[IC] Atomic Rain (Fallout)

[NinjaButterfly]

Kaye sighed softly. "Basil...I know what happened between you two." She didn't know if she was crossing the line, but she felt the need to say something about it so he would know that she had somewhat of an understanding of the situation. "I don't know ya'lls backstory, but you seem to have known each other for quite awhile. Even this new version of yourself must have known him for awhile now. And if this is true...then he will come to realize that this version is the one he has come to know lately. Trust me...he will come around, you just have to give him the benefit of the doubt." She smiled at him, though it faltered. Even as she said it she didn't know if she even believed her words herself, but she had to give him some hope to go by. They were the same person in the end, and surely Jace would come to understand that...he had to.

"When we first got here yesterday, Leith and I talked to Jace. I will admit that it wasn't a pretty conversation, but it is obvious that he still loves you. He may be hurt and beyond confused right now, but he will come around. Just...have faith. The bumbling oaf will come around, just because he wants to protect you if anything else."

[Nekoholic]

Basil stared at his folded hands for a long moment, uncertain of how to respond to her words; he was surprised that she was actually capable of displaying genuine empathy, but, well, he didn't know if he believed her. Jace had gone as far as to threaten to kill him when he'd discovered the truth. How else was Basil supposed to take that?

Finally, though, he sighed and said, "I...I remember my father as being my own. I remember being so sick after the...the accident. But more than anything else, I remember all of the time that Jace and I spent together as we grew up; the good times and the bad." He shook his head. "Then I just have to stop and think, 'These aren't even my memories. That wasn't me, was it? I'm just a heap of metal that managed to take his place.' I'm fine with Jace hating me, but I just don't want that--that to affect what he thinks of Basil. I don't want this new body of mine to ruin the person that he once knew."

[NinjaButterfly]

Kaye felt her heart constrict in her chest at hearing that. She hadn't had him confirm her suspicions before, but now he had finally came out and said it, even in the presence of others. It couldn't be easy admitting that to someone, especially to people he had just met a few days ago and even more so that he had admitted it to herself.
"Despite the fact that you do not believe you are technically the same person, deep down you really are. Just because your bones are made of a different material, your heart and your mind still works the same. You have Basil's memories, his feelings, and his best friend...you are Basil whether you want to believe it or not." She paused for a moment. "How long has Jace known you like this?"

[Nekoholic]

"For a couple of days? He found out shortly after we met you and Leith." He unfolded his hands, instead opting to fold his arms over his chest and tap his fingers against the opposite arm. "I had my...suspicions, I suppose, but I was always too afraid to confirm them. And before you ask why, it's because the worst has already happened and I wanted to avoid that. Even...even if it meant that I had to lie to him. He was happy when he was ignorant, wasn't he?"

Leith said, "Look, it may not be the same situation, but I understand how it feels to suddenly realize that you've changed. One morning, I looked into the mirror and realized that my skin was flaking off and not coming back. A couple years after, I was a full-fledged ghoul. Everyone looks at you differently after that, some people shoot first and ask questions later. But despite my body looking different, I was still the same person. I was still plain, old Leith, just without the smooth, baby-soft skin."

Basil processed that; Leith had changed into a ghoul because of consistent, extended exposure to radiation, while he had died because of radiation. He supposed that it was a similar process, just that he received a new body and Leith was stuck with the old. If he looked at it from that angle, perhaps he was even the lucky one?

"Bottom-line, but you have to talk to him. If he doesn't accept you then, then sure, fuck him. He's no longer your problem, simple as that. But if you don't even so much as have one more conversation with the guy, then you'll spend the rest of your life wondering whether or not the problem could have been solved if you just sat down and worked through your differences. You'll be wondering about what you could have had, had you not been so stubborn."

[NinjaButterfly]

Kaye smiled, almost amused at Leith's play of words. "I like what he said." She sighed softly. "Go find him...now. Don't wait until it's already too late."

"Wait...so you're a synth? As in one of those robot things?" Raider couldn't help but ask, his eyes widened.

Kaye rolled her eyes slightly. "You're kind of slow, aren't you?"

Raider glared. "I am not slow! I just didn't want to interrupt the conversation." He then paused, looking hesitant to say more.

She didn't miss a beat, though, as she took in his expression. "You're hiding something, Raider. I can tell, so you might as well spit it out."

He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head nervously, not daring to look her in the eye. "That guy you are talking about...I know where he is. We slept together last night...I-I mean in the same alleyway!" he changed his words quickly so they didn't get the wrong idea. "We didn't really talk much last night, but we did keep one another company. He seemed in pretty bad shape and could hardly even sit up, so I wasn't bound to just leave him there. Who knows what would have happened to him if he was left alone out there at night..."

"So you know where he is now?" You could tell Kaye was being serious because she didn't even make a teasing remark about them sleeping together.

"Well, I knew where he was. He was still asleep when I left, but he could have woken up by now...he was pretty shit-faced, though..."

