleasant company, Nate too is more loose-lipped than usual. Their location struck him as odd from the start, but now that he has a chance to remark on it- ]

So...is there a reason we're at this hotel instead of your apartment?

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance nods his agreement about Operation Moonscapade, even if he would've called it Operation Moonbase Alpha, but then Nate asks his question and uuuuugh.

Lance slides down sideways in his chair until he can fling a leg over the arm of it, and he would cross his arms and sulk if he weren't holding a drink. But he doesn't even consider trying to avoid explaining, so after a moment--]

Kyna and I had a disagreement.

[...And no elaboration is forthcoming yet.]

[wittingly]

( He's had enough to drink at this point that instead of flat frustration, Lance's explanation only earns a quiet, absurd chuckle. Half because of the sudden Bisexual Energy posture he's taking up, half because—

He raises his cup. )

There's a lot of that going around these days.

[nonscriptum]

[ The abrupt shift in posture to a petulant laziness would make him laugh if Lance didn't look so sour and it's the tacit acknowledgement from Ian that has him wondering what the Hell he managed to miss out on by avoiding the network as much as he usually does.

For a long moment he looks between them and their piece of performance art - Frustration in Repose - and finally opens his mouth. ]

...Guys, as much as I'm enjoying the face journeys, I really can't read minds. Whatever secret conversation you're having, I'm not on the same channel.

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance gives Ian a flat look for the chuckle, though he isn't really annoyed; he can understand the sentiment easily enough, even before his comment.

But Nate is left in the dark, and Lance sighs quietly and tries to figure out how to explain. It feels... Stupid, when he attempts to put it in words, and he isn't sure exactly how to explain, but eventually--]

How many of the conversations on Hawke's post did you read?

[He's just trying to gauge if he needs to go into that before getting into the conversation itself.]

[wittingly]

If you haven't already read it, you may wanna spare yourself.

( Volunteered in a slow drawl. His eyes flicker up to the ceiling - stuck partway through a roll, but mostly so he can replay the entire affair again in his head.

For the fifteenth time. )

[nonscriptum]

Most of them.

[ Nate admits with a grimace, because while he rarely engages in that kind of discourse - for good reason, just look at what went down in that nightmare of a post - he does like to keep abreast of the more contentious happenings. Partly to have some idea of what's going on, partly to make himself aware of who he should and should not engage in conversation.

He's learned from Hadriel. ]

I think "painful" is an understatement.

[lifetothefullest]

[Definitely an understatement, but at least Nate knows the context. So now he supposes he really does have to figure out how to explain, and he doesn't want to go too deeply into it for various reasons.

But for a basic idea--]

After I went to go play poker with you, Kyna asked if I was coming back, and I told her I was. When I got there, she asked me what was wrong, so I tried to explain that it was... Upsetting that she was content to completely ignore everything that was being said about and to Ian and I, but I don't think she quite understood.

[It's... Not entirely the truth, as he's abbreviating some things, but he still thinks it's fair enough. He doesn't know if he wants to go into what set him off at the end, and it was a part of the overall issue anyway, so he'll just avoid it for now.]

[wittingly]

( Most of the humor slips away by the time Lance is partway through his explanation, a quiet unhappiness settling somewhere around his mouth. Technically speaking, they resolved their issue — at least in the sense that they dropped the subject and he's pretending it never happened.

But.

Yeah, he still feels a rock of discontent somewhere in him over it. Over how it ended, and how it really didn't feel like she... got it.

His expectations were too high, he knows better now.

He suddenly seems very interested in his drink, and drinking it. No comment. The silence is probably telling enough anyway. )

[nonscriptum]

Ah.

[ Nate doesn't generally consider himself to be a perceptive person when it comes to others as opposed to his extremely niche special interests, but it's difficult not to notice the palpable shift in body language and the way that Lance makes a concerted effort to communicate himself.

He might have assumed there would be some kind of talk among them after the fact, a discussion about respective stances, arguments made, defenses put forth.

Guess it went over like a lead balloon. ]

...well, uh. I can't exactly speak to Kyna's motives because I barely know her, but if one of my close friends pulled the same crap I'd be pretty pissed off.

[lifetothefullest]

Thanks.

[It's good to know that Nate agrees, though then again Lance hadn't really expected anything different. He taps his fingers against his glass, trying to decide if he should elaborate any further, but eventually just offers a half-hearted shrug from his slouched position.]

It just... It felt more like she cared about justifying her decision than anything else. And I get it, that's not exactly a flaw I'm immune to either, but...

[But there's always a point when the other person's reaction shocks him into realizing he's gone too far, and having genuinely hurt a friend is much more upsetting to him than the possibility of having to face that he was wrong. He didn't feel that same sense here, which is what bothers him the most about this whole situation.]

[wittingly]

( He tries to check himself, but is hard not to feel a little validated here. He'd been thinking he had unrealistic expectations of friendship, an idealized media version that doesn't actually hold up in reality. It's nice to hear that might not be the case, that somebody else would feel the same hurt and have the same standards.

He chews on the inside of his cheek.

Technically speaking their problem had less to do with Riverstone and more to do with the shit that went down on the network. It isn't applicable.

It doesn't matter.

Mostly.

It's fine.

Feels like a fucking moron that got raked over the coals and the person he'd have liked to have come to his defense defended the guy doing the raking, but.

He's letting it go.

Tl;dr big No Comment energy from this asshole taking up space on the couch. )