apocalypsehowcomm | Log - Early/mid-June

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Log - Early/mid-June

Who: Yelena and open
When: June 9-15
Where: ADI headquarters and housing, around Gloucester
Summary: Preparing to part ways.
Warnings: N/A

Headquarters
The dust settles surprisingly quickly, all things considered. It doesn't take much longer for Yelena's desk in the investigations department to...not quite empty, exactly. Her terminal is still there, the files she's been working on, a slim stack of research material. It's the personal items that vanish, the amusing mugs, the sweater she's kept draped over her chair, the little plastic dinosaur statue, the carefully kept notes.

For a little while, at least, she's still there - her reports continue, she remains a presence in the training gym, she eats the occasional meal in the cafeteria. If she's a little distant with most people, less quick to crack a joke or share a theory, well. She's hardly the only one.

Housing
At home - at what has been home for nearly two years now - the change in her demeanor isn't nearly as pronounced. She's still willing to joke and gossip with her roommates, and pull out a film for movie night. But here, her preparations are more obvious. Bit by bit, her belongings vanish into cheap plastic totes, neatly organized. She doesn't even need those - there's a duffle in her closet, packed with everything she absolutely requires.

She may intend to stay long enough to see to it that Zyrian Steel never has the chance to use another young girl as a cat's paw. She's prepared to vanish in a heartbeat, if she needs to.

Around Town
It's possible, now and then, to find her in a coffee shop, reviewing notes or photos - of aging buildings, mostly - over a cup of black coffee. It's possible, more rarely, to find her standing at the edge of the churchyard that once held an Eye cult, frowning to herself, apparently lost in thought, or prowling the perimeter of Dogtown.

Searching for more roaming signal towers, maybe. It's hard to trust that they're truly gone.

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There's a small stretch of silence before Yelena pulls the door open. Behind her, there are neat piles of clothing folded on her bed, ready for transfer to the half-full tote beside it. Her head cants slightly, gaze flicking past Kate toward the common area of the apartment, wary.

It isn't just the disquieting turn sentiments at ADI have taken - given Benny's dramatic exit as groundskeeper, there's no more pretending that this is any kind of safe ground.

"What's the matter?"

Yelena, you are going to have to be more specific. What isn't the matter?

"Nothing is the matter right now. I just wanted to know if you could talk. Or you can listen while I talk."

Yelena picks up a stack of folded shirts and places them in a tote, then waves Kate to the newly-emptied space on the bed.

"Sit," she says. "I can listen."

Yelena may come to regret asking Kate to sit and talk. She has a lot on her mind, a lot that she wants to say. Where does she even begin?

She sits down on the bed and lets out a breath. "So I know I made a mistake in picking who should run ADI and all..." Kate had known she had backed the wrong person when John had agreed with her. She doesn't want to be on the same page as him. It is worrying!

"But you can't just up and leave me." She has abandonment issues (with good reason). "I can't handle that. So I've made a decision, whether you like it or not, if you leave I'm coming with you." She says this as though Yelena doesn't have the skills to disappear without a trace if she were to choose that.

"You did. But backing Nia is not a lifetime commitment."

She shifts another small stack to the tote, clearing a space for herself to sit down next to Kate and sling an arm around her shoulder.

"Do you really think I haven't been making contingencies for you to come with us? Or to get you out, if you ever needed to run?"

"It's not." She agrees but she has her doubts. She doesn't know if there is a right decision in what to do. There are too many variables for her to say for sure, too many different kinds of folks who need different things.

"I don't know but that's on me. I have issues." Her having abandonment issues is not Yelena's fault. That problem lies squarely on Kate's shoulders. One boyfriend up and ghosted her after a two-year relationship and her last one had turned into a weasel in front of her eyes. Her head tilts down as she considers something.

She couldn't blame them if they up and left. Kate knows she is the weakest link among them. It would be easier for them, quicker to move too.

Her voice comes out small when she next speaks, "You've really been thinking that far ahead?"

"Of course," Yelena says. "It's what I do. And you've been my best friend for almost two years now. That doesn't change just because we didn't agree on the best way to move forward."

She gives Kate's shoulders a gentle squeeze. "It doesn't matter if I'm right here, or across the city, or if I run away to join a circus that's hopefully not a death cult. There's a space in my life for you, and I will always be ready to come when you need me."

"You're very good at it. I know you'd want to make it as efficient as possible." And again, she knows that she is the weakest link. She knows she made a mistake in backing Nia. It had seemed the right decision at the time. What they say about hindsight is all very true.

"It really has been that long." She will have been in Gloucester for two years come the middle of July. It's a long time to be away from home. But she is glad for Yelena's friendship. It makes the tough times bearable.

She reaches up and lays her hand on top of Yelena's. "Oh please don't join a circus. I'm too much of a snob to live that kind of life." She jokes a little but she is reassured... mostly.

Yelena heaves a theatrical sigh. "And here I was hoping I would finally be able to realize my dream of being an acrobat."

She's quiet for a moment, then adds, "If what I wanted was complete efficiency, I would go alone, and not tell anyone. But I don't want to go back to being nothing but survival and the mission. That was...not a good time in my life."

