un: maine | @everyone (ota)

[bloodbathing]

Technology's archaic.

[ Well, that's one way to introduce oneself. Insult the technology. Like an asshole. ]

Year you're from? [ Then, as an afterthought: ] Mine's 2547.


[ private @ wash ]

[ Guess what, buddy? Maine's got the Best News Ever: ]

Found soap.

[ BEST. NEWS. EVER. ]

Comments

[bloodbathing]

Don't want beard?

[notyourrookie]

Not really. Sounds itchy.

[bloodbathing]

Damn right. Worst.

[ He feels quite vindicated that Wash agrees on that front. ]

[notyourrookie]

Never tried.

[bloodbathing]

Missing nothing.

[ And, after a moment: ]

Long mission, once. Shitty conditions. Bad hygiene. Couldn't shave.

Worst.

[notyourrookie]

Yeah, sounds it. At least we usually had short missions... with the Project.

[bloodbathing]

[ Short missions, indeed. Experimental armor and weapons don't get sent places they can't be easily retrieved. ]

Boring, sometimes.

[ Training, training, and more training. Maine wants to improve as much as anyone — but fuck, what he wouldn't give for some real combat sometimes. Send him deep behind enemy lines and let him rip those fuckers apart.

It's not something he'd admit to anyone but Wash. Possibly because anyone but Wash would wind up landing him more training. Or perhaps because of what it is: a personal opinion that hints — however vaguely — at discontent. Can't have something like that out in the open in such a competitive environment. ]

[notyourrookie]

Enjoy the boring while it lasts.

[It wasn't going to stay like that for long. Not as the project kept going, kept sending them into worse situations with less intel, or at least, less accurate intel. Kept winnowing them down.]

[bloodbathing]

[ It's hard for Maine to ignore something when it's literally spelled out in front of him. Hard for him to dismiss it as merely an odd comment when it's so blatant. For all that he's suspected — especially as he's learned more about this place — Maine hasn't asked when Wash is from.

But now? ... He doesn't know how to interpret that statement as anything other than an indication that Wash is from the future.

Well. Time to bite the bullet. ]

Year you're from?

[notyourrookie]

[A slip up, sent carelessly. Or maybe he'd been wanting to talk about it, let Maine know. he can't quite figure it out himself. No hiding from it now anyway.]

2554

[bloodbathing]

[ 2554...?!

For a while, Maine just stares at that date. Seven years. Seven fucking years between them. Seven years in which something happened to Wash — and Maine potentially years too late to help make anything better.

Fucking— ]

Shit.

[ An acknowledgment of the message. An admittance that he's pretty fucking floored by it. That he's working on forming more coherent thoughts.

Fuck. No wonder Wash looks different. ]

[notyourrookie]

[At least he can rely on Maine not to get overly demonstrative about it, although that one word is pretty freaked out for him.]

Yeah.

[bloodbathing]

[ Pretty freaked out, indeed. At least Maine already suspected that Wash might be from the future. He just didn't think it would be seven years.

But he doesn't ask what's happened. Not to Wash; not to anyone else. His best friend has seen seven more years of the war. Why would Maine press for details?

(It doesn't cross Maine's mind that the war might be over.)

So when he responds, it's not with a question. It's an observation: ]

Old.

[ ... A rude observation, but hey. Could be worse. ]

[notyourrookie]

[Out of everything Maine could have said, that's probably the nicest. Or at least the easiest thing he could say. Anyone else would have a million questions, demand answers that he isn't sure how to give. ]

Wow, rude. Asshole.

[bloodbathing]

True!

[ No, he's not demanding answers. And he's also not apologizing for being an ass. Wash is old! This is a Fact. ]

[notyourrookie]

You don't have to say it! I'm not that fucking old.

1/4 i'm sorry

[bloodbathing]

O

2/4

[bloodbathing]

L

3/4

[bloodbathing]

D

done

[bloodbathing]

:)

Re: done

[notyourrookie]

I'm not even 30!

[bloodbathing]

Close?

[notyourrookie]

Not too far off.

[bloodbathing]

Pretty old.

[notyourrookie]

Not that old! You're older than me!

I mean, you should be older than me.