text | UN: A$HMON3Y

[moneyballer]

ay yo ladieeeeez 😜 hay hay hAY hayyyyyy ✋✋✋ if any of u girly gals need a STUDMUFFIN ✔️✔️✔️✔️ 2 help sell the whole baws asssz upper class B I A T C H than g thang thaaaaang 💁 dis boi got an 🍑 dat won't quit and a lotta lurve ❤️❤️❤️ 4 his new teamies so holla atcho homie if u need a little man 🍭 hangin around while u strut ur stuff

*and PS NO 🐵 bidness, i'm taken, ok? yee thnk u

skeet skeet

Comments

[moneyballer]

[She says for him not to be concerned, and yet that only piques his sense of worry.

He has spent his life overshadowed by this kind of person, talented, smart-mouthed, ambitious... Always with something to prove.

Always with something missing.]

Okayyy

[He does not bother to tell her that he is worried about everyone, that worry seems to be his default state when he is not gyrating unnecessarily or making off-the-cuff remarks. She is a stranger, and in his experience, many strangers on this team do not react well to sentiment.]

Defensive much? pfft

Either way, if you're fine, you're fine ig

[But if you need any help, I'm-

She's talkative, intelligent.

There are probably other people looking out for her.

And so Asher hesitates.]

[refashioned]

[For her part, she's doing her best to take control of her vulnerabilities, so having someone try to scare her into being properly scared—as if she's failed to weigh the situation around her—really tramples over that sense of control. Of ease. Of willingness to face this head on.

Veronica knows it's going to be hard. She doesn't need someone to tell her when she's already admitting it (and has admitted it in the past). Having it repeated to her feels like nothing short of condescended to (and a Lodge can easily feel that way—)]

I'm fine. I'm not lying. I set myself up right here.

[Though she's glad now that she did.]

[moneyballer]

[And while he doesn't quite believe that, perhaps it's not best to pester, not now.]

Yeah, you really did.

[Asher knows what it is like to push your way into things and speak loudly over others in an attempt to be heard, but most importantly, seen, acknowledged. He recognizes it in others right away, though in Veronica's case, it's clear that she may actually have something to show for.]

S'ok tho, cuz

When you happen to not be feelin' "fine" or whatever it is you're feelin' right now...

[Being gentle has not yielded him everything. In fact, it's cost him more than acting a fool or going along with all of the other disgusting charades that come with class and masculinity, but it has always felt most natural.]

We'll be here for ya.

[Meaning the team, if he can really call it that.]

We've got a good group, I think.

[refashioned]

[First he tries to scare her, and then he tells her that she'll have a budding support system? Veronica's eyes roll at his words. It's weird, because some part of it is sweet. Some part of it is also the very clear result of trauma. She doesn't even want to touch that.]

Next time you want to pitch that we're a good team and a family waiting to happen, make sure you don't start off trying to scare the person in question. It sets a really, really uncomfortable precedent.

Oh, and I know how to make friends. Again, I have social graces. A lot of them.

[moneyballer]

[Trauma is the source of it, though it is not a good enough excuse.

This is par the course for things. Playing the bully is his quickest reflex, instinctive almost, but Asher almost always softens in the end.]

If by social, you mean "got a big mouth," then sure.

Anyways, I'm outtie 5000, 'cause I've got a couple of commitments to keep.

[And by that, he means that several of the conversations on this post have reminded him that there are people he has to check up on, despite shit not hitting the fan quite yet.]

See ya around, I guess.

[refashioned]

[Veronica chooses to not even acknowledge that insult with a response.]