built for blame

i aint never been a keeper // despicable // i love her then i leave her

and if i were you,

Oh it wasn’t sarcastic, it was just surprising to him that so many people arrived that had been known for things in their worlds. And what did it mean for being tossed here? Were they somehow supposed to band together and become something greater? Or simply learn what it’s like to be normal.

But Sunjata would never really be normal despite his attempts to.

Had Adam made the face about how he interpreted Sunjata’s heritage, the man would have agreed. But instead, his attention focuses on him and he nods in agreement after a moment of contemplation. “I tried to, yeah.” He admits, hating himself for having not been successful. For running after everything. At least the rebels had gotten to him in the end while Jata went underground. But he was still sour about it.

Sucking in a deep breath, he glances back to Adam as he twirls the smoke between his fingers. “My girl back home and I ended up getting captured, and they brought us back to my home. Imprisoned us for a time, before they brought us before my father and everyone else.” His lips form a tight line before he continues. “And my father killed her there, and immediate arranged a marriage for me and my sister. So. Yeah, I wanted to kill him. Couldn’t ever get close enough to.” Here he takes a deep drag off the cigarette, watching Adam’s face for the reaction.

i wouldn't love me neither

SUNJATA

ADAM

Sunjata's story effected Adam deeply, for reasons that the other man couldn't know. It was so similar to his own life, to a moment suspended in his mind in painful detail, a gun held over a man sleeping in bed. Shaking hands and a pounding heart, tears pouring. I wanted to kill him. Words he'd said himself before, but in much less of a casual tone.

Because of the personal ties, the rip it caused through his ribs, he seemed to not react at all at first. Trying to stop himself from letting the hot, static panic of that memory leak through and ruin his cool guy image. With a swallow and a sigh, he spoke. "...Thats...rough." Desperately he wanted to ask if Sunjata slept with his sister. Because it was awful, because it would distract from his own shit. But even he had limits.

"...I guess that is the good thing about here, huh. We're all kinda...free to do whatever the fuck, mostly. Not even any real guards. Sometimes I wonder how long it's gonna take before it goes into full on chaos." If he had imagined a place without laws and guards before he had been portalled in, he would have visualised a crime-filled den, practically on fire with the anarchic spirit. Instead, there was Sanctuary, with it's small bakeries and market stalls, quiet worries that only sometimes erupted into anything worth looking into. "I think we could be doing more than what Lucas is to take advantage of it all, really."

good evening, misadventure.
farewell morality.
it's time for another risky venture,
into the depths of depravity.

i aint never been a keeper // despicable // i love her then i leave her

and if i were you,

It wouldn’t surprise Sunjata to find out that their stories are aligned in such ways. The ones that often drift toward the darker ‘I don’t care’ types usually had a destruction internally that sparked it. But he casually ignores Adam as he listens to the story, and when he’s done and Adam pauses before responding, he looks down to the cigarette in his hand before taking a deep drag off of it. “Wasn’t fun.” He responds, flatly, exhaling a plume of smoke with it.

But his head lifts back up to look at Adam when the other man speaks of Caido and the good things it has. And it sparks a light smile on the edge of his lip in a nod. “Yeah, it’s surprising, to say the least. I wonder why it hasn’t already.” He says casually, flicking the ash from the cigarette again as he leans back against the wall further, head lifting up lightly to rest against the wall behind him. “Actually… About that.” He pauses, settling forward a small amount. “My girl, the one who was killed, she’s… Back? Somehow?” He tilts his head. “I don’t know how, but anyway, she’s here now and that’s why I’m not with the midwife. But we used to run a pretty good ring in Korofi. We were thinking about starting one up here, too. Do a bit more than what Lucas is having us do.” The corner of his lip rises in a smirk, suggesting, waiting to see if he agrees.

i wouldn't love me neither

SUNJATA

ADAM

"Mm." Adam chuckled dryly, finding a kind of relatable irony in Sunjata's simple words.

Why hadn't the place gone totally to shit yet? Was it to do with the Gods that held it all together? Not that they seemed to be massively in control, after Ludo's screaming fit when Adam had asked about The Voice.

Sunjata's idea was both exciting and annoying to Adam. On the one hand, maybe getting to defect to a ring more likely to start shit and take names would be fun - on the other, gang warfare would make everything so much more complicated, and he didn't know if he had the energy. "Or...why don't we just...use the ring we've already got? Who says Lucas has to stay in charge, right?" Adam did not know how prophetic his words would be; he did not really know what he meant by them other than some kind of vague hint.

good evening, misadventure.
farewell morality.
it's time for another risky venture,
into the depths of depravity.

i aint never been a keeper // despicable // i love her then i leave her

and if i were you,

Oh there was some form of misunderstanding, but Sunjata doesn’t realize it. The terminology different from place to place, and with his accent in comparison to Adam’s, well, it was no surprise it went and got confused. But he lets the man explain, dragging from the cigarette once more until he releases the puff of smoke to the side, head tilting as he regards the man before him and the confusion that crosses his face. A different ring? No, no. Same ring, different levels.

