#last batch of dr stuff i had to clean up ok!
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theyre besties in the worst way
#last batch of dr stuff i had to clean up ok!#danganronpa#Dangan Ronpa#Super Danganronpa 2#junko enoshima#enoshima junko#kamukura izuru#izuru kamukura#crisisArt
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Love Is Blind: Chapter Twenty
Robyn sighed as she carefully made up the bed then plopped down to catch her breath. The kids were asleep but Chris was still up doing work for when he returned back to work. He had agreed that it was time for him to move back into their bedroom but she was really worried about whether that’s what he wanted to do. They hadn’t slept in the same bed in weeks and she was concerned whether it would be awkward for them.
“Babe, you up?” Chris called out as he made his way to their bedroom. Robyn turned towards the doorway just as he appeared, “hey you. How’s work going?”
“It’s going. You ok? I thought you’d be asleep by now.”
“I needed to change the bedding and stuff. You alright?”
“I’m good. I think I’m done for the night.”
“Oh. Just coming to say goodnight then?”
“I thought I was moving back in here unless plans have changed.”
“ Huh? No. I just didn’t- never mind.”
“You thought I changed my mind?”
“I didn’t think you were gonna do it anyway.”
Chris chuckled lightly as he walked over and sat down beside her, “I thought we were working on trusting each other.”
“We are. I just didn’t want to rush you into anything. It’s only been a week or so since we’ve started hashing things out.”
“We can hash things and still share a bedroom.”
“I know.”
Chris slipped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her close to him. Robyn kissed his chin before resting her head against his chest, “you drive me crazy but I love it.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“You still do. How was lunch with Mel?”
“It was good. I liked getting out of the house.”
“I’m glad. I’ve still been a little worried about you being isolated here.”
“I’m isolated for medical reasons and I’ve learned to accept that and adjust. My life is just gonna be different for a while, that’s all.”
“How’s the business going?”
“Good. Mel and I dropped in on the shelter while we were out. We hired another on-call doctor to help with the increased business but other than that not much has changed.”
“Beverly enjoying being the boss?”
“She’s always thought she was, now she just getting the pay too.”
Chris laughed, “gonna be hard to talk her down once you go back.”
“I think I’d let her stay vet director and just be the doctor for a change. I can’t handle the stress of patients and paperwork.”
“Oh, that sounds great.”
“If having a five minute argument with you had me passing out, I don’t think dealing with vendors and donors is gonna be too good for my health either.”
“Understandable. You sound a little winded, do you need your inhaler?”
“Please.”
Chris reached into the nightstand and handed the item to her. Robyn pumped on the trigger two times before inhaling deeply. She handed the inhaler back to Chris and he put it back in the drawer, “Sorry.”
“What you apologizing for?”
“I’m sure having to take care of a sick girlfriend, a toddler and a newborn wasn’t in your plans when we got back together.”
“No but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“We’re being open here, you don’t have to say the ‘right’ thing.”
“I’m not. Listen, having you back in my life in general was not something I ever thought would happen. Being in a relationship with you and having a baby, double miracles in my book so I am happy to take on whatever I need to because this happened.”
“Don’t start making me be all mushy.”
Chris chuckled, “Don’t start crying or I might have to get your inhaler back out.”
Robyn laughed as she leaned into his chest, “I have a feeling I’m never gonna get rid of that thing.”
“There’s always room for things to get better. Do you feel like your legs are getting better?”
“Yea, I can stand a little longer so I guess the physical therapy is working. I still got months to go unfortunately.”
“What’s so unfortunate about it?”
“Us can’t do us things because I can’t physically handle it. I’m not trying to have a seizure while we fucking. Too weird.”
Chris laughed, “Robyn, the last thing I’m worried about is sex. As long as I can wake up to you, I’m good.”
“Here you go being all perfect again.”
“What would you like me to say, Babe?”
“I don’t know. Just stop being so good because it makes me wanna fuck you and I can’t.”
Chris kissed her temple as he wrapped his arms around her, “Woman, I love you so much, you know that?”
“I love you too. You’re really gonna stay in here with me tonight?”
“Tonight and every night after.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Whatever you need.”
Robyn smiled up at him, “stop being so sweet. Anyway, can you check my stitches for me?”
“Of course. Is the kit where I left it last?”
“Yea. I’ve been trying to keep it clean but I don’t know if I’ve been doing a good job because I can’t really see it.”
“That’s not an issue, Sweetie. You could’ve asked me to do this a long time ago, you know?’
“I was embarrassed. I still am but since we’re being open, I’m rolling with it right now.”
“I understand. Lay back.”
Chris went to the bathroom to wash his hands and grabbed the little medical kit out the bottom of the sink then went back into the bedroom. Robyn was lying on her back with her shirt pushed up to the underside of her breast. Chris sat the kit on the bed beside her then put on some latex gloves. Carefully he pressed around the sides and top of her belly then moved down towards the spot where the doctor’s had cut her open. He gently pressed against the closed wound, “can you feel that?”
“Yea, I can feel it.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“No stinging? No sharp pains?”
“None.”
He shined a small flashlight on the area for a second then grabbed a small jar of black/white ointment, “have you been putting this on?”
“Trying to. I don't know how much I’ve actually put on the stitches or just around it.”
“It looks pretty good to me. It doesn't hurt but you’re also not numb and there’s no smell to it. I think you’re good.”
“Ok. Thanks, Babe.”
“You’re welcome.”
He carefully put some ointment on the area before throwing his gloves in the trash and repacking the kit, “you got any other pains in your belly, not just near your stitches?”
“No. I’ve had some stiffness in my neck but that’s usually only in the morning.”
“Have you told your doctor?”
“I mentioned it but it wasn’t that bad really.”
“So you mentioned it but you downplayed it.”
“Kind of.”
“Robyn.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sweetie, the fact you are still having so many aftereffects is concerning. Nothing is a small thing when it comes to that, ok?”
“I know. I just didn’t feel like having them poking me and sending me for a bunch of tests.”
“What else is bothering you?”
“I’m forgetting stuff more frequently.”
“Things or thoughts?”
“Thoughts. A lot of my memories are fuzzy or missing parts. Sometimes I can’t remember what I did for pockets of time.”
“Robyn, I think you’ve been having mini seizures.”
“What? No. I don’t shake or nothing.”
“Not all seizures require shaking though, the doctor told you that.”
“He did.”
“I think we really need to get you checked out.”
“In the morning, please. I really need to sleep.”
“Tomorrow morning we are going to the hospital, ok?”
“Ok. I promise to cooperate.”
“I don’t want to lose you not just after getting you back.”
