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[kickbancaboose]

[ looks like someone figured out how to use his communicator! good for church, but quite unfortunate for the passengers of the moira. hope you kids like your morning coffee with a generous helping of salt because church is making it rain. ]

golly gee willikers i never saw this plot twist coming

you know i thought i was finished with this dying and not dying bullshit but if this is how it's going to be for the rest of my infinite undead lives then fine whatever, like i give a shit. i'm not fighting fate and i give up. officially. someone write this down so it's on record. leonard church gives the fuck up, full stop. boom. done.

most importantly i'm actually really hungry and i haven't eaten in forever or basically never depending on who you talk to so if someone could point me in the direction of a cafeteria i'd appreciate it.

okay well thanks

[ if he knew how to do the text equivalent of finger guns, he'd be doing it right now. ]

bye.

p.s. i'm on moro deck 1

Comments

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[kickbancaboose]

[ this isn't the reunion church expected. ]

uh

[ his job? part of him wants to ask why it even matters in comparison to literally everything else, but if she won't break that barrier, then neither will he. this is wrong. they're both wrong, torn from the loud unending space of the meta's mind, and they should be dead but they aren't and it's so wrong.

church's chest aches. i never thought i'd see you again, is what he wants to say and doesn't. too soon. not yet. ]

i don't know, communications technician? don't ask me what the position entails because i don't know yet but i'm assuming what won me the job was my great communicating skills.

tex. where are you

[a_shadow]

[ What Church doesn't know is this is old hat for her, it's a place she's been before. She's...just accepted this, she supposes. Last time she was here it was directly after watching Carolina get thrown off a cliff and none of that seemed to matter either.

So they'll deal with the whole buddy thing and the job thing when they meet up. She figures they can kill two birds with one stone. ]

How about we meet at the mess?

[kickbancaboose]

yeah sure give me a bit to get my shit together and i'll see you there

[ half an hour after church fires off his last message, he leaves the relative safety of his room to brave the moira's corridors.

he manages to open the map on his mid and navigate the ship without getting lost or turned around, which is a fucking miracle in and of itself. the place is big, much bigger than anywhere he's ever been (or remembers being), and it'll take him time to figure his way around without depending on the stupid bracelet strapped to his arm for guidance.

the smell of food wafting from the hall is unmistakable. church narrowly ducks out of the way of someone walking past and turns the corner into the mess. it's as large as everything else on the moira and surprisingly empty, for now.

when he doesn't spot tex, he grabs a dinner roll off an abandoned tray on a nearby table. he had every intention of eating whatever the hell he could get his hands on the second he got there, but now that he's actually in the mess with real, edible food in his hands, his appetite is all but gone. he stands by the door and waits, absentmindedly rolling the bread between his palms. ]

[a_shadow]

[ Tex had gone there straightaway, and might have texted him to find out what was taking so long, but she wanted to see what he was going to do without being prompted. And really, to be technical, she's never seen him before. Not in this form. Just because she looks like Allison doesn't mean he's going to look like Leonard—does it?

But there he is, finally, looking perhaps a bit forlorn. He hangs around in the doorway, evidently not expecting that she's already here, waiting around in the kitchen. She doesn't have mess duties this time around but it was familiar enough for her to slip into, simple enough to do that while she's waiting for him. She leaves him to his own devices for a couple of minutes before stepping out from behind the food line and approaching him. ]

I was getting ready to give up on you.

[ No...not really. She drops the sarcasm right away after saying that. ]

Why don't we get a full meal and sit down and talk?

[kickbancaboose]

[ church doesn't remember his life as an ai.

not really, anyway.

he remembers what wash told him, and the black, wavering static of the meta's mind when the electromagnetic pulse swept through the facility and granted him a quick death. he remembers his life before the war. he remembers the long, dry texas summers and the prickle of grass beneath his feet. he remembers the red dust of blood gulch, and the day that tucker was stationed to outpost 1-a. he remembers dying, and dying again, and again and again and again.

but most of all, when tex steps forward and church turns to look at her, he remembers her face.

talk, she says. church wets his bottom lip with his tongue and swallows hard, nodding. talk is good. church is good at talking. he means to be a gentleman (ha) and gesture her forward, but his feet stick to the ground, and where he should be moving toward a table he's reaching for her instead.

his fingers curl into her bicep as he steps into her and drags an arm around her shoulders, burying his nose in the crook of her neck. ]

Why the fuck did you run off?

