[D4, EA, simulators] Tete a tete

[Dorgan Bruun]

Bruun looks at her through narrowed eyes. At least she didn't say "old man" again.

He lowers the water, looking like he's about to speak, then seems to think better of it and takes another drink. He's not much of a poker face, and his eyes do not suggest he's happy.

"I reckon," he says slowly, "that getting bullied by an Ostsol is a, ah, good learning experience. With a new mech. Very new, to me," Bruun says, as though even with the qualifiers he's admitting to a serious mistake. He huffs.

"But I also reckon," he says grudgingly, "that your snoot--er, I mean, noble family woulda been proud of that maneuver. So... good job." The veteran looks like he's trying to remember how to smile and finally settles for a little double head nod and then wiping his head with the towel.

[Andrea DeTroyes]

Andrea raises a brow, "You speak with a confidence on the actions and thoughts of three elite pilots." She shrugs, "I think the would be more critical of both our performances. Though perhaps yours less so."

"I mean, you aren't a DeTroyes after all." She shrugged, "You know you are easy to put off balance. Old Man." Her tone with last bit is odd, putting emphasis without the early malicious intent. "Father would say that a leader should be above that..."

[Dorgan Bruun]

Bruun stares at her in frustration and confusion.

"Has anybody ever told you that you're mighty hard to give a compliment to? Because you damn sure are." He shakes his head.

"Look, I don't know why your relatives are so snooty and judgey. If you think they oughta be allowed to do that, I guess that's your choice. But I stopped worrying what any so-called noble thought of me 26 years ago, and I reckon it's made my life quite a bit easier since then." Half advice and half defense mechanism, Bruun's little tantrum subsides with him looking guilty for snapping at Andrea. Still, under his breath, he mutters, "I ain't never pretended to be a leader, ain't nobody's hero..." He throws back a drink of water like it's a shot of alcohol.

[Andrea DeTroyes]

"I have high standards," Andrea smirked.

Her expression becomes serious. "Maybe for someone like you that was an option but my line is prestigious and dates back to the League itself. The name carries weight, not just in what I can do with it...but in the expectations piled on me." She rubs her head with a frown, "Running off to play merc has probably tarnished it enough, but I...needed some distance." She suddenly went quiet and then abrupt shifted to the last topic.

"Never pretended to be a leader? No need to you are one now." She fixed him with a harsh stare, "The Major choose you for...who knows what reason, maybe he thought you would temper the wilder impulses of some of us. Maybe he just likes you....or maybe he hates you." A shrug, "Doesn't matter really, what matters is you have the position and responsibility. People's lives are in your hands now. If I get pissed off and do something stupid I get myself killed. If you do you could get us all killed."

Andrea sighs and her expression softens, "I can not speak for others but you aren't my hero."

[Dorgan Bruun]

Try being mean, she gets mad. Try being nice, she gets mad. And she's worried about me getting pissed off and doing something stupid?

Bruun covers his face with the towel and there's the tiniest indication he's screaming into it, but no real sound. He wipes his face and gives the other mechwarrior a look of exhaustion.

"Yeah, I got the job. I wish it was yours and not mine. I didn't want it. But it's Creed's show and I'm just here to stay alive through it. Now it's my job to keep you, Chow, and New Kid alive. Hell, to keep all the Fortunate Ones alive. " His voice gets louder and more frustrated. "That's responsibility."

"That family far away ain't the people keeping you alive right now. Mine sucked. Yours is great, or something. Congrats. But the family that matters right now is the one that may take the shot that would have disabled your mech, or that's gonna pick your ass up off a battlefield so you don't get stomped." He sighs, settling down considerably.

"This family that we ended up with is what I care about." Here's clearly tired, but maybe unloading things he should have said before. "Even you, that can't just take a damn compliment from your lance leader. So maybe you need to tell me, so I can be a better leader, what do you want from me?"

[Andrea DeTroyes]

Andrea frowned, "We aren't a family. I am not your daughter or your little sister. We are comrades, fellow soldiers."

"And why do you even think I deserve the leadership position? Did you honestly think such responsibility would fall on a completely green mechwarrior?" She leans forward, "No...you think I am mad you took the job over me, I am but only because you don't feel much like a leader...not because it wasn't me. I know where I stand in that regard, I am not the wunderkind my siblings are...I am not going to stick a knife in your back for the glory of a lance command in an unknown merc outfit. But I am not going to be a sycophantic underling either."

"As for what I want. I want you to be a leader and leave me the hell alone about your anger at having gotten the job."

[Dorgan Bruun]

Bruun was tired. And at least on some level, he felt bad for the noble woman.

But he was also, at the end of the day, someone who was pretty damn proud. Of staying alive as a mercenary for 18 years. Of getting everyone in a brand new unit home from an ambush. Of smashing that damn Hetzer with his mech's hand. And even, though he couldn't say it out loud, of getting put in charge of anything by someone like Creed.

"Yes, we are comrades. And I'm the one who's been through hell and back several times." He wasn't yelling, but he was pretty angry. "For someone who admits she ain't done this before, you sure have a lot of ideas about how things are supposed to be. But I can tell you how they are out here."

"You wanna hear about lance leaders who spent their time 'should'ing everyone to death? How their people left them as soon as the contract was up? How the ones who lead with swagger and pride instead of good sense end up getting shot from funny angles during battle? Or how the ones who are more focused on money, or booze, or chasing tail can get you killed in a safe town without an enemy mech in 100 miles?"

"I have seen, I have lived... all... of that," he says, exasperated rather than angry. "So you can damn well stop lecturing me about things you ain't lived. And that your fancy-dancey relatives ain't lived. I'm gonna lead the way that gets as many of you home safe as I can, even if I don't make it, and even if it ain't fancy, or 'by the book,' or any way other than Bruun's way."

Bruun was a little pout of breath from the diatribe, and he'd run out of things to say. Not sure what else to do, he huffed loudly.

[Andrea DeTroyes]

Andrea listens to his rant quietly. There were a lot of things she could have said...tried to smooth things over, explain her feelings that he was not getting what she was saying.

But she had her pride too. Standing up she flipped her coat over her shoulders like a cape then snapped to attention for a moment. Walking past the older men she paused at the simulator room exit.

“Well Mr. Lived Experiences, you just lost to a wet behind the ears greenie who hasn’t even had her first mech kill yet. Maybe you should re-examine our fight.” She emphasised the words ‘our fight’, perhaps suggesting more than just the sim battle. “I intend to.”

/exit

[Dorgan Bruun]

After she's out the door, Bruun sighs and turns to a simulator pod. Not very gently, he bangs his head on its flat side several times.

/scene