(no subject)

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

[oom: once upon a time]

So, a man walks into a bar, and he says:

“-Carlos, Carlos, Carlos. How long have we been working together? Long enough for you to know by now that if I tell you to- yes, Carlos, I did tell you to. And I am the boss of you. And, correct me if I’m wrong- and I really don’t think I’m wrong, Carlos- but when I tell you to-”

His cell phone cuts off with a buzz of static, and Sands glances up sharply.

“Oh shit.”

He spins on his heel, snapping the phone shut and reaching for the door handle in one smooth motion. Not smooth enough. The door clicks shut, and fades away into the wall like it was never there at all.


After a little while, his hand falls back down to his side. He keeps right on staring.

Comments

[bright-burning.livejournal.com]

Fire is watching.

She's in a booth, near enough to him, flicking her lighter thoughtfully in her fingers. The burns are gone, now, and there's only a slight ache deep in the bone to remind her of the Room.

But she's watching, and she's smiling.

"Why, Sheldon, here and I thought I'd never see you again."

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

It takes a moment of blankly staring at the wall, and then Sands blinks and turns to look at her. He groans.

“Oh God, you’re still here?”

[bright-burning.livejournal.com]

"What, you'd think I'd leave? I've got a door, sweetheart."

She rolls her eyes, flags down a waitrat and orders a bottle of tequila. "And be nice, or you don't get your welcome home gift."

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“Yeah. Right.”

Sands turns back to the wall, pressing his hands futilely against the all-too-familiar brick.

There’s got to be a secret switch that turns the door on somewhere.

[bright-burning.livejournal.com]

The waitrat returns, and Fire pushes the bottle to the other side of the table, closer to Sands.

"So what've you been doing, in Mexico?"

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

Distractedly, as he runs his hands up and down the wall with a murmured litany of ‘come on, come on, come on, it’s got to be here somewhere’.

Sometimes, he’s hopelessly optimistic.

[bright-burning.livejournal.com]

"...that's not going to help," she points out.

"Just so you know."

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“Yes, I know,” he snaps, dropping his hands like the bricks are red-hot, “thank you.”

He glares at the wall, and at her, and at the bar in general.

[bright-burning.livejournal.com]

"You need to relax."

She leans back, still watching him idly. "Go fuck your girlfriend, or something."

[didntseeit.livejournal.com]

Ajedrez looks up, as she always does. Something flashes across her face, too quickly to see even if he were looking at her.

"Oh," she says at last, "you're back."

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

He starts at the sound of her voice. Really, it’s more of a flinch.

“Oh,” he remarks, not bothering to turn around, “you’re alive.”

[didntseeit.livejournal.com]

"So they tell me. Disappointed?"

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

He rests his forehead against the wall, voice muffling. “That would be telling.”

It’s not particularly venomous, as far as these things go.

[didntseeit.livejournal.com]

No, it's not.

She tilts her head slightly, biting her bottom lip.

missed you why aren't you dead yet go away come here hey honey

"Telling of what?"

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“Ah-ah.”

He waggles a finger, half-turning to gaze flatly over his shoulder at her. There have been more emotional looks turned on wardrobes.

“That would be telling too.”

[didntseeit.livejournal.com]

Almost fondly,

"Love you, too, baby."

Almost fondly.

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“I spat on your grave,” he remarks cheerfully, and it’s close enough to the truth.

Who’s going to know, anyway?

[songofbullets.livejournal.com]

"Sands," El says, guarded.

He's by the bar, guitar case at his feet.

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

Sands looks around sharply, expression flickering from surprise to anger to blankness in a matter of seconds.

“You.”

[songofbullets.livejournal.com]

El nods.

He raises an eyebrow, look assessing. In El-talk that's a what happened?

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“You,” he says again, because some things bear repeating.

“This is all your fucking fault.”

[songofbullets.livejournal.com]

El looks around for a moment then he glances back and raises his other eyebrow. Now his look says, The gringo has gone crazy.

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

It’s a look Sands is familiar with.

“If you’d done what you were supposed to do,” he snaps, advancing, “instead of screwing me over.”

[songofbullets.livejournal.com]

El thinks on this.

"You mean killing instead of letting Barillo have me for dinner."

[rigthegames.livejournal.com]

“Close, El, so close. But- would you believe it- it was more the taking the money and leaving me to get shot at I have the problem with.”