[closed] The Are Vee Bees are at it again...

[a_shadow]

Who: Agents Texas, Washington, and Carolina. Oh, and someone named Leonard Church, too.
What: Welcoming a new roommate
When: Now
Where: Islet #4, Cottage #3
Warnings: Canon typical language

[ Things have been changing a lot in the cottage, but one constant remains: Ami, the tigerlily. She's wandering in and out of the hut, as usual, investigating all the comings and goings of its residents. Meanwhile, said residents have much to discuss. Carolina has been invited to come stay in Maine's former room by Wash, and moving day has come. Besides this, the usual daily work of living has continued.

Living on an island in some kind of alternate reality Pacific tropical paradise does leave some things feeling unreal, after all.

So they might as well mingle. It's time to get to know each other again. ]

Comments

[uptightness]

[She had lost her mother when she had been younger, but Carolina does still have memories of her. Few, compared to the grand scheme of things, but enough that she had still made an impact on Carolina. Then again, Carolina would also say that her father died the same day her mother did, and that impacted her as well.

She can guess the answer, but that doesn't mean she's not going to ask it as her eyes bear down on him.]

And you?

[counterblows]

Well. I'm getting there.

[Getting where? Going nowhere very fast, maybe.]

It's...I mean, it's a little weird without them still. But I dunno. Probably best that they're not here with us. [Not that they're not capable. No, they're way more capable than they fully grasp, all of them.]

[It'd just be harder. Having more people he gives a damn about stuck here with him.]

[uptightness]

[They've been through a lot of shit, seen a lot, together and separate. His experience with Epsilon hadn't been a good one, she knows, not even her two AI had taken that hard of a turn on her.

And here?

She hasn't died, but he had... And that's going to leave an impression. One doesn't just bounce back from that.

Baby steps, she knows, as much as Carolina wants to start running at times.]

They're idiots, but they're our idiots.

[counterblows]

[A laugh, short and vague and barely quantifiable as such - but the closest he generally gets.]

Well, that's one way of putting it. Hopefully those idiots don't come our way. I don't want to know how they'd be handling all this.

[uptightness]

Considering when I first met them, I didn't understand how the hell they lasted five minutes- they'd probably either be ruling this place, or blow it up.

[One extreme or the other.]

[counterblows]

That's...about what I'd expect from them, yeah.

[Then again, there's the third, worse option, where they don't make it through to the other side wholly intact. Maybe it doesn't matter for Wash, who's been fragmented over and over so often that he doesn't strictly mind that it happens repeatedly, with great enthusiasm.]

[It matters that he'd rather it not happen to anyone else.]

[uptightness]

I think- it's okay to miss them.

[Said slowly, as if she has put some thought in to that. She might not want them to be stuck here, to go through all the bullshit that this place can bring up, but they are family. A strange mix-matched one, but they are. She hadn't lied when she had said that she had had the best team with Freelancer, but look where that had gone? She trusted them, and that said a lot.]

Although we'd likely need a lot more cottages if they all showed up.

[counterblows]

[Wash breathes out a long sigh that almost passes for a laugh.]

Jesus Christ. We'd probably want to house them somewhere far away from everyone else.

[Just in case, you know, Donut or Caboose starts setting shit on fire or something like that. Where the band of morons go, shenanigans are sure to ensue.]

[uptightness]

And we both know that wouldn't actually solve anything...

[The corner of one side of her mouth curling up. On paper, sure. In reality? They'd find a way to do something. They always do.]

[counterblows]

Too right.

[He sighs in thinly veiled, exasperated fondness.]

Like I said - probably for the best if they're not here with us.

[uptightness]

[It does earn another soft chuckle from Carolina, as she can read between that sign.]

I'll leave you be while I finish moving my stuff. About another load, and I'll be good.

[counterblows]

You sure you don't want any help with that?

[He's pretty sure she won't need it, but it's an offer worth making regardless.]

[uptightness]

Nah. Haven't really collected too much since I came back.

[And her armour is her armour. Not that she doesn't trust Wash, as she does, but it's a soldier thing, which he no doubt gets.]

[counterblows]

If you say so.

[He won't push it. He only shrugs very slightly, and nods.]

See you around, I'm sure.