[ there's so many things he can and wants to say, but that's a question he's wanted to ask her from the second she flew off in that goddamned ship and left him behind. ]

[a_shadow]

[ She wants to melt into the hug, but his words lead to her stiffening against him instead. She'd been offering to talk about that which was clear and present—their arrival here on the ship, their taking up residence in human bodies—but of course he'd want to dredge up the past. Their time in the Meta had been too brief for this, and too concentrated. Too much had been going on. And that's assuming he came from the same time she had—she knows there's no guarantee of that. ]

Church—

[ Her body language is conflicted—she tilts her head, resting it against his, at the same time as she sets a hand on his side and presses back to cause him to pull away, shoulders stiff under his touch. This isn't her thing, this public display of their mutual connection, and she wishes he'd found a way to save it for after they had found themselves some privacy. Being an AI in the human body—how much of this desire to cling comes from her own desire and how much comes from some chemical instinct? Because her resistance only lasts a moment— she grips him at the waist with her hands and sinks against him, holding her breath. And that lasts for a long moment—she closes her eyes and sighs. ]

Church, please.

[ With that she starts pushing him away again. ]

[kickbancaboose]

[ there's a brief moment where tex sinks into him and church is able to squeeze her tight and spend a few seconds pretending that the last two or three years of his life have been complete bullshit (everything you thought you knew about your life is bullshit, some part of him thinks and church thinks shut the fuck up right back). the moment doesn't last long. when tex pushes him away, church doesn't fight her, though his fingers twitch at his side, desperate to reach for her again, to grip her by the shoulders and make her listen to him.

right. not the place.

he clenches his jaw, shoulders taut, then releases a slow breath through his nose and stands aside to let her pass to the buffet line. ]

Yeah. [ no apologies, but it's a start. ]

[a_shadow]

[ She turns and heads in that direction, glancing back at him. Grabbing a tray and food to fill it with doesn't take too long and she selects a seat, toward the back, but in a spot that's open to Church either sitting across from her or next to her.

She waits until he's seated to speak. ]

I know it seems like you're really hungry but the first time, it's best to eat slowly.

[ She learned that unfortunate lesson the last time she was here. ]

[kickbancaboose]

[ there's a moment where church is sullenly convinced that he's too distracted to eat anything. that thought quickly abandons ship the second he passes through the buffet and notices the array of tasty foodstuffs at his disposal. he piles his tray high with as many carbs as humanly possible and carefully follows tex to their table, only half-seated when he shoves half a dinner roll into his mouth.

oops. he pauses at tex's words, chewing and swallowing, and sets the other half of the dinner roll back onto his tray. ]

That's the plan. [ right. ] You know this technically counts as a date, right?

[a_shadow]

[ She arches an eyebrow. ]

I didn't realize we were keeping track.

[ That's what a technicality would imply, wouldn't it? As though he had needed to trick her into going on a date with him. She picks at her food with her fork, rearranging the noodles a bit before scooping some up and placing them in her mouth. She doesn't continue until she's swallowed that bite. ]

So, if this is "technically" a date, what are we supposed to be doing?

[kickbancaboose]

Hell if I know.

[ look, church never said it was going to be a good date.

he sets to work on his small mountain of potatoes and carefully folds his vegetables into the mix. it's been forever since he's spent time with tex one-on-one, but it's been equally as long since he's had a good meal, and his attention is torn between the two.

nevermind that he's been abducted and shoved into a foreign body. that fact seems less pressing than the fact that he has food and tex. ]

But it is kind of a date, right? Sort of. Unless you consider us colleagues.

[ or, god forbid, friends. ]

[a_shadow]

Well, I did originally contact you because I was your assigned buddy in the system.

[ It had nothing to do with worrying about him being left on his own. Certainly not. ]

Listen...where were you before this? Before you woke up in the Ingress?

[kickbancaboose]

You seriously have to ask me that?

[ that's not a question that church wants to answer or think about ever, but he responds before tex can reply. ]

I was with Wash at Freelancer HQ. Totally saved his ass, by the way. Just FYI.

[ church chooses vague! it's super effective! ]

[a_shadow]

[ She narrows her eyes, just a little. ]

You don't get to complain about what questions I ask.

[ At least not after that outburst earlier about why she 'ran off' on him. ]

That's all I needed to know.

[ She puts her attention on her food again, picking up a roll to butter it. ]

I was looking at the roster earlier. Wash is here, too.

