"Alright- now that we're all here...
-What the FUCK is going on?!"
Bernice slammed both her hands on the table that she stood over aggressively, drawing the attention of everyone in the bar... save for Toothless Bob. It was practically empty, except for the members of the staff meeting and him- he was doing his own thing in the far corner... and probably not dead. The roll call was simple, and short...ish. Her, Brax, Roda, Jack, Peter, Joseph, Jason, and... Jason. Except for the last one, that was a little more complicated. This was an interesting way to start things off, for sure. But she needed answers from who was there, and not being on the same page was getting far too much in the way.
Roda crossed her arms and leant back in her seat, looking up at Benny. "What I wanna know. Hoping one of you could answer that. I've been sort of watching Gallifrey- but here? I mean, I didn't even want to be at this staff meeting. No offence." She blew a hair out of her face and shrugged. There was a lot to talk about for her already, and she'd been here less than a month, nor was she a regular employee.
Jack pouted. "You don't want to be here- not even with free drinks?"
But she conceded. Yeah, these were too good- and it was too hard to seem mean to Jack. "...Only because of free drinks."
Clearing his throat to gather everyone's eyes back to him, Braxiatel stated the facts. "Well, Roda- you would likely be more aware of the situation than most... To the rest of you- an artefact that was meant to stabilise the very fabric of time has been stolen and shattered, causing... oddities. Even by the standards set here, they are getting particularly messy, and we need to decide how we're going to handle those oddities."
Jack's eyes flickered and he grumbled. "Fun. And Roda says the commlink thing is making it worse?"
"Yep," she nodded.
Benny scoffed. "Well, that's not a problem at all, is it?" She knew about that part already, but that didn't make it better.
"It very much is a problem, Bernice."
"Oh shut up, Joseph," she shot back.
The visibly older Jason- the one from here, pointed back and asked, "Is that why there's another me sulking over there?"
Brax straightened his tie and inspected his brandy. "A likely explanation. For your existence. Not for the sulking. But I was just going to chalk that up to being unlucky."
"I'm not sulking!" the recently arrived Jason cried. He also knew deep down that both of these theories were wrong, but not why. He was here for a reason. This wasn't some accident, he felt it. But Brax not knowing was still weird. It had to be him, right?
But the other one corrected it. "Yes, you are. You're not the only unlucky one, Brax. He's worse than the clones."
"That you made. For uncomfortable reasons," Benny spat. Having to deal with those was another several tonnes of burden unto itself.
"Nobody's perfect!"
Peter rolled his eyes and his tiny tail drooped. "Goddess. Uncle Jason, please stop talking now. I don't wanna know."
Roda took a swig. "At least your very long-dead childhood so-called guardian and his friends aren't popping up from time to time making threats. Two versions of your girlfriend's ex is nothing, comparatively."
"Oh, I'm well aware that there are worse people who could decide to make an appearance..." But that was Brax being objective. Subjectively, however- this was just barely true.
"Many, many, many worse people. A lot of bad people have come here," Bernice added.
"Great defence, thanks."
Roda listed the 'problems' out on her fingers. "The Master, some assorted nuisances, Rassilon, and apparently now Omega. Of all the people to turn up, we get everyone but Enla-?" but she stopped, realizing that was something personal and probably not worth fussing about... yet.
Irving's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?" But he didn't continue down that path of questioning, and just sat up straighter, discreetly fixing his cufflinks in nervousness- which he'd already done several times tonight. "...I'm just hoping to get away without an appearance from my mother."
She was about to explain before he dismissed her. "The nice founder of Gallif- Oh, never mind."
His eyes widened. "Founder? ...We don't have time to unpack all that, so let's put a pin in it for now. Alright then... what to do?" He offered everyone up to pitch in suggestions.
"We still haven't actually made anything resembling a plan," Roda groaned.
"Yeah, but the Rabbit's still closed for like an hour," Peter pointed out.
Benny half-jokingly commented, "Fair warning, Roda- do not use the word 'plan' in a context at this scale in front of Braxiatel."
But she didn't get it. "Okayyyy..."
"But, no. No, we haven't." Then, actually making a useful note, Bernice pointed toward both near-identical men sitting in different spots. "Jasons- the only reason you're here is that for the Collection at least you're patient zero. And we don't want you touching each other by mistake. The rest of us are competent."
"Even me?" Jack pouted, ears pointed down.
Roda reassured him. "Don't sell yourself short, Jack. ...The one time 'short' and 'Jack' are ever going to be in the same sentence. Ever."
Peter put a furred hand to his snout. "Sorry, but that's sorta... really wrong. Jack is... barely. At what he's supposed to do, anyway. Cocktails? Warp drives? Cards? Sure, apparently. Actually putting effort into things when he's in charge? Nope," and shook his head.
