#facingthenukes

[ciircumserpent]

facing-the-nukes:

Huey huffed, not excited at the prospect of going out at all, much less for this. He wanted to weasel out of it, and in a different time, a different place, with different people, he could have. He’d once been good at that. But Solid Snake saw through everything.

“You don’t need me there,” he said. (It was worth a shot.)

       Snake gazed at Huey for a while, then lowered his cigarette and exhaled a stream of smoke into the other’s face. “Actually, Mister Peace Walker, we do need you there, to check over the schematics and verify some of the documents.” Hal could have done the schematics alone, but having another pair of eyes wouldn’t hurt anything.

[ciircumserpent]

“Have you not got it into your thick head yet? I’m not walking anywhere!” // facing-the-nukes

       “Doctor Emmerich,” Snake said, cutting him off calmly, “I know. Relax. I’ll be wheeling you there, if that’s what you want, or you can wheel yourself. Either way, we’re all going, so there’s no point in complaining. You’re not weaseling out of this. You’re free to try, though, if you like the sound of your own voice.”

[ciircumserpent]

@facing-the-nukes

Huey settled back into his chair, breathing out a soft sigh. It wasn’t his fault. None of this was. Metal Gear was meant to be a deterrent, not an actual weapon. And they’d taken it and… it wasn’t his fault. Shuffling through the old papers, designs, he felt a wave of nostalgia. He had loved Metal Gear like it was his own child. Had Hal felt the same way?

“It’s not… it wasn’t like that. I…” Huey trailed off, setting the papers aside. “I meant for Metal Gear to be a deterrent. Hot Coldman. Big Boss. Skull Face. They had different ideas.”

       “There’s no such thing as a deterrent,” Snake said, folding his arms. “Eventually, for it to serve its purpose, it has to be used in an attack, or it’s not effective. The idea that deterrents are non-violent is a myth cooked up by governments and people like Big Boss so they can say that they were in the right when they build weapons like Metal Gear. And that’s what they are -- weapons. Weapons that are meant to do one thing: kill.”

[ciircumserpent]

"Everybody... used me." // facing-the-nukes AKA Nothing Is Ever My Fault Ever

       “Mrrgh? And how many people have you used, Doctor Emmerich?” He had no doubt that Huey had been used at some point in his life. After all, one could say that life was just a process of using and being used by others. If they were good, they gave and received the best that they and their partners had to offer, but that wasn’t often the case. As much as Hal’s father wanted to claim victimhood, in his case, it went hand in hand with being a manipulator. He had dug his own grave.

[cloakisms]

❝ You don’t smile anymore. ❞ // facing-the-nukes

HUSHED sentence starters

The most he gives him is a breath of a laugh--sarcastic, mildly meek. “Sometimes it’s hard, okay? Work comes first--it always will.” Even then, Hal wasn’t too sure if he could even say the same for his dad.

[ciircumserpent]

✖ // facing-the-nukes

       “Actually, I just came by because I have something to say to you.”

[ciircumserpent]

facing-the-nukes:

Huey coughed, giving Snake a disgusted look. How he loathed that the man smoked (considering that Huey himself hadn’t invented a far superior method with the vapor cigars but whatever). It wouldn’t have been as bad had Snake not decided to breath the wretched fumes into his face, but he had. Huey supposed that the disdain (or hatred) went both ways in this case.

“I’m trying to help my son, in case you’d forgotten. Hating you does nothing to help him.” Huey’s eyes narrowed, glaring at Snake. “Maybe if you would make yourself less loathsome we wouldn’t have this problem.” The engineer coughed again.

       Snake wasn’t a particularly hateful person, but Huey had a habit of getting on his nerves, not in the least part because he liked to insult Big Boss... loudly and frequently. No doubt he would have kept his mouth shut had the mercenary still been alive, but now that he was dead, it seemed that everything was fair game, and that made Snake bristle. Much as he detested his former commander, he had genuinely respected him, and insulting a fallen soldier was extremely disrespectful -- so much so that even the typically-gruff Snake couldn’t bring himself to do it despite having ample reason to.

       “Hating me has nothing to do with it, but it’s good to stay focused on the mission.” Folding his arms over his chest, he huffed a laugh and shook his head at Huey. “You’re asking me to change for you? Sorry, Emmerich, I don’t love you enough to even try. I mean, you haven’t bought me dinner yet or anything.” He stopped and took a drag on his cigarette. “Really. I’m not an easy person to like. You’ll just have to live with it.”

[ciircumserpent]

“I want to hate you half as much as I hate myself.” // facing-the-nukes

       “I don’t see any reason for you not to,” the saboteur said casually, lowering his cigarette and exhaling a long stream of smoke into Emmerich’s face. “If you want to hate me, hate me. You could find an excuse to. It’s not that hard. Besides, I don’t care. Instead of torturing yourself over it, just do it. It’d be one of the least harmful things you’ve ever done.”