It's deliberate he brings it up once again, though possibly not for the reasons Rosita thinks. Maybe they'll get there, maybe they won't. Drake's willing to explain himself but right now he's sticking to the questions directly being asked.
...whether or not Jesus seems interested has him grinning.
"Could go either way, we've had other stuff to talk about. He's still feeling things out right now and that means the city as much as the people in it. Certain things are best to look into during a grace period anyway." Hint hint, Rosita. That's why he brought it up more clearly.
Her dark eyes are steady on him, although she's never been the stoic of any given group; she studies him openly, and sips her iced coffee.
His words, on the whole, don't even mean a whole lot; could be a copout, as far as she's concerned, a way of not really answering her question. Or it could mean he thinks she's asking the wrong one.
"Go on," she prompts him instead, uninterested in the guessing games. She's not done with questions, but she's willing to give him a little more slack.
Drake nods, also preferring to be direct when it's possible. They should be fine discussing it here, especially the element of it he's concerned about and all that Rosita needs to know. Jesus can fill in the purpose and what he learned next week.
"I hit you up because he said you're probably gonna buy him out in two days. He's uncontracted, they're gonna really jack up the fine to try and keep him in there the full sentence so more Doms have to rent time. They get more money, the sub meets more people, it's more push to sign before he's ready, blah blah. You guys are new, so I wanted to check in that you can definitely afford to get him out if necessary? Not wanting to trust new people enough for an expensive favor is smart, but it can get bad in there. Odds are decent if he's in trouble he'll tell you over new friends -- if you're short, there's no strings here. I'll give you the money."
He hits on the point that Rosita hates the most out of all of this, besides the fact that it's happening at all: they're new. They don't know who's even who yet, let alone what to leverage and how. She hasn't had to worry about a fucking income in almost half her life at this point, although it's true old habits die hard.
But he says something else too - it can get bad in there - and she scowls and looks away because that's not for him. She hates literally every part of this and has from the moment Jesus told her about it.
"How jacked up are we talking?" she asks, because she hasn't been able to get a number. Not that it matters, she'll make it happen however she has to, but she needs a target to aim at. "I specifically told him to contact me if he's in trouble, and he will." Jesus knows better than to piss her off, and he knows what she can do when she's motivated.
Okay, good -- that she's so sure Jesus will call her. Drake looks a bit reassured by that, as he puzzles through where they might set the fine.
"If you're the one asking?" She's also new and uncontracted, they're gonna take advantage. Drake shakes his head unhappily. "He broke somebody's arm and they gave him a full week instead of realignment, on a first offense."
Something like that would normally be $500 to their Dom and some kind of realignment task, or the fine and a few days in the zoo if it was a repeat offense. Drake's known some really out of control subs -- not his -- so he's familiar with the usual charges. He's a little worried they might suspect what Jesus is up to, but that's unfounded right now so he doesn't say that. Just gives Rosita his best guess.
"I'd say you should go in prepared to hand over like two grand, to be safe. A 'good' Dom would probably get a slightly lower number, but we're still into four digits and it might be more than a first paycheck. You can call it a loan if you don't wanna feel indebted, but I want you to have enough before he calls."
While he's calculating, Rosita does pull out her phone and fire off a quick text since she has the option. She doesn't like trusting strangers but she's not so proud or so stupid to stick to doing everything on her own when she has the option to spread it around a bit; if Jesus really does like this guy, there's a certain level of automatic trust that can be gained. It's not perfect - Jesus likes almost everyone, sometimes too readily - but it's a start for their current situation.
She pulls a face at the number he gives her; that's a lot of money even for before her world ended, but not outside the realm of possibility for what her original plan had been if she couldn't scrape together enough on her own. Still, this is better.
"I do, too." She flips the phone closed, transfers all of her attention back to Drake, decision made. "And I can make the money given enough time but I'm not leaving him in there while I get my shit together. What are the terms?"
