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[a_shadow]

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[originalcopy]

No.

[She's irritated and he's insulted... He bites back his own retaliatory insulting question.]

You shouldn't have.

[He grabs the last couple of cinnamon bites. Literally keeping his mouth occupied with something other than saying something he'd regret.]

[a_shadow]

[ She remains silent, drinking her whiskey and cola with short sips.

Eventually she speaks, having found a new topic to broach. ]

Where are you staying?

[originalcopy]

[He takes a breath before answering.]

Someplace called the Proxy Hotel. Got stuck with a big lizard for a roomie. But I haven't seen him in a few days.

[He taps his fingers on the side of his glass.]

What about you? Did you win the roommate lottery?

[a_shadow]

I'm in a dorm building called the Qubit House. My roommate's okay. It's not too different from living in barracks, so I don't mind.

[ Not that she ever actually did that. Church isn't the only one who identifies with those old memories. ]

[originalcopy]

Ugh, right. At least you weren't stuck with Tucker.

[He snerks]

I dodged a bullet with Caboose.... Probably the only bullet I dodged with him.

[Hang on...]

Did you guys have barracks? A bunch of Freelancers trying to share a space... that must have suuucked.

[a_shadow]

No, not in Freelancer. Or at least, I had a room to myself. They had to convince me I was sleeping and everything, after all.

[originalcopy]

Guess that wouldn't have worked with other people around.

[He nods.]

Do you ever find the memories- I don't know... useful? Like, maybe it helped you get used to things faster...

[a_shadow]

[ She ponders this. ]

Yeah, I guess it did. But the main thing that bothers me, to be honest, is not being in my robot anymore. I can't punch as hard or anything. Plus I got hurt and ended up in recovery for a long time.

[originalcopy]

[A look of concern passes over his face before he can stop it. Obviously she was fine and all that... but for just a second the thought of it twisted through him. He pushes past it to focus on the bit before that. Because, that's probably one of the most Tex reasons for anything ever. Of all time.]

I have to admit, there are things I miss about the robot. For example; I forgot how much stubbing your toe fucking hurts.

[He chuckles softly.]

Did you at least get your armor?

[a_shadow]

[ She sees that look cross his face. ]

I was in bad shape, but it's been a few months and I've regained a lot of strength now. So it's fine.

I do have my armor. I would have been pissed if I didn't.

[originalcopy]

What happened? Was I there?

[a_shadow]

No, you weren't. It was after you disappeared.

[ She turns her head slightly, looking out into the bar. He's not going to like this, she knows. ]

The ship was crashing onto a planet and I wanted to save both of my bodies. So I jumped to the robot and tried to launch this body out in an escape pod. The launching mechanism didn't work right and I had to climb into the tube and push. I fell when the escape pod did, and it crashed. The robot was damaged from the fall, so I had to jump to a temporary body that the aliens on the planet had available for me. And then this body ended up in a coma for...a while.

[ She manages to glance at him for a moment, then looks away again. ]

After the coma I had to live in the body for the entire recovery—no jumping to the robot. I did it, though. Hardest part was relearning to walk.

[originalcopy]

[Initially he blanches and just blinks blankly a couple of times.]

You... what...

[His expression turns to a glower. The thought of a crash, of her plummeting to the ground so hard that...]

You had to relearn- to walk.

[a_shadow]

[ Her expression darkens to match. ]

Don't, okay. It turned out fine.

[originalcopy]

What do you mean, don't?

[To his credit, he keeps his voice down. Instead he leans in.]

Am I not supposed to care about you getting hurt? Just because [insert helpful air quotes] we're not a thing? That's not how it works.

[a_shadow]

[ She huffs, just a little. ]

That's not what I meant. I just mean it already happened. There's no point getting overly concerned. I'm fine now.

[ She pauses, glancing away again. ]

Well, better, anyway. I won't consider myself 'fine' until I'm in the same physical shape I was before, but I'm getting there.

[originalcopy]

I'm not overly concerned. [He mutters quietly into his drink. It's just the whole crashing part is somehow worse because of what happened at the Gulch.]

So, what can I do to help?

[a_shadow]

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

Mm...nothing? I'm fine. I'll be fine.

[originalcopy]

[He scoffs.]

Look, I know the whole 'big-badass-Freelancer that doesn't need any help' is kinda your thing... but you don't actually have to do everything on your own.

[Whatever else they are or aren't, they're still a team as far as he's concerned.]

06/04

[datamods]

One of the Qubit House staff comes by to deliver ONE BOOLEAN to you!

"This was left for you at the front desk a few moments ago," they say. "I'm afraid I didn't get the name of the person who left it, but they wanted to make sure it got to you." ]

[a_shadow]

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

I know that. I do.

[originalcopy]

So. I could- I don't know... spot you at the gym or something.

[a_shadow]

[ She smirks, but decides to humor him. ]

Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

[originalcopy]

Wasn't so hard now, was it?

[He gives her a crooked, just starting to get properly buzzed smile.]

And I'm going to hold you to that too. So no thinking I'm going to forget about it or let you back out.

[a_shadow]

[ She snickers. ]

I'll hold you to it, too, so no wimping out.