abstracts | ghost of a chance.

At the near slip, James frowns slightly. However, the genuine joy from the child he fathered causes the expression to vanish. "Me, as well, son. It's been too long."

A nice moment which doesn't last, leading to the following: "Where in the heavens have you been? I regained consciousness and no one knew where you had ran off to. You didn't leave any information, and why in the world did you think this was a good time to leave? We had just started the project fully, it needed a stable--"

As if finally noticing the man behind Neil, James eyes move to him and back to his son. "...We can talk about that later. Why don't you introduce me?"

It's funny how quick things shift, how it pivots in an entirely new direction, and Neil looks at James as if he'd been slapped. "Out of town," he stammers defensively. "I just needed a break."

From what, he suddenly can't remember. His father, however, notices Alex, and at the request, he looks back at the other man, the shock still apparent. "Oh, this is Alex," he says, uncertain if the aforementioned person wants his full name revealed. "He's a friend of mine."

"A break." It's out of his mouth before he can think, disapproval radiating from his visage. "You needed a break. This isn't something you can just walk away from--"

He cuts himself off, shaking his head. "Well, good to meet you, Alex. Hopefully Neil hasn't been causing too much trouble for you. He's quite the little instigator." It's said lightly, truthfully.

...Things change in a heartbeat. Anger rises and crests. When Neil introduces him, and the sperm donor makes an attempt at brevity, Alex steps forward, dropping a hand onto Neil's shoulder. "Your son is a very reliable, extremely strong person. He's helped me countless times and pulled my ass out of the fire when I was up to my ears in trouble. He doesn't instigate or cause trouble, and he wasn't just wasting time."

Because the unsaid is written plainly in this fucking interaction. Whatever Neil does is worthless, unless it's something for his father. Which, hilariously, is the actual worthless work.

...He can't be serious. Instigator? Has Neil been causing trouble for Alex? Suddenly, Neil has trouble remembering.

It isn't until the pressure on his shoulder that Neil remembers. The Mojave. The journey to D.C. All the aspects experienced. Caught between two uncomfortable perspectives, he swallows thickly. "We're about to head to my house," he offers as a topic shift. "Could we catch up later, Dad? Maybe at the Memorial?"

Where he assumes is James' place of residence.

For a moment, James stares at Neil's friend. Then makes an attempt at a light-hearted expression. "Aren't you an intense young man. I'm certain what you two were up to was very important to you, but Neil has some very important work here that affects many people--"

Neil speaks, and James looks over to him, eyebrows raised. "Of course. We need to speak in private about the progressions we've made at Project Purity. Using the GECK worked beautifully, of course. You did well helping Madison to finish that."

Edited 2016-06-21 03:52 (UTC)

His instinct tells him to interject before a disaster occurs, and since he's not one to outright ignore his gut, Neil goes with it. "Right, of course. You'll have to let me know how everything's going so far," he says quickly. "It is... It's really good to see you again, Dad. You had me seriously worried."

When Neil had thought that he would never again see him alive.

Alex moves to respond to that condescending pile of shit when Neil jumps in, obviously cutting Alex off. Alex watches Neil as he speaks, unamused, but when Neil speaks his truth, his concern and his worry, Alex looks away, into the shit town they came to instead. The hand on Neil's shoulder tightens in support.

Or annoyance. It's probably about equal right now.

Side conversations finished, James smiles again at his son. "I'll look forward to seeing you there soon. Come as soon as you've settled."

The concern offered causes something inbetween discomfort and care. His tone softens. "I'm fine now--back to one-hundred percent. There's no need to worry, son."

Strangely, neither his father's expression nor his spoken words give Neil the greatest assurance. Rather, it is the hand tightening against his shoulder, something solid against this storm.

Neil returns the smile with one of his one, albeit the gesture comes as strained. "Alright," he says as James walks away. "Later, Dad."

As soon as his father is out of sight, Neil exhales harshly. He drops to the ground, his knees cracking in the sudden motion. "Fuck," he murmurs. "Goddammit."

