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Ah. Well there's the rub.

"He isn't the easiest person to get close to. And I don't think it would have mattered much what you said if he was in a foul mood." He stops in the hall, looking down the empty corridor and sighing. He doesn't want to have to call John again if he gets jumped, but it's probably fine if he was with someone else. Maybe. He's not going to give anyone as much time to corner him as he had with the other Cain.

Leaning his shoulder against the wall, he crosses his arms and nods to Malcolm. "I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not at all surprised he doesn't like you. Your a warden, you try too hard and you're friendly with strangers. I don't see that meshing well if he already has any reason, justifiable or not to dislike you."

"Disliking me is one thing but offering 'anyone' some survival equipment and then going 'oh not you' is a different level. I didn't do anything," Malcolm points out. "So probably he doesn't like a lot of people but he was making a public offer to 'anyone' so it sounds like he was going to largely overlook it."

Edited 2024-10-16 20:17 (UTC)

Abel considers the hundreds of things he could say before he decides a different option might be more helpful.

"Would you be willing to show me exactly what was said? I speak 'Cain' well enough..."

Malcolm takes out his phone and hands it over.

He looks at the back and forth, a hand rubbing at his mouth as he listens to it.

"Well. He didn't tell you no definitively from the beginning, he gave you an alternative, which-" Abel shouldn't say he's proud of him for doing so when it's clear to him that just hearing from Malcolm immediately set him off, not to Malcolm anyways. He might take it wrong. "Is better than I expected. And while you're totally within your right to ask why, or question the answer, his reaction doesn't really surprise me at all."

He offers the communicator back to Malcolm. "That's certainly not him on his worst behavior."

Malcolm takes the device back.

"Oh, he can be even more mean for even less reason. Awesome. I can see why you like him so much." He puts the device in his pocket. "Well, I don't want an energy device. So. Doesn't matter."

Abel raises an eyebrow at Malcolm.

"Be thankful you're not his temp, I've seen those conversations. But I certainly hope you're not getting mad at me for it. I can't control or change his behavior." He can try and supplement though, the loss of information.

"Did you still want to learn about them?"

"I don't blame you; I just see where it's going. You'll be spending more and more time with him and it will be less and less practical to spend time on people he doesn't agree on spending time with. Easier to not. Tale as old as time."

The question makes him pause. It's like a turn with no turn signal. "...Learn about what?"

Something in Abel's expression shifts, there is something hard there that obviously comes from a place he doesn't like to spend much time in, but it existed as a part of him now. He hasn't received an apology, he's still waiting on one, but if he thinks he can take all his time just because they were close, he'd be sorely mistaken.

"If Cain ever thinks he can tell me who I can or can't spend time with, he can go fuck himself."

He shakes his head, clearing the stormy look before patting the gun at his thigh, "energy weapons. You don't need Cain for that, he's right to say Fives would be a better instructor for you, but I can teach you too."

Edited 2024-10-16 22:18 (UTC)

Malcolm wants to believe that assertion, but... he wasn't expecting that Cain would tell him not to be friends with certain people. He'd just... steer him away.

At the offer, he tilts his head slightly. "I'm not really into guns. I was just... wondering what they did to a person." Because he is into murder. "And then... I didn't even really care about that; I just wanted to know why, out of everyone on this ship, I don't count as 'anyone'."

Oh Malcolm, nope. Abel isn't playing that game with Cain and he doesn't think that Cain wants to play those games either any more. And if he did? He would shut it down immediately.

Though at the question he looks at Malcolm seriously, "you are putting a lot of thought into something he didnt think twice about. He owes you nothing, and you owe him nothing."

He reaches out a hand, gently grabbing Malcolm's arm to give it a squeeze, "don't give a stranger that much power over you."

"It's not about power or... who owes who what. It's about community and who's part of it and who's not," Malcolm tells him. "And if he doesn't think twice about other people, why do you like him?"

"You're assuming he includes himself in that community. I don't think he does, and I don't think he wants to be apart of it either." Because the Barge isn't a community to him, it's a prison, and he never had community there, and he isn't sure he wants to find one now.