"I said no strings and meant it. You wanna pay it back just so neither of you feel like you owe me, I'll take it, but I've been here a long time and I'm saving up. It's not urgent. All I want is to know that the second he calls you'll be on your way to get him out."
And he's pretty confident that's exactly what'll happen, so. It isn't much money to him here, with how low key he and Ephemera live and the amount he's been squirreling away to open his partner a studio.
"There was never another option," she replies, lightly, but she means it with everything she has. Jesus has earned that from her: he calls, she answers, especially here where they're alone together. If she had to do something... ill advised, they'd figure it out after she had him safely with her again.
But this would be so much easier if she can find a way to come at it that she can live with and negotiate from. "I have a month to pay you back, or you can ask a favor from me equivalent to the balance owed. This is my deal, not Jesus's, he's not on the table - not even if he offers. Just me."
Drake tilts his head thoughtfully, appreciating that instinct to make sure she's the one taking on the potential consequences. There won't be any, of course, but it's only smart not to trust him. And significant, that she's protective enough to do this.
"Give yourself two months and we have a deal," he decides, leaning forward slightly to extend a hand to shake on it.
She doesn't exactly leap on the amendment, but she's smart enough to take the extra leeway when he didn't argue any of the rest of it; he knows more than she does, and Jesus does too and vouches for him at least this far, and she has to trust both of these so she takes his hand, shakes once, firm.
And, with that done, there's a small but significant shift that comes over her. Something in her posture relaxes now that she has - in name anyway - the resources she needs to take care of the only one of her people she can get to just now. It's the most they can ask for out of any given day back home, anyway, and she's settled entirely into the rhythm of it: push like hell until you have what you need, then take the time to breathe.
"I'm coming up on a year and a half," Drake replies, noting how she's relaxed a little. Maybe they can have a friendlier conversation now? "You'll find people who've been here from the first arrivals if you ask around, so like four years? But in my experience with this kind of thing people are either stuck for ages or come and go."
Her interest has definitely shifted, less gauging and more curious. She's still watching, she's still glances at any sudden loud noises in the area around them, though she's not jumpy. Just alert.
"So year and a half makes you one of the ones sticking around?"
"In Hadriel it would have. Here... I think it's still true, yeah. Hopefully. Since I have no idea where I'd wind up going next."
Does he love this city? No. But he has people here and is dead where he started out, so unless there's a guarantee he'd go back to Hadriel instead of home where he was no longer exists or starting over alone again in some other shitty situation? Might as well be with people he cares about.
She's heard that there are other cities nearby, but she hasn't heard that name.
"Hadriel?" Jesus died to come here. Rosita doesn't remember dying, which doesn't mean she didn't but it also doesn't mean she did. His wording gets her attention though: "Is that a religious thing?"
"It's an alien planet I was stuck on for a few years. This, uh... isn't my first time winding up in another universe. There's a handful of us that's true for, where this is our second jump. As far as I know I'm the only one here from there, though, and that's the case for everybody I've met like me. We're all the only one who remembers the first place, even when we have friends here that were also there with us."
He shrugs, taking another sip of his coffee.
"No rhyme or reason to it that we can tell, and it's not many of us. But I'm not the only one."
She mutters something under her breath; it sounds like swearing because it is.
"You have no idea how much I want to call you crazy for everything you just said but, well." She motions around them with a hand. "Here we sit, so I can't."
"Yeah, that's usually my counter argument." Drake mimics her 'look around, here we are, this is also crazy' gesture. His tone is still light but not amused now, and he looks very serious. "Telling people I was close to them somewhere else is the hardest part. Nobody wants to consider that they aren't the only version of themselves, you know?"
A series of emotions flicker across her face, one after another, as she first tries to understand what he's saying, then really tries to understand it in the context of something that actually happens. It's very clear that she doesn't quite come to an understanding, but also something pained settles in her expression while she tries to find words for him.
