2019-07-27 - A Minefield of Problems

To say things have been tense is underselling it. Life's weird and August has been trying his best to be a good boss and just keep things manageable, and try as he may the situation in the Dysfunctional Scooby Gang: Misfortune Chapter keep dissolving.

A month ago it'd be hard to imagine Ignacio DeSantos have a bad day letting the world roll off his back. Lately everything has become a landmine and the veneer of humor has worn thin.

After the situation earlier in the morning Ignacio took off and came back much later than he anticipate and though he returned with coffee, bagels, filters, and a roll of duct tape(?) he also stopped by his brother's place and changed to clothes not covered in coffee and with a notebook with a familiar pamphlet from Minerva's meeting as the bookmark. The bagels are deposited on the counter in the break room, and then over to Roen's workspace quietly putting the cup down with the borrowed truck keys announcing quietly, "Tea." and with that heads back up to go sort his work for the morning. Hey, at least the truck was fueled up without the tank exploding. It's an improvement.

August has been struggling to keep one step ahead of the mounting number of mishaps, and succeeding to a marginal degree, but it leaves him out of juice for a lot of other things. Like the part where Itzhak, Ignacio, and Finch are at loggerheads about things.

So when Ignacio comes back after a hell of a long 'coffee break' (but with the truck fueled, so there's that) he says, "Thanks," for the tea, then watches him intently. "Hey," he says, taking up the cup to have a sip. It's a 'hey' of 'hey come back a second'.

Ignacio stops and just winces faintly. he's tired, real tired, and got a rain gutter's worth of water dumped on him already this morning. He sighs. He knows biting back to the boss was not going to fly and, resigned, turned and stopped bracing to have his mornings free very suddenly. He takes a couple steps back with the side limp of his; hand still hanging on the doorframe, "Hmm?"

August leans back in the chair at his desk with his tea. "So. This stuff you found out, about the...Veil." There. He said it. "Or, whatever--whereever, it is. And...'Them'. You want to talk about it a bit more?" Now that Itzhak's not here, he means.

Ignacio looks around and takes a deep breath. Okay he as braced to have the 'never do that again' talk and pack up his desk. The drop in adrenaline wears on him visibly but he nods, amicable to that, "Yeah, man. Lemme get my coffee. Bagel?" Eyebrow arches. This might be the olive branch, but when isn't food an olive branch from a cook. He fetched his half cup of coffee and a bagel for himself at least.

"Sure." Even though August isn't hungry, he knows a peace offering when he hears one. He narrows his eyes at Ignacio, getting the first inklings that this is about a whole lot more than 'what he found out'.

Ignacio gets the bagels and, no, it's not simple. He brings the small box over and a couple knives. He points "Cream cheese there. Lox in the box." He drops unceremoniously into the chair across from Roen's desk and lets his eyes settle on the edge of the desk, composes himself, and then looks up. "I've been across before. It was... terrible. Before the house and Skeletor. Dunno if you have, but... don't." There are few things he's serious about and this is one of those three. "So this veil, this border, boundry, paranormal mucus membrane, whatever you want to call it? Some... world like a parallel dimension that doesn't follow the rules ours dos. Some real sci-fi level shit. Some places- dunno why- are really holey and weaker a barrier between the two and that, on the other side, is where things and this... weird shimmer shit y'all do comes from."

August listens to all of that with a serious, pensive expression. He thinks over whether or not he's been across. "I don't know that I have," he says, finally. "Maybe, but if so, I don't remember it well." There's a lot he doesn't remember very well, though, about when he was young, and Bosnia, and he's beginning to wonder if that's not related.

"Terrible, as in..." He glances pointedly at Ignacio's leg. An eyebrow goes up. "That we all do? You do it too, you know."

Ignacio slouches down in the chair arching an eyebrow looking curious but unsurprised, "Was hoping that wasn't the case. Bad shit happens when I try to do shit." Oddly not excited about this revelation. "Terrible as in... we were there, fell through the other side and couldn't get the fuck back out. The things there? we're... we're food man. You ever seen like war movies?" He really knows little about Roen. Looking up there's a haunted look in his face trying to explain this to yet one more 'adult' who wants to tell him he's exaggerating or doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. "Terrible as in my ex, and our best friends went through. We watched these shadow alien bug things kill and eat her. Rico? Shit they dragged off, and the two of us that got out of there were maimed at best." The look challenges Roen, eyes wet and glassy and there's anger there that doesn't reach his voice. "I tried... to fuckin heal my leg cause it was bleeding like mad. Those mosquito things tore one of the muscles right out of the thing. Thought I was gonna die. Then?" This? This is regret? Shame? Disappointment? All of the above? Someone have a denied feelings Bingo card available?! "Then I tried to heal it and it broke...every... bone in my leg. Just shattered the whole fucking thing. Woke up a couple days later. Hospital. halo... the Other Side? It's fuckin bad bro and people...treat it like a fucking candy store handing out magic powers and it's fucking... dangerous and until you lose everything and it's too late people don't want to fucking liken levels of 'Terrible', Boss." His jaw tightens and he falls quiet, fingers squeezing his bagel but doesn't bite it. He's slightly off his petite.