[kickbancaboose]

[ that's fair.

church is quick to duck his head and shove a few more broccoli florets into his mouth. better to not piss off the ex, then, no matter how much is left unsaid and unresolved between them. there'll be time for that later, like when church isn't sitting two feet in front of her and well within throttling reach. ]

Wash — ? [ the revelation has church choking on a piece of floret, and he pauses to gulp down a long sip of water before continuing: ] Wash? Like the Wash I was just talking about Wash? That Wash?

[a_shadow]

Well, "Agent Washington" is here. I'm sort of making an assumption that it's him.

[ She's keeping her face very carefully neutral as she lifts her roll to bite into it. She's not mad, just...it all feels strange and out of place. Thanks to Wash, they're dead—except they're not dead, they're here, and how is she supposed to feel about that? How is she supposed to feel about seeing the man knowing that he knows what he knows about her, and that he arranged for her to be wiped out?

As of now she's not feeling very charitable. ]

[kickbancaboose]

[ church's feelings toward wash are equally complicated.

it wasn't his fault, the way things ended — not technically, anyway. church is the one who volunteered, who went willingly with wash into the unknown, except the unknown was never really unknown, except wash knew from the start that he'd be walking out of that facility alone.

and maybe church knew that, too. doesn't matter now. what's done is done.

church is silent, picking at his food on his tray and sparing tex a few long, searching glances. it's different for her, he knows that.

finally, carefully, he asks: ] Are you okay?

[a_shadow]

[ She's noticed those looks he's giving her and when he finally speaks up she rolls her eyes. ]

I'm fine, Church. I'm just not going to be sunshine and lollipops about him being here just because I used to know him.

[ It's so different being in these bodies, being able to read body language and facial expression like this. And Tex doesn't really know what to do with empathy. Especially coming from Church. She pauses to look to the side momentarily, then tilts her head a bit as she looks back at him. ]

You don't need to worry about me.

[ She means ever, but she also knows telling him that won't do any good. Church has probably always worried about her. What else did he have to do after they scrambled his functions and left him in a box canyon to rot? ]

[kickbancaboose]

[ as if church could worry about literally anything else but her.

and he wasn't just talking about wash. he meant if she was okay with everything, with the meta and dying and smashing into church as church tumbled into her. those aren't good thoughts, or good questions to ask. church can't think about it too long without his head hurting, but he can't not ask, either, not when it comes to tex.

the coward in him is relieved when she only answers part of the question. typical. get your shit together, leonard. ]

Just checking.

[ with that, he turns his attention back to his food, finishing off the last of his mashed potatoes. ]

[a_shadow]

Just wasting your time.

[ She mutters the words, keeping her eyes on her food. Unless he speaks up again she's content to consume her meal—carefully, as she'd explained to him, sure not to overeat or eat too quickly. She'd been a bit eager the first time she'd arrived on the ship and had nearly lost her first meal in the middle of eating it. She knows they're going to have to talk things out, but here and now isn't the way it's going to happen. She would have been more open about it but the more concerned he is, the more he fawns over her, the more she balks at letting that go. And here, in a public space? No, it'll be better to save it for later. ]

[kickbancaboose]

Then you shouldn't give a shit either way.

[ really, church always wastes his time. that's nothing new.

he eyes her critically and sits back, pushing his tray away from him. the tray isn't entirely empty; there's a few pieces of food left, mostly vegetables, but he's surprisingly full and sated. maybe he shouldn't have grabbed quite as much as he did. oh, well. learning process. ]

Where'd they put you up?

[a_shadow]

[ Tex gives him a look from under her brows, both in response to his words and the look he's giving her, but she doesn't speak. Not until he asks where she's staying. ]

Mero deck number 12. It's right next to my name in the manifest. [ In other words, if he'd been paying any attention earlier, he would have noticed that when she texted him in the first place. ]

[kickbancaboose]

[ church absolutely catches her meaning and slants her another look, folding his arms across his chest. ]

Sorry, I was slightly distracted by you not being dead. My bad.

[a_shadow]

[ No response to that one. She affects the same neutral expression as earlier as she finishes her food and pushes her tray back as she stands. ]

How extensive do you want this tour to be?

[kickbancaboose]

[ he shrugs and leans further back in his chair, kicking at the table leg with the toe of his shoe. ]

You were here before, right? All the important stuff, I guess. [ speaking of: ] When were you here last, anyway? Was I here, too?