Robyn gently palmed his face, “don’t get all melancholy on me. I’ll be fine.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris kissed the palm of Robyn’s hand as the doctor hooked her up to an EEG, “you ok?”
“I’m fine,” Robyn replied as she looked up at him, “you’re more nervous than I am.”
“You can tell?”
“Definitely can tell but I appreciate the concern, Baby.”
Chris turned to the doctor, “Will you be able to tell if she’s had any previous seizures?”
“We will attempt to use her last EEG and compare if there has been any changes. There’s no guarantee that we’ll see anything but if she’s been having them often, there should be some kind of abnormality,” Dr. Richardson replied as he carefully checked the placement of the nodes, “it doesn’t hurt a bit and should be over fairly soon.”
After a few minutes, they were sitting in a regular examination room as Dr. Richardson placed her EEG results up on a board beside him, “so, there is definite evidence of prior seizures. Have you ever felt stiff, unable to move, sort of like you're frozen in time?”
“Yes, a few times,” Robyn replied.
“You were having mini focal seizures. People often don’t categorize them as seizures because there’s not always shaking or twitching involved. When this begins to happen postpartum, the usual cause is eclampsia. They are also contributing to your respiratory issues as well.”
“Oh. Does it affect memory?”
“Yes, it does. We may need to change the anti-seizure medication you are currently using because it doesn’t seem to be working for you.”
“Do you know how long I’ll have this problem?”
“Usually it only goes on for about six weeks postpartum but seeing as yours has persisted beyond that, we don’t have a clear window on whether your body will completely return to normal.”
“So I’ll be on anti-seizure medication for the rest of my life probably?”
“That is a high possibility.”
“And the respiratory issues?”
“Your respiratory system is stronger than it was, so it seems to have rebounded well. I still want you to take it slow, minimize your stress and continue your physical therapy.’
“Does this happen often?”
“It is rare for a case to be this severe but it does happen. Unfortunately, there’s no definite explanation for why it develops or why it persists longer for some women than others. With monitoring and care, you should be relatively back to normal within a few more weeks outside of the need for medication.”
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem. You’ve been doing well so keep up the good work but please don’t hesitate in letting me know about any more symptoms, I can’t treat what I don’t know about.”
“I understand.”
“I’m going to write a prescription for a new medication. You are not to take it for a week, I want your system cleared of the last medication before you start this to minimize any complications. I don’t want to set back your progress.”
“Ok.”
“I will notate the date you are to start on the prescription bottle. After about a month, we’ll run a new batch of tests to see if it’s helped. In the meantime, if you have any more symptoms, that includes stiffness, numbness, an altered state of consciousness, inability to move your limbs, feeling like you're frozen, blackouts etc., return to the hospital. I don’t want you to ignore it and it becomes worse and possibly causes a stroke.”
“Yes, Dr. Richardson.”
“You can sit here for a few moments or go to the waiting room while I complete your chart and send your prescription.”
Chris shook the doctor’s hand before he left, closing the door behind him. Chris turned to Robyn, “how are you feeling?”
“Overwhelmed. I didn’t anticipate this after having our baby.”
“It’s a lot to take in but we’ll get through it especially now that we know what to expect going forward.”
“I just wanna go home and lay down.”
“You hungry?”
“No, I’m good.”
Chris helped her down off the table and to stand up straight, “you need your walker?”
“No, I think I can make it without it.”
Chris grabbed the portable walker and folded it up into itself while following Robyn’s slow gait out of the examination room. They sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before they were cleared to leave.
Chris watched as Robyn tucked her feet underneath herself as she sat in a chair on the front porch. The newly installed rocking chair helped as the weather got warmer and the kids wanted to be outside more. She carefully started to rock and Chris had to stop himself from going to her immediately. He knew she was still trying to come to terms with the doctor’s diagnosis. Having your miracle baby but developing serious health problems as the result of it is a lot for a person to handle. His therapist had cautioned him to let Robyn take her time to adjust to any new situation before he rushed in to talk to her about it. Everyone needs their space to think before trying to problem solve. He finished washing the cup he was holding when an idea came to him.
Robyn sighed as she brushed a tear off her face. She didn’t anticipate postpartum life being this hard. A few minutes passed when she heard a knock on the wall beside her. She looked up and Chris smiled at her, “Hey Babe.”
“Hey you. Mind some company? I got hot chocolate and sweet cake.”
Robyn giggled, “my favorite. I guess you can sit out here too.”
Chris set the tray down on the side table while he grabbed a chair from the other side of the porch to sit down.
“How you feeling, Baby?”
“I’m ok. Still wrapping my mind around my new body, I guess but I’m ok.”
“You know you don’t have to put on a front for me. I know this is hard and definitely not either of us anticipated when you got pregnant.”
“Definitely.”
“But you don’t have to suffer through this in silence. I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
“I don’t know how we do this.”
“The same way we do anything else; we adjust, adapt and just do it. Unfortunately, there’s no prewritten playbook for this.”
“I know. It’s just- it’s overwhelming. How are you?”
“I’m good but I’m focused on you. I wish I could tell you I understand how it feels but I’m no woman and I have not given birth so I can’t possibly help in that aspect but I want to help you by making this easier for you to deal with.”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to adjust to the weight, the breathing, the walker, and the seizures all at once.”
“It’s a lot, Sweetheart. I know but you are the strongest woman I know. You’ve made it through so much that I have no doubt if we really give it our best shot, you’ll get through this. You’re not alone in this. Maybe we can approach this the same way we’ve approached getting back to center. One thing at time. Your health is way more important than the whole weight thing right now. Once we get your seizures under control which in turn assists with your breathing, we can worry about that.”
“I guess that would be best. I guess I’ll have to get used to being a size 14 for a while.”
“Which is not a bad thing.”
“You’re only saying that because my butt is bigger.”
Chris playing raised his brows at her and Robyn laughed, “Listen, intercourse may be out of the question for a while but my hands are not broke.”
“Oh my God, Christopher.”
“What? I’m just being honest. I can rub on you a little bit, it can’t hurt.”
“You’re such a troublemaker.”
“I love you.”
“I know. I love you too.”
Chris smiled and leaned over to kiss her lips, “you wanna go on a date with me?”
“We have the kids here.”
“I know. We’re not gonna leave the house but I wanna do something special for you.”
“How?”
“You let me worry about that. Just need a yes or no.”
“Uh yes.”
“Good.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ok, are your eyes closed?”
Robyn chuckled, “does it matter? I have a blindfold on.”
“I’m just checking, Ms. Fenty-Brown,” Chris replied with a laugh, “it’s just a few more steps.”
“I don’t know why I have to be blindfolded, we’re at your house.”
