IC Inbox Glencola Reef

[desperate_times_right]

Callsign: AP251C

Comments

audio | DI481O

[salamanca]

Hey! [ The voice on the other end is jaunty, casual. ]

You're the one who got caught in the bear trap, right? [ There's a very brief pause. ] Damn! You're a fucking badass, sister. Sorry all the people here are — [ he makes a raspberry noise. ] You know how it goes!

[ Not least of all, because Lalo has contributed to it too. "Ben" and Lalo have different views on this kinda stuff, though his commitment to being "Ben" is increasingly waning. ]

When we come with the shit, I've got some rum with your name on it.

[desperate_times_right]

[Chloe's voice sounds rough, almost like she just woke up]

Aren't you the cop? You want something from me, Laredo?

1/3

[salamanca]

"Laredo!" I like it. Might have to start making people call me that from now on.

[ He's not kidding, either. It does have a nice ring to it. Chloe, you might be creating a monster.

Then he swallows. Clears his throat. How does he go about this? He doesn't know her well enough to know what will take her mind off of the annoying do-gooders on the walkie, which he can't help but feel is probably the thing she really needs distracting from, more than the bear trap.

He knows too well how it feels - the searing embarrassment of being discussed in public like you're a child who can't understand what's being said about you, the impotent irritation of being coddled like an invalid - that he can't help but cringe along in sympathy. Even though he knows he's contributed to it.

But what can he say? "Ben" - an identity that was fun for the first couple days, but which he's become increasingly bored of - has different ideas of what's important than Lalo does.

That still brings him back to his main problem, though. What does he say? What can he say? He gets the feeling she'd punch him in the mouth when she did see him, if he tried to offer her some gooey heartfelt sympathy. And he'd deserve it. Talking to people should be his strong suit, and it usually is, but empathy with strangers of this magnitude is a bit of a new one for him. Might take some time to figure out.

He gets an idea. She can't get mad at the multiple dipshits fretting over her on the network, but she can get mad at one dipshit sexually harassing her. And being angry feels better than being treated like a child. Lalo can attest to that. ]

Yeah, uh. I miss my wife. You know the way I mean. She calls me degrading names in bed. You have a hot voice. Kinda raspy. I was hoping you'd wanna talk dirty to me. I'd pay you, but money's no good here. Whaddaya say?

2/3

[salamanca]

[ He switches to text. ]

I even have something to show you. Take a look!

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3/3

[salamanca]

Meant what I said though. Before. You're a badass. I can tell. I have a sense for these things.

[ Is that hovering too close to disgustingly sincere? Maybe. Hector would probably like it, but beloved though Hector is Lalo, he's not sure that Hector and Chloe will appreciate the same things. Only one way to find out, and all that. ]

[desperate_times_right]

[Chloe feels an immediate flash of fury. She’s sitting here, just trying to survive the worst injury she's ever had - in a long and storied career full of injuries - and this guy thinks he can -

And just like that, it's literally the funniest thing that's ever happened to her. She's lost in a jungle with a weirdly hot politician and a magic fucking dowsing cat, and some cop from Texas is sending her ASCII dick pics. What word do you even emphasize in that sentence?]

Wow, I can't say anything without working for free. Well played.

audio | cs: DI481O | late day/early night 24

[salamanca]

[ When this call finally comes in, it's the first time anyone has heard from Lalo since Morning 23. ]

Heyyyy, Chloe! ¡Mamacita! How's my girl?

[ He sounds as cheery and good-natured as ever, but theres something else there too.

It's an undercurrent, but lurking under the cheeriness, the weariness in Lalo's voice is unmistakable. There's something else too. Something thick like he's been crying, although of course he'll deny that if confronted. ]

I'm afraid I've got some bad news. The detective read all of our little messages.

[desperate_times_right]

[Hissed out loud, not intended to be heard but she's fumbling trying to switch to text:] Fucking-

Are you okay???? I tried to check in after the detective posted all that shit about you. Thought you were dead.

voice-to-text; callsign: DI481O

[salamanca]

[ Well, this isn't good. Lalo's heart stops. So. She needs to be quiet, then.

