sure, and his name is still elias ryker, or micky fucking serendipity.
ā yeah, you gave me a name. ā
if thereās the slightest hint of placed emphasis, a name, not your name, he lets it hang between them, and then moves on. ( the trouble, flicking his gaze over her face, is that he could be looking at himself -- younger, scrappier, but still too old around the eyes. the kind of kid that leaps from being a kid to being an adult and gets left holding all the shrapnel and wreckage of having missed out on the middle. )
but thatās all just noise, under the smoothing, pressing weight of envoy persuasion, the steadiness in the gaze that turns onto her. he doesnāt quite know, yet, where sheās come from, but that feeling, that heās looking at himself, speaks volumes. people donāt lie, perform, like that without being taught -- conditioned -- to, and sheās no envoy, but itās something close.
the trouble for her is that heās older, has been in this game longer and deeper, and whatever conditioning she has, it doesnāt run so bone-deep as his ( not so integral that it all but taught her how to think, how to eat, how to breathe ), and it wonāt be up to snuff, not to withstand for too long the heavy, taming waves of weāre all friends here, iām not going to hurt you that the envoy persuasion gives off. ( it helps that he means it, this time, though, admittedly. heāll grant her that much leeway. -- but, well. two birds, one stone. sheās resourceful. he doesnāt quite know what for, yet, but the corps intuitionās saved his hide over half a hundred times. makes it worth heeding. not a bad contact to have, for however long heās staying here. )
ā look, i get it. youāre running your own shit, you donāt need someone stepping on your toes. thatās fine. iām not here to make trouble for you. but you should know someoneās been tailing you for the past hour. and seeing as you havenāt noticed, iām gonna say theyāre good. maybe even better than you. so you have a decision to make. door one, you can keep lying, and handle it yourself, for better or worse. or, door two, you can give me something to go on, and you and i can figure something out. ācause it looks to me like you could use a friend right about now. ā