[hawk remembers how hard bob seemed to take things when he'd been bottom of the barrel in the midst of involuntarily being inserted into a cult back before shit went to hell in a handbasket. but somehow, he doesn't think bob's name safely in gold is going to make him feel much better about all of it now.
and it's not that he worries about the ticking time bomb aspect everyone wants to pound into the group psyche, it's more - well, bob is one of the few people hawk unapologetically cares about and accepts vulnerability from. he's just thankful he can do this during a late evening after a long day in the woods, bones aching from the strain of repetitive motion and grueling hours in lieu of getting another fucking notification from that goddamn voyeur app.]
Hey Bobby.
You hanging in there? I'm glad you aren't down here, anyway. It's rough, even if I think you'd crush every piece of manual labor they'd throw your way.
...Not literally. Just, you know. I have eyes.
[like the time he bodily hefted embry up as if he were merely a rotten apple instead of flesh and blood.]
and it's not that he worries about the ticking time bomb aspect everyone wants to pound into the group psyche, it's more - well, bob is one of the few people hawk unapologetically cares about and accepts vulnerability from. he's just thankful he can do this during a late evening after a long day in the woods, bones aching from the strain of repetitive motion and grueling hours in lieu of getting another fucking notification from that goddamn voyeur app.]
Hey Bobby.
You hanging in there? I'm glad you aren't down here, anyway. It's rough, even if I think you'd crush every piece of manual labor they'd throw your way.
...Not literally. Just, you know. I have eyes.
[like the time he bodily hefted embry up as if he were merely a rotten apple instead of flesh and blood.]
[ the attention hawk pays him still surprises him — especially now, when he has so much to worry about down in bronze. ]
hey
i’m okay
i’d swap jobs with you if i could
you’d be way better at the stuff they’re trying to teach me up here
[ and he’d be fine. with or without his powers, oxe engineered his body for peak performance. ]
sorry i bet that sounds ungrateful
i wish i could help, i mean
[ but his status is useless, in that respect. ]
hey
i’m okay
i’d swap jobs with you if i could
you’d be way better at the stuff they’re trying to teach me up here
[ and he’d be fine. with or without his powers, oxe engineered his body for peak performance. ]
sorry i bet that sounds ungrateful
i wish i could help, i mean
[ but his status is useless, in that respect. ]
Nah it's - none of us signed up for this shit. We just gotta do the best we can.
Promise me you'll try and stay in silver. Whatever it is, I guarantee it's better than here. The less I got to worry about...the better. Besides, everyone's movin' on up.
[everyone except him. and bob, apparently.]
Look, I don't normally pay attention to the mumbo jumbo shit flying around, but I saw what you put out there. I'm named too - one of the wolves. This isn't how it went down last time, and I dunno what any of it means, but...do you think you could've fought the Shepherd? If things weren't the way they were at the commune?
[somebody doesn't know about baby's restrictions yet. oops.]
Promise me you'll try and stay in silver. Whatever it is, I guarantee it's better than here. The less I got to worry about...the better. Besides, everyone's movin' on up.
[everyone except him. and bob, apparently.]
Look, I don't normally pay attention to the mumbo jumbo shit flying around, but I saw what you put out there. I'm named too - one of the wolves. This isn't how it went down last time, and I dunno what any of it means, but...do you think you could've fought the Shepherd? If things weren't the way they were at the commune?
[somebody doesn't know about baby's restrictions yet. oops.]
@starr (pre-van/breakout shenans) (assuming she knows he's/initially gold, lmk if not ok)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unfazeable
2026-02-18 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Oi oi, Bob.
Can I ask you for some advice on this whole peep match decline thing? Trying to figure out how to portion out the quota.
Can I ask you for some advice on this whole peep match decline thing? Trying to figure out how to portion out the quota.
Okay. Say there's a person, and they're nice, but maybe a bit self-loathing and depressy (no offense, it's hard not to notice sometimes).
['manners' weren't a big focus in the laboratory prison.]