Abel turns his head, not looking at Malcolm as he thinks of all the things he could say to that. The list was long, and it was just as complicated as Cain. "He isn't always like that. And when he isn't, and he actually cares, it's...different." He sucks in a breath. These are things he can't even bring himself to say to Cain, and Malcolm is just asking him in the hallway.

"Even before we met, he'd been through a lot, I had no idea why he was like that, just that I hated it, and I never thought I would like him because he was all rough edges, and a total ass. But then you spend time with someone, every single day for a year, and you learn things about them that they don't show anyone else. And I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm good enough, or...that I can speak my mind, be myself? He might still be rough, but...he never made me feel like I should be ashamed of who I am. And he believes in me, to the point that I don't even know what to do with it other than try and see myself the way he does. It's...terrifying actually." Because Abel had been devoted, all in, but he'd never expected to get that back.

He's quiet for a moment, forehead thumping gently against the wall, "And I'm sorry that the only part he lets you see is so angry, but if you knew him like I do, it would be easier to understand."

Edited 2024-10-17 02:32 (UTC)

“Well, I won’t. He chose that on the basis of practically nothing, after… what? Pretending to care about the community by offering them something? Why would he do that if he didn’t want to be part of it? Maybe he resents wanting it, but of course he does want it. Humans are herd animals. Pack hunters. He sees kindred spirits in some of the people here, in a way he hasn’t experienced in your world with the exception of you,” Malcolm notes.

"Or he was bored and wanted something productive to do that he has interest in," He offers, not sure that it was entirely that deep, but Malcolm sure seemed to think it was.

“But not so bored that he’d actually follow through with the thing. Or the antidote to boredom is asking people if they want something and then, when they say ‘yes’, yanking it away and saying ‘too bad’? Because that’s funny?” Malcolm hazards.

"But not so bored that he'd let go of the fact that you irritated him to the point of extremely disliking you the first time you met." Abel returns, arms still folded, "He doesn't play games with people for the fun of it."

“I didn’t do anything!” Malcolm insists.

"Malcolm, I have no idea what actually happened, and I'm not about to ask Cain because that would only make it worse. But I sincerely doubt that your interaction, what ever it was, started as hello, go away, and it was over." He straightens from his lean against the wall.

"Walk me through what happened, don't leave anything out, and maybe I can help you understand."

Oh, here it comes. The part where they forensically examine at exactly which point this became Malcolm’s fault.

“You know what? I think you were right from the start: it’s not worth it. “ He shifts his grip on his bag. “So… how do these energy weapons work, exactly? Obviously that have to be some sort of directed beam…..”

Abel stares at Malcolm a moment, catching his scar between his teeth before he ventures forth.

"Malcolm, are you changing the subject because you're afraid of something, or is it because you spontaneously decided this thing we've been talking about for fifteen minutes is suddenly and strangely unimportant? I just want to be sure."

“It looks like a road I’ve been down a lot now, so now I understand it. You said you’d tell me about the weapons,” Malcolm replies.

"Just because you've been down it, doesn't mean it's the same for every person you meet. But If you'd rather not, I'll let it go." He isn't Malcolm's therapist, he's his friend. He isn't here to push him to do uncomfortable things.

Instead he'll unsnap the band of his thigh holster and offer Malcolm his gun so he can look at it.

"Safety's on, and there are two settings, a stun and a more lethal shot. The guns that Fives are offering have a few more settings than mine."

Malcolm takes it and looks at one side and then the other.

“The ones Tendi mentioned only stun,” Malcolm tells him as he examines it. “I got one for Walter.”

"Mine originally was only a stun gun before that reality bending bullshit happened." He returns, not having felt the need for something like that until he felt like he needed it to protect someone else from something other than a fellow crew member.

"I'm glad she got some takers. I was talking with her about that before we left for the Enposib. I hope he can prove to be responsible with it...I understand that having the ability to disable someone temporarily can give the opportunity for further violence, but...until proven other wise, everyone should have some form of defense."

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