2020-11-13 - Necessary Badness

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I'm sorry. I tried. You should give up on the astronaut. He doesn't deserve you if he can't answer a simple question. Do you like tacos and ice cream?

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I AM STARVING! Ice cream and tacos sound delicious. Also starving for sex. Yeah, I think my fangirl ways have chased Cavanaugh off. I shouldn't have read all his books. Or maybe it's just my not having a penis. I am sad. So very sad. He would have been my hall pass even if I'd married Mike.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : We invented tacowaffles. Wait, no. That's the disease. WAFFLETACOS. ::taco emoji:: ::ice cream emoji:: ::explosion emoji:: And I don't know what you want him for. He's attractive, but you can do better. Don't be sad.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I can't seem to even do worse. I hate this town. Waffletacos? Like Choco tacos? Those are fucking delicious. I want some. And what disease? Wait, wouldn't that be Cant Waffles. No autocorrect I meant what I typed the first time!

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Oh come on. Me not getting laid for thirteen years is natural and normal. You not getting laid for four has to be a deliberate choice on some level, because you're very attractive, and being able to break people in half is pretty nice. And I don't know what choco tacos are, but if they stole our idea, I'm gonna stab them many times.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Dude they've been around since like the 80s and shit. And I'm only attractive in my clothes. Bad things happened to me. Bad things. And my back is all fucked up. And the psycho that did it, left his mark. And I can't not remember those things. Shit why am I telling you this? Pro tip: don't blow your cover in a cartel who has a serial killer for an interrogator.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Scars aren't bad. They're interesting. Around here, anyway. And fuck them for stealing our idea in the 80s. But I bet they don't have TONGUE ICE CREAM. That is going to put us on the motherfucking map, okay? It will be magnificent, and we're going to deep fry everything. Also, I'm sorry that happened to you. Torture lingers, not just in the body.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Mine aren't interesting. They're gross. And all sorts of types of scars. All sorts. Really bad. And each one is a terrible memory that wakes me up in the middle of the night and makes me want to drink or snort something to forget. Wait, where are you getting the tongues? From the mouths of your enemies?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : They're gross because they hurt you. But they're just skin in interesting shapes, Miss Grey. But I look at autopsy photos for fun, and apparently that's weird, so I have different perspectives on it. Did they catch the guy? Who hurt you? And no. Not people tongues. Cow tongues. Tongue tacos are delicious.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : shapes, colors, textures. Yeah, you're weird. And no, he's still out there, still working for Ojeda and his cartel cell. Which is why I'm here, and why I work for my boss, because he keeps those fuckers away from me and dad. Ew, the poor cows! They belong in burgers, not having their tongues put in tacos.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Yes. Shapes, colors, textures. If he came to Gray Harbor, you could probably slice him to pieces before he even knew what was happening. If he doesn't stand out. You want help, let me know? Torturing people is wrong. And the cows are fine. Their tongues aren't going into burgers; they would just get thrown out if you didn't use them, and they're delicious. Have you trieeed? You'll think it's betbet.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : No I don't want to eat a tongue! That's grooooossssss. Wait, who did you come up with this idea with?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Seth. I found his number. I'm clever and good at finding things.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Only Seth could come up with something that weird for food. I'm totally going to go buy all the snacks at the store and bring them to his place to teach him that there are better things to eat than tongues, and better things tongues do than get put in tacos. Unless it's a euphemism. Is this just a euphemism like the dinghy thing?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I think what you decide to teach Seth's tongue to do is between you an him, Miss Grey. Although i have it on good authority that he has abs for days, if that matters. And it was my idea! ::frowny face emoji:: Mostly.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Abs for days, eh? Well I don't think he's any more interested than Cavanaugh but I can teach him about real snack foods. And your idea is crazy! Tell Javier, see what he says! Why am I so fucking HUNGRY?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : You're hungry because we're all very high. So very high. It's nice. I never get high. You also are mean to yourself, and you should stop. Javier will hate the idea, but he hates most ideas.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I'm not mean to myself. I'm just broken. Things get broken. People get broken. I still have some use, or I'd be gone by now. Javier hates most ideas that don't involve tequila and guns