"The one time I'm even remotely self-deprecating, that gets latched onto..." Jack murmured.
"Nah, he's good," Roda protested, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Why, thank you- here's your drink," he slid it to her.
"I may need one of those too, if you don't mind," Irving requested.
"Of course, Irving. And Benny goes without saying," he smirked back at a Bernice that was rolling her eyes.
"Thanks, Jack. And I know I'm one to talk, but at this rate, we'll all be plastered by the time we know anything particularly useful." Regardless, she made her order- a strong gin.
Roda gave her a sideways glance. "I can't speak for your tolerance but I imagine Braxiatel and I can drink a fair amount before it becomes a problem."
"Depends what we're drinking," Bernice answered. It was obvious enough- if there was even a little ginger involved and she tried hard enough, she could outdrink him. Not that they regularly attempted that- what Benny did to her liver so consistently was already cruel enough.
Brax stood and tapped his glass with a spoon, "Quiet, everyone! Oh, to hell with this... Joseph, what's the likelihood of the universe collapsing into total nonexistence with the state of how things are now? Use the communications partition as a reference point for the acceleration rate." His order was clear and easy for a robot to process. It would just take a few minutes for him to weigh the variables, and- oh. It was already done.
"98.60777... recurring."
"We've had worse odds," Benny tried to say.
But Irving sighed and shook his head. "...Nevermind, we haven't. If you're optimistic about a percentile chance, Bernice- that's a sign to always trust the opposite."
"Oi!"
"Mum, Irving's right, ya know."
Jack nodded, sliding in to pass a refill to Benny and brandy to Irving. "Uh huh. Benny Surprise Summerfield, you could have a new law of science just based around your extraordinary latent effects on probability."
"I believe that principle already exists. It is called 'Murphy's Law,'" Joseph pitched in.
Benny tapped her foot and rolled her eyes at the remarkable team snark. "Ha, ha. Very funny, all of you. But Brax, there's a question I've been meaning to ask for a long time now. I can't ignore it anymore and it just might be relevant... Why are your memories so... scattered? You remember things I've never told you, things that didn't happen here, sometimes- but it's never clear. Has this been making you remember your other self? Or have you not been telling the truth with me..."
Brax blinked, not quite sure what to say. He hardly knew what Braxiatel he was sometimes, rarely truly certain when something was actually out of place. Even if he was, often he had trouble piecing together what. Yes, there was the head-splitting, burning agony of experiencing several timelines at once- but this was different than that. Like they faded in and out of each other. Like his mind passed through one into another, or they would briefly meet to give him all of himself. It was sporadic, but not aggressive. And he didn't like thinking about it too hard. If he did, he'd eventually convince himself that all Braxiatels truly were the same and that all the combined sins that every single one had committed were his.
And that she'd blame him for them just as Jason seemed to do.
So he told her the truth.
"I- I don't know, Benny. I'm... not quite sure myself. It is a tad concerning, I give you that. But perhaps that's best spoken about in private."
One Jason gave a knowing stare but luckily kept his mouth firmly glued shut.
A few seconds of pause and Braxiatel merrily clapped his hands together. "Now, we should probably actually focus on the way we'll deal with the imminent destruction of the universe- especially with the Collection being a particularly unstable point in the timelines."
Roda huffed, looking everyone over. "Well, we're looking for pieces of an ancient macguff- artefact. An archaeologist, a criminal and a whatever Braxiatel calls his skillset is probably a good group of people to start with."
"Only one criminal?" Benny joked.
She clicked her tongue. "Ah. You know, the fact it hadn't occurred to me that pretty much everybody here probably is... is pretty impressive given one of the nicest people's natural response to the request of keeping someone in a place is tying them to a chair. But fine. One serious criminal." She corrected herself.
Brax chuckled. "That's still an understatement. Speaking in purely hypothetical terms, anyway. Officially, no crimes ever happen here, Roda," he added firmly.
"Except murder!" Jason exclaimed.
"Except murder," he conceded.
"Except murder..." Peter sighed.
Roda cringed. There was a lot she wanted to know about this place... but there were also a number of reasons why she was yet to ask much of anything about it. This reminder being one of them.
Bernice started asking questions to get everyone in the loop. "So, what is the artefact called? If we're going to research anything, that's gotta be a start."
Braxiatel did his best to explain, "It's called the Seal of Time. It's pretty much what it says on the tin. Round, a seemingly ceramic base material, inscribed Gallifreyan- one of the main objects remaining from the anchoring of the thread... so sealing time. Is there anything else you'd like to know? I was High Chancellor of Gallifrey, after all- I am familiar with most of the contents of the vaults..." subtly boasting at the end.
"Were you?" Roda gave a pointed look.
"Yes?" He looked confused about her being suspicious of that.