“Our house. And I still want this to be a surprise. You been fussing for the last five minutes.”
“Because I’m anxious. Hurry up.”
Chris carefully guided her to the middle of the backyard before standing behind her and taking the blindfold off, “what you think?”
“Aww Babe, this is beautiful.”
Chris held her waist to keep her steady as she started to walk around. Decorative lanterns were placed inside and outside a large tent with the opening flaps pinned to stay open. Small lights were hung inside the cloth and metal structure as the all white pillows and palettes glowed underneath them.
“Can we go inside?”
“Yea, just hold onto my hand and i’ll help you get down.”
Robyn kneeled carefully as she held onto Chris’s wrist then slowly crawled inside the tent, “this is so pretty.”
“You like it?” Chris replied as he sat beside her.
“I love it. It’s comfy and relaxing in here.”
“Good.”
“So what else you got up your sleeve?”
“What you mean?”
“I know you and I sense there’s something else going on here.”
“There’s no hidden agenda here, Robyn.”
“I didn’t say it was a hidden agenda, I just think you got something else planned.”
Chris smiled, “it’s not anything like you think, I promise.”
“Ok.”
Chris moved to close the flaps of the tent and shifted to press a button on a small black box that was situated on a small table behind them. A lens popped up out the top of the box and began to project an image on the white flaps.
“Aww Babe, my favorite movie. This is so cute.”
“I wanted to get the usual movie stuff but I know you can’t eat any of it so...I got this,” Chris grabbed a tray and sat it between them, “so there’s some green tea with honey, some mini sweet cakes and cookies.”
Robyn did a little dance and Chris chuckled, “I’m guessing I did good.”
“You did perfect. I only find these cookies at the airport, where’d you get them?”
“You can order them in bulk online. I found them last week.”
“You even chilled the green tea. You remembered.”
“You’re the only person I know who drinks brewed green tea cold.”
“It just tastes better to me.”
“You ready to watch the movie?”
“Yes. Can you move closer?”
Chris furrowed his brow then moved the tray out the way and scooted closer. Robyn leaned down and put her head in his lap. She grabbed one of his hands to hold it as the movie began to play. Chris leaned down and kissed her temple before whispering in her ear, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Baby.”
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Lost in Time - ch 10
On the morning of Winter Solstice Selene found Eli outside exercising; in fact, over the last three weeks that's how Eli had started her mornings. She knew the woman wanted to get back to her pre-tube physique but she hadn't been pushing herself this hard before -- discovering her dead husband had triggered the change in her and Selene didn't know what to do about it.
'Hopefully Dr. Xu is making headway...' she found herself thinking as she headed over to the corner of the yard that Eli had taken to exercising in. It was a fairly flat area, mostly shielded from the sun in the afternoon and evening, and would have thick grass coverage once the seasons changed; it also was outside of the stable area so there wouldn't be animal droppings to worry about either. Maybe she could pave a small area to give Eli something solid to exercise on too? And when spring arrived with its downpours a paved spot would keep her out of the mud as well...Selene mentally stuck it on her To Do list.
((Continued below cut))
Eli was currently doing push ups, and doing them really damn well -- far better than Selene could ever hope to do. She didn't look up as the builder approached, and Selene waited silently and counted out 52 push ups (and who knew how many she'd already done before Selene had even come outside) before Eli finally came to a stop and shifted her legs around to sit cross-legged in the cleared area of frozen grass.
"Did you still want to go to the Solstice gathering?" Selene asked. For a long moment Eli was silent, then she simply nodded; Selene returned the nod and smiled at her. "Yay, all right -- did you want to be the bringer of cheese or the meats?" She took a step back as Eli got up; once the woman was up and out of the shadow of the edge of the nearby stables Selene could see sweat droplets sparkling in the woman's eyelashes and a thin sheen of it over her face -- she'd need to get inside and get dried off before she froze.
"Cheese, I guess."
It wasn't enthusiastic but she'd take it. "Ok then - I'll go get the foodstuffs while you get cleaned up. We've got a couple hours before everything starts but usually people gather early to watch Django get the hot pot started. It'd be a really good time for you to meet and mingle, talk to people."
"I don't know that I feel up to mingling."
"Oh. Well, uh..."
Eli gave her a strained smile. "Sorry. Don't mean to make things awkward, I just..."
Selene didn't press her to continue; instead she nodded and led the way back into the house where Eli disappeared upstairs to her room and Selene turned into the kitchen. She'd bought some nice cuts of beef and chicken and a very soft and delicious white cheese from Sophie and Emily a day ago. After her first Solstice in Portia Selene had decided to vary what she brought each year; the first time she'd brought diced up layered carrots and last year she'd brought cornballs from her own garden which had turned a small spot of the pot into a spicy chowder. This year would be the first time she'd brought any meats. Hopefully they were sliced thin enough that they'd cook up quickly once they were in the pot...maybe she should have checked with Django first. Oh well.
Eli should at least be well-received for bringing the cheese; the soft white was a Portia favorite and it tended to sell out quick when Sophie had a new batch ready to go.
A quick glance in the fridge showed that the wax paper wrapped around the meats hadn't leaked, and there weren't any grease marks on the paper bag that the cheese was in - it was nice to see that she wouldn't need to put them into other containers or worry about the bags ripping on the way in to town. Selene grabbed a potato fruit fritter out of the bag next to the cheese (she liked Sophie's pies and fritters, what could she say?) and retreated to a chair, slowly munching on the fritter as she waited for Eli.
She was washing grease off her fingers when she heard Eli coming down the stairs; the Dubei woman was combing her hair off to the side as she walked, and was wearing a sweater Selene hadn't seen before - it was a burnt orange color with goldenrod colored trim along the sleeves and collar.
"That looks nice. When did you get that one?"
Eli glanced down and smoothed down the sweater's hem. "Couple days ago. Carol was nice enough to tailor it a bit so it fit better across my shoulders."
"Going to need a lot of tailoring soon, huh?" That got a faint smile from Eli; Selene grabbed the meats and cheese and led the way out of the house toward Portia's gates. "What were celebrations like, in the Old World? Were there a lot of holidays?"
"Saying there were 'a lot' would be a massive understatement. You could find a festival or holiday going on almost every other week," Eli answered.
"Wow... That sounds hectic, but also fun."
Eli shrugged. "Isn't that true of any holiday?"
"True. Oh, here-" Selene briefly spun around and walked backwards, holding out the bag with the cheese in it. "Best cheese anywhere around."
Eli took the bag and tucked it into the crook of her elbow. "So...how does this festival work?"
