![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
[video]
How's it so many of you are runnin' about and not bringin' back any stories with you? Some of us could use it you know! Instead of havin' 'em all dumped out when they drop those spots on the news, anyway.
[Ahem.
Tracer is broadcasting from the monitor room, where she's clearly been serving out her duties with as much patience as she can muster (read: not a lot). Even with all of the activity, Tracer can't deal with the tedium. She's rigged up a way to continuously spin herself in a chair while she spends time dispatching Legionnaires as is expected of her. Even with that, she's incredibly restless, and has herself perched in the window, lounging on the sill in a manner that probably would be considered unsafe if she weren't capable of rewinding time around her.
Overwatch's systems were mostly automated. When a warning went out, the Strike Team left -- and that was the end of it. This dispatching nonsense makes her thankful that it never got quite as large, but also makes her nostalgic.
That's not the only thing, but. Well, its a big part of it. And while she's trying to think of a way to bring up that first thing without outing herself, she can be seen tapping her fingers nervously on the big glowing machine on her chest.]
...speakin' of stories. How many of you lot got families back where you came from? Maybe a better half...
[She pauses here -- not too long though. Don't want to be suspicious.]
...do you think they're still lookin' for you? It's been a tick, hasn't it?
[Ahem.
Tracer is broadcasting from the monitor room, where she's clearly been serving out her duties with as much patience as she can muster (read: not a lot). Even with all of the activity, Tracer can't deal with the tedium. She's rigged up a way to continuously spin herself in a chair while she spends time dispatching Legionnaires as is expected of her. Even with that, she's incredibly restless, and has herself perched in the window, lounging on the sill in a manner that probably would be considered unsafe if she weren't capable of rewinding time around her.
Overwatch's systems were mostly automated. When a warning went out, the Strike Team left -- and that was the end of it. This dispatching nonsense makes her thankful that it never got quite as large, but also makes her nostalgic.
That's not the only thing, but. Well, its a big part of it. And while she's trying to think of a way to bring up that first thing without outing herself, she can be seen tapping her fingers nervously on the big glowing machine on her chest.]
...speakin' of stories. How many of you lot got families back where you came from? Maybe a better half...
[She pauses here -- not too long though. Don't want to be suspicious.]
...do you think they're still lookin' for you? It's been a tick, hasn't it?
no subject
You miss Winston, huh?
[They'd always been close. Close enough to spend Christmas together this year, apparently.]
no subject
Hard not to -- ain't like we can keep in touch without people gettin' suspicious. But once Reaper hit Gibraltar, well--you know the rest.
[Her smile is forced.]
no subject
Yeah, I know the rest.
[But despite his feelings about the Recall, he knows that isn't what's important now. Jack takes a moment to study her face, the artificial quality of her smile.]
No one else answered, did they?
[He keeps tabs on it, but it seems like she has a few months on him back home. Maybe something changed between his point in time and hers.]
no subject
No. At least--if they had any plan to, they didn't come back to tell us.
[Lena leans back in the chair until she is looking at the ceiling instead of Jack. She's more upset about it than she looks, but she also understands. Not everyone was like her -- willing to drop her entire life to go back to fighting for everyone else. That's why most of Overwatch turned to mercenary work after they disbanded.
And Winston -- well, it was no surprise that he couldn't let it go either. He had no life to return to.]
no subject
[That's more than a little hollow--she should know that he's not actually sorry to hear that his ex-agents are all getting on with their lives. That they have better things to do than chase the good old days, which maybe weren't so good after all. He understands the need to feel that sort of belonging and purpose again, and won't deny that he misses it too, but at a certain point, everyone just needs to move on. There's nothing to reclaim, and it's pointless to try.
Even the Legion is less a second chance and more watching a similar organization make the same mistakes he did.]
But I think it might be for the best.
no subject
Maybe its because her conversation with Azucar made her raw. Maybe its because the truth hurts. Maybe its because she doesn't have anyone here who understands how helpless she feels.]
You ain't sorry. Just because you gave up on the world doesn't mean everyone else did.
[It wasn't a fair statement, considering she'd thought he was dead. But he wasn't -- he just chose not to get involved. And even though she shouldn't feel bad for giving him the truth about how she really feels, she looks down at her feet away, half slumped in her chair.]
But yeah, maybe you're right. Mondatta's gone. I should've just let Talon have the Doomfist. Ain't no reason to be interferin' with the protests, or tippin' off the bobbies to save lives, or--ugh.
[She purposefully spins her chair away from Jack, looking straight at the wall. It just wasn't fair.]
no subject
[That's the truth. He's sorry for a lot of things, not the least of which is how everything ended. Sure, he and some of the others had their hands dirty--maybe had it coming to them, but Lena had never done anything but believe in Overwatch and what it was supposed to stand for. She'd been the one to remind him of that, on more than one occasion.