[Nekoholic]

Leith stood, glancing at Basil as he did the same.

"I'll be fine on my own," Basil murmured, wringing his hands together.

"Are you sure?" Leith asked, to which Basil only nodded as he walked past them and towards the door.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace groaned as the bright rays of the high noon sun blared mercilessly into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. It had just peaked over the top of the building he was sleeping behind and now there was no possible way he would get back to sleep in the direct sunlight, sweltering in the intense heat. His head felt as if it had been stuffed with cotton with a headache pounding into his skull and his throat felt as if it'd been replaced with sandpaper. He hadn't felt this bad since...well, since he'd almost died of radiation poisoning just last week.

He was disoriented at first and didn't even know where he was, but as his vision returned he noticed he was tucked away in some alleyway behind a rusted dumpster. Out of instinct he looked around for Basil and nearly had a heart attack when he realized that he wasn't with him. It didn't don on him at first the events that occurred the previous day for the haze of his drunken stupor still lingered in his hangover, but once the fog receded he remembered things more vividly than he would have liked.

A surge of anger resurfaced as he thought back to Basil and found himself reaching for the half-empty bottle of wine beside him before taking a drink. It wasn't really enough to get him drunk again, but at least it would be enough to fight off the effects of the killer hangover he felt. After all, the best cure to a hangover was more alcohol...at least his useless, deadbeat father taught him one thing in his life.

He didn't know how much time had passed as he sat there, clutching the now-empty bottle in his hand. The sun had already sat over the other side of the adjacent building, he was surprised to realize; it honestly hadn't felt that long as he sat there. His hangover was beginning to recede and his thoughts became a little more clearer, but even as he realized that he was feeling better in even the slightest bit, his headache returned tenfold as his anger spiked from the sight before him. Basil was standing at the mouth of the alleyway, staring directly at him.

"Dammit...can't you just leave me the hell alone?" he snapped as he managed to stand up. He staggered a little bit just because it was the first time he'd been up since the previous night, so his legs and back were in all kinds of knots and kinks. "You are dead in my eyes, so just stay dead...please." He hadn't meant for the quiet plea in the end and cursed himself for the slip-up. "I don't need you to pretend, anymore. I get it now."

[Nekoholic]

Basil stared at the ground, scuffing the toe of his boot against the rubble as he clasped his hands behind his back to hide their shaking. "I wasn't pretending." He bit his bottom lip until he tasted the iron of his blood. "We're about to leave. I wanted to see if you still wanted to come with us--to, you know, see this through to the end." He finally looked up at Jace, wincing at the sight of him; he had done this. It was his fault that Jace was like this. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace stared intently at Basil for the longest, remaining silent because he didn't know what to say. He tried taking a drink from the bottle clutched in his hand only to realize that it was empty. After curing loudly, he threw the bottle as hard as he could and watched as it shattered into a million pieces.

"You honestly believe that I want to go with you after what you have done?" He spit on the ground at Basil's feet. "I protected you...I saved you countless times on this journey and nearly died in the process to save someone who was already dead. I nearly died of radiation poisoning just to make sure you had enough medicine to prevent you from nearly dying of radiation again. I would have done anything for you, and only to realize you were laughing behind my back this entire time."

[Nekoholic]

Basil remained quiet, but finally said, albeit quietly, "I never laughed behind your back, Jace. I don't know why you'd think that." He clenched his hands together behind his back. "I'm not a monster. Not like you think that I am, at least."

[NinjaButterfly]

Despite Jace's anger towards him, his heart still clenched painfully in his chest at his words. No...he wasn't a monster and he was being an asshole about this whole thing. Perhaps he wasn't the Basil that he once knew, but they'd been together for more than a decade together and he had grown close to this Basil over the years. Could he seriously throw all of that away so easily just because he wasn't the person he thought he was?

"Why...? Why were you created to replace him?" he asked softly, looking at the ground. "It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd known the real Basil had died long ago. He thinks that I simply shrugged off his death and moved on with my life without a second thought about it." He couldn't help the few tears that fell. "I know you are practically one in the same...but I abandoned him. Something I promised I would never do."

[Nekoholic]

"You never abandoned him," Basil argued, shaking his head, "And why was I created? I don't have an answer to that, Jace. I really don't. If I had one, I would tell you. All that I know is that I am here, and whether there was an ulterior motive or a purpose behind it or not, it doesn't change the fact that I've found a reason to be here, one of my own." He took a step forward, but then forced himself to stop. "I...I just want you to stay with me, Jace. I know that I'm not the real Basil, and I understand that you hate me for it, and you're entitled to be angry because of all the lies and deception, but I'm selfish, and...and I don't want to lose my best friend. I really don't."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace closed his eyes tightly to try fighting back the onslaught of tears he felt threatening to fall. He took a deep breath and released it, his breath coming out in a wavering force. After he managed to calm himself a little, he turned to look back at him.

