[With someone like Danse, you don't change their minds with words alone. Rey knows it's going to take a lot more than that to get him to even sneeze in Nick's general direction without looking like he's about to dismantle the synthetic down to the last screw.
[She scoffs, having a feeling that she knows what's going on in that metal head of his.]
If it makes you feel any better, he's been a good help at the bar.
[Nick glances back Rey's way, a rueful smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.]
You know what? It does make me feel a little better. A man like him seems like he'd be lost in a place like this without the Brotherhood at his back... though if what he's said holds water, he might be lost back home, too.
[Still, it's better a man like him have a hobby, something to keep him productive. That's the Brotherhood mentality, and when you're in deep enough to be a Paladin, it's a hard line of thinking to break.]
[Something Danse had told her back when they first met comes to her then.]
Don't... think he's with them anymore. Unless you've got more soldier boys wherever you're from, he said that he was no longer one of them.
[Nick never told Rey that the Brotherhood were military, precisely. But that's the vibe she got and definitely what she felt from Danse himself. The disciplined mannerisms, the combat readiness, down to the way he talks.
[In other words, Nick is probably right about Danse being lost.]
[Nick recalls easily the rage in Danse's eyes as the man charged him, the vehemence pouring from his mouth the moment he brought up the Brotherhood. Nick knows well enough what someone struggling with loss, what a man ready to take the world down with him because he has nothing left, looks like.]
He said the Institute took out organizations like the Railroad, and was practically foaming at the mouth when I mentioned the Brotherhood. If I had to wager, I'd say he's no longer a part of anything anymore.
[But Nick doesn't realize just how not a part of the Brotherhood Danse really is -- not yet, anyway.]
[It isn't easy, losing your reason to live. Hell, Rey had once been willing to allow herself to be taken out twice for the sake of revenge when she had lost hers. She can imagine what it must be like for anyone else.]
Would make sense why he's so pissed. Not that it makes it better, but... People like us don't always adjust very well when we don't have a purpose.
[That's the assumption he makes, though he does give Rey a look, in case she wants to clarify. She is the one with all the perspective on that topic, after all.]
At least you're giving him some way to keep himself busy. It's not always easy figuring out what you want to do when you feel like you've got nothing left.
[He'd know, as would Rey.]
I wonder how many other people like him the Door will bring in.
People from my neck of the woods. Brotherhood. Hell, even just people with nowhere else to go. Seem to be a lot of them here, too.
[Nick can't help but wonder if it's on purpose sometimes; it's hard to believe the gods when they have so much control over so many things, but claim to have none over that Door of theirs.]
Guess it's a good thing I'm hoping we can turn this place into something better. Someplace worth staying in, especially for those folks where it does beat the alternative. If we can ever all get on the same page about that, things might just turn out all right.
[Oddly enough, it's never occurred to Rey that Nick would fall into that "alternative" category. He's never seemed to express much interest in going back home, but she's also questioned whether his intentions of staying here have more to do with her than the state of things in his world. Not that she minds; it's just good to know.]
That's a tall order. [Especially since Rey just about nearly sabotaged her friendship with Sharon over being on different pages on the matter.] Guess it's a nice thought, though.
[Depends on the dream and the one dreaming it, though -- in Rey's humble opinion.
[Her expression is forced neutral as Nick swings the topic back to Shadow again. Not her favorite subject as of late, but necessary.]
Okay. [She pauses, folding her arms over her chest.] I know you want to see the good in some people, but... Just keep in mind, they have to want to change, and they have to try. You can't force that.
[From the sounds of it, this one hasn't been trying hard enough. But again, her opinion, and not one that can stop Nick from caring either way.]
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no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 05:26 am (UTC)[She scoffs, having a feeling that she knows what's going on in that metal head of his.]
If it makes you feel any better, he's been a good help at the bar.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 08:24 am (UTC)[Nick glances back Rey's way, a rueful smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.]