"Well, we have a giant hot pot that Django gets started with a broth base. We wait 'til it gets boiling, then everyone starts tossing ingredients in. Everyone is welcome to eat as much as they want and because of how big the pot is you'll find little pockets of dozens of different flavors -- and, when we're done, all the leftovers are divvied out to everyone to take home, or available to eat for free at the Round Table for the next couple of days. After we've all eaten we have a snowball fight -- or, WOULD have a snowball fight. What snow that's out in the fields right now isn't all that packable since it's not fresh so I'm not sure if Gale has something else planned instead. And THEN, after that, we all take pictures together."
"...'all,'" Eli repeated. "Who does that include?"
"Everyone in Portia, if they want to," Selene giggled. "I help build the riser platforms each year. When we're done with the hot pot and everyone heads off to the snowball fight I, Paulie, and a couple others move the pot out and get the risers in place for when it's picture time."
"Are the pictures just...for free? For anyone?"
Selene nodded. "Yep. And a lot of the pictures get printed in the newspaper too so even if you don't manage to grab a copy today you can clip it from the paper later."
They were approaching the central plaza now and Selene could already smell the vegetable broth; Dawa and Paulie were standing near the massive hot pot helping Django feed logs to the fire burning beneath it. Gale, Gust, Ginger, and Russo were already there too, and so was Carol and Martha and standing with them were the triplets, Toby, and Jack as well. Their arrival immediately caught the attention of the children; Selene subtly moved Eli around the plaza's edge in the opposite direction.
They stopped at the benches over near the Research Center and Eli sat down, and sat the bag of cheese on the bench beside her.
"That is definitely a large hot pot."
"Yep. No idea who first forged it but it's been in use for awhile - not sure what they used before. Maybe just a giant cauldron or something."
They sat and waited, and watched as more of Portia's residents began to show up. There were a lot of curious and uneasy looks tossed their way; few people seemed willing to do more than nod or wave, and Selene was pretty certain most of the friendlier gestures were aimed at her and not Eli. Really made her wonder what Lee might have been telling others since Eli definitely hadn't done anything to warrant the weird looks she was getting.
Eventually, as more people showed up and more greetings were exchanged, Martha's attention wandered enough that Toby broke away from the group they were all standing in and as Selene suspected the boy made a beeline toward them.
He stopped just short of the bench, eying Eli for a moment or two; despite having a heavy coat on along with his backpack he had managed to also strap a wooden practice sword to his back and the handle jutted awkwardly over his left shoulder.
"Hi! Are you really three hundred years old?"
Eli blinked at the boy for a moment, then sat up a bit straighter. "I think I'm closer to 370, but yes."
"What did you do in the Old World? Were there adventurers?"
Selene watched as Eli's gaze moved from the boy over to where his mother was standing and chatting with Carol and Alice; after a pause Eli looked back to Toby. "I was a ranger. It was a type of soldier."
"Ha!" was Toby's response. "Django said there was more to you than it looked! Did you fight in the war? Did you shoot robots with guns? Was there really robots everywhere you looked? Did you use only guns or did you still use swords and stuff? Do you know how to use a sword?"
"Toby, one at a time," Selene interrupted dryly. Eli got bombarded enough as it was thanks to those nosy scholars.
A small smile crossed Eli's face. "I didn't fight in the war - I was already injured and inside that tube by the time the Calamity hit. I'm not even sure what event started it. As for AIs - yes, we had a lot of them. They did a lot of the work for us, but not ALL of our work. We didn't use swords but we had some long-handled machetes as part of our camping kits and if we fought in close combat we had bangsticks. They were these metal rods of varying length that, if you swung and hit something with it, would release a little electric shock with a loud bang, hence their names. And, I know how to dance with a sword but not how to fight with one."
Selene had been listening quietly as Eli rattled off the answers to Toby's rapid fire questions but the last answer caught her attention. "Dance?"
Eli nodded. "Dubeian saber dancing. Was a hobby I picked up when I was a teenager and carried it along while serving - I wasn't especially limber or graceful but it was still fun."
Toby pulled a face. "Dancing? That sounds boring."
"Maybe, to someone who hasn't ever seen it. You started out with plastic practice props, worked your way up to wooden ones, then blunt metal, then sharpened metal, and the last 'rank' was sharpened metal with a middle, inner strip that you lit on fire."
THAT got Toby's attention. "You danced with fire?"
"Me? No. I only made it up to the sharpened metal rank - live steel, as it was called. Once I was out of school I only got the chance to study and practice when I was on leave from active duty."
"That sounds pretty neat, actually," Selene mused. "Sounds kind of dangerous too though - a sharp edge AND fire?"
"It WAS dangerous, and that's why it was fairly challenging to work your way up the ranks. You learned the basic moves with the plastic, then added weight and balance with the wooden ones. From there you began picking up the advanced stuff with the heavier but blunt metal props, and you needed a perfect score from a certified instructor to move on to the sharpened ones. When you got to the sharpened rank you had to have so many hours of supervised practice as well as a certain number of dances performed and scored by eight different instructors, all perfect scores and with no injuries or else you had to start over and put in the time and effort again. Being as it became something I did on the side to keep myself busy when I was on leave I never had the time to put together the dances or log the hours needed."
"Are you bothering Eli?"
Selene jumped at Arlo's voice and spun around to find him standing behind her with his arms crossed and his attention squarely on Toby.
Toby jutted his lower lip out at Arlo. "No! I'm learning about the Old World."
"Fine, but your mother is looking for you either way."
"Aw man..." Toby slouched off through the crowd back toward Martha who greeted him with a glare and what Selene imagined was a very short and to the point lecture on running off when she clearly wanted him to stay put. He...did that a lot, and could probably recite any lecture by heart now.
When he was gone Eli leaned back against the bench and stretched her legs out. "He wasn't bothering me. Just asking questions."
"Fair enough. Martha WAS actually looking for him however."
Selene shifted around to perch on the arm of the bench, looking up at him. "Are the scholars going to work today too?"
"Not that I know of. Gregory and Adam are going to stay out at the sinkhole just in case they do, and also to keep guard. Mali and the others planned to come take part in the festivities but I've no idea if the scholars will too." Arlo glanced over a shoulder and skimmed the crowd, then returned his attention to Eli. "I did want to mention that Lee gives a sermon every year before we eat - whatever he might say today know he's more or less said something similar every year. This might be the one time I can honestly say it shouldn't be personal."
Eli nodded but didn't say anything in response. After a few moments Arlo moved to sit on the bench with the bag of cheese between himself and Eli, and not too long afterward both Sam and Remington found them and stood about chatting as they waited for Django to signal that the broth was ready; it already appeared to be boiling and Selene spied what she thought were vegetable bits floating around in it. Shouldn't be too long now.
