"So what exactly are you dragging me to the mess hall for?" Gabriel spoke questionably, looking around himself at the many marines that had stopped to watch the female Spartan IV tugging on the male's arms until he finally submitted and sat down at a table with her.
"Let's be honest, you haven't had a good feed in ages" West replied happily, allowing all stress to wither away as she simply enjoyed a short meal with the male.
"What is this like a date?" The unarmoured Spartan IV questioned her again, bemused with the concept and rather awkward with the routines.

"Call it whatever you want" A voice called out to them all, the sharp and familiar tone of the lone ODST known as 'Robert', "It's still creeping the hell out of everyone in the cafeteria" he laughed outloud, his tone contrasting with simple humour with the hidden loss and sympathy of his squad-mate's death.
The hell-jumper sat down straight next to the unarmoured male who simply nodded and turned back to his own meal, grabbing a small canister of salt and spraying it all over his light regulated meal. Then without a pause, started consuming the meal roughly almost like a blood-thirsty animal.

"Jesus I knew you would be hungry" West laughed at him, watching over his violent progression through the meal. As Gabriel refused to answer, his entire self of being completely focused on consumption she turned back to the ODST and looked him up and down.
"How are you holding up?" She asked slowly, unsure on how Robert was truly feeling; he had lost all his squad-mates in the continuous stream of battles. The Hell-Jumper looked her straight back in the face, eyes not flinching for a second as he breathed in slowly.
"How any soldier of the UNSC is told to" He replied roughly, stabbing at the meal in front of him with a fork as he grumbled, "Get up and keep moving, don't turn back for those that have been left behind."

"I understand where you're coming from Robert" West continued carefully, making sure not to step on any pressure plates with her statements as she continued, "But there's nothing wrong with talking about it, we can still honour the dead by living."
The ODST took another deep breathe, obviously containing a raging battle inside of him as he continued to slowly calculate his next move, either on his plate or in the conversation, "I just feel like their deaths were in vain, they didn't die saving someone or doing something important; they died with only failure in sight."
Gabriel looked up from his meal, almost making a comment on the similarities' over the thoughts he had been feeling about as well; but then simply deciding to let it go and return back to his meal.

Robert continued to speak regardless, almost as if he was unleashing a heavy burden and load out if he simply said, "I wasn't even technically a part of the team, I was the rookie, the standby; but I still feel like I let them down when I watch Marko fall."
Finally the male Spartan IV spoke up, responding to the similar thought process by stating, "I trusted a Sangheili Zealot with my own life and the lives of those around me, but it all went to hell when he stabbed my friend in the back and decapitated Michael." He looped his head solemnly, forgetting the food as he remembered the brutal aspects of that day and how it had been his fault.

West looked at them both slowly, taking in the true pain and guilt that would be weighing them down for quite a while now; survivors guilt was one of the hardest to ever deal with. As she turned her head to the side and let her thick foliage of black hair fall she spoke, "I never truly appreciated my squad for who they were, they were all nothing but members of my team and I barely cared for any of them until their gone." She continued slowly, her voice drawn out in her own shared sympathy and guilt.

"To Grey White, my Sergeant and the man who was like a father to me" Robert raised his glass defiantly, almost shouting out his true passion for the man that had died for him; the same man who's reticule helmet he was wearing right now.
"To Michael, my squad mate and the man who was like a brother to me" Gabriel joined him roughly, clattering his own glass against the hell-jumper's with a loud clank that startled many onlookers.
"To East, my brother and the man who was basically nothing to me" West almost wept at the confirmation, she had barely cared for him until he had been ripped away from her and killed brutally by the Covenant.

The union of three glasses held on for a while, only threatening to break as all members returned back to their meals in solemn solitude without any more conversation or tear wrenching confessions. Instead they simply enjoyed each other's company, consuming a meal in complete silence together.
It was there one chance to be human.