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If you need a spare hand any time, I don't mind coming back to help out. You've been real good to me, and I won't forget it.
Now I understand not wanting to dwell, but eventually you might want to return there.
Why? It's Earth. Half the people in this place are from some version of it. Could pick one where people aren't fighting to death over scraps from a time half of 'em never even knew.
He peeks over, egg still in the crook of his arm, to read what the Grandmaster has said.
"Things like this, it's usually all of us or no one. Good thing Harry's around."
On account of... William.
"Things like this, it's usually all of us or no one. Good thing Harry's around."
On account of... William.
"Might end up dissected, otherwise," Tess replies, holding up the communicator for him, and she snorts. Barring that, it'll be carried all over the place, examined, picked apart for secrets. She can't pretend to know what William's ever looking for, just that he's always looking for something. "Harry'll take good care of it, anyway. Can't imagine that man harming a fly. It can't be that hard, either, it's not like it can run away."
Thank you, Dancy, that's mighty kind. I just been - treating you how I'd want to be treated.
Well, in that case. [He drums his fingers on the saddle.] You can forget all about it.
[Like that works. They both know it doesn't; he won't tell her to talk, since he wouldn't in her case.]
[Like that works. They both know it doesn't; he won't tell her to talk, since he wouldn't in her case.]
"Harry sure did get a raw deal," is all he has to say about that. His thumb has been stroking over the egg's shell, and when he notices that's what he'd been doing he flinches.
"Jesus."
"Jesus."
All ready for you, miss.
Feel the sarcasm dripping off the text!
Feel the sarcasm dripping off the text!
[She shakes her head, smiles a little.]
Not saying it's easy, just that I've started life over before, and I can do it again. Hell, if I hadn't come in here like I did, I probably wouldn't have told anyone here about cordyceps, or the world changing, or any of it.
Not saying it's easy, just that I've started life over before, and I can do it again. Hell, if I hadn't come in here like I did, I probably wouldn't have told anyone here about cordyceps, or the world changing, or any of it.
[She's so eager to get it back she lets that one slide.]
Where are you? I'll come get it.
Where are you? I'll come get it.
Misty too, now that Tess is thinking about it. She doesn't bring it up when she catches Arthur petting the egg, though –– hard not to, when the little thing is beaming happiness straight into their skulls. She chuckles, elbowing him a little.
"Look at you," she teases. "Between the two of us, I think we'll be fine."
"Look at you," she teases. "Between the two of us, I think we'll be fine."
I think you'd've told someone eventually. [Because he has complete and utter faith in her. He knows she'd tell the right people.]
Maybe. Back home there are people I've known for over a decade and I don't know their last names because nobody likes to talk about that shit.
Bar. You old enough to drink?
He doesn't care.
He doesn't care.
The teasing is well-intentioned, and he tries to grin and bear it, but he just can't. Not when he wants honesty from her. He'll pretend his ass off for everyone else, but here, with this thing begging for his attention...
"Truth be told, I ain't too sure I like it."
"Truth be told, I ain't too sure I like it."
That's back home, though, ain't it? Even if you'd come a year earlier, bein' away mighta just done the trick.
"You think I do?" she replies, a touch more seriously. It's just so much easier to blow off the reality of it, bury any risk of feeling under flippancy. "It's not my idea of fun, but it's a pretty small order compared to, I don't know, life on a prison train. At least you get to keep your memories in one piece."
He makes a face at her - yeah, she's right, but he's trying to tell her something.
"It's the memories it's bringing up I don't like."
And if that's the case, I'm better off here, or somewhere people give a shit about each other.
Point. She purses her lips for a moment. How many years had she spent being chased off the subject of lost kids, learning not to even bring it up? And she'd said herself that looking for this little thing was like looking for Ellie on the train, and it's odd to feel like that memory isn't completely foreign to her, either.
"Arthur," she says. "It's not your kid. You don't have to get attached to it."
Easier said than done.
"Arthur," she says. "It's not your kid. You don't have to get attached to it."
Easier said than done.
I'm not fourteen. Tess' perception of time is off.
[Which means she'll be there, and she does show up shortly after, looking a little frazzled with her hair half out of its elastic and clothes wrinkled. Who irons??? Not Ellie.]
[Which means she'll be there, and she does show up shortly after, looking a little frazzled with her hair half out of its elastic and clothes wrinkled. Who irons??? Not Ellie.]
Think you could do it, long haul? Like Tiffany?
He makes a face at her: exactly.
"Don't have to, but it's trying its damnedest to make me."
"Don't have to, but it's trying its damnedest to make me."
She considers just telling him to just man up and deal with it, put in the work and then move on, but there’s a part of her that feels resigned to it. She’s spent so many years managing a man’s feelings about children that another week isn’t going to kill her. Arthur might even appreciate it, and that settles it for her.
“Then cut it off here and go back to bed,” she says, clipped, and she moves to take the egg from him. “I can handle it if you want off the hook this time.”
“Then cut it off here and go back to bed,” she says, clipped, and she moves to take the egg from him. “I can handle it if you want off the hook this time.”
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