pain_train | SANCTUM INBOX

She licks her lips again, just searching for the memory of that pie. She'd seal that into her bones if she could. "If you're not in a hurry to go anywhere, maybe we could wait a bit?" She smiles. "I could get the nurse to bring us some milk. Or they might give you coffee if you promise to not give any to me."

"Of course I wouldn't give you any coffee. Not even if you begged." He chuckles and closes the box and turns back toward her, somehow not at all compelled to distance himself from her by sitting back down in that chair. "You want me to call?"

She gives him a look of mock shock. "Mean! And you don't know how well I beg, okay? Some evil overlord you are." She wiggles her fingers at him. "Yeah, you should probably call. They're tired of hearing from me."

"You'll have to show me sometime." Again with the innuendo, and he doesn't even care. He shoots her a grin and presses the call button that rests right by her hand.

Asking for a half-pint of milk takes but a moment and after it's been delivered he unseals the carton and places the straw inside. "Here we go." He lowers the carton and brings the straw to her lips so that she can drink.

"Maybe when I'm out of traction," she says, grinning. "If you have something I want."

Who's she kidding. He does. He definitely does. But just saying it would probably be crass, and... it's not like any of that will be going on any time soon even if he's game. She's just going to enjoy the flirting. And the smile.

She takes a long drink of the milk, sighs. "What did you get for yourself?"

"Oh, I don't need anything. I ate at home." He catches her fingers for a moment before he sets the carton on the tray table. "I'm looking into that digital painting system for you. I know a really smart guy who's working on modifying some equipment."

"You should have a little of the milk though. Keep your bones strong." That brief touch is enough to win a bright smile.

Maybe it's dumb, but she likes being touched. And it... doesn't happen often, she doesn't think. Too busy, always on base and there's rules about fraternizing, things like that. And then she just hasn't wanted to go out in the city lately, for... some reason.

(Because soldiers just stick to base and do their duty, Wrath. You don't need to be wasting time. That's what her mind tells her, and it tastes like honey. She focuses on the taste of the milk, the last of the spice from the peach pie instead.)

And this piece of news is a nice distraction. "Oh... wow. Thank you! I don't know what else to say. That's... you didn't have to." And she means it. Wow, he makes her pie, and he's going to help her paint? Luckiest 99 story fall ever. "Really smart guy? Do I know him?"

You don't know anyone, Wrath. Don't be silly. "...I mean. That was silly. I don't really know anyone."

"You don't really know any Immune, I'd think, anyway. But you know me, and maybe soon you'll meet some of my friends." If York's prediction came true and their hitting it off led to something more, maybe...just maybe, they would go on that double date York had suggested.

But North's not going to count on things happening before they actually do.

"And of course I didn't have to, but you're just sitting here all the time, left lonely with nothing to do. I know how I'd feel if that was happening to me."

"You're the first Immune I've actually talked to," she admits. "But if they're all as nice as you are, maybe I can meet more. I can at least talk on the network while I'm here. And... I'd really like to meet some of your friends."

If they're friends with North, they've got to be okay. He's really nice.

Of all things, that actually gets a little blush out of her. "Thank you. I mean... Whiskey takes care of me. He really does. But he's busy, too." And Whiskey is basically her only friend. Man, that sounds pathetic to admit. "If you ever get stuck in the hospital, I promise I'll visit you, too."

The sins had always done that kind of thing for each other anyway. Though Wrath is... pretty sure she likes North in a bit of a different way than she liked Avarice.

"I don't know that they're all as nice as me," he says, "but the ones I know are pretty friendly. I have one friend in particular who seemed interested in meeting you. And having network access is definitely a bonus for you." She seemed like a people-person to him, anyway. He wasn't quite that way but even then it would get pretty lonely just sitting in a hospital room alone.

He shrugs and lets out a small chuckle. "Well, considering what I'll be doing, that may be a reality sooner than I'd like. I mean, I am good at what I do, but melee is a skill I've used less often than sniping. I need to get a lot of good training in for that." He needs skilled sparring partners and he needs to get good with that sword, real good.

"Really?" One of his friends wants to meet her? Does he or she want too meet her because they saw her talking on the network? Then why not talk to her? Or wait--has North mentioned her to his friends? Has--no. No. Don't over think this, Wrath. Bad things happen when you over think. So she continues on with a cheerful, "Who?" Like the name of someone she's never met will have any meaning. But it's just such a fun thought!

"I feel like I'm already making lots of friends. I'll miss them when I get back to work but... being busy is better."

Wrath grins at him. "I'll spar with you! When I'm better." Sideeye. "You're not one of those pussies that wants a no biting rule are you?" Then adds: "I'm going to spar with Texas too, she seems really nice."

He laughs. She seems to have gotten so excited about what he'd said that she just started rambling. "My friend is a roommate of mine. He's the guy you threw your sword at, actually. He's still recovering from that right now. It's funny, he was actually there to stop me. It didn't work very well."

