paradoxlol | .030

[The communicator clicks on at an odd angle, like it's just been haphazardly tossed to the ground. Luckily, you get an artsy view of Arthur's couch, which currently has a fourteen-year-old Arthur dancing on it, all gangly and grunge-chic. He's singing-- or... screaming-- along to some Nirvana and getting his dirty shoes all over the couch.]

Grandma take me home, Grandma take me home, Grandma take me hooooome!

[And then he sort of stumbles off the couch in a heap, laughing, as the song winds down and the next one comes on. What's this? Oh, Arthur's drunk off of... Arthur's liquor collection. You can see an empty bottle of whiskey rolling around in the background if you're paying attention. He props himself up on his elbows and reaches out to grab the communicator, bringing it clooose to his face, grinning, giggling a little.]

Hey, hey... HEY. Anyone-- anyone got... some smokes? I'll traaaaade. [He snorts with laughter, then drops his head down, thinking, and pulls it up again with a little frown.] Dude. Hey. Dude. Why're there... there so many fuckin' kids here?

[BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A KID, ARTHUR.]

I say-- I-- I think... everyone who's like, not a kid? Should come here. [He rolls onto his back, laughing with glorious intoxication, and fumbles around with the communicator, so you're getting some tilty angles and shaky-cam going now.] We could party. [He raises his brow, as though he's just noticed that the music's still playing, and he's suddenly VERY EXCITED.] Whooo! [And with that, he starts singing the next song and finally manages to click the communicator off.]

[OOC: Arthur was a terrible kid :c]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Because she's a bitch. [Arthur didn't learn to like his parents until he was a bit older. And now, giving Perry a smug, bratty look:] Shouldn't you know if you're a warden?

Sure, if I actually gave two fucks about this job. [Perry doesn't like that look.] How about you take a guess on how much I care?

Wow. [Have a slow, sarcastic clap.] You guys run a stand-up program here. I hope my mom didn't pay much for it.

[His voice drops, deep and dangerous.] You might want to rethink your attitude, boy.

[Yeah, he's just gonna step closer to tower over you now, fourteen-year-old Arthur. With all of his massive six foot five bulk. It may not have worked with adult Arthur, but this kid? If it doesn't freak him out, even just a little, Perry's going to be surprised.]

[It's definitely enough to send Arthur back a few steps. As an adult, he wouldn't take this kind of crap from Perry, but as a kid? Well...]

You can't do anything to me, 'Roid Rage. [So, kid Arthur might be more used to authority figures that were all bark and no bite.] I'll tell the cops if you touch me.

Let me tell you a secret... [Perry lowers his voice even further, and a nasty smile stretches his lips.] There aren't any fucking cops here. You've got no one to run to.

[It's hard to tell if he means it or if he's just trying to scare Arthur for the hell of it.]

[He doesn't like that smile, not at all, but he's all smugness and defiance at this age, and he thinks he's too invincible to let anyone push him around.]

Fuck you, I talked to a pig earlier. [And he did! What he's neglecting to mention is that he pissed off the cop and ran away.]

I'm only going to tell you one more time, boy. You should think about your attitude. If you don't... [He tenses his muscles, but lets the sentence trail off as an unspoken threat. His smile has become something more like a baring of gritted teeth.]

Maybe you did talk to one. But you know how much power they've got here? [Perry leans away from Arthur, just a little. Somewhere, he knows that beating up his warden when the guy's a kid and has no memories is a stupid idea. This is very obviously going to have consequences. But... Arthur is a dick at the best of times, and no one disrespects him, let alone some pissant teenager.] None.

Bullshit. [There's some waver in his voice, but he swallows it back and fixes Perry with a defiant stare, even though there's a bit of fear in his eyes.] Lemme guess, warden, you took this job because threatening kids makes your dick feel bigger. [He shoots Perry a nasty smile of his own, one of a kid too used to getting away with just about everything.]

[Well that's just about enough of that. He lashes out, just a slap, not as hard as he can but hard enough to give the kid something to think about.

UNFORTUNATELY? Instead of just the satisfaction of seeing Arthur hurting, there's a sudden explosion of pain across Perry's own face. He takes an involuntary step back, gritting his teeth and shaking his head once to shake it off. What the hell just happened?]

[He's not expecting that, since no adult ever hits him (threatens to, yeah, but never follows through). He lets out a surprised cry when the slap hits, gingerly touching his stinging cheek and fixing Perry with a vengeful scowl. His eyes are watering a little, both in pain and in anger. He lashes out with a shove, a small act of defiance, largely without thinking.]

Fuck you! You can't hit me; you're not my fucking dad!

[Oh, screw the magical karma injuries. He's smart enough to guess that it's some Admiral thing for hitting his teen-sized warden, but the shove? Combined with the swearing? Perry is absolutely not going to tolerate that shit. So he grits his teeth and slams Arthur with a backhand to his other cheek. The blow's harder than before, but he's expecting the pain this time (Play through it, Perry old boy.), and he holds his stance.]

No, you little cocksucker, I'm not. But he isn't here. [Daddy's drawl slips into his words.] I am, and you've gotta learn when to have some discipline and shut your goddamn mouth.

[The follow-up's unexpected, and Arthur very nearly loses his balance, but rather than fall, he just stumbles back a few steps with a yelp. That hurt a helluva lot more than the first blow, and he's a quick enough learner to know that pushing it further will only escalate things, rather than get Perry to impotently back off. What the hell can he do, anyway? This guy's huge, and he's just a kid. Arthur runs his sleeve across his eyes, the pain, humiliation, and adolescent anger threatening to lead to some crying, but he manages to hold it back. He just fixes Perry with an utterly hateful stare.]

Well, look at that. Someone's at least a little bit smarter than they look. [Perry takes a step forward, menacing, that smile playing on his lips again. He's helping Arthur. Really. He doesn't think about how it felt when it used to be him in Arthur's position, he doesn't even recognise his childhood self in that hateful stare. He just thinks about how daddy Dawsey helped him get stronger with all the shit he put Perry through. How it helped him survive.]

Now, I think you owe me an apology, Arthur. What do you think?

[If his bulk didn't make it clear, then his tone does: this is a question with only one right answer.]

[Arthur instinctively flinches back, keeping his feet planted firmly where they are, even though he'd really keep as much distance from the big, scary guy as possible. His expression twists a little, trace of a sneer on his face when Perry speaks, but he's quiet now, no more back-talking. He wants to balk at the idea of apologizing to the creep who hit him, but it's do it or get hit again, so he frowns, looks down and nods sullenly, muttering:] Sorry.

[Perry nods, satisfied, and grins. His voice is full of vicious satisfaction:] Good boy. Now was that really so hard?

[He can tell that he's just going through the motions, but it's not ultimately going to matter anyway. When the warden turns back into his normal self, he's going to be pissed no matter what. Perry doubts that Arthur's going to keep any of the 'lessons' he could teach him, so what's the point of following those little slaps up? No, right now? It's time for him to get the booze and get the hell out of there. He turns back to the bar, picking his way through the bottles more carefully this time, searching for something promising.]

.030 | Video.

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SPAM~ I feel bad about Perry's screwy worldview in this thread. POOR BABBY ARTHUR.