"Sometimes I call him that in... never mind." Benny's mouth nearly ran away with her before Braxiatel caught her eye and made a shushing gesture, which she immediately followed with a gulp of gin. Not in front of the employees. Or Jason. Or Peter.
This was the first time Jason laughed about their relationship. Both did. Jack scoffed, but Peter only rolled his eyes, making a distinct effort not to blurt out 'Mum?!' in the most shocked and indignant tone possible. But Roda missed it, just processing the idea of Irving Braxiatel being High Chancellor.
"...Huh."
"Though for most of my time I've just been a high-ranking Cardinal, I was also president for a couple of hours at one point," he added.
Roda rolled her eyes. "Look, I was out of the loop on Gallifreyan politics for a long t- ... PRESIDENT?!"
"Is that really so hard to believe?" He held out his brandy to the light.
She sighed, falling into her own drink. "Well, I only really knew one and you're much more tolerable. Also, you won an asteroid in a bet and run a museum. You have to imagine those two images don't line up. Except for the... whole thing for total control you've got going on."
"Brax is just an aristocrat in more ways than you can count. Possibly all of them, somehow."
Explaining it less simply than Bernice did, Braxiatel continued, "Well, I hate to break it to you, but there have been an awful lot of presidents of Gallifrey, they're not all the same. For the large part, the 'thing for total control' as you so eloquently put it being one of few more or less constant factors. And as for the running a museum despite not typically displaying as renegade... I have extenuating circumstances." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not wanting to meet another Time Lord's eye in that.
Bernice sighed and placed down her glass. "Anyway- we're going in circles, again."
Jason didn't seem to be getting any of this. "We're going in a circle? Because I'm lost."
Jack's eyes flickered and his ears flopped down in his exhaustion. "With how much you've drank lately, Jason, you couldn't walk in a straight line, let alone a circle."
Roda shot one Jason a glare. "Not sure you were part of the plan unless you fancy being tied to a chair again. Or was that the other you?"
"...It was me."
The other one recoiled. "Luckily. And I don't really wanna be part of this anyway, thanks."
Irving scoffed at Jason. "Good, though tying you to a chair anyway I wouldn't be against. This is why I keep my office door locked."
"Among other reasons," Benny added.
"Ineffectively," Roda commented. "...Not that I've broke in again since... that, but the lock could do with an upgrade."
He flushed red. "Uh- yes. Noted. Joseph, please update the lock on my study. Again." He paused, uttering the second part so quiet that only a machine could pick it up, "...And Bernice's for good measure."
"Indeed, Mr Braxiatel. Time allotted for task."
"So. Getting the seal pieces. Our plan." Remembering the 'don't say plan' thing Benny mentioned, Roda reworded it."...Plot. Scheme?"
"Itinerary," Bernice corrected.
She went with it. "Alright, itinerary. One: Ask around for any weird pottery or whatever. Two: Find pieces, steal pieces, return pieces. Three: Keep duplicates of ourselves at arm's length. Four: Try not to temporally combust."
"Three and four are not strictly necessary. I've touched my duplicates before with little ill effect." He himself suffered little ill effect, of course. Physically, at least. Said duplicates, however... did not last very long.
"I'd just rather not, it's a... temporal headache," Roda mumbled.
Brax made a so-so gesture with his brandy. "...Well, one of the few ill effects of the situation was a literal headache- but I digress."
Bernice sighed, "Still not a good sign that we've done all four. And there's more doubles that used to be around here than just Jason. There's two of me too. The other one is just poncing about the universe goddess knows where."
This world's Jason groaned. "That was just great to figure out."
"You weren't supposed to!" she shouted.
"Yeah, like that makes it better," he sighed.
Joseph butted in, specifically to chastise Bernice. "For the purposes of conversation, I will call your universe's Jason, Jason Prime, and this one's, Jason Beta. There was a high likelihood of Jason Beta discovering you, Bernice. Spending so much time with him in the earlier years greatly increased your chance of garnering suspicion."
He was right, and Benny did not have time for Joseph being right at the moment, so she groaned and waved him off, sipping at her drink. "Joseph, don't speak unless spoken to. And thanks, all of you. But fine. I'll admit it. It should be said. To those that don't know- some of this is probably not the bloody artefact's fault. I'd bargain even most of it isn't. Here, at the Collection, Brax and I did something stupid and risky and broke as many laws of time as there are hairs on my head... retroaction from a different timeline."
"You committed retroaction!?" Roda shouted, eyes wide and nearly spitting out her drink.
Wincing, Benny nodded. "A lot of it. Nearly fifteen years of it, actually."
Calming herself, Roda snarked back, "You weren't kidding when you said you play fast and loose with the laws of time, Braxiatel." That was actually impressive, in its own roundabout way.
Irving's answer was about as clear as mud. "I wouldn't just out and say it if it weren't true. That sort of bluff could be used as a false confession, and if I'm going to be punished for my crimes, they should at least be decent enough to have the correct ones."