He cants his head slightly. "You can keep your friends when you start work again. You just have to make time for them. It doesn't even have to be much time, just a call now and then. I know I'd appreciate hearing from you, outside the context of being coworkers."

To the latter he represses a larger grin. "I don't think I've ever been asked whether biting should be allowed in a sparring session. Tex is good, you better watch out. She'll give you a real run for your money."

She thinks back; she can still remember the fight just fine so far. "The guy in yellow armor?" Well, nice to have confirmation that she hadn't actually cut him in half or anything. "I didn't really get a look at how bad I got him, since then I got thrown out the window. He wants to meet me? He's not mad?"

Which is... nice. Wrath doesn't hold grudges about fights, but she knows some people do.

"Oh... I wish he'd known he was trying to stop you too. I wouldn't have thrown my sword at him. Maybe. Though he was kind of shooting at my... Backup."

Not thrilled with the backup. They were pathetic, but... Good kids. They shouldn't have been there.

Why doesn't she keep in contact with people? It's hard to explain. "I think I can. I just get... really focused on what I'm doing, I guess." She forgets everything, wouldn't know who to call any more anyway most of the time. So she just focuses on the moment, the thing at hand, which is normally training and fighting. And there is always that little voice in her head, dripping honey in her ear, telling her that she shouldn't be wasting her time, she needs to work, soldiers work hard. But right now she can't be working, so that's okay, and she can ignore that urge.

...wait North wants her to be his friend outside of work. Is that what he said? That's what he implied. Right? "Definitely. And if I... if I'm forgetful maybe you could just remind me to stop being a bad friend and call you?"

Wrath smirks at him. "Then forget I mentioned it. No holds barred." Her expression totally had nothing to do with her thinking about the last time they fought, sure. Something about wrapping her legs around him and biting. No, totally inappropriate, he is standing right there oh god divert! Divert! "And I think me and Tex will be good friends."

"No, he's not mad. Once he heard you and I were becoming friends he was all for meeting you too. I think he didn't have much choice about shooting anyone, considering the mess that it was up there. No one knew who was on whose side. It was chaos." Utter chaos. York's arrival probably seemed to her like he had called some backup. It certainly would look that way to someone who didn't know their motivations.

"Focus is good," he says. "It is. It's just good to relax and have fun sometimes too. I'll do what I can to help you remember that, certainly. I like...talking to you." That wasn't too much to say, right, after being friends for only one day? But he did, he really enjoyed it. It kept him from thinking about other bad things, like his own visit to the compliance office and the disappearance of his sister. The way his friendship with Delta is slightly strained. The way he could get injured fighting, no matter how food he is.

He takes her expression to mean that she's planning the best way to kick his ass and he can't help a wry smile. "You do like to fight dirty, huh? Just don't bring any grenades with you and I can handle it." Surely she wasn't that dirty, not like Maine and Wyoming when they'd managed to blow up York's eye. If she was...well, that was grounds for him to rethink this friendship. But surely nothing like that would happen.

"It was a good fight. It'd be kind of dumb to hold a grudge when we all made it out alive, right?"

Definitely not too much to say. He receives another of those smiles that could nearly light up a room. "I'm really glad you do. I know...I mean I know sometimes I don't make sense but I'm glad you still want to talk. I really like you, too." Oh, she probably shouldn't be so forward. She tends to throw herself into everything, and maybe that's bad at times like this when actual people are involved, she can't remember how this is supposed to work. Maybe he's kind of shy. She quickly adds: "Talking to you, I mean."

Frown. "Why would I bring a grenade to a sparring match? That wouldn't be fun. Someone could get hurt really bad and then they wouldn't be able to play any more."

"Well, when you don't make sense, that's when you need someone to help you figure things out. Right?" He hoped that's what he'd been doing.

He shakes his head. "It's complicated, but I'm referring to something that happened back in Freelancer. York, the guy who I mentioned to you, the one you threw your sword at? He lost an eye. Because they brought a grenade in. It was to try to beat Tex, actually. It didn't work, they just caught their teammate in the crossfire."

First: oh good he didn't take that in a bad way and think she was weird.

Second: she's so lucky.

"Yeah." Her smile might be a little sad for a moment, and the hell of it is, she's not even really sure why. "Thank you for listening." And believing. And not calling the compliance officer. And being sweet and holding her hand. There's a lot she could thank him for; it's a lot to her, at least.

"Okay, his name is York..." She frowns. "Was that some kind of training exercise? That can't be right." And he lost an eye? Eyes aren't that hard to replace, but still. Losing one isn't fun. "That's like hurting sometime in your family. That's not okay."

He looks over her bed, to the wall, remembering. "It was Tex's first sparring session with any of us. The Director knew she was tough so he pitted three agents against her. He also told them they could use any means necessary to defeat her— well, he told the other two guys that, not York. That was a mistake in itself. Anyway, York thought it was unfair and he broke ranks to help Tex and...he got hurt."

She frowns, brows drawing together. "Why would you do that? I mean... a scenario where you have multiple opponents is fine. I do those all the time. But any means necessary? That doesn't make sense. That's not how training works."

