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[ Hickey is going to get a 'are you kidding me?' look considering it's what he favors as well, and he'll pull out a bottle of the Glenlivit 18 as well as a pair of crystal tumblers for this particular occasion. ]

Ice or no?

[ He prefers on the rocks for himself. ]

None, [ Hickey says, with a little shake of his head. Though he's eying those crystal tumblers with a lot of interest: they look nice, he's jealous. ]

Have you read through my file yet?

Would you believe me if I said 'no'?

[ He hasn't. He'd gone to? And then he's decided that the tack he'd taken with Rags was truly the best one.

All the same, he pours out a good portion, neat. Pushes it over to Hickey.]

Edited 2021-10-31 20:35 (UTC)

I wouldn't believe you, [ Hickey admits. He takes the whiskey and knocks it back a little. ]

Because if I were in your shoes, I'd read that file the moment I got it.

[ Kiryu nods and walks over to his bedroom, walking back over with the file folder. It looks pretty neat, though it slides a little as he tosses it on the family room table.

But he shakes his head. ]

I don't trust anything that comes from... above. Not completely.

[ He dips his head towards Hickey. ]

I want to go through it with you. I want to know what you say about these things. I'm more interested in that than what the Admiral says about it.

Then let's go ahead and get started.

[ He takes another sip of his drink, watching Kiryu all the while. ]

[ Kiryu nods and sits down himself, taking a moment to sip his drink, savor it, and then put it down. Finally, he reaches over to take the folder and opens it to the first page. ]

...would you like me to continue to call you the same name?

[ He points to the part of the page and slides it over for him to see. His eyebrow is raised. ]

[ Hickey looks over at the file, frowning a little as he reads it...and then lets out a short little laugh. It mentions the other, dead Cornelius Hickey? Well then. ]

I've been Cornelius Hickey for the past three years, [ he says, with a little shrug. ] If I was the first one of my lot who arrived on the Barge, maybe I'd use a different name. But by the time I got here and got patched up, Blanky, Goodsir, and Crozier had already talked about 'Cornelius Hickey' to those here. I'd have more questions if I changed it.

[ Kiryu isn't the type of man to question why someone wants to be called something. But the answer given- ]

Is that the only reason?

It's a good enough reason, [ Hickey says, with a little shrug. ] And if that's the point you're stuck on, it'll take you a long time to finish off the file.

[ He shakes his head. ]

Why do you care what they think? Or whether they'd question?

[ He'll move on. But he feels as if it's an important thing. He's gone by another name before. He hadn't enjoyed it, but it was necessary.]

I don't care what they think. I care that they've already told everybody here what happened to me.

[ It would be so easy just to ignore the events in the Arctic. To keep that to himself, to move past that and move onto something else. But he can't really do that now, can he. Not since Goodsir and the rest have talked to the others and made everything public. ]

You think it'd be seen as running away?

[ He didn't forget that discussion the other day, after all. He hasn't forgotten any of their discussions. ]

[ He pauses for a moment, frowning slightly, trying to see if Kiryu can understand what Hickey's trying to put down. ]

I'm not a coward. If there's something I need to face or something unpleasant I'll need to do, I'll do it. [ A coward wouldn't approach tuunbaq like he did. A coward wouldn't seize the opportunities like he has. ]

I just don't see any use in talking about the past. You just keep moving forward and don't look back. That's the best way to go.

[ He'll summarize to make sure he has the point- ]

Who you were is the past. Hickey Co-

Cornelius Hickey is the future for you.

[ That about it? ]

[ Hickey nods. ]

If Terror broke away from the ice, I planned on deserting on one of those tropical islands. If that happened, I'd leave Cornelius Hickey behind and be someone else entirely. Simple as that.

[ He can't help but think of the young man he'd helped before coming back, of the struggle he was in the midst of. More importantly, the enemy he was up against. Arakawa Masato had destroyed a great deal in his desperate need to shed his old life and succeed in the new one.

He'll be curious to see if he feels that way by the time he gets to graduation. He isn't sure if that'll be the case, but he'll respect his decision. ]

Do you know who that person is? And where you'd want him to be?

He'd be sunning himself on one of those islands. No work, no struggle, none of England's bullshit breathing down his neck. He'd be there and he'd get the chance to relax.

[ it's obvious that there are a few details of this plan Hickey hasn't exactly thought through (you still need to work, dipshit) ]

Then you do want to graduate?

[ It's not something he takes as a given. Nor something he'd push for if Hickey decided he didn't want it. ]

Course I do.

[ said like it's the most obvious thing in the world. ]

But I don't want to spend my time sunning myself on those islands. I want to go back to the Arctic.

Why?

[ He looks skeptical but he also looks a little startled. And then he remembers, some of what Pagan had told him. Some of what he'd read on the network.

Less startled, but still waiting for an answer. ]

There was a god in the Arctic. Tuunbaq—it's probably in that file somewhere. A god in the shape of a bear. I don't care what others say, I know what it is and I know what I saw.

[ there's a little defensiveness in his voice, like he suspects Kiryu might say something otherwise. ]

How the hell d'you expect me to go back to London now that I've seen something like that out there?

[ It's clear he's considering how to approach that, but he's not dismissing it, not hardly. Instead, he's thinking it through. ]

What would you do there, with the god?

[ That's what he keeps getting caught on. ]

I want what it's got.

[ That's said as if it's the most obvious thing ever. But after a pause, Hickey continues to explain. ]

I know it works with a shaman. That's what angered the bear in the first place, one of the men accidentally shooting it's shaman. And that girl, Lady Silence, she tried to be the bear's shaman as well. I don't know the specifics, but I know the process involves cutting out your tongue. But I'd try for that power anyway. I know that bear can suck out a man's soul. If I can even get a fraction of the power that thing has, it would change my life forever.

[ And suddenly a few details about Hickey's tongueless arrival on the Barge make a little more sense. ]

[ He has heard quite a few very weird dreams and ambitions in his time. This is... curiously, somewhere in the top middle. But he's a little confused, and that's clearly what it is. Not some passive aggressive attempt to stymie him or trip him up. He just doesn't get it.]

What would this beast give you that you want? What do you want its power for?

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cw: references to self-mutilation

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