"-Eli, I had a question about Stewart," Sam suddenly asked, abruptly changing the subject away from the weather.
"What about him?"
They'd all had a chance to talk to Stewart at least once now; the All Source AI was polite and helpful but Selene found his constantly shifting facial projection to be massively distracting.
"What are we going to do with him?"
That was a question Selene had thought about too. Wendy, the other All Source AI they'd found, was currently in the Research Center and wouldn't be able to ever leave it now that her original power supply had been damaged beyond repair -- she'd always be tethered to the power supply they'd rigged up for her. Stewart, on the other hand, had been specifically built to be mobile; his inner battery needed repair due to the ravages of time but he was confident they could fix it even with limited technology, and that would leave him with about three months worth of power if he was forced to go without his docking station. Could they move his docking station out of the facility and figure out how to power it up here? It seemed like a huge waste to leave him down in the facility or for him to walk back and forth between there and town.
"I'm not sure yet," Eli answered after a lengthy pause. "He seems convinced the reactor is still fully functional for now, so we've got a bit of time to figure something out. But he'll have to be moved somehow -- the fuel inside a reactor has an expected lifetime and to be honest I'm surprised it's still working after all this time. It won't last forever though, and there's no way we can make more of what fuels it."
"We were able to make a new power source for Wendy," Selene said. She glanced toward the Research Center -- Wendy had seemed satisfied with the power output of the high voltage dual engine set up they'd put together. "Could we move the docking station and make do like we did with her?"
Eli was silent for another long moment - Selene could only imagine the calculations going on in her head. "--it's...possible, I guess. But it'll need a lot of room, first and foremost - we'd need his docking station for sure, along with his memory cores and server banks, and then space enough for whatever power source we come up with to run it all. He might need his own dedicated room entirely."
Remington's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "He really needs that much power? That much room?"
"Yeah, that seems-" Sam paused, then shook her head. "Wendy didn't need that much of either. What's the difference?"
"They're different models," Eli answered. "They might both be All Source AIs but their duties are drastically different and they have different specs. And I bet if we could find Wendy's original memory cores and servers her power and space requirements would shoot through the roof too."
Selene huffed out a sigh at that. "Man...we've lost so much, haven't we? I hope we haven't damaged Wendy on accident."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Eli replied, looking over to her. "If she says she can manage with her current power level then she knows what she can and can't safely process."
"What would happen if we got her hooked up to more power?"
"Probably nothing. Her memory cores aren't attached and she's not connected to anything else to warrant more power right now."
"She DID say that she couldn't teach us anything because all she did was give orders, but she's given us a few blueprints since she said that," Selene said slowly, tapping a finger against her chin as she thought - what did a memory core or server bank even look like? "If she had her memory cores, would that make a difference in what she could teach?"
"A huge difference. You can't teach something if you don't remember knowing it in the first place. With her it's likely she DID know the inner functions of certain technologies but that information was stored in a separate memory core than what she's carrying onboard now. If we separate Stewart from his servers and cores he'll lose a lot of what he knows too."
"Which seems like a poor idea," Arlo broke in. "Having those medical texts is helpful but having something on hand that actually knows it and could teach it to others is way more valuable."
Sam shrugged. "The clinic DOES have that storage room upstairs, and also the space around it to add on another room or two - it'd make more sense to install Stewart in the clinic than it would here at the Center, since he's a medical AI. I think it was just last year that Dr. Xu was talking to Albert about a possible expansion too."
Remington shook his head at her. "He only did that because Phyllis wants to open her own office. I think the plan was adding on and giving that space to her to start out with but she found a place out in South Block that she's trying to buy instead. He probably wouldn't say no to an expansion to house Stewart but I don't know that any plans or budget from before would be useful now since he wasn't factoring in an All Source AI's needs."
Selene stood up and stretched as she noticed Gale taking his place at the center of the crowd. "Eh, leave it for another day - looks like it's about time to start."
Portia's townsfolk had all clustered around the hot pot and Selene and the others were basically at the back of the group; Gale was a little hard to hear but, as he did every year, he greeted everyone and then invited Lee to start his sermon.
-----------------------------------------
Eli listened quietly as Lee detailed how, after the Calamity, the sky had darkened and sunlight had disappeared. AIs had gone rogue, crops were failing, people were starving - humanity already pushed to the brink was getting even closer to extinction. To hear that finally, in a moment of need, people came together to ensure survival was nice...even if the story as a whole was very bleak.
'To think I outlived all that because of a stupid tube and science I can't understand...'
One of the first things she'd asked Stewart was why she was down there - why she was in that tube - and the AI couldn't tell her.
Not because he didn't know but because he'd been ordered not to tell anyone outside of the project involving the tubes. And what that project was was also something he couldn't share, and no amount of administrative access he could grant her would give her access to those files. He couldn't go against his orders or his programming and had been very apologetic but ultimately she'd gotten nowhere with that subject.
The rest of her questions had been directly answered, at least, and it painted chaotic, terrifying, and destructive final days for the facility and the people of Dubei.
First had come a bombardment from orbital railguns. Eli hadn't even known there WERE railguns up in orbit, and if they had fired freely on Dubei she imagined no one in charge had known they were there either (or if they HAD known, why weren't there defenses in place?). Who could have gotten railguns into orbit without anyone detecting them? Maybe they were inside something else...hidden, so that no one would suspect. And if that were the case then it could have been any nation behind it, and while Eli knew diplomacy had been breaking down she didn't think the Generals would have kept something this potentially devastating a secret...
Then Stewart had detailed how, in the immediate aftermath of that first attack, a small group of unknown assailants had forced their way in and appeared to be there to steal top secret information from various government-funded research projects. Stewart didn't know what files in particular they had come for but they were systematically searching floors and attempting to breach his encryptions and firewalls before they'd been subdued either by security or by circumstance; the orbital bombardment had leveled over half the city and obliterated that part of the facility that had been above ground, and the damage had caused the air filtration and circulation system to go haywire during the infiltration. Several of the underground sections were subsequently flooded with such severely polluted air, smoke, and particulates that it had caused many to suffocate (even some who had tried to get protective equipment on had been killed before it made a difference) before Stewart had been able to get the systems under control again and broadcast an order to begin evacuation once the intruders had been dealt with.
A small silver lining to this was the suffocation had taken out some of the attackers too, though their losses paled in comparison to the number of employees that had died. There was a mad scramble by those left to try and pack and prioritize, and to the credit of the survivors a lot was able to be salvaged and taken with them as the remaining living AIs were able to carry a lot more than a human could. But it was during the rush to leave that they'd been hit with a second bombardment and Stewart lost all contact with the surface world. In the chaos of the second attack Stewart had issued a total evacuation order: if it couldn't be immediately carried out on one's person then it had to be left behind...supplies, personal effects, the fallen, everything. Those few that were left alive to hear the order made it out through old maintenance tunnels.
