Ladypug — Roleplayer Guild

When Madison looks back at Percy with that uncomfortable look on her face, he knows he messed up. His face reddens as he thinks of all the things she must think of him now. He groans softly, and then covers his face with his hands. Today hasn't gone well at all, why did he bother showing up? Something even worse is going to happen because of the rest of the craziness and his own stupidity. Someone's going to get hurt because of him being an idiot. He feels like he could just cry, but he can't do that in public. He doesn't have any "big tough guy" reputation to keep or anything, but it's always embarrassing to just lose it in public. People start coming over and it makes it worse.

He notices someone looking at him with concern on their face, but before they can come over Percy quickly stands up and he just sits outside. Unless that guy is dead-set on coming over and pummeling him with "are you ok"s, he'll be fine. He'll just sit in the cold. The cold helps him focus on something else other than his own crazy thoughts. He puts his jacket hood up and he just... sits there. In the cold.

He realizes a few minutes later how fucking goofy he must look - 29 year old guy sitting in the fucking cold acting like some angsty teenager, but he doesn't know what else to do. Sure, his background check came up clean and he did reasonably well in the simulation for someone that's never had anything to do with NCs in his life, but if there was a good psychologist around, he's sure he would have been denied. He's not a criminal, sure, but this job heavily requires speaking to other people. He is not good at speaking to other people. At all. He just gives them creepy stares and makes them uncomfortable and make them hate him.

Percy's train of thought stops for a moment, then exhales. The puff of condensation that comes from his nose makes it obvious.

I came out here to stop thinking, not to keep thinking.

Duncan walked over to the man sitting outside in the cold and handed him a hot cup of coffee, "So Percy, care for a bit of a chat?"

Percy jumped - he didn't expect anyone to come out. He looks up from where he's sitting, and sees the coffee.. He hesitantly stands up and takes the mug.. Then looks at Duncan, wondering if he recognizes him or not. After a moment, he quietly speaks to someone for the first time since he got to the hangar, asking shakily, "Do I know you?" If Duncan is observant, he might notice that it looks like Percy's on the verge of breakdown.

"Probably not," he speaks while taking a sip of his drink, "Although it looks like something seems to be bothering you, mind if I ask what's up? Cause no sane man would willingly sit out here on their own in the cold."

Percy looks at Duncan with suspicion. For one, Duncan knows Percy's name, but that might be explainable because he heard someone say it, or read it in some file. For two, he's offering him a drink. What if it's spiked with something? He realized how stupid that thought was, but it didn't stop him from not drinking from that mug. He's heard plenty about people getting drugged and taken away, and just cause Duncan doesn't look like the type to do that doesn't mean he isn't. Looks are decieving.. he then notices that he hasn't even answered Duncan's question. To Percy, it felt like Duncan was silently judging him for being so quiet.
"I'm.. I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind.. Wondering if I should have even signed up for this.. Can't remember if I told my daughter I loved her before I left the house.. Wishing I became an engineer instead of basically putting a gun to my head and hoping it doesn't go off. Regretting my life choices, really." Percy actually laughs at that.. but tears are forming in his eyes again. He wasn't lying.

"Ah, so you're wondering if the easy road is sometimes better than the road less travelled. Sometimes we have to fight for what we love and care about. Take Madison for instance. She's been through a fair amount of hell to get where she's at now. Probably doesn't act like it though." He chuckles to the thought of her general attitude.

"..Is that why you're here? Cause she told you about some redheaded creep staring at her weird during the briefing? I know I was creepy, I didn't mean to be. She just looks so damn young, and them telling me to just let her possibly get hurt? That's insane! She should be in school, not piloting war-machines for shits and giggles! If it was my daughter, she wouldn't be doing that! I mean, Ana's seven, but.. Still! Madison only looks like she's.. I dunno, 15? 16?"

Duncan burst out laughing to which Percy shot a look of confusion, "She told you all that story! God, she's a crack up." Duncan turned to Percy and let the tone of his voice drop down to a more casual level, "Madison never joined for the the fun of it. She joined because her original colony was wiped out over 17 years ago from an NC raid. We found her wandering the wasteland alone and I was asked to take her under my wing. To be perfectly honest I don't know her actual age, but it's somewhere above the 20 mark."

Percy had a hand covering his mouth - he was in shock. "I didn't know that. How is she able to stay so.. Upbeat? I'd be devastated to lose my whole home colony. Is she by herself? Is she alright?"

"Who knows? She doesn't have much of a memory about her younger years with her parents. So it's not like she joined out of some quest for revenge. I mean, how can you want revenge for something you can't remember?" Duncan looked down at his cup, noticing that it was beginning to run low, "She's doing this so that no other families fall apart from the misuse of NC machines."

Percy was silent for a while. He wasn't sure what to say until thinking maybe he ought to give his back story. It only felt fair. "I've lost people too. Not to NCs, but to other things. Parents didn't get medicine for their illnesses, wife.. My wife died in a mechanical accident, over by the western warehouse."

Duncan looked at Percy with a curious look, remembering that in his younger years he worked at that warehouse and knew a few of the people that lost their lives over his time there, "That's rough and I'm truly sorry to hear, but if you don't mind me asking, who would your wife be..?"

Percy was a little taken aback by the question. "Laura. Laura Moore.. Well, I mean, h-her last name was White before she married me, but after marrying me, she changed her last name to Moore. Cause that's how marriage was in.. I don't know, early 2000s? She insisted on it, so I didn't stop her."

"I do remember Laura, sweet girl. She took some time off just after she got pregnant and returned back to work for a couple of weeks before the accident."

Percy could feel some tears finally deciding to roll down his face. "I told her not to go to work that day. I told her I had a bad feeling about it. She said I was just being paranoid like I always am, that we needed the money, that if she didn't go, we wouldn't be able to get Ana the things she needed. I told. her." Percy bit his lip. He's lost it. There's no stopping the grief now. "And then I sign up for something just as fucking dangerous, if not more so. For the money! Let's just make the same damned mistake my wife did! Let's just FUCK my daughter out of having any SEMBLANCE of a family, put her in the care of this SHIT government, probably get her put with some CRIMINAL, or let her be HOMELESS, or DEAD. Yeah, let's just do that, Percy!" He's so angry at himself and the situation. It was both kind of frightening and pitiful. 

Duncan could see the frustration and anger radiating from Percy as he worried about his daughter. He looked down at his empty cup before slowly standing up, "Truth is, all the workers over at the factory got fired several years ago. Funds dried up, supplies and materials became harder to find. In the end, most of the warehouses round the area ended up shutting up shop. It pretty much leads me back to my original point, Is it better to take the easy road or is the road  less travelled sometimes better? That's how I ended up with my job here. It was the only thing available for an ex-engineer."

Percy was silent as he mulled it over. On one hand, the easy route - in this case, being an engineer - might have been secure, sure, but.. his wife died doing that. Sure, it's unlikely that will happen again, but.. Still. On the other hand - being a pilot - he was much more likely to die in the field, but.. there was that 98% success rate the captain had predicted.. And the sum of money was so much more.  If he was honest with himself, with Smith's Rest having no military force, it placed the town in the same risk category as Madison's colony. By default, that meant his daughter would be in more danger if he took the easy way out. 

Percy wipes his face with his sleeve, and he smiles at Duncan.

"I think I needed that. Thank you."

@LHG100
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FINALLY ADDED PERCY'S AND DUNCAN'S CONVERSATION! READ, FRIENDS, READ

I don't ship these two at all nope I'm not imagining them doing gay things.
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