The man walks further into the town and Alex is glad to see him go.

But any irritated comment Alex was about to make vanishes when Neil drops to the ground. Alex leans over, hand reaching under Neil's arm to pull him up if needed. His tone is soft, quiet. "Hey, kid. C'mon. Let's go to your house and we can deal with things there. C'mon, Neil."

Alex offers a hand and kind words, and Neil looks up at him with unfathomable emotion. "Yeah," he says as he uses the offered limb to pull himself up. "That's right. You'll probably hate my house. The pipes leak, and the whole place is rusted. Also, there's very likely a layer of dust covering everything."

He doesn't know why he's rambling. Perhaps it's to keep conversation as they head toward the aforementioned house.

"Yeah, I'll probably hate it," Alex replies easily, keeping his hand around Neil's arm as they walk. "But it's a fucking calm place in the storm, hopefully."

They move up a hill, onto a sorta patio place until they stop before a door.

A house... would be a compliment. "...It's like a pile of crap fused together."

Neil glances down at the hand touching his arm as they move, the emotion behind his eyes growing more intense.

It isn't until they reach that good old patio that Neil detaches. Fishing out the keyring from his pack, he fumbles through the many, many keys attached. He only pauses once to shoot Alex a dirty look.

"Hey," he says, "I earned this pile of crap, thank you."

Eyebrows raise. "Wooooow," he deadpans. "Work must be pretty hard to come by out here."

Then smirks in a playful way. "But open the door, Wanderer. Lemme see your Crap Shack."

He hates him. "I hate you," replies Neil as he pushes open the door. Light pours through from the outside, revealing exposed wire and metal parts.

Immediately, he extends out an arm to block Alex from entry, to indicate an anomaly. The other hand pulls out his Kneecapper. "Someone's here," he speaks in a low voice. "Or was here."

Alex easily peers over Neil's shoulder. Honestly and not mockingly, he questions. "...How can you tell?"

"Oh, shut up," Neil says, his tone deadpan. "Just back me up while I check it out, huh? Can you at least do that instead of whining?"

With that, he steps in, gun leveled toward the space in front of him. Eyes scan the peripheral of the main room before he moves to the kitchen area, his expression growing angrier by the second.

There are parts and pieces missing. His homemade instruments destroyed with holes cut through the metal, his shelves appeared to have been rifled through-- Everything is more or less in disarray. He wonders idly if his lockers have been picked, but until he clears out the house, he's not checking them just yet.

Neil moves upstairs, carefully.

"Well, aren't we grumpy," he gives dryly, slipping on the Saturnite Fist. Punching things seems like a good idea right now. Even though it's useless.

"You know that no one's here, though," he calls from the bottom floor. "Neither ED-E or I are sensing anyone."

The statement annoys Neil to no end. He barks down from upstairs, "Or their stealth is above yours. I'm checking everything." And everything seems to be just horribly wrong. His chemistry set is missing tubes and chemicals. His My First Infirmary is just gone.

In response to everything, Dogmeat, who's been waiting patiently since their arrival, barks from what used to be his bowl, letting his master know that it is covered in a layer of dust.

"Neil," he calls, unamused. "There's no one here. Stop using this as an excuse to not think about what just happened."

It isn't until he peeks into his bedroom, its contents picked through and looked at, that Neil bothers to respond to Alex. The younger man stomps down the stairs, appearing quite a bit older than he was prior.

Dogmeat barks again, and in a rare moment, Neil snarls at the poor dog. "Not now!"

In an uncharacteristic move, Alex steps in front of the dog, expression angry. "Neil! Stop fucking around! Don't take it out on people that don't deserve it and deal with your shit."

Dogmeat whimpers plaintively, his tail slipping between his legs, and Neil--

Neil bites down hard on the harsh words that surface. Alex is right. Of course, he's fucking right, and the idea of it deflates Neil's anger enough for the guy to shake his head.

"Sorry," he gives, to dog and man both.

Eyebrows raised, Alex moves aside with a pointed look down.

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