(Untitled)

[3nanashi]

[OOM: Time passes.]The boy who steps through the door is perhaps nine (several months older than the last time he was here), wearing drab grey pants and businesslike boots, and an equally drab olive t-shirt. He has forward-spiking brown hair and a slightly rumpled air, as if he was just asleep

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[madeyoudodge]

"Hey, honey," Cathy says, as she comes away from the bar with a smoothie in her hand. She's casual, but she's approaching in a way where he can see her, and stops far enough back that it shouldn't be intimidating. "You been here before?"

[3nanashi]

It's a dream. You go with the dream's assumptions.

Or it's not, and -- you still go with it. That's how you learn. He doesn't need the captain's lectures about reconnaissance to know that, though he could recite them for you anyway.

"Yes." His young voice is level and calm.

(She's easy to peg, at least broadly: a civilian, with the inexplicable concern civilians often show him.)

[madeyoudodge]

"That's good," she says, still gentle. "I'm Cathy, it's good to meet you."

She extends her free hand.

(He looks-- has she seen him around here?)

[3nanashi]

Yeah.

Civilian.

"Hi," says the boy, politely enough but without taking her hand.

He's in a strange place (or a strange dream, but whatever) and much smaller than even a short and slim adult like this. He has no great inclination to touch, especially for pleasantries.

[madeyoudodge]

"What, you don't have a name?"

She doesn't sound like she'd find it entirely implausible.

(She sounds, if anything, like she has a sneaking suspicion she hasn't yet let herself confirm.)

[3nanashi]

The boy studies her briefly, and assessingly.

"No."

It's matter-of-fact.

Because it's true.

[madeyoudodge]

Something in her deflates, a little, as he confirms it.

She bites her lip, and then smiles slightly so he doesn't feel bad for it.

"How long have you been coming here?"

[3nanashi]

He doesn't feel bad for it. But that's unrelated to Cathy's attempts at smiling.

(Sorry, Cathy.)

"Not very often," he says after a moment, calmly.

Once. But she doesn't need the details; she's a stranger and a civilian, and keeping unnecessary information close is already old habit.

[madeyoudodge]

"Okay," she says, and her hand goes out, slightly, as if to touch him before jerking back.

"Sorry," Cathy murmurs. She swallows, hard, and smiles, blinking fast. "You're taking good care of yourself around here, I hope?"

[3nanashi]

The boy's run into sentimental civilians before. It never gets less bemusing, though.

They want a response from him that he has no idea why he should give. She's a stranger, and he's a soldier; why should either of them care?

"Sure," he says, because she seems to expect a response.

It's even true, by his definitions. He knows basic precautions in unknown and inhabited territory. He wouldn't be much of a soldier otherwise.

[madeyoudodge]

"My little brother," she explains, "was in the war, before I met him. I don't mean to--I'm not trying to make you feel awkward."

[3nanashi]

Before she met him?

Well. No-name is not exactly an expert on families.

"It's okay."

[madeyoudodge]

"Okay," she says, relaxing slightly. She smiles slightly. "What--year is it, for you?"

[3nanashi]

. . . This lady is really weird.

Maybe she's insane. She doesn't seem it, but it happens, especially in war. Her grasp of social practicalities is certainly off.

Or maybe she's a dream, and he's more aware than usual of the weirdness. Or even a hallucination, though he's never had those except his last Milliways visit, if that's what that was.

There's no harm in answering, anyway. "AC 189."

If this conversation carries on much longer he's going to see about going back through that door, though. There's not much to be learned by sticking around for this.

[madeyoudodge]

"Okay," she says, "I thought--around then. It's 203, for me," she clarifies.

She breathes once, and bites off whatever she was going to say, giving him a weak smile again. "I'm sorry," she says, "I'm keeping you."

She hesitates, and smiles slightly. "It was good to meet you."

[3nanashi]

"You too," says no-name politeness.

He doesn't really care about pleasantries. But he does know what they are.

And even if he doesn't have any emotional investment in the woman's happiness or any reason to trust her, even aside from questions of reality, he doesn't have any particular desire to make her unhappy either. She seems the time to appreciate the empty courtesies of small talk.

He inclines his head to her slightly, without dropping his eyes from her and the room beyond.