"Don't sit up, stay down girls." He pressed a button and a screen dropped down between the two girls. "What you're seeing is the memorial site dedicated to our failed projects. Nature, War, Competition, Exhibition. There used to be more, but they weren't worth remembering it."
"With this many people dying. Is any of it worth it?" Kate asked.
"Yes." Genevieve sighed, her eyes skywards.
Kate's brows quirked, watching those pale blues look at the ceiling. Somehow, in that moment they were bigger than Kate remembered, sharper blues and that rich tone, the wistful air made Kate gulp.
"And you Eric? Or Elric."
He poked her. Which considering those meaty digits, a poke ended up being Kate getting her guts drilled until she burst into giggles.
"For me? Of course. Likely more so. I can't speak for the dead. But for most of them. I think they would do it again just from a different angle. Try something different maybe, a new trick, a new scheme. But the same goal. If you stick with this Kate, you'll have it in you too."
"Which is why you should run away." Gen said, dropping her skyward gaze to aim those blues right back into Kate's own and locking on.
Genevieve looked crystalline, like a living diamond, the mental image broken by that laugh. The chuckle of failed containment, the breakdown, which had been so hilariously human. There was too much warmth in core for the image.
Then Gen shifted away, unable to hold the power play.
Huh.
Kate just kept staring at the side of Gen's face, wondering. Was she doing well with Gen? Was she doing something wrong? Did it matter? Was Kate, having gone mad, idiotically demanding the madness of sex from a logical stranger?
Wait what?
Was she demanding sex?
No.
Noooooooooo....
Sakura's propaganda was working, and ruining her.
"Is it because you care for me, you don't want to see another friend die?"
"We met like three hours ago." Gen said with a sniff.
"I'm still a human with hopes and dreams. One you've helped through pain and threat of death. We all went crazy together, you and Sakura let me put myself in danger for the win."
Gen didn't say a word, instead she just eyed the ceiling. Yes, there was certainly a failure there, but why? Why wasn't she as awesome with Gen?
"Fine, Eric? Should I run away?"
"It would save your life."
"That didn't answer any questions at all. In fact I might have more questions than when we started."
Eric blinded Kate with those pearly whites as she was hit with a goofy grin.
"I want you to stay," he said finally, the smile she'd dragged out of him ambled away, "that means that between the three of us, Gen is the kind one."
Genevieve sniffed, which was an oddly snotty. That first one had been simply dismissive, the second one, like her laugh, felt like a failure of composure.
"We all want ya te stay, Gen too, but unlyke Gen there, we'll mourn ya and move on like them othas... If ya'll were te die. We'd put ya on that monumen'. Yor face, yor flag, some be new, pristine, and some be ole en tattered. We'd write something about ya too. Gen would write 'we met three hours ago'. Then she'd turn away from the input screen and walking on, unforgotten but she'd laugh and smile that same day. Sakura would be tha one te laugh loudest and move most free."
"Don't be an ass!" Genevieve said with a force Kate had never heard in their deep three hour relationship, Gen stiffened, an elbow levering her up.
"I'm nawt. Et's what she'd do." Eric returned immediately.
There was a hollowness building in her chest.
"Context!" Genevieve demanded.
"What context?" Kate asked.
"Sakura's smiles are complicated. You don't know what you're talking about."Gen said to Eric.
"I only know wha' I see." Eric said simply.
"Sakura feels every loss we have all ever had. You don't get to pretend you understand her in any way!"
"Any person who be acten tha sayme when in hell than when in heaven ain't livin'." Eric said firm.
"That's because you Nature people believe in shittin in the floor like an animal. Stupidity and savagery is considered high art for you animals. Showing tact and showing care when other people are down is not alien! She looks after us. Who do you look after besides yourself?" Genevieve all but screamed, so up straight her knee was on the chair and her head against the sealing. She was flush the head on her pinkish cheeks painting a whole other person.
Eric just stared out the window.
He wasn't looking much like anything, just glaring outwards.