Going for walks down the beach wasn't exactly a productive way for Capa to spend his time, not when he still had so much work to complete before he could figure out the right calculation that would get him home, but every so often he couldn't help himself. With the warmth of the sun on his face, he had to give into it now and then, he had to enjoy what he'd been deprived of his whole life, if only to appreciate why he had to get back. If he didn't, this would never happen. No sun, no warmth, no life.
Smiling when he saw Alice, Capa lifted a hand to wave at her. He hadn't been on the island long, but he knew he appreciated Alice's somewhat abrupt nature. At times she reminded him of Mace, although he'd never admit to missing that bastard.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, as much as he wanted to be able to say he'd saved the world. In his heart, he felt that they would have been successful, that the entire crew had been too dedicated and too stubborn to let the mission fail, but he didn't know.
"I was trying to get into the bomb when I arrived here. Maybe five minutes before I would have set her off."
What kind of man would volunteer for something like that? Someone with not a lot to live for, Alice thought. Like Carlos. He'd wanted to go out with a bang.
"It wasn't meant to be," Capa answered, thinking back to the moment he'd realized it had become one. The oxygen garden, probably. When the fire had taken all their plant life, he'd realized he would die out there.
"But, as you said, shit happens and I was going to die out there either way. Might as well save the world in the process."
"You sound like a friend of mine," she said. She was just being reminded of everyone she'd ever lost today, wasn't she? Next it'd be Angie. She still didn't want to think about Angie. "He was an eternal optimist, too. Right until the end."
"The end of what?" he asked curiously, unsure of whether or not he should pry, but he'd told her a little bit about where he'd come from. It wasn't every day he met others who had been in a similar end of the world situation, if that was what she meant.
"His life," Alice said simply. "He died saving others. It's how he wanted to go." He hadn't wanted to wait til the T-virus claimed him - he'd ended it on his own terms.
"If you're going to die..." Capa murmured, trailing off, figuring Alice could complete his thought on her own. He hadn't wanted to die, it wasn't as though he'd never wanted to go back to Earth, but he'd understood from the beginning, as Mace had, that the chances weren't great.
"Guess we don't have to worry about that here," she added after a moment. "Unless you're stupid enough to go dinosaur hunting." Unarmed or not knowing what you were doing, at least.
Capa frowned deeply at that and looked at Alice, his eyebrows drawn together. "Dinosaur hunting," he repeated before he shook his head. "There are dinosaurs here?"
"You didn't hear about that?" Actually drawing some amusement from this, Alice smirked. "Yeah, we've got dinosaurs. They're on the other side of the island behind a fence. But once in a while you hear about one escaping or some stupid fucker who's gone off with just a machete to Crocodile Dundee up a T-Rex skin handbag."
"Wow," Capa said with a soft laugh. "That sounds exceptionally stupid." No more stupid than trying to push a nuclear bomb into the sun, actually, but at least he'd had a good reason.
"No one mentioned dinosaurs. And if they did, I might not have been paying attention," he admitted. He often tuned people out if he had something else on his mind, and often did it without meaning to.
Alice smiled at him - her first real smile in what felt like, and probably was, weeks. "Be careful," she said. "You might end up missing something really important."
"It wouldn't be the first time," Capa admitted with another laugh, then smiled in return. "But I promise I've listened to everything you've said so far, if that's any consolation."
"Great, now if you go off and get killed by a dinosaur everyone will know who to blame," Alice said. Jesus, she'd managed a joke. What was next? Cartwheels? "And here's me trying to keep a low profile."
Capa smiled, reaching up to tuck his hair behind his ear before he said, "I'm not particularly interested in going off and getting killed by dinosaurs." If he was going to get himself killed, it would be in the midst of trying to get off the island. "I'm not much of a hunter and before Icarus, I'd never really gone on anything close to an adventure."
Smiling when he saw Alice, Capa lifted a hand to wave at her. He hadn't been on the island long, but he knew he appreciated Alice's somewhat abrupt nature. At times she reminded him of Mace, although he'd never admit to missing that bastard.
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"I was trying to get into the bomb when I arrived here. Maybe five minutes before I would have set her off."
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What kind of man would volunteer for something like that? Someone with not a lot to live for, Alice thought. Like Carlos. He'd wanted to go out with a bang.
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"But, as you said, shit happens and I was going to die out there either way. Might as well save the world in the process."
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"You sound like a friend of mine," she said. She was just being reminded of everyone she'd ever lost today, wasn't she? Next it'd be Angie. She still didn't want to think about Angie. "He was an eternal optimist, too. Right until the end."
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Alice hoped she'd go out the same way one day.
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"There are worse ways," he decided.
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"Guess we don't have to worry about that here," she added after a moment. "Unless you're stupid enough to go dinosaur hunting." Unarmed or not knowing what you were doing, at least.
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"No one mentioned dinosaurs. And if they did, I might not have been paying attention," he admitted. He often tuned people out if he had something else on his mind, and often did it without meaning to.
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