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(no subject)

Date & Time: May 10th
Location: Unit 409
Characters: Jesse & Kriem
Summary: She heads off with not only her gift in tow, but also with a thermos of soup while she goes to pay a visit to Jesse.
Warnings: na

[She had been happy with herself for getting what she did done. Her and Jake were settling into their new apartment, and she'd even managed to get some ingredients for miso soup! Not that they were the best ingredients, but the broth didn't need much.

Her steps were quiet while making her way down the hall. Kriem hadn't thought that Jesse might have moved since she last saw him before the crash. It hadn't entered her mind even while she reached up to juggle the few things in her arm before knocking on the door.

Kriem quickly hid her gift behind her back while waiting with a smile to see if Jess was home.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's okay, um.

[Normally he wouldn't answer, but because he knows her story and how much this must mean to her, he doesn't want to leave her thinking like he was some deadbeat who walked away without a second thought.]

It was real hard. But, you know, people are always saying a guy like me shouldn't be around kids. I used to get mad when they said that, but they're right. He deserved someone better. Him and his mom.

[The soup went forgotten at this point, even if Kriem was gripping her spoon a little more tightly than she should have. Lowering her spoon down, she abandoned it to the bowl as her hands came to sit against her lap. Fingers rubbed over her wrists, a subtle gesture she did to reassure herself even while she tried not to show any reaction to his words.]

Then I hope that your time here in this world will teach you otherwise, Jesse.

[He wanted to be with his child and the woman he sired him with. Maybe she was trying to impress her own wish on him, but even just knowing that he wanted to be with them again was more than enough for her.]

Even if it does, I can't ever see 'em again.

Why can't you see them again?

[He shrugs.]

I'm dead.

[The admittance had her silence again. So they really did have much more in common than even she had thought. Just like her, there was no happiness if they were no longer here.]

I'm sorry.

[That word felt hollow even to here. There was nothing that could be said that would feel anything but empty.]

[But Jesse shakes his head, returning his gaze to her so that he can offer her a weak smile.]

Don't be sorry. I like it here. Anyway, my life was over a long time ago. Even before I was killed. It was a long time coming and I probably oughta thank him for finally getting around to it, you know? Everything's better now.

[She couldn't return the weak smile with one of her own. Kriem could see how important his kid meant to him, and she couldn't imagine being parted from them. Even if it was a long time coming, did it mean that it should have come anyway?]

So long as you're happy.

[Kriem managed to finally offer him a smile, as small as it was. She meant those words as well. The conversation had left her shaken, but Kriem did what she could not to show it.]

This place seems to be one that gives second chances.

It totally is. A lotta people come here and all they see is the end of the world. But I think, even if we never get to go home, we can be happy here. Build something better. You know? I mean, we literally change history.

[ You have no idea how much she agrees with you on that. While she doesn't care about the Initiative's plans, she had been reunited with the only person who had ever made her happy. ]

Most people don't realize what they have until they've lost it. [ She had been the same and had taken Jake for granted when they'd first met all those years ago. ] Changing history can be dangerous. [ Kriem finally brought herself back enough to remember about the miso soup, and so she took another drink of it while those words hung on the air.] It's not something to take lightly.

I don't take it lightly.

[He seems to remember his miso at that same moment, shoveling a few more spoonfuls into his mouth.]

[Kriem seemed satisfied with his answer. This wasn't her world. It might not even be Jesse's original version either, but she wanted him to be careful in case they were connected.]

Do we actually see changes here in the future if the past is changed?

We do. The locals don't. Somebody explained it to me like... we exist outside their timeline. Whatever changes we make to their history, it don't change us. If we go back in time and kill Hitler with like, I dunno, a vat of acid - we'll come back and people here will be thinking Hitler always died that way. And everything that happens because of that, they'll think that's just how it always was.

[Who's Hitler? Kriem doesn't have a clue.]

So they cheat in order to win this war. [Okay so maybe they were already starting to cheat by bringing them all here, but if she remembered correctly, their enemies were already starting to invade their own worlds.]

"All's fair in love and war," right?

It's good to know who we're dealing with. Why fight with some rules when your enemy does not?

Exactly.

[That would just make things easier! She didn't want to get caught in a fight keeping to rules that simply wouldn't be there.]

Well that is something.

Is that how you're used to things?

It was how I preferred to do things. I valued keeping my word when I could. [And she did... So long as her word wasn't overruled by Jake.] Does that surprise you?

Not really. Nothing's real surprising anymore.

It's kinda rare, though. People get pretty mad about the way the Initiative runs things.

I suppose you're right about that.

If we're meant to be fighting this war for them, they're not doing a good job at keeping their soldiers happy. It isn't how I would plan operations.

They try. It's just, what most people want, the Initiative can't give. But if they can do it, they'll give you what you want. Just gotta ask.

I'll just have to see with my own two eyes.

Definitely. Don't take my word for it.