When Ignacio asks August if he's seen a war movie, August just blinks at him, slow and nonreactive. He doesn't interrupt to answer that, though, instead lets Ignacio get through his tale and subsequent outlook. Once Ignacio finishes, he lets out a long, slow breath and runs a hand over his face.

"Jesus, Ignacio. I'm sorry. That's...that's a hell of a fucking thing to go through." His expression's a mixture of sadness and regret. He looks aside a moment. "You're not the only person I know whose experience over there was like that."

He sits up, drinks some of the tea Ignacio brought him. "I don't think any of us are treating it like a candy store. Definitely not me." He makes a face, addresses the unspoken concern. "I don't think Itzhak is either."

Ignacio just watches the edge of the desk thoughtfully and the commiseration receives a slow, shallow nod. Suffice to say it takes a lot to keep his shit together and it's a full time job aided by a lot of science. When he promises he and Itzhak aren't treating it like a candy store his eyes lift from the desk and the words are quiet trying to push back all of the feelings, the images, and the copper taste in the back of his throat. Steady and even as ever; it's the one solid thing he's good for. "They can like... I dunno if they smell it, taste it, hear it, or have some other sense, but they apparently know it and hone in on it. I just don't know if it's when we use it or if it's just around and we move it like treading water and some folks are better swimmers than others." He takes a drink of his coffee to buy a pause, "I'm looking into it. I've seen some people, some of the Hadoken folks. and that's not to mention people out there that are damn spies trying to courier good favour." He pauses and adds as an aside, "I'm an author. I get to use pedantic phrases like that. You have to meet a certain quota of those or you don't get published." True fax. "I don't want to lose any more friends ya know? I'm scared for him and I don't like people fucking with em."

August makes a low sound. "The way she put it to me was, They can sense the power in us. Not just when we use it--in general. And the stronger we are, the more They notice us. And using your power makes you stronger over time. So..." He shrugs. "People like Itzhak and Finch and I, we're already on Their radar." He laughs, bitter and resigned, shakes his head. "Especially me, I have a tendency to use it without knowing I am."

He sobers, fingers his cup. "The thing is, assuming what Itzhak went through happened in the same place--and it sounds like it did--then there's an alternative possibility. Which is that the...Veil, or whatever, is like our own world, in that it has dangerous places, and less dangerous places, and things living in it that are dangerous, and some that aren't." He raises his eyebrows at Ignacio to see if he's following. "Just because I can't go near a hospital doesn't mean I'm going to question everyone else doing it. I know why I feel that way. It's a me thing, not a hospital thing."

He glances at Ignacio's leg again. "So I assume that's why you don't use your power? Because of what happened last time you tried?"

Ignacio seems to follow that and offers, "Yeah but I'm not going to let someone stop in Newark after dark and ask for directions either Especially if they don't know that Newark is a thing or where it is." He siiiiiighs and murmurs something in Spanich which can be easily translated to: Maaaaan, fuck New Jersey right in the turnpike..

He eats his bagel and looks around with a pause broadcasting the expression: Isn't that enough!? He does add, however, "Well, yeah, that and everyone told me I was fucking out of my head and high. Man I wish that was true."

"Thing is, we don't know what's Newark after dark and what's not over there. And it sounds like whatever Itzhak went through was entirely different than what you did. So we need to look at both things, sort out what we can." August nods at Ignacio. "Obviously from what happened to you and the other people I've heard from, there's bad shit over there. But from him, there's also..." He can't bring himself to call it 'good'. "Less bad. Not immediately deadly. Which means that we don't know enough yet." He seems about to continue to some subsequent thought, decides not to.

Instead, he says, "Look. If you want to learn how to use your power, I can show you. There's a lot of things which aren't healing that you can do. You did it yesterday, when you and Finch fixed the coffee pot." He lets that sit, then continues, "But I get it, if you'd rather not. Because They will notice. And if you're dead set on not attracting Their attention--and after what you went through, I absolutely understand if that's the case--it's okay. I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. It's okay, if you don't want to put yourself out there. Knowing what you and others have gone through..." He shakes his head. "There's no judgement anyone has a right to level at you, for letting your power sit so it doesn't bring you more grief. You've had your share."