"I can't even imagine that," she says, both honest and the closest she ever gets to apologetic.
It isn't something she should apologize for, but Drake can see the sympathy and appreciates that she's keeping it low key. He's come to terms with a lot of things over the past four years. This isn't shit he can change and has just had to accept.
"Hopefully it won't happen to you... you should keep in mind that people get pulled in from all over the timeline, though. There might be somebody here from home that you know who hasn't met you yet, or vice versa."
Welcome to universe hopping 101, his name is Professor Holloway but please just call him Drake...
"I've already had both happen. Jesus and I are... from very close to the same few days." Rosita is tough, no one who survives as long as she and Jesus have isn't, but she still stumbles a bit over it even if she keeps going anyway.
"And there's someone else here from our world that neither of us knew. It's. A pretty distinct timeline." Every survivor of the virus has a very particular look to them that they all recognize at a glance.
She'll roll with the punches, thank you, Professor.
"Huh. I'd say at least you've got people from home, but that's not a good thing for everybody. You two get along with the person you don't know so far?"
He's had a bad experience, with someone he didn't know back home showing up from his world. Could go either way.
"So far." She shrugs, but it's not off the table that Carver will someday try something on with one of them - in fact she'd bet money on it. Until then though, there's a kind of camaraderie he seems to be willing to entertain as well, so she'll claim him as one of hers.
"And I'm glad I have Jesus." That part is unequivocally good by her estimate. "I don't take that for granted, you know?"
"Good," Drake says softly, expression thoughtful. Too many people do, and although he didn't expect Rosita would since Jesus said he's dead too... it's still good to hear it.
"It's a backup. I'm not just going to let him hang, or vice." Now or ever.
"But we both figure if we can find some other connections it would be for the best. He's always liked meeting new people anyway, and I'm not his type."
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chiming
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 10:22 am (UTC)From:...whether or not Jesus seems interested has him grinning.
"Could go either way, we've had other stuff to talk about. He's still feeling things out right now and that means the city as much as the people in it. Certain things are best to look into during a grace period anyway." Hint hint, Rosita. That's why he brought it up more clearly.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 10:50 am (UTC)From:His words, on the whole, don't even mean a whole lot; could be a copout, as far as she's concerned, a way of not really answering her question. Or it could mean he thinks she's asking the wrong one.
"Go on," she prompts him instead, uninterested in the guessing games. She's not done with questions, but she's willing to give him a little more slack.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:06 am (UTC)From:"I hit you up because he said you're probably gonna buy him out in two days. He's uncontracted, they're gonna really jack up the fine to try and keep him in there the full sentence so more Doms have to rent time. They get more money, the sub meets more people, it's more push to sign before he's ready, blah blah. You guys are new, so I wanted to check in that you can definitely afford to get him out if necessary? Not wanting to trust new people enough for an expensive favor is smart, but it can get bad in there. Odds are decent if he's in trouble he'll tell you over new friends -- if you're short, there's no strings here. I'll give you the money."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:13 am (UTC)From:But he says something else too - it can get bad in there - and she scowls and looks away because that's not for him. She hates literally every part of this and has from the moment Jesus told her about it.
"How jacked up are we talking?" she asks, because she hasn't been able to get a number. Not that it matters, she'll make it happen however she has to, but she needs a target to aim at. "I specifically told him to contact me if he's in trouble, and he will." Jesus knows better than to piss her off, and he knows what she can do when she's motivated.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 01:54 pm (UTC)From:"If you're the one asking?" She's also new and uncontracted, they're gonna take advantage. Drake shakes his head unhappily. "He broke somebody's arm and they gave him a full week instead of realignment, on a first offense."
Something like that would normally be $500 to their Dom and some kind of realignment task, or the fine and a few days in the zoo if it was a repeat offense. Drake's known some really out of control subs -- not his -- so he's familiar with the usual charges. He's a little worried they might suspect what Jesus is up to, but that's unfounded right now so he doesn't say that. Just gives Rosita his best guess.
