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[viking_seer]

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

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[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."

[viking_seer]

She pauses before acknowledging with a nod.

"Okay." The smile comes back a little more. "Then we can go right to logistics."

She looks down at him.

"Do you feel like you have the means to defend yourself?"

[hostileterritory]

Things he expected her to ask: not that.

"I-" Pause, sort thoughts. "I'm at a disadvantage here I'm not used to."

[viking_seer]

"Tell me more about that?" because that could mean a lot of things. She has a few ideas, but she'll always prefer the horse's mouth.

[hostileterritory]

"Uh, well." He wanders back to the table but doesn't sit, instead standing behind his chair with both hands braced lightly on the back.

"I could heal a bit, before. Didn't have to be as cautious about personal injuries. I'm not as... as fast here. Can't move the kind of weight I'm used to moving."

He scratches the back of his neck with one hand. "Senses are duller. Taste already was, taste and touch, but now I can't hear or see as well as before either."

David clears his throat, looking a little like he was just forced to admit he wet his bed or something. "So there's that. And then not having a traditional weapon, though I can make do in that regard."

[viking_seer]

She nods along as he goes, and when he's done-

"How would you feel about me restoring your abilities and your senses, as well as your healing factor?" She'll give him a moment before- "And I'd like to provide you with a weapon, but we'd need to talk about that a little more."

[hostileterritory]

Maybe his hearing is worse than he thought. With the air of 'I beg your pardon':

"...Ma'am?"

[viking_seer]

She looks over at him with a raised eyebrow, but her tone is still steady and gentle as she continues.

"I asked how you'd feel about me restoring your abilities in full. And if you'd be willing to work with me on providing you a weapon."

[hostileterritory]

He can't find any kind of tripwire in her tone.

"That would. Be appreciated."

[viking_seer]

She nods and then she'll pull out her communicator.

"Hello, Admiral?" and she makes the request accordingly. Then she clicks off the communicator; no 'need to know' between them. Not from her. But the second request won't be until they've cleared a few things up.

"And what I'd like with the weapon is an agreement that if I provide you with a firearm, that, baring extenuating circumstances that would make it impossible, that's the weapon you use while we're paired. Acceptable?"

[hostileterritory]

She asked. Right there in front of him. Nothing feels different as yet, but she asked. At her stipulation, unexpected gratitude or not, his brows knit slightly. "The only one?"

[viking_seer]

She nods.

"You'd have a copy of my gun," and she'll pat the handgun in the holster at her hip. "And it'd work the same way: one shot knocks out anyone or anything, per the Admiral, no harm done to them other than maybe a headache if they hit the floor too fast on the way down. You need to stop someone or something? You can. And you won't kill them."

[hostileterritory]

"I see."

He does. It's sensible enough. He can't help resisting the prospect, and he can't entirely understand why.

[viking_seer]

Not an immediate agreement. She can't help but miss that. Especially given the offer.

She has some ideas about why, about what he really wants. Why he's an inmate after everything that happened to him.

"But not what you were hoping for."

[hostileterritory]

"I wouldn't say that. I wasn't really hoping for anything you've offered. Certainly wasn't expecting it."

He draws his chair out and sits again, slowly, watching her out of the corner of his eye to see if she's all right with him sitting down.

"How long does it last? The tranquilizer." For lack of a better word.

[viking_seer]

She considers that for a moment.

"They're put to sleep. I've only used it once, but he woke up about a half an hour later when my friend went to go check on him."

She walks over and takes her own chair.

"If you're concerned about locking someone down, I could specify at least five minutes to get them secured. What're you seeing as a use case for this that the length of unconsciousness is a concern?"