"There's a few crafty people around here. I'm sure we could rig you up a tightrope if you're that into it." Kate nudges Yelena lightly with her shoulder.

"Do you need to talk about it?" She doesn't know the full extent of the trauma that Yelena has been put through. She believes it to be something terrible like with Winter.

"No," Yelena says. "It's over. It has been over for a very long time now. There's no going back to change it, and telling you would only make you sad."

Or make her realize that Yelena is, in some respects, a much greater monster than some of the avatars they've faced.

"Okay. If you say so." It is Yelena's own business and she will not pry. Kate is sure that she has her own reasons for doing so. Some traumas simply cannot be shared not matter how unjudgmental the other person would be.

Kate nudges Yelena with her shoulder again. "I feel like we need drinks now."

"We have the fixings for screwdrivers," Yelena suggests, after the briefest of pauses to consider the contents of their kitchen. "Unless you would rather just have the vodka straight."

"Is that all we have?" She'll have to do some shopping. She is forgetting that they are planning on leaving soon, willfully forgetting. "I haven't done shots in a while. Let's do that."

"We probably have other things, but sometimes, you just want something simple." She flashes a quick smile, nose crinkling. "And it doesn't get much simpler than shots. You don't have to work in the morning, do you?"

"Oh, I do have to work in the morning but I'll survive it." Shots with her bestie, she can't miss out on that.

"I will just have to bring you coffee in the office," Yelena says.

For what might be the last time. Something complicated flickers across her face, there and gone in an instant. Even if they stick together, they'll see less of each other once they leave ADI. It's strange just how many things have become touchstones, anchoring her and reminding her of the people who matter.

"You will." Kate stands and then moves into the kitchen. She's gonna get that vodka and shot glasses. Maybe she'll be really bad and have a second shot. Stranger things have definitely happened and will continue to happen, it is the nature of this world.

She misses the look that flickers across Yelena's face because she's busy digging out the shot glasses and then another set of glasses for the screwdrivers. How many more nights are they going to have like this? Not many, she guesses. She pushes those thoughts down deep. She doesn't want to tank Yelena's mood. She wants her to have fun.

It's a familiar ritual. As Kate pulls out the glasses, Yelena fetches the alcohol. Their supply is dwindling - something that could easily be attributed to the recent chaos, but is equally a sign of just how rough the past few months have been. For them, for everyone.

Really, it's amazing that it's taken so long for something to give, and that it hadn't been bloodier when it did.

"We will," she says, tone gone faintly thoughtful, "need to go celebrate, once we've dealt with Zyrian Steel."

One last hurrah, for old time's sake. After that, everything will be different.

Kate gets the glasses for the screwdrivers and then two shot glasses because you can't have shots without those teeny, tiny little glasses. They have a collection of them from the various bars and clubs that they've visited. Stolen? Oh, yes.

She then gets the orange juice out for the mixer. Of course she could replace the alcohol but is there a point to it when Yelena and Winter will be moving out soon and movie nights will be at their new place? She doesn't know but she knows that she plans to visit like practically every night. She doesn't know how to exist without the two in her life.

"Oh, we should." She likes the idea of celebrating a success and by all accounts it should be one. "Like ladies night but invite the boys so they don't feel left out." Kate laughs a little. There is a particular boy in mind who she knows felt left out but Yelena doesn't think very highly of him so Kate doesn't mention his name. "Hopefully, I won't slip on the concrete and fall on my ass again."

Given there was exactly one male ADI agent who had invited himself to girls' night and then sulked about his reception for months afterward, Kate doesn't have to mention his name. Yelena just rolls her eyes, nose wrinkling in an exaggerated grimace, more play than actual distaste.

She doesn't think highly of the man, it's true, but for the most part she doesn't think of him at all.

"Fine, we'll invite the fragile little babies. But if they cry when we wipe the floor with them with the drinking games, they have to clean it up themselves."

"I know. I know. Some of them are delicate aren't they? The poor little things." It's not their fault they can mop the floor with most of the men. Kate tsks at the situation but she's only playing too. "In all seriousness, with all of the changes, a get together would do us some good I think."

She fills the glasses halfway up with ice and then pours orange juice into the first cup, hers. "How strong do you want yours?" Meaning how much orange juice should she add.

Yelena holds up a hand, thumb and forefinger about a half a centimetre apart. Just a teensy bit of orange juice.

"It would," she agrees. "It will help, having a reminder that we're all people too, not just...agents."

Kate maliciously complies with Yelenas request for just a half of a centimeter of orange juice. After she's done pouring, she looks at her best friend forever. "Will that do?" She bats her eyelashes at her.

"Agents of ADI, that sounds like a mediocre TV show. Can you imagine?" She laughs a little.

Yelena just grins, nose crinkling slightly. "That will do perfectly."

Just a little orange juice with her alcohol. For colour.

"...I'm not sure if it should be a budget nightmare, or be all very bad make-up and monsters made out of duct tape and tinfoil."

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bossyboiler - 2023-08-14 12:21 (UTC) - Expand

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