donkeyballs | Reverie: IC Inbox

[ There's a pause. ]

Honestly, I ain't sure I want to hear it at all. But if it happened... then I probably should.

Though this might be an easier conversation over alcohol.

probably.
probably better not to tell you through a text message, either.

[ He really, really didn't like the sound of that. ]

Bar?

i'll meet you down there.

[And when he reaches the bar, she's already there, with a bottle out and two drinks ready to go. This isn't going to be a great conversation, but if their positions were reversed, she knows she'd want to be filled in no matter what the news was.]

[He gets down to the bar, arm still in a sling, and slides in next to her. He spots the drink and gives a bemused smile as he reaches for it. ]

Alright. Story time of how the whole system went to shit. That about right?

Something like that. I think I've got some catching up to do, too. I don't think I ever got your full story.

Well, you tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine. [ He's trying to be funny, but he's too obviously worried for it to do anything but fall flat.]

[She smiles a bit, at least, there and gone again.]

Alright.

[Bobbie pauses to gather her thoughts, swirling the liquid in her glass as she does.]

Before I made it onto the Rocinante, the UN destroyed five Martian bases near Earth. The last one launched nukes before they could finish it off. One of those missiles made it to the surface—killed about two million people.

[She says it carefully, quietly, matter-of-fact but not stoic. There's no point couching it in pretty words.]

It didn't get much better from there. Both fleets were engaged throughout the Belt. I don't have solid numbers, but I know we took heavy losses. Both sides did.

[ He thought he'd prepared himself for the worst. Something like Deimos, maybe - a passenger ship being hit instead of a military target. Something like that.

But at her news, his face just falls.

He'd hoped that he wouldn't live to see Earth and Mars nuking each other. Apparently he was wrong. ]

... So it's war. Not just - not just scufflin' over Ganymede, but...

[Bobbie nods at that, jaw clenching. Not too long ago, she would have argued for just that. War was not only inevitable but necessary for Mars to achieve its goals, she'd thought. Now, faced with the reality of it, knowing exactly how it came about, she feels exactly like Alex does, judging from his expression. She squeezes his shoulder.]

It got bad quickly. More quickly than I could have imagined.

... Damn. [ His eyes drop to his glass, feeling queasy, and he doesn't say anything for another few seconds. Then he takes the whole drink at once and reaches for the bottle when he's done. ]

Crazy fucking bastards. And it - It was because of the shit on Ganymede. Wasn't it. A war to cover up more of the protomolecule bullshit.

[She takes a deep breath, then sips at her own drink. All she can really do is nod.]

Not long after you picked us up, we ran into the remnants of a battle. Destroyed Martian ships. Holden and the rest wanted to do a salvage operation, top up the Roci's ammo and fuel. I didn't... I didn't understand why you were willing to go along with it. It felt like grave robbing to me. You just told me it was none of my business.

[Bobbie shrugs a bit, reaching for the bottle to top off her drink again.]

But Holden and the others found a couple of kids aboard one of the ships. A bunch of ensigns.

[ Alex looked up sharply at that, brows knit a little. None of her business? He can't see why he wouldn't agree with her. It did sound like robbing the dead. He shifted a little uncomfortably, looking down into his drink. ]

There must have been a good reason. [They must have talked him into it, somehow. He trusted the Captain - even if they argued - and if Holden had convinced him... Well, that would explain being testy about it. He couldn't understand it, otherwise. At the second part, though, he looked surprised. ]

Survivors? Did we grab 'em? [ Please, God, tell him they grabbed 'em...]

[Bobbie nods.]

They weren't too happy about you having the Roci, so they tried to take the ship. They decided to rough you up before I talked them down and had to haul you away from one of them.

[Well, she figures it was half intimidation, half diplomacy.]

We sent them back to the Martian fleet, and Chrisjen gave them proof that Errinwright's a traitor. That's the last thing I remember before getting here.

[ Oh. So apparently Bobbie literally had to rescue him. From a bunch of Martian kids. A cold shame went down his spine, but he didn't mention it. Instead, he focused on: ]

Errinwright? The undersecretary?

[She nods again, peering down at her drink, wondering if she should top it off or save her stomach the corrosion.]

He's been working with Mao for a long time.

[ Alex let out a muttered string of curses, before taking a long drink. ]

Of course he has been. All of 'em in bed together. God damn.

[She looks up at him again, sighing as she fills his glass.]

Seems like it. I don't know how many people in the UN knew. Chrisjen didn't.

[ Alex didn't say anything for a very long minute, watching the liquid pool. ]

And here I thought we might be able to get out of it, for a while. Thought after we'd killed that thing... Our part it in might've been over.

Yeah. I guess we pulled you back into it, didn't we?

[Or at least more seriously. Looking for a missing child is one thing, but doing it with a UN Undersecretary and a Martian deserter is another.]

[He lets out a breath, then shakes his head.]

I dunno, Gunny. Sometimes I get the feelin' like... We just keep endin' up in it as if we're supposed to be there. That make any sense?

Like -

It's a pretty damn huge coincidence that we were there just in time to pick you up, right? And a damn huge coincidence that we just happened to be on Eros, before it blew up, and that we happened to get the distress call from the Scopuli--

[She looks up to study him for a moment, just barely frowning.]

What are you saying? It's... fate?

[ He sort of shrugged and shook his head at the same time. Not a 'no' so much as a 'I have no fucking clue'. ]

Dunno. Wouldn't say I believed in it before, but. [ He let out a breath. ]

It's weird, right?

I don't know. I guess it is. If you hadn't been the one to answer our distress call, we would have been thrown in jail or worse.

['Firing squad', Martens had said.]

Well. Then I'm damn glad we were there to pick you up.

[ Even if he can't fucking remember it.

He frowns at his glass, and then downs the whole thing in one shot. ]

Hooboy.

Reverie: IC Inbox

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i couldn't resist

s t o p

blame the writers not me

i can do both!!!

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