Day 43: Sun Room, 4th Shift

[euphemise]

The late-afternoon sun filled the large, open Sun Room. It was almost enough to make you sleepy, Euphemia thought, as she walked in, brushing a little glitter off her shirt. She didn't particularly feel like she was up to much - the worrying about everyone had drained her, as much as she'd tried not to think too much about it

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[wantsyourzex]

ZEX jerked a bit at his sudden laugh. He hadn't quite expected that, even if he'd made the comment in semi-jest. Although the Shofixti did raise a good point; he probably wouldn't be here otherwise. Although, come to think of it, it was a bit odd that he was here at all, considering what he'd heard about the Shofixti during the War. Hadn't they all killed themselves in some huge fiery explosion? The Ur-Quan had not been happy about that, if he remembered right.

He struggled to remember the other times they'd talked, when his Captain had introduced them to one another, and ZEX ended up focusing on memories of his Captain instead as usual. At the moment he couldn't remember if he'd ever asked Tanaka about that and as depressed as he was he couldn't quite bring himself to care. It didn't matter how the Shofixti had come to be here; they were both stuck here together and were likely to stay here. "I see... that makes sense."

ZEX had kept his hands open in his lap, staring at the scrap of paper with his Captain's writing. Proof that he was once here, that he was alive, that they'd spoken together and it wasn't all an elaborate lie. He had to keep this, see if he could find any other notes from him on the board. "I don't think the nurses would appreciate me posting it publically..." Not that ZEX was in the state of mind to care much about what the nurses would do to him (what more could they do to him at this point?) but he thought he should mention it. He tried to sort through what Tanaka had said for a few seconds... we?

"Mmm, there are... two others I was planning on meeting with tonight." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to invoke the same feeling as his head feelers and failing. "You can come with us, I suppose. I don't think they'd mind." He was sure Teisel wouldn't mind; he was fairly obediant all things considered. Asch on the other hand wasn't quite so trustworthy, but if he wanted to leave, he could. It didn't really matter to ZEX either way. As long as he had something to do tonight to keep his mind from circling.

[violent_varmint]

Tanaka followed the Admiral's eyes down to the paper in his lap, and, as it dawned on him whose handwriting he was looking at, it also occured to him how strange their conversation was. They were surely both thinking of Zelnick, fixated, even - ZEX on his loss, Tanaka on his last words - and yet neither of them were talking about him. Maybe it was just the easiest way to cope. Tanaka wasn't sure; he'd stopped thinking about how he dealt with loss years ago, or he'd never have endured his vigil between the wars as long as he had.

"You may be right, Admiral," Tanaka replied when the VUX finally spoke again. "There is no need to repost it now - we can review it before setting off on tonight's mission." The Shofixti didn't mind the extra hands, either; more people in the group may make it move more slowly, but it also meant less chance of trouble when the next inevitable freakish science experiment came along. "What room are you being held in, so that I can find you when the doors unlock?"

[wantsyourzex]

ZEX wasn't in much of a state to pay attention to whether Tanaka knew what he was looking at or not, and it didn't really matter either way. It was so hard to focus on the conversation at hand rather than his memories from last night. It was so easy to picture him lying there, hear his voice...

"Yes... I have some of the materials required, but not all of them." Thankfully he'd had some assistance in getting some of the chemicals, although there were still a good amount of them that needed to be found. They had to be here somewhere, right? It probably wouldn't matter in the end, but it was at least something to do. "I'm in room M66." A moment, and he thought he should at least try to think outside himself. "What room are you in?" It might be useful to know.