damned_institute | Day 43: Sun Room, Second Shift

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Day 43: Sun Room, Second Shift

When the shift changed, HK stayed put. Even after a long night of zombie killing, he had no interest in meatbag fuel, especially after all the discussion of chocolate with that rather strange meatbag. It was just making him crave the stuff even more than he had previously, if that was possible.

Oh, right. He was supposed to be looking for someone who was "VERY LARGE, WITH DARK HAIR." And also seemed to not know what lower-case letters were on the bulletin. As if that would help. He'd seen a likely candidate last shift, but talk of chocolate had distracted him.

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This couldn't be happening, but it was. Depth Charge shook his head slowly, rubbing his temples as though they would suddenly right his vision and he'd be alone again. Nothing happened- Forte was most definitely still there.

He wanted to be happy. Truly, he did. But there was still part of him that was just too suspicious and too cynical to take it in at all. "Guess so," he answered wearily, leaning on the wall. "It's been three days. Are you sure I'm not...?" He let the question hang. Even he didn't have the bearings to say the 'c' word.

Forte was starting to be worried at Depth Charge's reaction - he was more scared than happy to see Forte alive. Three days didn't seem like much, but it was a lifetime in this place (well, apparently Forte's lifetime was about five days. But.)

"I'm here. I'm... recovering. If I weren't real I probably wouldn't hurt so much. But, yeah, somehow I'm alive. It must not have been as bad as it looked."

Sure, it might seem a little suspicious for him to suddenly reappear after several days. But he wasn't going to question it now.

"Kid..." Depth Charge's hand moved down from his temples so that the entire upper half of his face was covered. Either he was trying to keep his mind in or the rest of the world out. Right now, it didn't matter which one. "You looked as though you were dead. Just... just gimme a klik, okay?"

Slowly, he lowered the hand. Yet again, Forte hadn't moved from his spot. So he definitely wasn't dreaming, or hallucinating, or having an episode. It was only then that he finally let the hint of a a slight, cautious smile tug at his features. "Slag. I... never thought I'd see you in daylight again. Are you okay?"

Forte was starting to feel awkward - he'd never had this kind of reception coming back to Dr. Wily. In fact, after Wily had deemed him a failure and moved on, he almost looked disappointed to find out Forte had survived each fight.

"Yeah, I'm... well, I'm hurt, but I'll be okay. Humans heal, it's happened to me before." That's true, the first night he was human, he got stung in the foot, and Sheena saved him- "Oh! Could you put something on the bulletin board for me?"

'Surreal' wasn't the word for it. It was only when Forte suddenly asked about the bulletin board that Depth Charge finally let the smile reach his eyes. What kind of a stupid, mundane thing was that to do when the 'bot had cheated death? Especially when there was something a lot more pressing that he knew he had to ask.

But was still too early. The wounds were still raw, and asking was going to hurt like a slagger. He distracted himself. "What do you want me to put?"

"Well, there was this woman that healed me the last time. She was... uh, R-something..." well, it had been a long time, and he certainly hadn't been paying much attention at the time. "Well, she was someone Sheena knew, at the clinic. Just tell Sheena I'm back and I need to talk to her."

"Got it." He scrawled down a short-but-sweet message, addressed it to this 'Sheena' girl and placed it where it was guaranteed to be noticed. It was strange to put faces- and not just faces, but the emotions that came with them- to the notes that had appeared on the note he'd placed himself after Forte's death. Depth Charge glanced at him sideways as he pinned it into place. "She a friend of yours?"

Forte hesitated - longer than it should take anyone to think about the answer to that question - then nodded, "yeah, I guess so. She's really helped me out."

Forte took his time answering. Enough time for Depth Charge to think about what he'd asked and enough time for its closeness to his original question to hit him hard in gear-shaft. They hadn't been close. Not even a little. But for that night they'd been on the same team, and that meant... it meant a lot of things, all of them the kind of scrap he'd spent most of his life avoiding like rust in case something ever happened. Some good that did.

He cleared his throat. Bracing himself or something. "... look... kid..." The words dried uncomfortably in his throat. "About what happened."

Forte either was ignoring or didn't notice the increased tension in Depth Charge's voice, and didn't look at his face. Instead he looked down at his slung arm and responded, "Yeah, I was thinking about that. I need some kind of weapon next time, even if it's just a stick. So I can block with that instead of my own body... I guess, in the end, I was mostly bait."

Edited 2009-08-16 05:18 (UTC)

Similarly, Depth Charge almost completely ignored Forte's answer. The ball had started rolling. Stopping it now was going to be even harder than it had been to get it started in the first place.

With a sudden force he turned to face Forte face-on and gripped the arms of his wheelchair, face grim. "That's slag. Total slag. I was the one who should have been keeping an eye out. That was my duty. And I let you down." His grip tightened and for a nanoklik his chest tightened too, as though his ribs had suddenly buckled inwards. "I can't make it right for the people I've failed before, but by Primus I'm going to make it right with you."

Forte was shocked at Depth Charge's reaction. He was trying to take the blame for Forte's injury, which was definitely something that had never happened before. Forte's usual reaction would be to blame someone else, but... it just didn't seem right to say that it was Depth Charge's fault and not his own. Since he'd been training in this human body, he'd felt like he was actually responsible for his own strength and skill instead of Dr. Wily, and it was actually nice to feel that way. He'd been proud that he had won a fight, especially on his own strength. But, if Depth Charge really thought that he'd failed Forte that night... it just didn't seem right.

"We were partners. It was both our jobs to get the stuff from the storage room and bring it back - not to protect me. I couldn't defend myself, so I got hurt. And..." he hesitated, trying to remember the hazy events at the end of that night, "you were the one that killed it. You know who I blame for this," he raised his injured arm slightly, "I blame that monster... cat thing. And now it's dead, so I can move on and get stronger."

He thought that night was a success, and he didn't want to admit it, but... if anyone had been too weak it was Forte.

Edited 2009-08-17 09:24 (UTC)

Depth Charge stared at Forte. It was strange to have a victim of his own failure talk back to him; all this time he had been faced with a slew people telling him that none of what had happened was his fault, that he couldn't have done anything, but none of them had had to face the consequences quite so closely as he had. Finally, he managed a response. "... thanks, kid."

And that was that. The Maximal turned away, out of words and awkward after what had been a difficult moment. There were still far too many other voices to silence. Forte was only one of a crowd and their volume still overwhelmed him, their weight still just as heavy across his shoulders as it had always been. He would keep going. Perseverance was something he had become all too familiar with over the years and he wasn't about to stop now. But for now- for now, at least- he had made his peace with one.

That was... intense. Forte still didn't know why he cared so much... or at all, whether Depth Charge felt responsible for his injuries, when normally he would have just blamed anyone available, including his partner. But it seemed like Depth Charge really needed that, and it was... strangely gratifying to reassure him. Well, Depth Charge still looked troubled, but maybe he was just like that.

Unfortunately, it also meant that Forte lost his extra hand for writing notices on the bulletin board. As the shift change was signaled, a nurse came back to ask him if he wanted to move to another room, and he decided to try his luck with her.

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Day 43: Sun Room, Second Shift

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