They're lower tier, though. You two get matched up, but it's a bit fetishy with the class difference. And maybe there was a last time where the dynamic was swappedish and they tried to be respectful about it. We get three declines a week, yeah? But it's beginning of week.
What would you do? What are you doing?
[she had noticed. he seemed a bit odd about it. 'self-loathing and depressy.' but hard to know what that was. at the very least, she figured he'd take the question seriously.]
['manners' weren't a big focus in the laboratory prison.]
They're lower tier, though. You two get matched up, but it's a bit fetishy with the class difference. And maybe there was a last time where the dynamic was swappedish and they tried to be respectful about it. We get three declines a week, yeah? But it's beginning of week.
What would you do? What are you doing?
[she had noticed. he seemed a bit odd about it. 'self-loathing and depressy.' but hard to know what that was. at the very least, she figured he'd take the question seriously.]
Hi, Bob. I'm Michael Burnham.
I have some information to share with you.
I have some information to share with you.
Thank you.
I wish I was reaching out with better news. The entity identified you as a backup host candidate.
I wish I was reaching out with better news. The entity identified you as a backup host candidate.
[ right. the two most judgemental guys he knows, making anybody who tries to keep their head down or stand up feel like shit about what they’ve done for the team — were actually playing a house long game this month that meant bucky was vulnerable while an entity stalks the house, and alia was punished on camera, then demoted to bronze. it would be funny, if he hadn’t started believing their bullshit, and that they, of all people, wouldn’t turn on others for their own advantage.
but it’s just stephen and tony all over again. there are people who matter and who don’t. there’s pretty, penitent sadness like tim’s and ugly grief like his own.
(and they’re all still trapped in this system that seeks only to hurt them, being hunted by a shadow.) ]
i’m around
we can talk
but it’s just stephen and tony all over again. there are people who matter and who don’t. there’s pretty, penitent sadness like tim’s and ugly grief like his own.
(and they’re all still trapped in this system that seeks only to hurt them, being hunted by a shadow.) ]
i’m around
we can talk
[ Everything happens so much, and he's only got so much fuel with which to find the energy to do anything about it now, so it's a day or two after Bob identifies himself as a presence on the list - a day or two of tempers flying, information flying faster, people making choices and things changing around him (for the better, for the worse) so quickly he's barely keeping up - that a message finally lands. ]
Surviving?
[ No need to ask how Bob's feeling. This whole place is rotten, and he's a wanted man. ]
Surviving?
[ No need to ask how Bob's feeling. This whole place is rotten, and he's a wanted man. ]
i guess that’s what we’re calling it
still here, anyway
[ still hasn’t ventured inside the coronal, despite very much wanting to. hung outside the door last night, head against the wall. ]
don’t know why i’m top billed
the house put the “greatest power” in time out a week back
[ nerf city, baby. ]
still here, anyway
[ still hasn’t ventured inside the coronal, despite very much wanting to. hung outside the door last night, head against the wall. ]
don’t know why i’m top billed
the house put the “greatest power” in time out a week back
[ nerf city, baby. ]
You too, huh
[ It lands as news, whether or not it's already out there. Eidetic memory's all well and good when you're cramming for exams or memorising casting patterns - malnourishment and 2000s social media? No chance.
It's a good question, though. What good is power in a hostile takeover if the enemy can switch that power off as easy as turning a faucet? ]
You have a favorite?
Between the house that's fucking us for the privilege of guarding it and the thing that had us killing each other to make for an easier infiltration?
[ It lands as news, whether or not it's already out there. Eidetic memory's all well and good when you're cramming for exams or memorising casting patterns - malnourishment and 2000s social media? No chance.
It's a good question, though. What good is power in a hostile takeover if the enemy can switch that power off as easy as turning a faucet? ]
You have a favorite?
Between the house that's fucking us for the privilege of guarding it and the thing that had us killing each other to make for an easier infiltration?
belated cw survival sex work, dubcon, suicidal ideation, domestic abuse, the usual
sensive
- 2026-03-01 22:26 (UTC) - Expand
Page 4 of 4