"I'd say you should go in prepared to hand over like two grand, to be safe. A 'good' Dom would probably get a slightly lower number, but we're still into four digits and it might be more than a first paycheck. You can call it a loan if you don't wanna feel indebted, but I want you to have enough before he calls."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:30 pm (UTC)From:She pulls a face at the number he gives her; that's a lot of money even for before her world ended, but not outside the realm of possibility for what her original plan had been if she couldn't scrape together enough on her own. Still, this is better.
"I do, too." She flips the phone closed, transfers all of her attention back to Drake, decision made. "And I can make the money given enough time but I'm not leaving him in there while I get my shit together. What are the terms?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:42 pm (UTC)From:And he's pretty confident that's exactly what'll happen, so. It isn't much money to him here, with how low key he and Ephemera live and the amount he's been squirreling away to open his partner a studio.
"You can set them if you want?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:54 pm (UTC)From:But this would be so much easier if she can find a way to come at it that she can live with and negotiate from. "I have a month to pay you back, or you can ask a favor from me equivalent to the balance owed. This is my deal, not Jesus's, he's not on the table - not even if he offers. Just me."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:06 am (UTC)From:"Give yourself two months and we have a deal," he decides, leaning forward slightly to extend a hand to shake on it.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:16 am (UTC)From:And, with that done, there's a small but significant shift that comes over her. Something in her posture relaxes now that she has - in name anyway - the resources she needs to take care of the only one of her people she can get to just now. It's the most they can ask for out of any given day back home, anyway, and she's settled entirely into the rhythm of it: push like hell until you have what you need, then take the time to breathe.
"How long have you been here, Drake?
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:34 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:39 am (UTC)From:"So year and a half makes you one of the ones sticking around?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:49 am (UTC)From:Does he love this city? No. But he has people here and is dead where he started out, so unless there's a guarantee he'd go back to Hadriel instead of home where he was no longer exists or starting over alone again in some other shitty situation? Might as well be with people he cares about.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 02:53 am (UTC)From:"Hadriel?" Jesus died to come here. Rosita doesn't remember dying, which doesn't mean she didn't but it also doesn't mean she did. His wording gets her attention though: "Is that a religious thing?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 03:03 am (UTC)From:He shrugs, taking another sip of his coffee.
"No rhyme or reason to it that we can tell, and it's not many of us. But I'm not the only one."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 05:02 am (UTC)From:"You have no idea how much I want to call you crazy for everything you just said but, well." She motions around them with a hand. "Here we sit, so I can't."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 01:31 pm (UTC)From:"I can't even imagine that," she says, both honest and the closest she ever gets to apologetic.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 02:27 pm (UTC)From:"Hopefully it won't happen to you... you should keep in mind that people get pulled in from all over the timeline, though. There might be somebody here from home that you know who hasn't met you yet, or vice versa."
Welcome to universe hopping 101, his name is Professor Holloway but please just call him Drake...
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 10:44 pm (UTC)From:"And there's someone else here from our world that neither of us knew. It's. A pretty distinct timeline." Every survivor of the virus has a very particular look to them that they all recognize at a glance.
She'll roll with the punches, thank you, Professor.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 10:15 pm (UTC)From:He's had a bad experience, with someone he didn't know back home showing up from his world. Could go either way.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 10:19 pm (UTC)From:"And I'm glad I have Jesus." That part is unequivocally good by her estimate. "I don't take that for granted, you know?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 10:23 pm (UTC)From:"You're not gonna sign with him, though?"
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 10:24 pm (UTC)From:"But we both figure if we can find some other connections it would be for the best. He's always liked meeting new people anyway, and I'm not his type."
no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 11:09 pm (UTC)From:"Contracts can be platonic. Like marrying your best friend for health insurance. But I get you. How's your search going?"
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From:I 150% thought I replied to this, I am so sorry
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