And that was it. Ever since then Stewart had been the lone guiding force within the facility and had struggled to keep it functional (especially after an earthquake struck about 73 years after the second bombardment and had destroyed even more of the facility), and make certain that the remaining stationary AI assistants like Pauline as well as Eli in her tube survived until help arrived (something Stewart admitted he had lost hope for several times over the centuries).
That was a touchy subject... Eli had been in a tube, and so had all but two of her squadron. It had definitely hurt to know that most everyone she'd worked with AND her husband were all dead in the same room she'd spent over three hundred years "sleeping" in and that it had only been sheer dumb luck that the earthquake's damage hadn't reached far enough into the room to take her out too. Thinking about it, even briefly, was enough to make her eyes sting and well up and she quickly squashed it down and tried to focus on the end of Lee's sermon.
Better times... Yeah, compared to what she'd been told had happened, and what had been been endured, these times were certainly better. Humanity had a future even if it felt like she didn't.
Don't think about it.
At least, don't think about it until the next session with Dr. Xu. Or, bare minimum, she should aim to make it through today without falling apart.
"-all right, time to start adding things."
Eli flinched a bit as Selene - she hadn't even noticed the woman had moved from the other end of the bench - grabbed her by the elbow and tugged her toward the enormous hot pot, giving her only a moment to pick up her sack with the cheese in it; Arlo stayed with them and had produced a small bag of eggs from somewhere - she was about to ask where he'd been hiding it when she noticed Sam pull a cluster of some leafy green herb out of the bag she seemed to carry everywhere. She handed whatever the herbs were to Remington and then pulled out a parcel wrapped in wax paper; Sam wasted no time in approaching the pot and dumping the contents of her parcel in and Eli watched as a small shower of tiny meatballs plopped into the boiling broth.
"What'd you end up bringing?" Remington asked then. He had a small pocket knife in hand and was carefully cutting off the string that held the bundle of herbs together; she caught a whiff of it as well as a closer look and thought it was coriander.
Eli opened her bag and pulled out the chunk of cheese inside it, and managed to smile a bit as Remington's eyes lit up at the sight of it.
"Ha, you actually managed to get your hands on some of Sophie's cheese? That'll win you a lot of friends today I bet." He wiped the blade of the knife clean on the hem of his shirt then offered it to her, handle first. "Here, this'll help."
The cheese was the size of her two fists put together and it cut smoothly. She did notice a couple of approving looks as she dropped the first few pieces into the pot and watched as it melted and floated on the top almost like a cream.
"Should I try to spread it out?" she asked, glancing over to Remington; Arlo and Selene seemed to have moved on to other spots around the pot, chatting with the other townsfolk as they walked and dropped in cuts of meat and freshly cracked eggs at random intervals.
"You can, or you can claim a little spot and let others come to you," Remington answered. He started gently twisting the coriander into small handfuls that he sprinkled over a wide area of the hot pot's surface; the boiling broth quickly sent the little green bits floating away or sinking inward.
Along with the sudden surge of various types of foodstuffs appearing in the pot there were a lot of people and a lot of separate conversations going on around her; for now she decided to slice up about a third of what she had and spread it in the same area. As she was carefully cutting off a few more slices one of the short, hairy men appeared at her elbow with what looked like fresh fish fillets.
"Hey, look at that," was the man's greeting as he spied the cheese in her hand. "I always end up eating all that myself when I manage to get my hands on it."
She recognized him in that he was identical to the three others like him that she'd met, but his glasses were more opaque and a different size and shape than the ones his brothers wore. Quadruplets? "Would you like a piece to eat?" She cut off a decently thick bit and offered it to him; he accepted it with a grunt and smile and popped the whole thing into his mouth before beginning to carefully slip the fillets into the broth.
"-so, you're Eli. I'm Qiwa. You meet the rest of my brothers yet?"
"I've met Dawa, Sanwa, and I saw a third brother on the night I was introduced but I'm guessing that wasn't you. How...uh, how many of you ARE there?"
Qiwa began to chuckle, and didn't respond until he had all the filets in the pot; after wiping his hands on his shorts (Eli couldn't fathom how he wasn't freezing) he began to point to various spots in the crowd. There was Dawa, and Sanwa, and there was...three, four, five...
"-there's SEVEN of you?" she asked, looking down at Qiwa in amazement. "What's in Portia's water and should I be concerned?"
That got a deep belly laugh out of Qiwa. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it! We at least color code ourselves."
He kept on laughing and Eli shook her head - seven identical brothers, good grief. She cut a couple more slices of cheese and let them drop in; Qiwa headed off, still chuckling, and for a brief moment Eli was left standing more or less by herself as people milled around. Seeing that the pot was pretty cheesy where she was standing she decided she would move around after all and carefully edged off to the left toward a dark-haired woman who was carefully adding in what looked like dumplings but before she got too far another woman stepped in her path and cleared her throat.
"Oh, uh - hello." Her brain stalled on the woman's name; she knew she owned the bakery and she recognized her from earlier when Arlo had sent Toby scampering back to her.
"Hello. Sorry to bother you on a holiday but could I have a word in private?"
"Sure." Eli returned the cheese to the crumpled up bag and tossed the knife in with it as well, then tucked it under an arm and followed Martha - THAT was her name, right - as the woman headed over toward the far wall and gate that led out of Portia.
Once they were away from the crowd Martha inhaled deeply and seemed to be trying to force a smile but it didn't quite cover up how tense the woman seemed.
"You might have guessed this already or been told but I'm Toby's mother," Martha started. "I know he ran off earlier to pester you with questions and now all he can talk about is you being a soldier and fighting robots."
Eli winced a bit. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to-"
Martha waved her hands and shook her head. "No, it's not that - I'm used to him being a nuisance and overly excitable when he gets fixated on something. It's more that I know exactly what he's going to do next and I wanted to ask you NOT to indulge him."
"...huh?"
Martha sighed and ran a hand over her headband and then through the hair it was just barely holding back from her face. "His father was an adventurer, and it got him killed. Toby is dead set on being an adventurer too, and while Django has been humoring him and teaching him some very basic swordplay I know without a doubt that he'll come asking after you to teach him how to fight as well. And I don't want you teaching him anything, because I don't want him encouraged to go off into the wilds like his father did."
...well, that's not what she'd been expecting. Eli mulled that over for a few breaths - it was a reasonable enough request, on the surface. "I can abide by that, sure. Can I ask you something, though?"
