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[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]

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.

[tearsinajar]

Oh, I'm aware that you don't like losing.

[ Somehow, everyone ends up losing to her husband. He has an unlimited supply of luck that man. ]

But sure, take it as a compliment.

[flynnitomite]

[Oh Elena, if it was only Nate's luck he envied.]


I'm utterly flattered.

[tearsinajar]

Are you? Are you really?

[flynnitomite]

A tiny bit, yeah. Microscopic.

[He makes a pinching gesture in front of the screen.]

[tearsinajar]

[ It's hard to hide a smile, but he manages to get one out of her, a small one including some laughter. ]

Should be good enough I suppose.

[flynnitomite]

[He grins right back, feeling much more himself. Got a laugh out of the girl he almost killed—seems he hasn't lost his old touch.]

So love, how many years young would you be, then?

[tearsinajar]

[ A huff of breath, cheeks puffing out. What a question. She gives him a look, though, at the use of the word 'love', after the earlier scolding she'd given him about it. ]

Would you believe me if I said I was turning twenty-five?

[flynnitomite]

[Like he said, it's just how he talks.]

I'd say you don't look a day over.

[tearsinajar]

Then we'll go with twenty-five.

[flynnitomite]

[So old enough to be lying about her age, but young enough not to look it. Early thirties, then? That's not so bad, moving into naughty MILF territory by his counting. He makes a mental note of it, as it seems it could come in useful.]

Happy twenty-fifth, then. Have any other plans besides getting the alien Full Monty?