video

[tearsinajar]

I feel like, with everything that's going on, I've lost track of time.

I mean, we've been on a ship for so long, we've gone on a few planet trips, and then there was that whole— [ Elena waves a hand, dismissive. Only because that's a difficult one to process. ] —year thing. Or at least I think it was a year.

Not only that but we've gone and swapped out captains, most of us have survived a ship crash landing or two, and Lord knows what else.

But in all of that— and yes, there's a point to this— how are you supposed to celebrate a birthday when you've barely had any time to sit down and process everything? When you sit down and keep asking yourself, "What day is it?" or "What month are we at?" or better yet— "How old am I again?"

[ Like the song What's my age again? ]

I really doubt this place has a bar with decent male strippers.

[ A tiny pause. She makes a face. Oh god. ]

...what if they're alien male strippers? What am I supposed to do with that?

Comments

[flynnitomite]

No! Bloody hell woman, why do you always think that?

[tearsinajar]

So you don't want to know the length and thickness of someone's package? Huh.

[flynnitomite]

No, I just liked the idea of you running around on 'im.

[tearsinajar]

It isn't like this is locked from him. He'll hear about it. And he'll be invited along.

[flynnitomite]

[Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.]

Well then, that sounds like quite the party.

[tearsinajar]

Were you looking for an invite...?

[flynnitomite]

[He winces. Going out with Nate to watch blokes strip has never been on his to-do list.]

I wouldn't dream of it.

[A pause.]

Besides, I've no gift for you. Wouldn't want to be rude, would I?

[tearsinajar]

[ A scarred body, PTSD, best gift of all! ]

Heaven forbid I don't get a gift from Harry Flynn.

[flynnitomite]

[He clucks his tongue.]

Oh, don't be like that.

[tearsinajar]

Don't be like what?

[flynnitomite]

You know, like that.

[He waves vaguely at the screen.]

[tearsinajar]

Use your words, Harry. Don't be shy.

[flynnitomite]

I'm beginning to get the feeling you like taking the piss out of me.

[tearsinajar]

Whatever would give you that impression?

[flynnitomite]

Oh I dunno, maybe everything? I am trying to be nice, you know.

[tearsinajar]

Okay but what is everything?

[ How bizarre. He's trying to be nice. ]

...why?

[flynnitomite]

What I said, everything.

[He shrugs.]

And I get it, alright? I'm not your favorite person.

[tearsinajar]

[ No, no he's not. But she doesn't need to keep rubbing it in. ]

Are you even sorry for what happened?

[flynnitomite]

Must be the journalist in you, going for the hard questions like that all of a sudden.

[He looks away. Is he sorry? No. Well, mostly not. He's never had much of a conscience, it's not exactly helpful in a life of crime. You could afford one even less around a man like Zoran. But he didn't have anything against Elena the way he did with Nate.]

It wasn't personal.

[He pauses, pursing his lips.]

But I'm glad I cocked it up.

[tearsinajar]

[ He looks away and Elena watches him intently, a tiny knit in her brow. It's safer to talk to him through the TAB, she can hang up anytime she needs to, if he makes her uncomfortable or if the tightness came back to squeeze at her chest.

It's been a question that has bugged her for all time, and being back home after Shambhala, having all that downtime to think about everything, it was always on her mind and she would never get the chance to ask.

Now she could.

It wasn't personal; she's the one looking away this time.

Elena had figured as much. Neither of them had had any real hate towards one another. It was by association that there was that sour taste in his mouth.

By the sounds of it, when he adds that last bit, that's it. Her eyes drift back to the TAB and it's a moment that passes before she softly agrees. ]

As am I.

[flynnitomite]

And for what good it'll do, you were right about Zoran. Wasn't worth working for him.

[He realizes that it's both obvious and an understatement.]

[tearsinajar]

He was only in it for himself. The lives of his men mattered as little as the innocent lives he'd massacred.

[ If only he'd seen it sooner, he wouldn't have ended up with that bullet to the chest. ]

There was no way he would've shared it with you or the others, what Shambhala had to offer.

Lazarevic was a monster. And you...aren't...

[flynnitomite]

[Oh. That's ... well at once sweet and almost comical. He knows what he is and what he's done.]

Still trying to reform the villain, love?

[tearsinajar]

Compared to the horrors he's done? The acts he's committed? You barely scratch the surface to the title, Harry.

[ He probably had made a dent, nothing more. ]

[flynnitomite]

I don't much like losing competitions, sweetheart, but I suppose I'll take it as a compliment.