"Oh good! And, of course."
Eli shifted the cheese from one arm to the other, turning her head to skim the crowd and pick out where Toby was standing with the other children again; he had that practice sword in hand and was waving it wildly as he spoke, and the others were laughing along with him. "I don't mean for this to sound insulting or belittling, but how confident are you that you can keep him from running off, if he's determined to follow after his da?"
Martha's expression faltered a moment and then she sighed heavily. "Well...so far I've not had much luck..."
She trailed off and Eli nodded, more to herself than to the woman -- that was what she thought the answer was going to be. It would seem little boys are just as headstrong now as they were three hundred years ago; it was a bit endearing but knowing how concerned Martha was just based on how she was acting now...
"I won't teach him anything if you don't want me to, but it sounds like - at least for the time being - he's not going to let go of that particular dream. And if that's the case, maybe he SHOULD be learning how to take care of himself in a fight." She turned her attention from the kids back to Martha. "Since you worry he's going to run off anyway learning how to handle himself in a dangerous situation and how to deal with injuries and survival techniques would be valuable information for him. THOSE are topics I'm well versed in, and I wouldn't mind teaching him. But, I've got an idea for a compromise: I could bore him to tears with it in the process and see how much he likes the adventuring life then when he gets to see what all is needed for it."
Now it was Martha's turn to mull things over, glancing between Eli and Toby but seeming to be looking through them rather than at them. "I...didn't think of it like that. I try not to think about it in general because I just don't want to lose him like I lost his father. And, what do you mean when you say you could bore him?"
"I am definitely well-practiced in not thinking about things," Eli said quietly. She took a breath and then flashed Martha a half-smile. "And yeah, bore him with it. If we make learning the skills and the act of adventuring seem like more trouble than its worth that might work better than forbidding him from doing it. He's a kid after all: I've not met a kid who didn't push boundaries or rebel against their parents. This might be a phase you can turn him away from but if not at least he's not walking out into the wild unknown not knowing a thing about how to take care of himself. -- and actually, I had another deterring idea. How's his grades?"
----------------------------------------------------
After the hot pot gathering they'd all gone out into the fields for the largest game of "flag tag" Eli had ever participated in. Everyone was exhausted and muddy by the end of it but they all remained in good spirits as they trudged back in to town to goof around in front of cameras (old-fashioned film cameras...another thing that had been old even in her time).
While she'd admittedly not felt like mingling or even really felt human this morning Eli found she was glad she'd let Selene drag her out. The weird looks had mostly stopped by late afternoon and while only a handful of people had been brave enough to walk up to her she felt less...like an outsider, more or less. And she hadn't run into that minister either so the whole day had been pretty peaceful; she had a small photo of herself with Selene, Xu, Arlo, and Dawa posing beneath the large tree that took up the center of the plaza, and her jacket smelled faintly of wood smoke as she walked back toward Selene's place.
In the morning she'd be heading back into town to meet Martha at her bakery, before Toby had to be at school. He didn't know it yet but he was about to be offered survival and combat lessons, taught by Eli, on the condition that he had to get high scores on all his schoolwork for the next two quarters.
Martha had been tickled pink by the idea as it seemed Toby was a little terror in school too, and while the prospect of having to focus in school may not deter him initially Eli still vividly remembered her boot camp days...they'd find out how determined Toby was when she started putting him through his paces (both physical and mental - took more than just being strong to be a good ranger).
But, on the flip side of that particular coin, if he kept with it he'd be one heck of a well-trained adventurer. At the very least that ought to relieve a bit of Martha's worry about the kid if their combined efforts couldn't turn his attention away from a future career of adventuring.
She would also need to drop by the Civil Corps building and give Remington back his pocket knife - she hadn't been able to find him after the tag game so it was currently in her own pocket (and she'd made sure to clean the cheese off before closing it).
When she got inside she borrowed a thumb tack from Selene and stuck the picture to the top edge of the headboard of her bed, then changed into the loose pants and shirt she'd designated as sleep wear and crawled under the covers. Along with needing to talk to Martha and Toby, and return Remington's knife, she was also expected down in the facility to babysit the scholars...it was going to be a very busy day.
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Eureka AU- Part 1
RoyAi Eureka AU I got the idea for yesterday and had to write out. More coming, easily a 20k word fic if I let it be. Premise is a modern day AU where there is a secret small town in the middle of nowhere that houses a community of scientists who make tech for the government. Great series that I miss. An AU that is so vaguely built on the concept of this series you have to squint to see it. Thanks Dream Me for coming up with another WIP I don’t have time for.
Under a readmore, Part 1 got longer than I wanted it to.
xx
Riza Hawkeye watched the senators and military higher-ups try to interact with the scientists at this impromptu party Roy Mustang had thrown together. Eyes were glazed over, tablets were displaying incredible scientific breakthroughs and there were small robots roaming the foyer with trays glued to them so they could deliver drinks and snacks. She understood why this was necessary, funding was in jeopardy as always, but she didn't understand why an unfathomable genius couldn't used his goddamned phone to give them more than three hours notice this was going to happen.
Roy smiled and lead his group of important government officials around the room, purposely directing them away from scientists like Edward Elric who would instantly seize the chance to declare science was for the people not the military. He has been in the capital for budget meetings, trying to prove that this little town nobody had heard of was the epicenter of technology and needed to remain funded. Weapons, medicine, electronics, space technology....all was on display here by the country's best minds to prove to these individuals that Eureka was a vital asset to the country.
Eureka, a town that was on nobody's map and nobody's radar. A town founded decades ago by geniuses who wanted to remove the pressures of the outside world from interfering with research while also providing it's occupants with safety and resources. Isolation also meant that these important people had no idea the routine mishaps that occurred because said experiments often went horribly, horribly wrong.
Scientists could be complete fucking idiots.
That was where she came in, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was on assignment here to be the military's presence and protection. She wore the uniform of the town's Sheriff, something that did nothing to encompass the massive scale of her job description. With only her and her Deputy Jean Havoc, the small town's law enforcement office covered everything from petty arguments to defending Eureka from attack if enemies ever discovered it for the treasure trove of knowledge it was.
Today's danger was only the head of the program itself, Roy Mustang. Dr. Mustang, with a slew of doctorates that he would gladly brag about when given the chance, had just come back from a month away from Eureka and failed to send a single text or communication to tell anyone he was planning to do so. A man with incredible resources at his fingertips, a phone on his hip at all times and enough brainpower to juggle a dozen tasks at once, yet not one single brain cell dedicated to thinking about how she would react to being surprised by his announcement three hours ago.