“Ah, I didn’t mean a separate ring ring. Like, giving us something else to do. Back in Korofi we ran an underground fighting ring, but the base of it all was the same.” He explains, letting the cigarette hang from his lips while he explains and leans a bit closer to the man. “Like, the whole thing was the resistance, but we had our little fighting ring and another spot in town had an ammunition ring.” He says by means of explanation, using his hands to gesture the different places in his city. “Same thing but actually doing something. Lucas can oversee it, I don’t really care, but it’d at least give us some form of entertainment.” His lip lifts in a smirk as he pulls the smoke from his lips.

i wouldn't love me neither

SUNJATA

ADAM

"Ooooh. Right." Adam nodded, trying to pretend that he had known all along. While he was no stranger to broken the law, he'd never really done too much organised crime. A lot of it went over his head; his style had always been more 'poke it and see what happens' than intense planning and banding together.

Still, it did sound fun. "You think we could get people to fight? We'd have to offer them something as a prize, and there's no fucking money around here." Or maybe everyone would be so bored they'd just fight for something to do; he supposed they had all gone through the Fae trials and he still was not sure what the ultimate goal had been.

"But if you start something like that, I'm down."

good evening, misadventure.
farewell morality.
it's time for another risky venture,
into the depths of depravity.

i aint never been a keeper // despicable // i love her then i leave her

and if i were you,

He passes over Adam’s words, as though he’s pretending to understand. It’s complicated, after all. Not very often is it that a few ragtag people come together to try and organize some crime. At least in this instance, he had the experience. And he could put it to some good use. Instead, he drags from the cigarette as he regards Adam and his next set of words, a playful smirk crossing his face as he nods.

“I mean, I fought. So you at least have me.” He mentions with a gruff laugh. “That’s how I got into it in the first place.” A quick easy explanation. It was how he proved his trust and worth to the resistance. It was how he had met Lusea. It was how he coped with his issues of home and the frustrations of everything surrounding his childhood.

“Prizes can be bragging rights or something.” He shrugs offhandedly before he rolls his neck lightly, flicking the ash from the cigarette. “We can figure it out as we go. But I think people would be interested, if for nothing else than to simply beat the shit out of each other.” Because back in Korofi, there weren’t any boxing gloves, any full medical devices to keep you going. All you had were your fists, your mind, and sharp edged whiskey to keep the pain away.

And of course, a pretty little dark haired woman to stitch up your wounds and fuck around with.

i wouldn't love me neither

SUNJATA

ADAM

Sunjata continued to sell his idea, and Adam found himself nodding along. It had potential. Problems to work out, but potential. As long as he never had to find himself in the ring (because if weapons weren't allowed, he had only practice from bar fights and childhood scraps and hardly any body weight to defend himself with) he was interested in helping out.

"Okay, lemme know if you start to get serious about it. Find a place and some people who wanna do it, and I'll help." He offered. "I'm pretty good at building up hype for shit, so if you need someone to go around and get people to watch..." Adam pointed to himself. Years of spreading his own legend had taught him how to effectively capture people's imaginations with a few words.

Adam looked out from the alley, at the street with people milling about to the side of them. "If we play this right...we could end up real powerful here. There's just...nothing. No money. No banks. No guards...and it's getting more and more people every day."

good evening, misadventure.
farewell morality.
it's time for another risky venture,
into the depths of depravity.

i aint never been a keeper // despicable // i love her then i leave her

and if i were you,

Adam offers his help as the ‘hype’ man and Sunjata’s smile grows a bit wider. Giving the other man a sharp nod of agreement, he hums a quiet accented chuckle in response. “Sounds good to me.” A quiet offer of agreement, tentative as most of their work was. This one might at least become something else entirely, and a part of him is excited to find out.

Later, though, because he’s sure with Longnight’s approach, much will be happening.

Adam continues on, and Sunjata’s gaze follows the other man’s down the alley with a light crooked smile. “Exactly. There’s plenty of opportunities.” He comments. They need only take them, move on with it, work with it. There’s always loopholes somewhere.

“But thanks for the smoke. I should get going. Let me know if you have any other ideas, will you?” He gives Adam a knowing glance and a roguish grin before he pushes himself off the wall and after pausing for a response, makes his way down the alley and out into the crowds once more.

i wouldn't love me neither

SUNJATA