People can get hurt in training, sure. But they're not supposed to. It's not supposed to be at that level.

"I'm sorry that York got hurt. It shouldn't be like that."

"I could talk all day about what was wrong with the Project and why but I'm not sure you want to hear all of that. Some of it is...disturbing."

He pauses, glancing up above the doorway before looking at her again. "There are a few good things that came out of it. I met one of my best friends there. I haven't told you about him, but I'm going to bring him to meet you, if that's okay. He's called Theta."

"I don't mind listening. I mean, I like listening to you." And he's listened to her, so it seems fair. It's not like every portion of this conversation has been sunshine and kittens.

Just the way he says it feels familiar, feels like an old, shared bruise somehow even if she can't remember how she got her own bruise. She thinks about the notes she's written to herself, the things she can recall in the clarity of cold rage that seem indistinct at other times. "People think we're disposable. We're not."

Maybe that will mean something to him.

Another of his friends? She already might get to meet York, and now he's talking about another one? It's amazing. "I'd really like that." More of North's friends, and maybe they'll like her too and she'll have friends again, real ones, like Envy and Avarice. (But only until you're back on duty, you have a duty, you don't need distractions.) "Is he nice? ... Well of course he's nice. Is he... did I cut off his leg or was that someone else?"

Edited (Swype errors) 2014-11-03 16:26 (UTC)

He swallows. "Yeah. That's the gist of it. We were commodities. Things to be used, variables in an experiment. That's all."

He frowns. "I suppose I ought to tell you about it, though. That way you'll understand who Theta is, and where he came from."

He has the urge to take her hand again, just to steel himself for reliving this again. He doesn't do it though. It's too intimate at a time like, when he'd be clinging to her like a lifeline. "The leader of the Project made a copy of his mind, an artificial intelligence. It was just as smart as he was, just like a person. The aim of the Project was supposed to be to make partnerships between human soldiers and AI units, so the AIs could help us in battle, help us be faster and stronger and, well, just better.

"At some point he decided he needed more AIs. It wasn't enough with just the one. So he realized, the AI has a mind like a human. Why can't we break it just like a human's? So they started to torture it. I don't know how they did it, what kind of methods they must have used, but fragments started to break off and he paired us up with them. York got Delta, and I got Theta."

He's gone now, staring off in the distance, and his pauses between sentences are growing longer. It's hard to know which bits to share and how many words to do it in.

"He was...he was timid, and he was fearful, and he relied on me to assure him that things were okay. He always needed my approval before he would trust someone, and he was anxious that something might happen to me.

"This was more than just knowing someone, though. The AIs were linked with our minds, so I could talk to him and feel him in my head, and he could talk to me that way, too. So I've felt his fear, I've felt his distrust. I've felt it when he was happy, when he was proud he'd done a good job, too. He helped me in battle, just like he was supposed to.

"When AIs are brought here, they're given their own bodies, so I don't have that with Theta anymore. It's...been hard on us. We managed to get some chips that connect us, but it's not quite the same thing. We can hear when we send direct messages or something purposely like a sensation, but it's not that full connection that we're used to."

His eyes drift over to her and focus again.

"Theta looks like a kid, but he's not a kid. He's more than that. And he's important to me. I hope you understand."

Well, that's all messed up and horrifying. And it makes cold dread creep up her spine, and make her so angry, and she doesn't know why quite, just that there is something in all those holes in her brain that says this smells the same.

And worse, she's stuck in bed and can't even touch him and he really, really looks like he could use a hug.

She lets him finish the story, mulls it over and tries to understand both the meaning and why it's affected her like it has. The first is easier, perhaps.

But first things first. "North," she says quietly. "Come here." Imperious finger wiggle. Come here so she can hold your hand, dumby.

Edited (Swype errors) 2014-11-03 16:56 (UTC)

He takes it, and looks her in the face before glancing away. It's too much, having those sympathetic eyes watching him, and he almost feels like he could tear up. He didn't even get into the part about South or about what Delta had said to him about her. That part...that was almost too painful to discuss, especially with her disappearance.

Maybe that would come up some other time.

After a minute of struggling to breathe calmly he sighs out with a hum and looks back at her. "I didn't mean to dump that all on you," he mutters.

She squeezes his fingers. As best she can, she takes her turn to stroke his knuckles with her thumb. It's soothing, right? "You're being dumb," she says, enough warmth and affection in her tone that it hopefully takes the sting out of the words. "Good thing you're still so cute when you're dumb."

Another gentle squeeze. "It's okay, North." Just, as a general statement. "I don't... quite understand some of what you told me yet, but that's okay. I don't have to understand. Theta must be be special and very important. And he sounds really sweet. I promise I'll look out for him."

As much as she can when she's sick in bed. Better later when she's out.

"I'm really sorry those things happened. And I'm really sorry that you and so many of your friends got hurt. It has to stop. I don't know why they hurt us when all we want to do is protect people and do our job but it has to stop."

Edited (Swype errors) 2014-11-03 17:23 (UTC)

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