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Everything in Gray Harbor is broken. I'm broken, too. But you're okay. Still gonna try and get you arrested if I have evidence of you doing bad things, but you're okay. You should be nicer to yourself, because it's okay to be broken. And you're not wrong about Javier. He needs hobbies.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : He needs hobbies that don't involve his dick. And don't get me arrested. That would be bad.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Don't do bad things. Or don't leave evidence. And you're not wrong.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Is it bad if it's necessary?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Yes. I used to think no. That it was okay to break people if you meant them good in the end, if you thought it was necessary to make them better and stronger. But all you got was broken people. I've started to think about it again. Wondering if you can break someone in the right way to make them better. I don't know, yet. But I think even if you do, and it worked, it's still a bad thing. I don't think people who could be good should do bad things.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : It's a complicated question.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : very complicated. I think people who can be good, who do bad things, have other things influencing them. Like, having their choice removed. Or made so if they don't do a bad thing, what will happen will be so much worse. Or unbearable.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Are choices ever really removed, or are they just ones you don't like? I really don't know. I want to be good. I want other people to be good, too. Because when they're not, lots of people get hurt, and while people like to say 'oh, well, they were bad people anyway or they wouldn't be in that situation', and maybe that's true they're still people. They have brightness in them, and there are interesting things in their heads that disappear forever when they die.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Do you feel that way about Reyes and his men?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Yes. It doesn't mean I won't kill them. I will, because I don't think they will stop doing terrible things on their own, and they're not town. They'll cause more disruption than I'm willing to tolerate. It doesn't mean it's a good thing. I'm a bad person. I'm willing to do bad things, sometimes.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I am too. But I didn't want to be a bad person. I wanted to be a good person. All I wanted was to be a great police detective.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Yes. Me too. Well. I wanted to be an FBI agent.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : What stopped you? You seem like a good private eye without a license.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I'm crazy, Miss Grey. Not just the psychic shit and tendency to be snatched away to Dreams where things try and torture and kill me. But I'm unstable and unreliable. I wouldn't give me a gun. Why would anyone else?

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Pretty sure the first rule of being crazy is not realizing you're crazy.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Thats' not a real thing. The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address. Even the clearest water, if deep enough, can drown. Self awareness is not as important as ability to do things differently. And I struggle with that. A friend gave me a surprise hug, and I broke his nose. Isabella threw me a surprise birthday party, and I almost killed people because I thought it had to be a trick from Over there.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I don't really like surprises.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Well, we live in a reality where we can throw shit around with our minds and some bogeymen from another dimension are trying to eat us on the regular. I think being paranoid and not liking surprises is a common theme for people who shine.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Maybe. Still doesn't make you an attractive prospect for law enforcement. But! I have friends now. People who actually seem to like me, and not just for the wrong reasons. So that's nice. And you're nice. You should do things that make you happy. Except the astronaut, because I think he's stringing you along.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : And you should eat tongue. I don't know why you haven't.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I think he's stringing me along too. That makes me sad. I really like his books. But I'm moving on. Without eating tongue because that's still gross. And you are a good detective. I will hire you again sometime.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I got caught. Your dad is smart. And it's good that you're moving on, but you're wrong about the tongue. I'm gonna make someone cook you tongue. Not me, because I want you to like it. But Javier, maybe. Or August. They cook.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : My dad is super smart. Way smarter than me. He is my hero. It's why I had to do what I did to protect him. He is worth it.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : He's very proud of you. And he's worth protecting. But I don't know that he'd agree with the way you're protecting him. And in the end, Monaghan is no better. He's just better at getting people when they're vulnerable.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : But he holds all the cards. And until he doesn't, until I can find a way out, it's what I have to be. To do.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : ::eggplant emoji:: ::taco emoji:: ::party hat emoji::

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Why are you making sex emojis at me?

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I don't have an answer! I just have a lot of very confused feelings. And taco emojies. I have a lot of those. ::taco emoji:: ::taco emoji::

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : It's making me want to bring Seth more than snacks.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I have no real opinion on you and Seth having sex, but I advise being forthright and clear whichever way you want to go. Mixed messages only cause sadness and a lack of tacos and eggplants.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : I'll keep that in mind. I'm at the grocery store now. Gonna turn off the phone, in case something in the vegetable section tries to eat me.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Maybe it would be fun! Probably not. But maybe. Be open to new experiences. I'm going to stare at my phone until I get bored again. I have contacts. I haven't dialed them all, y et.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : Don't die.

(TXT to Alexander) Vic : Don't kill anyone.

(TXT to Vic) Alexander : I will try very hard not to!