And she knew he did it for dramatic effect. She knew he did it to surprise his people because she would have definitely let them know and prepare for this visit. He wanted them scurrying around, tripping over themselves in excitement and fear when these important people arrived. Chaos made things seem busy instead of the boring calm that was research being done; testing the research as when it could have unpredictable outcomes.
The alternative would have probably lead the group to enter Eureka and find the town in flames, chimera running the streets and clocks running backwards. It's not that these geniuses were incompetent, it was that they had the resources and freedom to do what they wanted and every damned one of them took advantage of it. Putting pressure on them to have something to present to Senators and Generals would have been a disaster. It also kept some secrets, secret. It gave tastes of things to come, if the budget was approved, versus delivering results they could shutdown the place and use now. Roy knew what he was doing, but she hated it none-the-less.
And he knew it.
Riza decided to take a walk, help herself to some coffee that wasn't made by gourmet contraption that required way too many levels of input. She knew she had to be emanating levels of anger from the way people were avoiding her and that wasn't helping anyone. She walked down the hall to the break room, avoiding a cleaning robot who was spinning in circles trying to clean popcorn it was dropping from an overloaded popping machine epoxied to it lid. Then she ducked as a drone flew overhead with a cookie tray. Did nobody remember the Christmas Party disaster from last year? Why the hell was all this stuff out of storage?
No. NO. This was Roy's mess and if the tray gave someone a concussion that it was on him. He'd spectacularly dance around the blame and find some positive to it, he always did. This was her five minutes to brew coffee in a 'primitive' 'cheap' coffee pot she had to smuggle in to town on her own in order to have simple, perfect coffee. Five minutes to cool off.
She heard someone at the break room door as she pressed the 'On' button after loading the offending machine. She didn't turn around knowing who it was and her phone went off. She pulled it out and saw a simple text message from Roy, 'sorry'. Damn him. “No, you're not.”
Roy watched her turn around and cross her arms. “You're right. I'm not and I won't insult your intelligence by explaining why I did it. You already know. I'm sorry that I had to employ that tactic and upset you, though.”
“Well, we are right back to where we left off before you ran out of here last month without so much as a phone call until you were in the car full of government officials driving back to Eureka.”
“Our conversation...” He paused and took a step towards her and then another. Enough to close the gap and keep things quieter but not invade her space. “Needed to be had in person not over the phone.”
“Don't patronize me, I'm not mad because you 'upset' me by doing your job. I'm downright pissed you have no respect for me what-so-ever to include me in whatever scheme it is you think necessary to keep your job.” She said and remained in place, eyes on him, the coffee pot gurgling as it brewed it's batch of bean water like these people thought the early settlers did.
Roy reacted even though he was trying not to. “Well, sorry if 'I think' it a priority to keep Eureka from becoming a ghost town so we don't descend into the dark ages scientifically or worse have the personnel here go to the private sector and sell their ideas to the highest bidder. It's my job to protect our interests here and your job to protect this place physically.”
It was a misstep and he knew it. She watched him close his eyes and put up his hand, asking to pause and take back what he said. Unfortunately that project allowing the rewind of time for a few seconds had already imploded on itself last week. A mess he wasn't here to clean up, so no her job was more than to just protect this place from invasion. “Go back to doing your job Roy, when you can fit me in on your schedule you let me know. I need to be read in on what exactly our partnership is here because I'm tired of being the ally when you agree with me and your enemy when I dare question you. This is my town too.”
“Riza.” He said and opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to take himself out of the mindset of dealing with politicians. “You're not my enemy, you're my wife.”
“Am I?” She asked. “Because neither one of us is capable of not being who we are professionally in order to make those fleeting moments of personal neutral ground happen for longer than a few days. My job is to protect you and everyone in this town. Your job is to protect all of us from the world. Why the hell can't you stop being such a dick and throwing around your rank when you don't get your way? To me. We should be partners professionally, but you can't give an inch and I do not answer to you. I still am active military and this Sheriff's uniform is just to put everyone at ease. So when General Raven comes to me for my situational report, what do I say? Am I a member of this town or not, because I have a list of really concerning things I should be sending to him that we just put in the shredder and forget about once your people resolve them.”
Roy knew he should get back to the party but he saw his marriage slipping away as Riza turned her back to him to make her military grade garbage coffee. She was right, of course she was. She allowed him to focus back on reality. He loved her and he took her for granted. “Can we talk now? In my office?”
“We have a lot to talk about.” She said and turned back to him, coffee cup in hand. “And, if I recall, you ran away when it didn't go your way last time.”
“OK, I deserve that. I didn't run away from us, I ran towards a inferno that was our annual budget going up in flames in Congress.” He replied. “Riza, It was an emergency. I'm not used to...sharing. I'm just not used to burdening someone else with everything I deal with. ”
“Roy, this isn't about you running out the door and saying 'duty calls' this is about the fact that we got married and you thought you could soften me up about not turning over your technology to the military.” She replied and walked up to him and looked him in the eye. She could see him struggling with what to say because there was no compromising for them on a lot of issues. He wrongly thought he could count on her to stop being a soldier, to stop seeing their successes here as something that could save lives. Lives of men she served with, lives of men who were still serving while she was on special assignment.
“Sometimes, what we make here is too powerful to be in someone's hands. Sometimes it's too much to be released into this word and we need time to modify it for use.“ He said softly. “I know I said the wrong things, but I don't know how to argue without being an asshole.”
“You should learn.” She said .
“Teach me.” He said in a whisper, begging. “Don't give up on me yet.”
“Go back to your party before Edward launches into a speech about the evils of having science married to the military and someone reminding him that this is a Department of Defense venture.” Riza said.
“Let him.” Roy waved that threat off. “It will make them want it all the more. It will make them see the very real threat of a genius like him going and working on his own. Don't tell him I said that.”
“If you want to talk, you know where my office is.” She said and walked around him only to have him reach out and take her hand. “It will do you some good to find out what it's like to not have everything happen on your terms.”
“Are you still sleeping in your office?” He asked.
“You know I am. You have your house's security system reporting to your phone.” She replied and tried to take her hand back. He was rubbing his fingers over her wedding ring.
“Its our house.” He said and could feel months of bad decisions all coming down on him and wishing he had that damned time machine to go back and fix them. It really wasn't their house. He just had her move in with him when they got married, assuming it was just a house. A place to live. Another decision he didn't consult her on. She felt more at home on a surplus cot in her office, in a jail cell, than in his home. He felt a flutter of panic now. “Please, give me ten minutes.”
“You really think that ten minutes will finish the conversation we were having last month?” She asked.
“It's a start.” He said. “It will give you time to drink your coffee.”
“Fine.”
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