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[flybywash]

Say what you want about Milliways, but never forget that it can have a phenomenal sense of timing when it wants.

Just over three months since the last time he was around, and two years to the day from when he walked into the bar for the first time, the door slides open -- like it always does for the Serenity crew -- and a tousled blonde head peeks

Comments

[mend_and_defend]

There's a lot of faces in Milliways tonight that'll be new to Wash. One of them is bright blue with silver scales, and looks like its owner just woke up five minutes ago.

(Which is so not true. Seymour woke him up at least a full fifteen minutes ago.)

Bob lifts his head off the table and waves sleepily at the man who just walked in.

[flybywash]

No kidding. It's taking him a bit to absorb it all; not only has it been a damn long while since he was here, but it's also been a damn long while since he saw anybody new in the bar.

And even if Wash has been part of its clientele for two years, some people stand out more than others. Like the blue guy waving at him.

Wash returns it, along with a smile and a faintly curious look. "Hey," he says. "You shiny?"

[mend_and_defend]

"Uh..." He looks down at his brightly polished silver armor. "Looks like it, why?"

[flybywash]

"Just asking. Since you're..." A vague gesture, but to Bob's face (and general tiredness thereof) rather than his body. "Not so much with the looking it."

And he offers the same hand.

"Wash, middle of nowhere, 2520. You new?"

[mend_and_defend]

"Newer than most people, yeah. My name's Bob." He shakes the offered hand firmly. Bob's skin is cool to the touch and smoother than human skin; several Bar patrons have likened it to living plastic. "I don't think I've seen you around before..."

[flybywash]

"Haven't been around," he says, a slight crease forming between his eyebrows as he feels the hand. Prosthetic? Could be. "Had to leave for about three months -- gāoxìng jìandào nĭ, Bob, what's your when and where?"

[mend_and_defend]

"Gow sha what? Sorry, I didn't catch that..."

[flybywash]

"Gāoxìng jìandào nĭ," he repeats. "Sorry. It's Chinese and secretly part of my devious plot to get more people to speak it -- it means 'nice to meet you.'"

[mend_and_defend]

"Oh. Thanks." A pause. "Before I answer your question, I have to ask you something. Do you know what computers are?"

[flybywash]

The look he gets in response could be roughly equated to the one he'd get if you asked do you know what toes are?

"I'm a pilot," he says, amused. "That'd be what's known as a very big yes."

[mend_and_defend]

Bob chooses to ignore the look, and instead takes a deep breath and begins a long speech. "The world I come from exists inside of computers. I live in a system called Mainframe, it's on the Internet. I'm a sprite. A program. My format is Guardian. My function is to Mend and Defend."

If it sounds like it's been memorized by rote... well, Bob's been coming to Milliways for nearly two months, and has had to give this explanation a lot.

[flybywash]

Wash blinks.

"Okay, on a scale of one to strange, that's about a nine," he says, by all accounts rather calmly. "So this...mending and defending's, uh, against what, slicers?"

[mend_and_defend]

"Considering I don't know what those are, I'm gonna have to say 'no,'" Bob responds. "No, Guardians mend instabilities in the system and defend against Games and viruses. We basically keep the system safe and running smoothly so everyone else can do their jobs."

[flybywash]

Poor Bob. You know the question that's coming next.

"Wait. Defend from games?"

[mend_and_defend]

And here comes Memorized Speech Number Two.

"Yes. Games. When the User inputs a Game, it takes over a sector of the system, and the sprites in that sector have to fight against the User. If the User loses, the Game leaves, and everything goes back to normal. If the User wins, the sector and everyone in it is nullified. Deleted. Part of my function is to make sure that doesn't happen."

[flybywash]

With the number of times Wash has had to deliver his own "yes, I'm from the future, yes, I'm speaking Chinese, YES, I fly a spaceship" speech, he can sympathize.

But even so:

"Okay, and...now we're climbing up from nine to about twelve and a half -- should I even bother pointing out the strange in a game doing that, or have you heard that already?"

The last is a bit sympathetic. See the above re: his own speech.