Shit.

Typing like this isn't impossible, but it is exhausting, especially after making that stupid picture. Lalo puts the device on voice-to-text so she can just talk, closing his eyes and breathing, in and out. ]

If you can see somebody's callsign on the list, they aren't dead. Good tip, eh? Now you know!

[ He doesn't want to answer the question on if he's okay. He's not. He doesn't understand what happened. He knew the detective might be upset, and that things between them would change because of what he did, but he didn't think anything like this would happen. He feels so stupid and so used and he doesn't understand why this happened. All he had wanted was to keep the detective safe! The idiot was going to get himself killed.

Was that why this happened? Or would it have happened anyway? He makes a laugh-cry sound that sounds up for Chloe as only: ]

[ inaudible sound ]

[ Lalo takes another breath. The detective posted all that shit about you. That's not exactly a surprise- Lalo had anticipated the detective would tell at least Martin and Shaw, at the very least- but it is potentially worse than he was preparing for. At least he knows, though. He can work with anything as long as he knows what he's up against. ]

Who'd he send it to? [ Although if Chloe got it, the answer is most likely: everyone, or almost everyone.

Lalo opens his eyes and rolls onto his back, beside the river; stares up at the dark night sky above him, eyes on the stars. He thinks about how the detective loved looking at the stars, and his gut twists and he's not sure if it's love or hate or anger or just disgust with himself, or all four.

Lalo doesn't have the detective's love of astronomy, but he's gotta admit: the stars are real pretty at night like this.

He tries for a joke. He wants to try to get her calmer a little bit, ease her into the admission that's coming. ]

He's not telling everybody all that shit I said about his arms, is he? Oof. If he is, then I might die.

[desperate_times_right]

Nah. Don’t think admitting to playing around with the big, bad cartel man would be good for his image. Told them about your stunt with the arrow instead, that one's only embarrassing for you.

I think he sent it to pretty much everyone but you. Gave a bio with full name and physical description, including your starting kit. Said he took your boot print. Other than that, a bunch of self-important-sounding cartel drama. “Oh no, he took me hostage, he kills people” shit. Implied you might come after some of them, but I'm not sure who he meant.

He asked if anything from your “world” turned up in the storm, which I thought was weird. Is he from a planet without elephants?

[Seems a little in bad taste to ask about herself now but presumably that's why he called]

Didn’t say anything about me where I could see it. Think he's planning on paying a visit to the nerd base?

Sent sometime Day 26

[salamanca]

[ Her callsign is on the list. So is Taissa's. A tentative good sign.

In contrast to Lalo's usually verbose nature, this text is short. Only one word, even. He's on alert for people OUT TO GET HIM and can't be distracted with long, involved texts. ]

safe?

[desperate_times_right]

[holy shit]

For now.

That you for real?

[salamanca]

[ That you for real? A good question, in more ways than one. They need to establish a code, to know if their walkies are compromised. When he gets to her in person. And he will get to her in person. ]

si. in the flesh. nothing stops me. not even death. ;)

where?

Night 28

[salamanca]

¡Hola! ;) Papi's here. You still missing a shoe?

[desperate_times_right]

All good?

[He sounds better, but that might not really mean anything]

Yeah, but don't get any ideas. Taissa’s still got your knife.

[salamanca]

Sí.

[ He both is and isn't better. Better than the last time they spoke, certainly. But not fully better yet. Not that he'd admit that over text, a potentially compromised channel. They can talk later.

The comment about Taissa still having the shiv sends shivers up his spine as he imagines it sinking in between his ribs. He likes Tai, but he wouldn't put it past her. Actually, that's probably why he likes her. ]

No no no no no. Nothing like that. I'm missing one too. Came back to life without it. The opposite one from you. I was thinking, your shoes are too small for me, so I can't wear them. But you could wear mine.

