[Guy pulls himself out of his bunk to prepare for her arrival. Pulls up a chair, settles heavily into it. He watches the door, and when she finally comes he straightens up. Smiles.]
Welcome home. [It's said with some sarcasm. This place doesn't feel anywhere safe enough to be 'home.'] I'm glad you made it back in one piece.
[Tali's clamber into the rover is very slightly pathetic, but she can probably be forgiven for that. It's not until she's heaved herself inside fully that she sees Guy and physically starts a little - she'd known he'd be there, just not sitting staring at the door.]
Hah. Home sweet rover. [Her sarcasm matches his perfectly.] And I don't know about one piece... I still feel like something didn't get put together properly.
[As soon as the hatch closes, she gingerly steps over to one of the chairs and sinks down into it.] When did it happen to you?
[His smile becomes a tad apologetic at her startled reaction, and his body language relaxes. He props his cheek up with a hand, expression becoming serious.]
In the morning. I was out walking when it happened. [He'd been worried when he realized that her name had been on the list as well. They didn't know each other well, but they were rovermates. And knowing what she said about her weak immune system...]
I've... been to medical, I've had nanite shots, I've had Force healing... [That last is the sound of someone who would never have believed in such a thing not so very long ago... trying to act like it's totally a real and normal thing.]... and I still feel awful.
[Whether it's her immune system - she's been outside without her mask; that decidedly won't help - or just how severe the effects of the planet's atmosphere are, she doesn't know, but it doesn't make too much difference.]
I'll live. [Beat, and she leans her elbows on the table, stifling a laugh.] That sounds really dramatic, but really - it's not going to kill me.
[Maybe without all of the help she's had, though - it would.]
[It might not kill them physically, but mentally? They might as well have ground the entire crew's morale and sense of security beneath their heels. Guy nods.]
Yeah. Didn't stay too long, though. [They were busy, and he hadn't been in as bad of a state as some of the other recruits who had come in. Knowing people trained in magic had its perks, especially in cushioning some of the severe pain.
The question of why still lingers, chafing at him. Guy ventures a soft laugh.]
I thought the black box was bad. This line of work is just full of surprises.
[At the moment, her focus is on the physical, just because her whole life she's been used to it; panicking about her health and letting the emotional catch up later. The 'what next' and the 'why' and the 'will this happen again'.
It's catching up, though. Sooner rather than later.]
Keelah, I nearly forgot the black box. [She vaguely remembers when that was the worst thing she'd done in the CDC. Now it's a footnote. A small one.] I don't know how. Now I'd be happy to go back in there to get out of... this. [She gestures, sighing - and that sigh turns into a brief coughing fit.]
You couldn't get sick in the black box. [She mutters that mostly to herself.]
Huh-- Oh. [Sometimes she still forgets that people just don't know these things. Really, she should be surprised he even knows what dextro-amino lifeforms are.]
Sort of? I should be, but there's no dextro life on the planet, just some neutral chirality. I've run out of all the dextro food I came down with.
[She grins a little.] But if you're asking if my species is dextro, that's a yes.
[Chirality and dextro and aminos... he's not afraid to admit all of it's a little over his head. Machines were so much easier to figure out. Guy scratches at his head.]
The flowers around here can be boiled into soup. I mean, it doesn't sound very appetizing, but I could make us some. [A beat.] Soup always helps with a cold. Uh, for humans, at least.
We try our best. [Tali's never had to pay this much attention to what she eats in her life. Dealing with machines really is a lot easier.]
I... [Her immediate instinct is to refuse - but why should she? For the first time, there's actually no reason to. So... she doesn't, and there's a slow grin spreading on her face.] Yeah, that sounds good. Do you want me to help - I'm not much of a cook, but I could do something...
[Not much of a cook = can't cook, at all, but still thinks she can help out somehow or other.]
[Taking care of people is what Guy does. It's a familiar and easy role to return to, something he doesn't mind doing. In any case, he doesn't want her to keel over out of the blue because of this.
He stands up, pushing his chair in.]
You'll have to tell me which flowers you can eat, though. I don't want to make you sicker.
Are you sure? [But really, she's kind of relieved not to have to move. Her body is tolerating being upright, but she's not so sure it would be as OK with standing and moving around.]
Yeah, ah, I have a list... [She pulls out her blackglass and, after a moment's fiddling, shows him a text file with a list of names.] If you've got anything that's not on there, just show me the plant. I can scan it and check.
Taking care of people used to be my job. [He points his thumb at himself.] Let a professional handle it.
[Guy leans in a little (not too close, of course) to get a good look at the list. He's familiar with the names, by now, and nods once he's read it over.]
All right, then! I'll have the soup ready in no time.
Really? [And, because she's only met one other person here who's said anything like that (albeit only about one person... and soul-eating was involved), she tries to remember the word from those conversations:] You were a... butler, is it?
[She's at least not as confused about the concept now. When you grow up with space-socialism/communism/whatever, serving people for a living isn't something you really see.]
[He shakes his head before he moves to check on what pots/pans/etc they have.]
I'd be a lot more worried if I was. You can't leave a noble's kid on his own. He gets into all sorts of mischief.
[Whereas if he was absent from court, Peony and the rest could manage without him just fine. That's how it was. There's still some concern eating away at him about the Jade he met earlier this month and all that entailed, but he's pushed it down for now.]