You know what? It does make me feel a little better. A man like him seems like he'd be lost in a place like this without the Brotherhood at his back... though if what he's said holds water, he might be lost back home, too.
[Still, it's better a man like him have a hobby, something to keep him productive. That's the Brotherhood mentality, and when you're in deep enough to be a Paladin, it's a hard line of thinking to break.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 06:14 pm (UTC)Don't... think he's with them anymore. Unless you've got more soldier boys wherever you're from, he said that he was no longer one of them.
[Nick never told Rey that the Brotherhood were military, precisely. But that's the vibe she got and definitely what she felt from Danse himself. The disciplined mannerisms, the combat readiness, down to the way he talks.
[In other words, Nick is probably right about Danse being lost.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 10:18 pm (UTC)[Nick recalls easily the rage in Danse's eyes as the man charged him, the vehemence pouring from his mouth the moment he brought up the Brotherhood. Nick knows well enough what someone struggling with loss, what a man ready to take the world down with him because he has nothing left, looks like.]
He said the Institute took out organizations like the Railroad, and was practically foaming at the mouth when I mentioned the Brotherhood. If I had to wager, I'd say he's no longer a part of anything anymore.
[But Nick doesn't realize just how not a part of the Brotherhood Danse really is -- not yet, anyway.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-19 11:35 pm (UTC)Would make sense why he's so pissed. Not that it makes it better, but... People like us don't always adjust very well when we don't have a purpose.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-22 07:13 am (UTC)[That's the assumption he makes, though he does give Rey a look, in case she wants to clarify. She is the one with all the perspective on that topic, after all.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-22 02:43 pm (UTC)[No, she wouldn't want to even imply lumping Danse with her in that alternative category Nick is probably thinking about.]
Yes, I mean soldiers.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-22 11:08 pm (UTC)[He'd know, as would Rey.]
I wonder how many other people like him the Door will bring in.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-23 03:59 am (UTC)[Now it's Rey's turn to guess.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-23 06:11 am (UTC)[Nick can't help but wonder if it's on purpose sometimes; it's hard to believe the gods when they have so much control over so many things, but claim to have none over that Door of theirs.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 02:31 am (UTC)[Some people here are dead, or dealing with much worse -- like Rey and, she suspects, Danse as well.
[Still, the gods claim they don't control the Door, so that doesn't count for much the people who don't fit that bill.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 07:54 am (UTC)From the way Danse put it, there isn't much of a Commonwealth to go back to at all. Some future I haven't lived yet, and am being judged for anyway.
[Not that being judged for something beyond his control isn't old news.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-24 02:04 pm (UTC)Not much you can do about that. But I do know a thing or two of what that's like.
[Only instead of a future, it was for a past she didn't remember, and had been a completely different person.]
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 05:53 am (UTC)[He gives her a rueful kind of smile.]
Guess it's a good thing I'm hoping we can turn this place into something better. Someplace worth staying in, especially for those folks where it does beat the alternative. If we can ever all get on the same page about that, things might just turn out all right.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-28 12:52 am (UTC)That's a tall order. [Especially since Rey just about nearly sabotaged her friendship with Sharon over being on different pages on the matter.] Guess it's a nice thought, though.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-28 05:40 am (UTC)That's the ideal. Things rarely go that way, but it doesn't hurt to dream.
[Not that machines like him can dream in the literal sense -- not without the gods' intervention -- but the point still stands.]
Guess I'll go give Shadow a call, or see if I can't catch him sometime soon. I oughtta sit down and have a talk with him as it is.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-28 06:49 am (UTC)[Depends on the dream and the one dreaming it, though -- in Rey's humble opinion.
[Her expression is forced neutral as Nick swings the topic back to Shadow again. Not her favorite subject as of late, but necessary.]
Okay. [She pauses, folding her arms over her chest.] I know you want to see the good in some people, but... Just keep in mind, they have to want to change, and they have to try. You can't force that.
[From the sounds of it, this one hasn't been trying hard enough. But again, her opinion, and not one that can stop Nick from caring either way.]