But there's always been one thing he understood more intimately than the rest of them, because he was neck-deep in it. Idealism is all well and good, but with politics there's a sort of practicality that comes into play. Logistics. It put him in the middle of impossible decisions more times than he can remember. It isn't as easy as deciding Overwatch is back and springing into action. There are going to be consequences, and though she might think he's given up on the world, the last thing Jack wants is his people needlessly putting themselves in danger. In a position where the UN might come down on their heads and render all of the good they've ever done completely moot.]
It's not that simple. [If only it could be that simple.] You're not gonna do anyone any good if you land yourself in prison.
[He finds himself reseting her assertion that he gave up on the world--but at the same time, they're the ones who decided they didn't need Overwatch anymore. Maybe they should live with that choice.]
no subject
[She keeps her back to him. She should stop replying to him -- his hypocrisy only hurts to hear, even now.
But if she'd been the one to change his mind before, maybe she's the only one who can. Eventually, she looks over her shoulder at him.]
How you gonna tell me what's gonna put me in prison, anyway?
no subject
[He's talking to the back of her, making it clear that he's not going to end the discussion just because she won't look at him right away--or worse, wants him to leave. Staying dead was cruel, he won't deny that, but it gave them all a chance to move on. The fact that they won't hurts more than he can properly put into words.
Which might be why this conversation is going south. Jack isn't very good at this anymore.]
I didn't want this for you.
[Caught up in some golden vision of Overwatch to the point where she's willing to throw everything away on hopeless idealism. But wasn't he like that too, once?]
no subject
[She spins back around to face him, because she isn't totally heartless, and regardless of the frankness in her words, she's not actually in the business of making him miserable. That doesn't mean she isn't still upset but--
Well, they're on the same side. Supposedly.]
But while we're on the topic -- what did you want?
no subject
I don't know. For everyone to get on with things, I guess.
[Let him chase the ghosts, because he's the one who's already dead. Overwatch fell in part due to his own oversight, and he's got to bet he one to atone for it. He won't drag the rest of them down with him, not again.]
You've got a life back home, right? You have someone?
no subject
She'd been great, understanding of her desire to continue her life as she'd lived it so far. But that came with difficult conversations, and concessions they'd both had to make.]
I did.
[In spite of all the reports, what she knows of time and timelines is different than what's been suggested to her. Her time might be halted, but whatever Emily she left back home -- she's probably moved on.
She blinks at him, pointedly.]
She knew.
no subject
Jack certainly never could.]
I'm glad you have someone to support you.
[The way it comes out reminds him all too strongly of meetings in his office, carefully-chosen and diplomatic words that always ring empty and never compromise how he really feels. Detached. Professional. He's still got it.
The next part, however, is much more sincere.]
Don't throw it away.
no subject
She accepted me for who I was.
[Loved her for it, even. Without her attitude about the work she did, she probably wouldn't have even met Emily. To pretend she wanted to sit down and have a domestic life would have been disingenuous.
Jack knows that. At least -- he should. Even though they hadn't worked together for long, she was hardly ever shy.]
So why can't you?
no subject
[Tracer's girlfriend isn't personally responsible for the situation she was put in when Overwatch fell. She (presumably) doesn't carry the same kind of guilt he does. He should have never let it come to any of this in the first place.]
You know that I'm proud of you.
[For still wanting to do the right thing, even when the whole world has turned its back.]
But there's no command structure anymore. [No safety net, nothing to protect her.] You have to think about the long-term repercussions. Logistics. It's not as simple as going out and saving the world.
no subject
[And that's vigilantism kids. Something pops up on the monitor, and without even looking, she presses a button to dispatch it to the first agent on her screen.
Which gives her a thought. She poses the question with sincere curiosity, rather than using it as an accusation.]
You rather I stay here, where there is a command structure?
[She knows where she'd rather be -- but a second opinion won't hurt, even if she already knows the answer.]
no subject
['We', like he doesn't shoulder that blame himself. He's not going to begrudge Lena if she chooses to stay here, but he won't sugarcoat his distaste for being roped into the fight against Chronoblivion--or at least, being roped into joining the Legion.
Even if he didn't have a mission waiting for him back home, Jack already knows he can't do this again.]
I'd rather you get back to your life at home. Isn't that what you want?
no subject
[Lena folds her arms this time -- now she looks visibly uncomfortable. Its not something she talks about very often, because its depressing and hard to explain to other people -- being lost in time, and then suddenly pulled back to the present, where less time has past than its felt like.
Its not all that different from what's happening here -- only that she actually has people to share it with. Perhaps its worse, because when she returns, the people she will have known will be the same, but she'll have changed.]
no subject
[But rest assured, when it is, Jack won't be sticking around here. He offers her a sympathetic glance, knowing full well it's probably the last thing she wants to see, but Jack isn't going to pretend he's the same person. That would be unfair to both of them.]
no subject
It ain't...but you know, even if time ain't movin' from when we left, we're still--you know. Livin'. Agin'.
[But she offers him a smile with a short giggle anyway.]
Speakin' from experience, and all.
no subject
[He's running on borrowed time as it is--a relic who has vastly overstayed his welcome.]
I'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess.