cactusy | IC contact for lastvoyages

No, not at all. I'd come to yours, but I don't think Alex would like your dogs very much.

it's good news, then? are you celebrating something?

There isn't really any news, just wanted to see you, that's all.

oh

[Huh!]

well, you're going to in about 2 minutes.

[At which point he'll hear a steady rap on his cabin door.]

[The door slides open shortly after her knock, Abel with Alex in hand who is well on his way to being his adult size. He's rather chatty as he rolls around in his arms, stretching little paws out while he ragdolls.]

Hey! I forget if you've met Alex yet, I didn't think you had?

[Stepping into his room, he gestures to one of the computer chairs, setting himself down on his bed between the two of them.]

[Shaw follows him in slowly - taking a seat in the offered chair, then reaching a hand out for the cat to sniff, studying Abel all the while.]

Are you feeling sorry for me because of that post I made?

What, the one about the infirmary? No, though congratulations on your new position. I'll miss Hilbert, but I'm glad he was able to put in a recommendation for his replacement.

[Alex sniffs at her hand, rolling over so that he was on his back in Abel's lap to stare at Shaw upside down. Like a liquid, he slides off onto the floor and trots over to her leg to give it a rub with a very insistent, loud meow.]

I just figured you might want company. I wasn't too familiar with the people who left recently aside from Hilbert, but I know you were.

That and I saw Root got a permanent assignment. I'm excited for her, though I don't really know Arthur much, just learning John.

Caffrey and Eiffel?

[There have been a few other recent departures, but no one else that she knows well, let alone is close to. Shaw, by and large, keeps her personal life (such as it is) close to her chest.

She wriggles her fingers at the cat - lightly rubbing its head, leaning into any headbutts that it gives her. Dogs are generally more her forte, but. Animals are animals, and they're almost always simpler than people.]

They're okay, at least. They have lives to get back to. And Lester seems like a good one for Root, so, no complaints there.

[Alex has been a little more playful since Cain's been coming around, maybe trying to nibble her fingers a little before there is a little wiggle of butt and Alex is up on her lap, not at all bothered that he doesn't know her or that she smells like dogs.]

Still, it's a change, and Norton mentioned to me you were close with Caffrey a while back. We don't have to talk about any of it, but I figured a cat might help.

He helps me through quite a bit, honestly.

[He's less aloof than the stereotypical cat, that's for sure. And while she won't roughhouse with him the way she might with a dog, she runs a finger down his spine, then gives his tail a tickle.]

He's my best friend. But... this place wasn't easy on him. He had more of a handle on it now than he did his first go-around, but I'm betting it was still hard.

[There is a very long, whining meow as he headbutt her hand and flops, rather content to just lay where he's fallen on her lap. He just likes to yell and be loved, that was about it, a very good little boy that generally didn't give Abel much problem.]

It isnt really easy on any if us, but I am learning it gets easier with friends. Did you have some kind of plan, for what comes after you leave?

Go home, make sure the Admiral came through on killing the evil robot and protecting the good robot. Keep working the same job, I guess.

[Her team as a whole has never really talked about after: they've all been so focused on surviving that making plans for a post-Samaritan world felt like a pipe dream, no matter how much that was their stated end goal.]

To be honest... I always figured there was a good chance we wouldn't survive everything that's going on at home.

[He can understand that, the idea of planning for a future he hadn't been sure he'd live to see.]

That's the difficult part of it, isn't it? I always figured I'd die out there, in space. And yet here I am, alive, and some branching timeline that shouldn't exist has Cain here, dead. It's wrong, and not at all aligned with my reality, but when I'm done here, the war will be over, for both my reality and his.

I never planned on seeing the end. Hard to think what comes next. I'm not sure I even want to let myself think about it until it's closer, reachable.

I've talked about it a little with Root. Sketchy details.

[And even that had been both strange and new.]

We'll get a place in the city - New York, I mean.

[That gets him to smile, crossing his leg over his knee.

Alex attempts to get her attention again with a paw, rolling onto his back and ready for tummy pats if she dares.]

That sounds like a good start...is it difficult, coming up with anything else?

[Shaw hmmmms, shaking her head - more in thought than as a negative answer to Abel's question.]

I've never wanted a quiet life. There are things I'd've done differently, and things I'll do differently going forward, but-- a white picket fence was never in the cards for me. It's difficult to imagine not having a dangerous job, and I'm okay with that.

A home base in between missions sounds pretty good, though.

I don't think I want danger my whole life, but I certainly don't want to sit still either.

Though if I ever go back home and haven't been disenherited, I could probably be rather comfortable when I wasn't doing what ever it is I decide to do once the war is over.

So long as I don't get strong armed into finally going into politics, I think I've got a few good options open to me...

You could just... not. Go back, I mean. It doesn't sound like it was a great place for you.

[Abel hasn't thought about that open much. Norton had mentioned it, that he had options that weren't home but... he isn't sure he wants to consider them.]

It's going to take years for things to go back to normal once everything is over...I'm not sure I could choose anywhere else, knowing the state of Mars, the Earth as it is now.

The colonies need an advocate.

Duty calls. I can respect that.

[She pauses for a moment, and then admits:]

It's something I think is in short supply here.

Honestly, part of me doesn't want to. I haven't been thinking about it much, not like it's going to come up fast, take me by surprise.

[Fitz has been on board a while, and he doubts that his progress will be swift. They'd barely touched anything in his opinion, just started to talk again. What was a month or two on the Barge anyways, or even a year? That and if he were being entirely honest, he wasn't sure he could leave Cain behind, or if Cain would follow him if he did decide something else.]

But you spend a life preparing for war, fight in it, would be nice to see what the world can look like once it's done. Perhaps I'll be disappointed, but at least It'll be an effort for something better than death.

[Shaw falls silent for a touch longer this time, studying him with the same unreadable expression that her face so often wears. Her fingers still in Alex's fur.]

I get that.

[Far better than she gets most things that people say here, when they talk about their goals.]

And even though a life of peace would drive me crazy... I want that for my world, too.

[She's under no illusions that an end to war is an end to the type of struggle that she wages, after all. Even the most stable, widespread peace needs peacekeepers.]

Anything I can do to help you fight that war so that you can win it - just ask.

If I get my deal, it will happen...I haven't decided on the specifics. I don't want to just ask for the Colteron to be wiped clean from our world...but an ethical, magical solution that doesn't alter them too much, and still can hold a lasting peace? It's a difficult problem. I've asked a few others to help me think on it, but...the work after the war? That will be the real work when I get back. My father wanted me to go into politics, and im dreading it, but I might just have to in the aftermath.

[He does smile at the offer, watching her pet at Alex's belly, hoping that it helps her like it helps him.] If you leave before I do, you need anything? I'll be there.

I don't know how your tech works all that well, but I actually do have some skill in breaking machines on top of fixing and building them. Bricking something beyond repair is only a matter of understanding the code.

I wish it were that simple. ASI are a whole different ballgame.

[Even the Machine is struggling with it, and that's AI vs. AI.]

I don't think Root and Finch would say no to more hands on deck, though.

[... Well.]

I mean, Finch would say no at first, but only because he's paranoid.

I think this is perhaps why we never delved too far into AI technology, if it goes bad that quickly after conception, that's a clear sign that perhaps we were never going to be ready for it. [He isn't put off by it though, he knows he has trust issues himself, and some of them had gotten worse rather than better since arriving on board.]

It's good to be, to a degree, but hopefully you and Root would be able to convince him I wasn't a threat. And a promise that I wouldn't stick around afterward, he wouldn't even have to like me, if that was a plus.

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