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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...I can make sure it's quick.

[ More than just Connie this time but- he can't leave it like this. Can't force anyone else to do it either. He'll talk to her, explain what's happeneing, what's happened and...make an offer. ]

If you want me to.

...I won't ask you to do that.

[ Not that the offer isn't appreciated. It's just.. There's something in the way she sighs, the way her face falls. ]

I didn't even tell her who I was. But she knows.. Knows we're both here. [husband and daughter, what could she even expect to find?] I don't know what I should even say to her.

You don't have to.

[ He's already offered it. ]

That you grew up well. That you're a good soldier- that you're a good CO. That you missed her. That you're sorry she's stuck here. That you're sorry for what your father twisted her memory into.

[ The offer will stand; ultimately, she knows it's not hers to take - or make. ]

Well, at least two of those things are true. [she'd tried, where so many of the other things are concerned.] ..And I don't know that she needs to know, about what he did. Being here, being alive, is going to be hard enough.

[it hadn't been her mother's fault that her father had never really gotten over her]

I think maybe she could set him straight in the long run. Or at least ease some of his pain. I dunno.

I don't see why that should be her job to. [her expresion is worried, distant a moment] I know how things end, the sort of choices he could make. They're not healthy for anyone..

[then she's quiet, for a long, long moment, before she looks up at him, trying to hide how distraught she is. Carolina, a full grown woman, a highly skilled operative and survivor of encounters that have left others for dead, is well aware of how childish her next words sound - in her ears, and no doubt in his.]

...What if she doesn't like me, Taylor?

...Clair.

[ He smiles, pulling her in close, looping his arms around her shoulders to give her a squeeze. That's- he can't imagine what it's like to worry about that. Not at all. But it's a very real concern and he won't belittle it in the slightest. ]

Clair she is going to love you. She's your mother. She'll love you and be so proud of you for what you've survived.

But what if she doesn't?

[Asked, even as he pulls her close, and she rests against him, her uncertainty plain. But she wants to believe it, wants to hope for the best.]

..I'm sorry. Of all the things to be worried about right now, at a time like this.

Edited 2015-01-04 00:36 (UTC)

We all worry that our parents will be proud of the people we become. I know she'll be proud of you.

[ He turns his head to tuck her close, hand rubbing between her shoulderblades. ]

It's the only time you'll ever get to ask.

That would be nice.

[ At least then one of her parents might be. She squeezes her arms around him in thanks, before pulling back - not by much, just enough so that she can look up at him. ]

Have you encountered anyone else yet?

South, Sigma, Omega, Florida, oddly enough, and Me.

[ He drops an arm around her waist and gives a little tug, nodding to the table at the far end of the room. ]

[she appreciates that he doesn't press on it; he doesn't need to say more, and for the moment, she's not going to think about her mother. Focus instead on the others here as he leads her to the table and couch. She frowns at Sigma; no shock, meaning she's met him too, but Omega gets a blink. As does--]

Flowers? I didn't see him.

Wait, South? [brows knit in confusion] but, she can't be a clone. She's an Immune. Isn't she?

Apparently that's not enough to keep them from doing this to us.

...shit.

[ Because it wasn't like she needed more reasons to hate Bifrons.]

...yeah. If I ever go missing and show up here as a clone- just put me out of my misery.

Don't. [sharply, as her hand moves, catching his arm. Pulling him to stop as she stares up at him. glares up at him] Don't say that. Don't think like that.

We're going to figure out how they're doing this, and find a way to stop it. [now? no. they simply don't know enough, don't have the resources - even now, months later. But Carolina is perfectly willing and able to prepare for the long term]

...Someone has to. [ It may as well be him. ] Can't always count on the happy ending, Clair.

[ No matter how much he'd want to. Worst case scenarios are all he really plays out anymore. All he plans for. ]

You think I don't know that. [there's a flatness to her tone as she stares, glares, up at him.] But I'm not going to focus on something that hasn't happened yet. [something she wont LET happen]

Besides, you're here now. [she lets go of his arm, and glances around the room] So is this..?

The bunker.

[ He nods to the course all retracted on one side, the turrets, the racks for weaponry and armor, the tech station for Delta. ]

Kinda needed a project to get my head straight so...yeah.

[There's a sidelong glance, before Carolina nods.]

I can understand that. What've you got installed and running so far?

Practice course, shooting range, repair and armory, security station. The basics, really. I gotta talk to d about getting a dumb ai to help keep track of everything.

[ All of that, in here? She's impressed. Even if her expression doesn't change a hair. ]

Would you be wanting him to design an AI from the ground up for this, or repurpose existing tech here in Proles?

Call me sentimental but I sorta want something similar to Filiss. I miss her, what can I say?

[ There'd been days where it felt like the AI was the only one happy to see him get back, usually because everyone else was out on their own ops. ]

[ she's quiet for a minute.]

She didn't start out like that. That occurred over time, tinkering with subroutines. Part of the AI research that stayed from the beginning. [hence her occasionally creepy perpetual cheer and sassy mouth] But Delta can likely find a way to build one similar.

[ he's a very smart man, after all. ]

That's what made her special. She had as much personality as any other AI I ever met.

[ One he liked a hell of a lot more than Sigma's. ]

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