Ignacio shifts in his seat. Oh, sure, challenge the man's machismo. Eyebrow arches and he looks around and says nervously, "Look, all I do is break shit. I thought she fixed the coffee pot?" He just stuck the handle there! Eyes rolling ceilingward he bites the better side of his lip in thought. "Some.... sometimes If I try really hard sometimes I can pick up on what people are intending to say. Ain't easy though and then my concentration gets all... I dunno man. I don't wanna hurt anyone else and I sure as shit don't want to finish ruining my leg. I already killed my goddamned career with it."

Gently, August says, "You don't just break shit. I know you helped Finch. That's something else you can learn how to do--tell if people are using their power." He leans forward, sets his forearms on his desk. "If you learn how to control it, you won't be at risk of doing that again. And I'm more than happy to help you with that. But I get it, if you'd rather let it lie."

He looks down at the desk, sighs. After a time, he says, "For me it was more like it was for Finch. I was using it without knowing it from an early age. I never crossed over the border or went into a Dream. I'd see things, hear things, but nothing like what happened to you or Itzhak." A slow breath in and out. "Then I joined the Army, and wound up in Sarajevo in 1992, with my power just, bleeding all over like that." He flicks a glance up at Ignacio. "During the siege," he clarifies, back down at the desk. "And...it was bad. Feeling everyone's injuries, their anger, their fear, their pain. Nonstop. I figured it was just me being young and out of my depth, you know? We all knew what the Vietnam Vets said about what they went through, so I just assumed this was what they'd actually meant." He sits back up. "And a hospital we'd been assigned to guard, it was shelled. Collapsed on us. I was stuck in there with people dying around me for at least a couple of hours..." He narrows his eyes. Was it longer than that? Shorter? He can't remember. "And I tried so hard to keep as many of them alive as I could, but I could only help a few. I had no idea what I was doing, no way to know what would work. Sometimes all I could do was just, try to comfort them."

He drums his fingers on the desk. "Anyways," he says, and drinks the last of the tea. "I understand, if you don't want to. I really do. It's your choice to make for yourself." He looks at Ignacio directly again. "But you can't make it for Itzhak too. He didn't go through what you did. His experience is his witness. Yours is yours. That's just how it is."

Ignacio sets the bagel down and rubs the back of his neck. He's mulling it over or there would be a No mas! loud and clear. Arching an eyebrow he offers, "I'm not making a decision for him. He's a fucking adult just like finch...and sometimes myself every third Thursday. I'm tryin to make him aware so he don't wind up like I fuckin did and lose the shit I did. All because he wasn't warned? Be a shit friend if I did that. I jsut" His eyes eyes squeeze shut, hand at the back of his neck looking up. "I'm tired of not being able to affect shit, man. It ...It ain't your problem but they're always with me, ya know? It's... until you hear someone screaming and able to do jack all about it I can't... describe it. I don't want him to have that. And Finch?" He winces shaking his head not even starting in that rabbit hole.

"There's making him aware, and then there's denying what he went through. I know you and Finch didn't mean to do that, any more than someone telling me hospitals are fine doesn't mean to say what I'm dealing with isn't real. But it's still a thing you did. And right now, we don't need to do that to one another. We need to listen, and think about what we're dealing with, and sort through it. That can't happen if the first thing you do is call into question what he says he went through--especially if he doesn't know about your side of it." He raises an eyebrow in an unspoken guess of 'he doesn't know, does he?'.

He doesn't give voice to it, though. Instead, he says, "If you think Sarajevo wasn't three years of hearing people beg for help and not being able to give it, then I don't really know what else to tell you about that," and looks away. "You can effect things. We just need to teach you how."

Ignacio looks up and - oooOOOoooh shit, yeah. Yeah he told Itzhak to the tune of not at all. OH he's great at hiding things but the day's already taken the toll out of his ass. He looks guilty as charged if a poster child was ever needed. "Ain't no value putting your shit on anyone else when they got their own." He's about to ask What's Sarajevo when the answer comes with the rest of the statement. He flinches looking positively phased by the news. "What... what'd you do? Wait, why you there? Military or somethin?" Looking down he fidgets with the cup and nods. "I don't wanna hurt anyone. I mean I'm used to it. They shouldn't have to ya know?"

August just looks at Ignacio for a long moment, taking in that reaction. "Nothing wrong with not wanting to burden others. But he doesn't know where you're coming from, when you say the Veil's a bad place. All he knows is what he went through. If you expect to be able to communicate with him, you at least have to get him on," he gestures, makes a face, "part of the same page." In other words, 'tell him a little, if not the whole story'.