I can just about imagine... [She doesn't know how a noble's child differs from any other (probably because 'noble' is a vague concept for her anyway), but kids are kids no matter the titles the adults are giving them.]
What did you do after that?
[... Not that she's nosy about people or anything.]
Walk rappigs. [He says it rather cheerfully. It's a menial task compared to his other duties, but it's the one he enjoys the most. He even turns to give her a grin.] They're pretty cute.
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D119
You doing all right, Tali?
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I feel like I've just been taken apart and put back together
Badly
FROM: vasneema.talizorah@cdc.org
How about you
I saw your name there
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Well, I'm still able to message you. That's a good sign.
FROM: cecil.guy@cdc.org
We must've given the guys over at medical quite the scare.
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our fingers work. that's a start.
FROM: vasneema.talizorah@cdc.org
I bet we did. 40 people about to die on their doorstep in a day.
where are you, still there?
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No, I wanted to spend my bed rest at the rover.
FROM: cecil.guy@cdc.org
What about you?
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On my way there right now
I'm a few minutes out.
[Usually it's a few minutes out, but she's walking so gingerly, it's a longer walk than usual before she opens the door and clambers in.]
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Welcome home. [It's said with some sarcasm. This place doesn't feel anywhere safe enough to be 'home.'] I'm glad you made it back in one piece.
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Hah. Home sweet rover. [Her sarcasm matches his perfectly.] And I don't know about one piece... I still feel like something didn't get put together properly.
[As soon as the hatch closes, she gingerly steps over to one of the chairs and sinks down into it.] When did it happen to you?
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In the morning. I was out walking when it happened. [He'd been worried when he realized that her name had been on the list as well. They didn't know each other well, but they were rovermates. And knowing what she said about her weak immune system...]
You sure you'll be all right?
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[Whether it's her immune system - she's been outside without her mask; that decidedly won't help - or just how severe the effects of the planet's atmosphere are, she doesn't know, but it doesn't make too much difference.]
I'll live. [Beat, and she leans her elbows on the table, stifling a laugh.] That sounds really dramatic, but really - it's not going to kill me.
[Maybe without all of the help she's had, though - it would.]
What about you? You've been to medical, right?
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Yeah. Didn't stay too long, though. [They were busy, and he hadn't been in as bad of a state as some of the other recruits who had come in. Knowing people trained in magic had its perks, especially in cushioning some of the severe pain.
The question of why still lingers, chafing at him. Guy ventures a soft laugh.]
I thought the black box was bad. This line of work is just full of surprises.
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It's catching up, though. Sooner rather than later.]
Keelah, I nearly forgot the black box. [She vaguely remembers when that was the worst thing she'd done in the CDC. Now it's a footnote. A small one.] I don't know how. Now I'd be happy to go back in there to get out of... this. [She gestures, sighing - and that sigh turns into a brief coughing fit.]
You couldn't get sick in the black box. [She mutters that mostly to herself.]
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Are you on a dextro-amino diet, Tali?
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Sort of? I should be, but there's no dextro life on the planet, just some neutral chirality. I've run out of all the dextro food I came down with.
[She grins a little.] But if you're asking if my species is dextro, that's a yes.
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[Chirality and dextro and aminos... he's not afraid to admit all of it's a little over his head. Machines were so much easier to figure out. Guy scratches at his head.]
The flowers around here can be boiled into soup. I mean, it doesn't sound very appetizing, but I could make us some. [A beat.] Soup always helps with a cold. Uh, for humans, at least.
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I... [Her immediate instinct is to refuse - but why should she? For the first time, there's actually no reason to. So... she doesn't, and there's a slow grin spreading on her face.] Yeah, that sounds good. Do you want me to help - I'm not much of a cook, but I could do something...
[Not much of a cook = can't cook, at all, but still thinks she can help out somehow or other.]
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[Taking care of people is what Guy does. It's a familiar and easy role to return to, something he doesn't mind doing. In any case, he doesn't want her to keel over out of the blue because of this.
He stands up, pushing his chair in.]
You'll have to tell me which flowers you can eat, though. I don't want to make you sicker.
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Yeah, ah, I have a list... [She pulls out her blackglass and, after a moment's fiddling, shows him a text file with a list of names.] If you've got anything that's not on there, just show me the plant. I can scan it and check.
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[Guy leans in a little (not too close, of course) to get a good look at the list. He's familiar with the names, by now, and nods once he's read it over.]
All right, then! I'll have the soup ready in no time.
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[She's at least not as confused about the concept now. When you grow up with space-socialism/communism/whatever, serving people for a living isn't something you really see.]
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Something like it. I served a noble's family for most of my life. It was my job to look after their son.
[It was a somewhat simpler time.] 'Glorified babysitter' might've been a good way to put it.
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Did you come here straight from that?
[The CDC do pick people up from some weird places.]
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I'd be a lot more worried if I was. You can't leave a noble's kid on his own. He gets into all sorts of mischief.
[Whereas if he was absent from court, Peony and the rest could manage without him just fine. That's how it was. There's still some concern eating away at him about the Jade he met earlier this month and all that entailed, but he's pushed it down for now.]
That was... two years ago. I got promoted.
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What did you do after that?
[... Not that she's nosy about people or anything.]
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