trans_9 | Bendytime to before Shore leave

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Bendytime to before Shore leave

Iniss stared at the goop, poking it with the edge of his spoon. He'd selected a table just off center of the room. Not one of the corners, no, people hid in the corners when they didn't want to be found.

Which meant that was the first place anyone looked.

< Soylent Green is People. > Tom offered, as far withdrawn from his taste buds as he could currently get.

< I really don't care what it is. It provides what I need to survive. >

< But it tastes disgusting. >

< It's still food. Starvation wouldn't suit you any better than it suits anyone. >

< Ugh. >

He looked at the food, shrugged and took a bite.

It didn't matter what it tasted like, it was food. That was all that mattered.

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Cassie had been trying to find Tom/Iniss for a while now to where she kept the backpack with her in case she ever found him.

As chances were, now was the time and she did have his backpack. She needed to talk to Iniss as well so she sat down next to him, placing her own bowl of goop a little ways away from herself and placing the backpack on the table. "Not the best tasting thing, is it?" She asked, giving way to her presence before sliding the backpack a little ways over to him.

Everything was put back into the backpack. Everything except the dracon beam and computer of course. But it was better than nothing and something good to start off with.

Iniss physically started, blinking a bit to redirect his focus. He stared at her for a long moment, mute. Remembering when he had last seen her.

"Cassie."

His gaze shifted to the backpack, face twisting a bit before he looked away, back to the goop. "It's manageable. I prefer it to the alternative."

< Hi Cassie. I think if we had some hot sauce it'd taste a little bit better. Though it's still worse than the cafeteria's mystery meat. >

She nodded with a small smile. After what had just happened not too long ago, she was sure he would understand what she was was going to say. "I think we all do," she said in agreement. "No one would want to starve."

"It's not going to bite. I just thought you might want your things back." She said softly after seeing his response to the backpack.

His lips twisted into a wry smile, completely lacking humor. "No, it's an unpleasant way to die all around."

He paused, studying her out of the corner of his eye and taking a slow, careful bite of the gloop, chewing and swallowing before he spoke again. "I'm not taking that until I know what your price is, Cassie. No free lunches, as the saying goes."

She knew he would be cautious after what just happened, so it didn't bother her. "Yes, it is. I'm glad you didn't die that way."

She shook her head a bit. "No price... it's missing the dracon beam and computer though," she spoke honestly. "But everything else should be there. I know I want something from home with me, so why should I keep that from someone else?"

"It was a near thing." He leaned back from his plate, turning to face her. "If you're so opposed to killing, why did you go along with them? Or is it ok to torture someone into seeing your perspective?"

His hand itched to reach for the backpack, but he laced them together instead, resting his chin on his palm. "You kept my computer? Why?" He didn't ask about the weapon, he knew they wouldn't give it back.

She looked troubled at the thought of just how close it was. "They're my friends," she started even though there was a lot of... controversy within her own thoughts lately. "We all want Tom free... but the plan was set before I woke up here. If I wasn't there, someone else would have been, and they may not have been so keen to save you. Not that close to..." She let the sentence drift off.

"I brought what I could. The others wanted to keep it for something." She replied to why there was no computer there.

"So..." His lips twisted, turning back to his plate. "I just went along with the empire. I took my host as he was assigned to me. That means I'm innocent of any wrong doing, right? Someone inform the Andalites. If I hadn't been here, someone else would have, obviously." His voice was soft, speaking mostly to the muck on his plate. "Is guilt so easily absolved by the plan not being your own?" He looked at her sideways. "I didn't tell the ship you were involved."

He sighed, bringing up a hand to rub the bridge of his nose. "And what do they want in return, Cassie? The codes to my computer? My compliance in another attempt to kill me?"

"Thank you," she replied at first to his confession about not telling the ship. It made her a little weary but at the same time, maybe it would be easier to get closer to him. "Your right. If it wasn't you, it would be someone else. Possibly worse, possibly better, but he still wouldn't have been freed. I wasn't trying to displace my guilt, I've had to deal with a lot after learning of the invasion. I just wanted to be there for a better way out for you both. If I was good at science in a way to help them I would help. It would make it sooner for Tom freed and you to keep the sight and mobility of humans."

"I don't know if they want anything in return for the computer. I think when they're done with it, someone else might give it back but I'm not sure."

"You're welcome." He didn't know why he hadn't. Save that she had been kind to him, and had been the only one who had been kind to him. It seemed wrong to punish her for that kindness. "But that's already an option. I need the time to see it to fruition, but it is an option. But your judgmental friends can't see both sides, can they Cassie? I'm a yeerk. I'm in their friend. No matter what other answers there might be, killing me is the easiest answer."

He sighed, then reached for the backpack, poking around inside it for a moment to make sure everything was accounted for. "Thank you. I don't think your friends will give my computer back."

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Bendytime to before Shore leave

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