BT612L; voice; Day 25 at long last

[ichoosefight]

Hey, it's Steph. Uh... I guess you're not coming to the airfield? Anyway, I just wanted to check in and make sure your leg is still okay. And like, the rest of you. You sorta vanished.

[desperate_times_right]

[Chloe slept through most of the day after all the excitement on day 24, so Steph hears back in the evening]

Yeah I'm cool. Big parties aren't my scene. Everyone else make it back in one piece?

[ichoosefight]

[ That's a very weird excuse after coming all that way, but whatever. She didn't really call for an explanation. ]

They're okay.

You're keeping an eye on it, right? It might not be obvious right away if it healed wrong.

ACTION; MORNING 29

[salamanca]

[ It takes four hours and it's dicey getting Lalo up. It's the kind of thing he'd probably be able to do easily, if he weren't in such bad shape, but in his current condition it's touch-and-go.

Adrenaline helps, though! When he finally does reach the top, he's exhausted but grinning, bolstered by his success. Joyfully, he reaches out to high-five Chloe. ]

We did it! [ He means that! As far as he's concerned, it was a team effort. He couldn't have done it without her.

Despite his genuine smile, though, he clearly looks different from last time he saw her. There's a tiredness in his eyes, an exhaustion that wasn't there before, and he looks somehow...thinner?...even though he hasn't actually lost any weight. His body's way of looking somehow smaller, when Lalo is unwilling to slouch down.

Lalo, for his part, feels like one weight has been lifted off his shoulders, only for a different one to be added.

If she accepts his high five, Lalo will sit down for a moment to catch his breath. ] Wahoo! Man, do I have some news for you!

[desperate_times_right]

[At least since only one of them was climbing, this turns out better than that first disastrous high-five with Nadine, where they’d both almost fallen over.]

Yes! You're in an exclusive club now.

[Heartbreak looks just as bad on him as it does on her, it seems. She won't bring that up.]

Yeah? Wanna tell me while I pull the rope up?

[salamanca]

Here, here. Let me do it. Please. I insist. It's the least I can do.

[ It's not that he doesn't think she can do it. He knows she can. But he owes her, in ways he can't begin to describe. He doesn't know what he would do if he had to face this all totally alone. He'll never forget this. As far as he's concerned, he's in her debt forever.

He moves over to start tugging on the rope, or at least help her with it so this goes faster, only to be interrupted by a coughing fit, all but doubling over. It's loud, hacking, like he's desperately trying to spit up water that isn't in his lungs anymore.

The pain is dull but constant, never going away. When he coughs like this, it reminds him of how he drowned. But when the coughing subsides and he's left just sitting on his knees, hunched over and pathetic.

When it's like that, no coughing, he can't help but feeling like the pain in his chest is exactly what you might expect it to be: a literal broken heart. He looks up at her with a crushed expression. ]

Lo... [ Cough, cough. ] Lo siento mucho. [ Remembering she doesn't speak Spanish. ] I'm, I'm very sorry, I... [ One more little cough, which he covers with a fist. He takes a deep breath, and winces from the pain that always comes with taking deep breaths. ]

I should show you something. [ Still sitting, he shifts positions so he can roll one of his jeans up, slowly rolling it up above his knees. There, on his knee, is severe and nasty scarring. A permanent reminder of what happened to him. A permanent reminder of the detective. Sometimes, on his journey here, he would sit and stroke it, running his fingers over the raised, hardened flesh signaling where he had been hurt the worst. ]

TO994M; text; day 28; morning

[cactusy]

Look, people are asking what the missing item was, and "I don't know" just makes it really clear I'm not the one who died and make it a lot easier for people to pin this back on him. De Guzman can't see the messages either way, but are you really okay with that?

[desperate_times_right]

[Shit]

It wasn't something important but I'm worried it might make us easier to track if people who don't like us know about it.

Someone was already following me before.

[cactusy]

What the hell kind of unimportant thing can be used for tracking?

Look, I'm letting them think I'm the one who died. Just tell me what it is.