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[pushfall]

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CLAIRE BENNET

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[pushfall]

That's a relief. I was concerned any fires might eat up all the oxygen the gardens are still obviously putting out.

[ Which is to say... good news on her end as well. ]

[darkart]

If something was wrong with the oxygen we'd have been dead before we made it out of the medbay.

[pushfall]

Shut up, I was trying to be sarcastic.

[darkart]

If something was wrong with the oxygen we'd have been turned into very cheerful trees before we made it out of the medbay.

[pushfall]

Severus, that's just ridiculous. Try to be serious, here. There could have been fires.

[darkart]

Apologies.

[pushfall]

Overlooked. Did anyone find out anything, other than the lack of fires?

[darkart]

I have thoughts. None of which lead anywhere.

Recon is soon.

[pushfall]

That might as well be the Tranquility's slogan.

It is. Erik said you're running comms on your own.

[darkart]

I am.

I'd like to see you before then.

[pushfall]

Tough job.

What a coincidence. Me too. When and where?

[darkart]

Dinner?

[ Jump shit, or it'd be sooner. ]

[pushfall]

[ That's actually fine. She has some pit stops of her own to make. Plus. Dogs. ]

Any requests?

[darkart]

Steak and kidney pudding with fried bacon and asparagus.

[pushfall]

I've been meaning to ask if kidney pudding is actually made from a kidney. Also, I'm not murdering a pig for you. Sorry. Or a cow.

[darkart]

If only. I'll see you then.

[pushfall]

[ Then sees Claire up in the tenth floor's kitchen, having made the executive decision to not subject him to the fifth and its inhabitants following waking up in emergency mode. Literally and figuratively. She's made a one pot primavera, which is deceptively easy and does not contain any of the aforementioned requested items on the list, but she'd found some pasta shoved into the back of a cupboard on her floor and decided it was free for the taking.

She'd tapped out a disclaimer - ] Your floor. [ - and made sure the dogs were sufficiently tucked in her room and everything eatable was put out of reach before locking them in safely and taking off. Now it's just a matter of waiting, so she scrolls through the network while she does, half expecting Smiley to show up with another riddle to solve. ]

[darkart]

[ Level 10 is still blissfully near-empty; Severus thinks one of the women that Black cheats on his girlfriend with is on this level, but she seems to frequently be elsewhere.

He preferred the original layout of rooms and levels. Woe for responsibility; if he wasn't a department head he'd never have moved. ]

Have I missed anything? [ On the network. His low voice is quiet as he enters the kitchen, unsurprised to see she's been cooking something. Back and forth with them, a ritual of normalcy. Somehow. ]

[pushfall]

[ There's a post that she's flagged, calling out other non-normal people but not in the same obtrusive way as posts past. It's the only thing that she's found since she sat down and started looking a couple minutes ago, but, as always, there's plenty left to go through. Not that it would make a difference, everything is always so encrypted or layered underneath metaphor and Greek mythology.

Claire sets her device down on the counter and rubs her heels into her eye sockets. ]

Just the usual. People coming, people going. Some other stuff. Smiley hasn't shown his face. [ Claire folds her hands in front of her, bare arms chilled against the surface. ] Couldn't find any bacon. Sorry.

[darkart]

Noble of you to have looked. [ Severus drifts closer and touches her shoulder, the movement feeling slightly experimental. He drops his hand after only a moment. ] Is there anything I should finish?

[ Cooking. Since they're used to each other's methods by now. He's going to get glasses of water, anyway. ]

[pushfall]

[ The stool drags loudly against the floor as she stands and moves away in an automatic step, guided by routine and quickly slipping back into focus from her haphazard browse of the system. ]

No, I think - plates? Actually bowls would be better.

[ Since he's over there. She's just going to find silverware, already having mapped out the drawers in search for utensils to stir and drain with. She grabs the bowl and utensil she'll be using to portion out the pasta. There are no thoughts spared for how surreal this is. This has been a part of her life for months, now. At this point it's too familiar to feel strange. ]

[darkart]

[ It's more normal than what Severus has at home. He can barely imagine doing this with anyone; a witch would never tolerate him. Not with who he is. Not with how he is.

Bowls, glasses of water. He sets them out. ]

I'm not altogether thrilled about anyone going back into the corridors, [ he says to the tune of space-porcelain clinking into place. There's no explanation why. She knows why, they were both there. ] I want to ask something of you.

[pushfall]

[ Claire doesn't have to agree out loud for him to know that she agree with him. It isn't necessary a smart idea, and it's never going to be, but if it ultimately means that they're able to figure something out about this place, then it's worth it. She isn't afraid, maybe irresponsibly, but she's hardly bouncing around in her seat at the prospect. It's a duty, a job to do; she does feel proud that someone picked her to do it, even if it's dangerous.

After setting down the silverware, she puts some pasta into his bowl and then into hers, wiping imaginary sauce off on her pants and glancing up at him. The question can't be anything arbitrary or he wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. ]

What's that?

[darkart]

I don't want you to go into the white doors if you find them.

[ It could come off like an order, but in his tone it sounds like a request even with the lack of question mark. ]

Everyone will hear about it before you go. But what's happened to the ones who've already been in them - they're changing. Things wrong with their minds. Whatever it is, going in blind will only turn you into someone else.

[pushfall]

[ Claire folds both of her hands on the counter and faces him. ]

I hadn't planned on it.

[ Her answer is automatic, though not defensive. That was the reason for the recommended medical exam, after all, and regardless of her own opinions regarding her physical state and capabilities, Claire knows better than to plunge headfirst into the absolute unknown. Oncoming buses? Sure. A shark tank? Yeah, okay. But she's not interested in having the core of her person fucked with, not after what she's seen following the initial venture into the corridors and what she had encountered while she was down there. ]

And I know better than that. Even for regenerating girls, there are some things you just don't try without a better understanding of what's going on behind the door. I plan on putting anyone who wants to in a headlock to try and discourage them.

[ Knowing what they do, knowing he'll be urging them not to, she can't imagine that anyone would try, but if she's being honest that is the only thing that might persuade her to go in. Fortunately she doesn't like Erik that much and barely knows Natasi. ]