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[viking_seer]

"Anderson here. Leave a message and I'll get back to you. Thanks."

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[hostileterritory]

A pause as he considers, then mentally shrugs and decides to go with enough truth to make the point. "If you read it, I'll have to kill you."

[viking_seer]

She just nods. She certainly doesn't seem surprised by that, David. Funny, huh?

"And why is that, exactly?"

[hostileterritory]

That's a weird reaction. His perplexity is obvious.

But also, when she asks that question, he realizes with a strange chilly feeling that he doesn't feel the elastic membrane that seems to exist somewhere between his mind and his mouth most of the time.

"Because, I--" A pause. He shouldn't be able to say this. "Because there's information in there that will be classified. That I've been... tasked to protect."

Again, it's the truth without the whole truth, so... maybe that's it. Maybe that's why he's even able to say this much.

[viking_seer]

She folds her arms over her chest. Nods. Seems to accept that without any kind of fuss. But she is going to note-

"You look a little surprised."

[hostileterritory]

Still no hard stop. Still no impulse to break her neck. He's getting progressively more confused.

"Uh... well, I'm not usually-- I wouldn't usually get to be so straightforward about things."

[viking_seer]

She nods and watches him, not quite smiling but it's obvious that something is, in her estimation, working as she'd hoped. She tips her chin towards him.

"Let's see how far it goes. Don't worry about me." She's used to dealing with shadow Taken who can move faster than human beings and dodging axes thrown at her through dark woods. He's far enough across the room she can do something about it. She's confident of that.

"Stretch your legs a little." She gestures with one hand. "So there's classified information in there. And you're tasked to protect it. That would require killing me. What would you do when I got back up again? Do you know?"

[hostileterritory]

He circles closer to the couch, studying the rusty patterns he left there. "I'd kill you again, I expect. Or you'd find a way to stop that from happening, and I'd be... in trouble."

The impulse is to say fucked, but he's too polite to do it in front of Saga.

[viking_seer]

"In trouble with who, exactly?" she asks with a raised eyebrow. Oh, she knows the name of the project, has some idea where and how in the government he might be 'in trouble'. But like hell is any of it coming out of her right now. Not until they get through this.

"And why would you do that? After all, there's no one here to enforce security clearance protocols. You wouldn't be court marshaled for anything that happened here. Why would you do any of that?"

[hostileterritory]

Still nothing. He's getting visibly uneasy now, though it translates to him as a general agitation, a tingle of temper and anxiety not severe enough to set off alarm bells in his psyche.

"Because I have to. I don't have a-- a choice. That's the order I was given."

[viking_seer]

She's very quiet after that, because saying anything right after that- maybe it isn't, but it would feel flippant. Feel like she's taunting him. She doesn't want to do that. Instead, she's going to let him digest the words that came out of his mouth for a moment and keep her voice low.

"If you can, can you tell me who gave you that order?"

"Was it Lance Reddick?"

[hostileterritory]

"His codename was Mr Door."

"Major Carver," he says. And then stops. Makes a softly baffled sound before looking Saga in the face for the first time since he walked in. "How...? Did-- Have you-- Did the Admiral...?"

No, he's not exactly being clear or remotely making sense but he's a little bit in shock. This isn't a dream. It's not a phantom space where the rules don't apply, where he can trick himself into thinking things don't count there.

"I was under his command as part of--" Nope, still nothing to stop him. He tests the words, very quietly, something uneasy climbing into his chest and settling there. "Project Aegolius. It was a... a research program."

[viking_seer]

"Dad, why are you like this?"

She shakes her head.

"I haven't asked the Admiral for anything about you yet. So."

She's going to gesture to her table, and to the other chair across from her. Maybe they can sit and talk now. She'll wait for him to sit before she does.

"Can I get you some coffee or anything?"

[hostileterritory]

He sort of drops into the chair more than sits down. The empty feeling in his chest is... different than usual.

"Uh. No, ma'am. Thank you."

[viking_seer]

"All right."

She just watches him for a moment, eyes dark and thoughtful, content to let him work things out inside. She's going to let him relax.

She's pretty sure this is the first time he's been able to do that very thing for a while.

[hostileterritory]

He slowly looks at her again, looks over at the couch, then back at Saga.

"I... Wh- The project I was part of..." The words trail off, because there's an unsettling giddiness to the idea that he can say it. It's different than the dream. Unpleasant, somehow, but he doesn't know how. "I was uh... they conditioned us not to- to speak about it."

[viking_seer]

"I figured it was something like that," she says, her voice soft, her eyes flickering over at the couch. She remembers what happened there but she's wondering what has him thinking about it.

"But it seems like, for whatever reason, that conditioning is allowing you to talk to me."

[hostileterritory]

Ah, this is easy enough. Confirmation of obvious fact. "Yes, ma'am."

There's some half-formed reasoning as to why, but he can't get anything to coalesce through the shock yet. There's something else, too, a worry that whatever is protecting Saga right now won't last.

[viking_seer]

She's quiet for a long while before looking over at David.

"Can you tell me what's going through your mind right now, David? Or at least-" she swallows once before she goes through with the words she'd chosen, "or at least what's troubling you. You look like you're waiting for another shoe to drop."

[hostileterritory]

He looks up at her, startled, less at the questions than the bit about shoes dropping.

"I suppose I am." A pause while he tries to sort out the jumble of thoughts she asked about. "Uh. I'm... surprised. To my knowledge I'd killed anyone that I could talk to without limitations."

[viking_seer]

She doesn't look all that disturbed by that. Or, again, surprised. Instead, she walks over and very slowly, deliberately, carefully, reaches down to put her hand on his shoulder, her fingers barely touching, no heavier than a tiny bird.

"But you don't want to kill me." A pause before she works out the rest. "You're worried something might change and you'll have to?"

[hostileterritory]

"Yes, ma'am." It's very soft, both because he is worried and because it feels strange to admit it. It feels like something that should get a reprimand, being concerned that his programming will work the way it's meant to. "I suppose generally I prefer not to kill people."

Not that it bothers him to do it if needs be.

[viking_seer]

She leave her hand there. And she nods.

"I'm glad to hear that."

She's okay with that. She's fired on human beings before. She also prefers not to. That doesn't mean she won't.

"Then how about this: we change the safe to you. We go through a week, and we have tea or coffee and chat once a day. And if the end of the week, you haven't felt the urge to hurt me, we tentatively move forward and discuss the file, and everything else, without worrying about whether you'll be forced to hurt me. Sound like a plan?"

[hostileterritory]

He looks at her hand on his shoulder, not annoyed, more bemused again. Feels nice, he'd said, he remembers that. Her hand on his shoulder feels nice too, and all at once he thinks of John. John, telling David that he'd grabbed him a lot and wanted to give him a hug, to touch David for his own sake. Hanna, sharing ear buds and a pillow.

"Yes ma'am. Uh. That makes sense."

[viking_seer]

"All right. So let's get the safe changed. And then we'll deal with some logistics."

She's going to give his shoulder a little squeeze and wait for him to stand. When he does, she'll lead the way over.

[hostileterritory]

He follows her over, the empty starting to normalize a little as he relaxes into this shifted reality.

"We don't have to change it. I appreciate you being willing."