"Even after everything I've done to you...even after almost killing you, you still consider me your friend?" He honestly couldn't believe that. "I honestly don't know what to say, Bas...Basil." Now that he knew the truth, he found it rather difficult to say his name. "I don't know what I want from you. I don't know if I want to kiss you or kill you, but...Basil wouldn't want that, I don't think. I think...he would want me to see this through to the end." He averted his gaze. "Despite our situation...the cause is bigger than the two of us, although the only reason I started this project with you to begin with was so I could protect you."

[Nekoholic]

Basil nodded, then, after a moment, he hesitantly asked, hope evident in his voice, "So, does that mean that you'll remain with me--at the least, until this is all said and done?"

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace stared at him for another moment before answering, "I will stay...until this is done at least." He remained silent for a long moment before a thought came to mind. He'd been trying to answer this question all night long but couldn't draw a conclusion to it. "Tell me one thing, though..." he swallowed hard as a lump begun to form in his throat. "With everything that happened yesterday...will you be able to move past that? Will you still trust me with your life and can I count on you to have my back without stabbing me in it?" He didn't mean to sound so hateful, but he had to know that despite everything, that they still had a functioning partnership. Even if things weren't the same as they used to be, Jace still wanted to know that they were still able to properly work together.

But why did he care, anyways? In the beginning he had only agreed to do this because he wanted to protect Basil from the dangers of the Deeper South, but now that the real Basil was gone...what was keeping him here still...? That was a question even Jace couldn't figure out.

[Nekoholic]

Basil considered it, then slowly nodded as he answered with as much certainty as he could muster, "If I hadn't moved past it, then I would have left you here." He turned back to the mouth of the alley, watching absently as people milled about on the nearby streets; a man tugged along a huffing Brahmin, a woman weeded her meager garden, a group of children ran down the old road, apparently playing tag. He finally added, "You can trust me, Jace, but I know that my word will never be enough for you again. You will just have to give me the chance to have my actions strengthen them, or we will have to ultimately go our separate ways." He then started to leave, throwing over his shoulder, "The choice is yours this time."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace tried swallowing the lump in his throat but it wouldn't go away for the time being. It was odd, really, that for once the choice was placed in his own hands. Of course he was able to make the tactical decisions for most situations; in the end Basil's opinion usually won out, because he didn't ever want to see Basil upset, especially if he was the one that caused him to become upset.

He stared at the ground absentmindedly for awhile before releasing a heavy sigh. If he didn't go with him now, then he would most likely remain stuck in this clink of a town and would probably drink himself to death by the end of the month. Alcoholism was a major threat in his family, and deep down he had always known that he would one day, too, fall into those despicable habits and follow in his father's footsteps as everyone had always accused him of doing when he got older. No one had ever given him the benefit of the doubt to do something good with his life, but he had thought helping Basil accomplish his mission would make them see him in a different light, maybe even view him with a semblance of respect. If he stayed here then he knew he would have been proving everyone right, and he just couldn't accept that. He'd started this mission for Basil...and he would see this through in his memory even if he died in the process.

He reached down to pick up his pack and slung it over his shoulder before picking up his cowboy repeater. Without saying another word, he followed silently behind Basil, following him blindly into the unknown as he'd done from the very beginning...

[Nekoholic]

When Basil returned with Jace in tow, Leith couldn't help the little smile that broke out. He then greeted, even though Jace was clearly hungover, "Well, well, well, Sleeping Beauty has awoken from his slumber. Was it the kiss or the migraine that caused that?" This time, his smile was more of an antagonizing smirk.

[NinjaButterfly]

Kaye was a little surprised to see Jace following after Basil. She knew that he would come back to Basil eventually, but she honestly hadn't expected it to be so soon.

Jace glared over at Leith as he grabbed a chair from another table before flopping down in it backwards. He still kept his distance from the table, but was actually sitting closer to Kaye than anyone else. Although she annoyed the hell out of him and had even went as far as to drug him, she was better company than Basil was right now.

"Just shut up, Rot Face. I'm not in the mood to hear your quips right now," he practically growled. "What are you doing here, anyways? I hope you don't think you're coming with us...because you ain't."

Kaye glared at him in return. "Nice try, big boy, but you're not getting rid of us that easily. You still owe us a vault, and don't even try to get out of what you promised us."

"Actually, I didn't promise you anything. Basil took it upon himself to give you that offer while I was on the brink of death." He glared at Basil for a short moment from the corner of his eye.

[Nekoholic]

Basil spared Jace a brief glance, and was about to respond when Leith, primarily only to prevent an argument, jumped back into the conversation, "We've yet to be compensated; we weren't even able to scavenge that vault because of the activated security systems and that Brotherhood woman." He crossed one leg, sideways, over the other. "And not only that, but you two are going to need our help."

He looked over at Kaye, "Who's explaining, sweetheart? You or me?"