He nods at the question about Sarajevo. "Army, yeah. No one really talks about this over here, but the US sent about...three, maybe four hundred of us when the UN decided to send in peacekeepers. Mostly it was the French and the Canadians. We guarded hospitals, set up MASH units, tried to get refugees to safe places. But the city was being shelled day in and day out. Snipers all over..." He pauses, expression going distant. Eventually he continues. "It was a nightmare. And I didn't know how to not use my power. I'd been doing it for so long, I didn't have a concept of, turning it off. And, sort of like you, I've got both the healing and the," he taps his head, "mind...stuff. So." A slight shrug, the kind one uses to dismiss something a couple of decades done and gone. "It was hell."

He studies Ignacio for a time. "Finch and I can teach you how not to hurt anyone. It takes practice. Good news is, you can practice on plants. That's how I learned, when I finally got back to trying."

Ignacio listens and up until teh end where he looks worried, "Wait there's mind shit?...Plants don't have feelings do they? This isn't going to ruin cooking for me is it?" He squints to August holding the expression before letting it pass assuring, "I know they don't like that." The conversation is about as jarring as the rest of the morning. He looks back to August and pauses before asking anything like go back to I have mind stuff!? "Thanks for, um... sorry for this morning. A lot's been going on and Finch has been going through a fuck ton and... we haven't um... there's a lot of complications and I want to make sure whatever happens she's cool and I don't fuck up her shit and the more people not involved getting involved in it the more fucked up the situation is getting. I didn't..." Taking a deep breath he shakes his head, "I'm used to fightin with my dad to protect my brother. Sometimes I'm just... in that space ya know? Spanish blood man. We care about shit. A lot. Our people most."

"Yeah, ah..." August laughs. "Sorry, I thought Finch might know this and have told you, but, I can touch things and see events that happened around them. Feel how people felt, when they were holding them." He gives Ignacio a Look which speaks volumes as to the things he's seen with this ability. "I don't always see much, sometimes it doesn't work." His tone turns dry. "But sometimes, it works really well. And we can," he taps his head, "talk, with our minds. Show one another things. Or..." He looks at Ignacio a moment, squints. "...I can, and you can talk back to me. Not sure if Finch can, though. It's a little weird, takes getting used to. The empathy, that's how it started for me. That might be what you mean, when you say you can read people. You are, just not the way you might think you are."

He shakes his head, settles back in his chair. "It's alright. No need to apologize to me. I was just trying to get you guys to communicate with Itzhak." A rueful smile. "But I'm not a great coach. And like you say, we're all having a weirdly rough week, you two are going through a lot, Itzhak went through a lot..." He sighs, runs a hand through his hair. "We'll sit down, the four of us, and talk about it. What happened to him, what you guys know, and just, take it from there." Of the more specific topic of thw 'complications' of Finch and Ignacio, August says nothing, rather pointedly.

Ignacio blinks and arches an eyebrow, "We talk about her and her family and shit and fixin stuff. We really haven't ...really... there's a lot of ground to cover, man. " His head tilts nodding slowly and frowns hesitating, "Is that... why you yelled at me the other day? Somethin happened?" He pauses looking up trying to play back the event in his head. That... That makes sense? Alright, that might be a new way to think about things.

The not being a great coach gets a lopsided grin from him, "Well good news, you're only our boss on the clock. So long as you know what plants are venomous we good." He pauses and squints, "Man public restrooms must be a bitch for you!" He considers and lets his head do the math and offers, "You should meet Julia. Bonita actually know a thing or two. She's been... helping me. I think she's talked about doin some stuff similar to how Itzhak carries on but, I mean, Right now? She's dealin with some stuff that kinda makes the Skeletor issue second priority. There's... people gettin hurt and I've been researching and learnin up to help her with that which is-" He shrugs and points vaguely all over. "Yeah."

August tilts his head at Ignacio. "When did I yell at you?" He looks honestly confused about that, frowns, shakes his head. "I'm a lot more careful about doing that unwittingly these days. And yes, a public restroom is the place to never do that." He makes a face at the thought. Elch, just no.

"Julia. The one who teaches the cooking classes?" August toys with his beard, looking thoughtful. "I actually ran into her, that night the lantern tried to kill a bunch of us in that old museum." He thinks back to that night, replays it in his head. "Mmmm," is all he says about it.

"Well, I'm perfectly happy to meet her, officially, if you think she's someone to know." He gets up, finishes his tea and tosses the cup into the composting bin. "Figure the only way we sort this stuff out is to work together."