ic contact;

[mathematician]

"I can't come to my communicator right now, I'm probably fixing something some idiot messed up, so leave a message and I'll get back to you when I'm done."

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Comments

[totallytrustworthy]

[Chloe's quiet after that for a few beats, busy as she is enjoying the taste of chocolate (real chocolate dear god) on her tongue. He's half asleep and she's half starving: it works out. ]

So the other transports, have they been treating you lads all right?

[mathematician]

If "lack of any contact at all" equals "all right," then yes, peachy.

[totallytrustworthy]

...you're joking, right. [Pudding feasting: effectively stopped.]

[mathematician]

I've had a conversation with Small about 'punishment for the mutineers'-

[Munches on some more salad...]

... And that's about it. Besides you and Charlie, that is.

[totallytrustworthy]

[Chloe drops her hands, brow furrowed.] Un-bloody-believable. Those assholes charge in to kick our asses for locking up with you and then don't bother checking in?

[mathematician]

Are you really that surprised?

[He offers a half-shrug.]

A month ago, the Transports probably didn't even know we had names. During the mutiny, some were saying the Last Will recordings that were played on the Network "conveniently timed" rather than personal diary entries. I'm quite sure that the other Transports still don't think of us as real people.

[totallytrustworthy]

To be fair, darling, they were. It's like those late night commercials where they show something tragic and then ask for your money on a completely unrelated topic before topping it off with a nod to the first.

I'm not saying those entries weren't legitimate or important, but they damn well didn't deserve to be used as ammunition against us.

[And then Chloe was so easily derailed. No one's surprised.]

[mathematician]

Wasn't the point of this to prove that we're all really on the same side?

[Have you ever had a fork covered in lettuce pointed at you, Chloe? Because that's what's happening.]

I'm sorry that the Transports holding onto their messages waited until right then to broadcast them.

[totallytrustworthy]

[Honestly she has, though the last time it happened was as a weapon, so...]

They ought to have tossed them out before that point. Christ, I'm tired of information being hoarded like it belongs to whoever finds it first.

But fine-- yes, fair enough good point. [Reluctantly surrendered while she goes for her pudding again. ]

[mathematician]

[One long suffering sigh later. Man, he is too tired for this.]

I shouldn't have brought it up. I don't want to wind up fighting with you.

[totallytrustworthy]

Please, I started it. [Chloe goes to cover up a yawn, then. Nose crinkling up slightly from behind the back of her hand. ]

After all we started everything-- Charlie and I did, anyway. Doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things but for what it's worth: I'm sorry you got swept up in it.

[mathematician]

I've noticed getting swept up in someone else's big idea is par for the course in my life.

[He gives a small, cynical smile, but he's not bitter about it. Really, he has just been jumping from one boiling pot to the next since he was young.]

[totallytrustworthy]

Can't say I don't know what that's like. But you? You don't seem the type for it.

[Isn't that how logical minds work? Like spider senses for danger. ]

how do i british

[mathematician]

I'm not. But my mate is.

[Ah...]

...Was.

He'd start trouble and I'd wind up being pulled along for the ride.

it is a mystery

[totallytrustworthy]

Sensing there's a story here. [It's easier for them both this way rather than offering up a dose of sympathy that he likely doesn't need or want.]

[mathematician]

There's more than one.

[But he's apparently not offering them up. Sorry brosis. He has to retain that bit of mystery he still can.]

[totallytrustworthy]

[Understood. Chloe shrugs off the dismissal quickly enough, scraping at the bottom of the pudding cup.]

Fair enough. You both work for the Initiative or was that a more recent adventure of yours?

[mathematician]

No, no. It's not like that. It's all in the past. I'm too old for that sort of thing now.

[Lowell, you're barely scratching 30.]

It's not a common thing, working for the Initiative. It might seem like there was a lot of us, but as a movement, it was this... people knew of it, but once someone took a job there, it kind of just ate them alive. Takes up all your time. Ironic, since we're all about time. But I haven't really seen him in years.

[totallytrustworthy]

[God, Lowell, you're talking to someone older than you are. Don't make her kick at your shin.]

Makes sense. That place wasn't exactly Harrods, after all.

Must've been a pain in the ass to put up with.

[mathematician]

It was... fun. The kind of buggery you get up to when you're young.

[A twitch of his mouth. It was like a grin for a solid two seconds.]

You know the kind, I'm sure.