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[never_francesca]

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[never_francesca]

[A little smile, to herself.]

I'll meet you in ten.

[cactusy]

[Shaw beats her; she's there in three, halfway hanging over the railing with her arms dangling down towards empty space.]

Hey.

[She says without turning around, when she hears the door open behind her.]

[never_francesca]

[She matches her stance a bit, forearms across the railing.]

Hey yourself. Doing alright?

[cactusy]

Sure.

[She says, in a way that sounds more rote than honest.]

We're due for another breach this month, right? I'm wishing I'd missed that.

[never_francesca]

Given things...yes, we're due. Something aggravating, no doubt.

[She turns her head to look at Shaw, knowing she'd say the same even if she weren't doing well.]

[cactusy]

I'm still getting my feet under me from the last one.

[She grumbles, kneading at her forehead.]

That was-- what, four months ago?

[never_francesca]

[Oh, she remembers the last one.]

Sounds about right. Wherein a fun time was had by all.

[cactusy]

[Shaw snorts softly, circling a finger around the metal railing.]

How often does it still mess you up?

[never_francesca]

[She sighs a bit.]

Oh, just the usual amount. Which is to say, always.

[cactusy]

[Shaw makes a soft sound of dissatisfaction, pulling her arms back up and crossing them hard over her chest.]

I don't know how the Admiral thinks having other people's memories rattling around in our heads is supposed to do us any good.

[never_francesca]

I'll be honest with you - I'm not sure the Admiral has any actual idea what he's doing.

[She sighs.]

I think....when you're a being like he is...or it is...whatever...you're only passingly able to understand how humans work. Like us trying to understand amoeba without a textbook. I think he cares, but...I don't know if he's competent at what he's trying to do.

[cactusy]

[Shaw snorts again, even more quietly this time.]

Not like I can't relate, I guess.

[never_francesca]

How's that?

[Shaw says next to nothing about...well, nearly everything beyond this place. If she can get some glimpse, she's taking it.]

[cactusy]

I understand how people work.

[She quotes the phrasing back at Franky purposefully, and with emphasis.]

Passingly.

[Not with any sort of intimate familiarity or personal experience, in a lot of cases.]

[never_francesca]

[Well, no window there, it turns out. She nods.]

In other words, absolute messes, some of whom are doing their best.

[cactusy]

And what about you?

[Shaw asks, looking up.]

Are you...

[There are a lot of ways that she could finish that question, and she's not sure which one to pick; after a moment, she lands on--]

Doing all right?

[never_francesca]

[She shrugs her shoulders, reaching into a pocket for a half finished cigar and a lighter, looking to Shaw for approval to continue.]

I keep going. I always keep going. Three constants in life - death, taxes, and me buggering on.

[cactusy]

[Shaw waves at the cigar, giving her a nod of assent.]

Four constants. Me buggering on is one, too.

[never_francesca]

[She lit it up then, taking a long drag.]

Four being better than three.

[She sighed, looking over after a moment, curiosity winning out over caution.]

Are you actually doing alright? Asking as...a friend, of course. This place does a number on anyone, let alone someone with things already keeping them up at nights.

[cactusy]

[She hesitates before answering - but in the end, only briefly.]

No. But, uh-- it doesn't matter, you know? Whether I am or not, I keep going.

[never_francesca]

[A brief sigh, and a nod.]

Does to me. You being a person who matters, as a friend and...colleague.

[Because naturally she hasn't caught any feelings from all this, goodness no. She remains, like her native Britain, quite the island, she keeps telling herself.]

[cactusy]

I keep thinking the deals might be fake.

[The words come out of her entirely on their own, without any real imput from her.]

So there's that. I still can't stop thinking that everything here might be fake.

[never_francesca]

[She looks over for a long moment, silent, before nodding.]

I've wondered about the deals, too, more than once. Can't see why not, but...

[She takes a long drag of her cigar.]

About the rest though...aside from knowing I'm real...be a pretty damned lousy pantomime, wouldn't it?

[She laughs a bit.]

You'd think anything powerful enough to produce an illusion so thorough would do a better job of making it believable. This place is like a comic book made by someone out of their bloody mind on something.

[cactusy]

I know. But I think they decided reality-based illusions weren't working. I think they decided to just try to drive me totally insane.

[never_francesca]

[She frowned a bit.]

Who's they?