She chuckled back softly. "Alright, that's a sentiment I sympathize with."
"But..." Bernice crossed her arms and looked away from everyone uncomfortably, "...If we went a step too far with it, this could all just be the consequences coming to bite us in the arse. Which is a very Brax thing to go and happen and honestly would not surprise me."
Peter raised his concerns with all of this. He wasn't talking much, trying to see how everything went, but that wasn't reassuring at all. "And that could make it dangerous to live here? Because you wanted happily ever after with Irving?"
"With Jason, originally, actually. Not anymore though, as you can tell."
"Oi!"
Brax grumbled. "Oh, do be quiet, Mr Kane. Peter... I'm afraid I don't know. Probably not... at least not yet. But I'll do everything in my power to keep this... family... safe."
Peter muttered something to himself and got up to leave. "I gotta go. Check on Diego. Y'know, rather be with him now. Send Joseph or something if I miss anything important."
"Aww... see you later. Love you!" Benny waved back at her son.
"Mum!"
Embarrassed, Peter shuffled away, out of the Rabbit as quickly as possible. Nobody was really quite sure what to think about that. Benny would definitely have to visit him about it and talk things out. But there was nothing anyone could really do.
"Jason, feel free to go too, this isn't involving you anymore." Brax waved the Jasons off.
This wasn't a suggestion, this was an order, and both knew it- so they stumbled out behind him as quickly as they could.
Roda groaned. "Alright, so we're down a head of security. At least those guys are gone. But really. Collection or no, this still is a universe-ending catastrophe. Braxiatel, you said you know about the vaults and what it actually looks like. What exactly are we looking for?"
"Well, I don't know what it looks like now- but I knew what it looked like when it was whole," Brax answered.
Benny raised a question. "-Could you maybe... scribble it your best on a napkin? I can't exactly read Gallifreyan, but matching and assembling bits of text? Basic stuff."
Bernice didn't really know what to think of her suggestion. He might not remember the details, or it would be too basic to garner any meaning, or it was too generic to catch. That was stupid. She regretted asking almost immediately. But when Irving said, "I suppose I could doodle something, yes," she visibly widened her eyes and quickly started rummaging for a pen after passing him a napkin.
But, of course, as always, he already had one of those in his top pocket.
"I'm curious myself. And I can read Gallifreyan. ...Ancient or Modern?" Roda asked.
"Old High. Mine is a little rusty, but I took that class at the academy. Wouldn't you know since I mentioned something so far back?" Brax placed on his half-moon spectacles and began to draw.
She didn't fight him on it but stated her reason. It was quite a justified one, after all. "It could've always been altered with their editing of history- but I'm fluent. Let's see your handwriting..."
Roda and Benny both keenly watched him concentrate and sketch out the seal, drawing the inscription based on the shapes more than writing it- shading and depth, lighting and shadows somehow appearing smooth and near-perfect with every stroke of the pen on the uneven paper. It looked like it was a real object simply sitting on it, not an image. Their jaws dropped when he finally placed down the pen.
"There."
Blinking twice and shaking herself out of it, Roda rolled her eyes, sliding the piece towards herself for a better look. "'I can doodle something' he says."
Braxiatel only shrugged nonchalantly. "I did it in five minutes- it's a doodle. Chiaroscuro shading is a little difficult with a ballpoint- but I worked with what I had." It seemed like nothing.
"And on a napkin," Bernice's eyes narrowed.
"Your handwriting's passable," Roda mentioned offhandedly.
Brax scoffed. "I beg your pardon- my handwriting is flawless. "
Being the annoying over-correcter, for once, Roda read into every detail. "Maybe for someone who learned it as a second language. Look, alright, it's good, but you're circling the wrong way."
Brax shook his head. It had to be right, or his memory was failing him further. He knew deep in his bones what it looked like. He didn't know why, but he did. "I drew the inscription as an image, not the individual words. The appearance matters more here, given my arc-" he stammered, trying to seem a little less possessive- "our archaeologist is human. That's simply how it looked. And it was ensured I was taught flawless technique, you must not be as good as you think. It's a dead language, you know."
"Alright, fine. But dead language..." she rolled her eyes at him seeming so sceptical. Nowadays, nothing was good at staying dead. Even though she wasn't aware of his exploits, if anyone was familiar with that, it was Braxiatel.
"There's only one person confirmed alive who can actually speak it- that's rather dead to you, isn't it?"
"...Two," she corrected. "Anyway. Can I get a top-up, Jack?"
"Oh dear Roda, of course you can. I'm billing it all to Jason."
"Weird choice," Benny looked at him pointedly. But she was hardly complaining about that.
"He didn't pay last time..." Jack chided.
Pulling the constantly derailing conversation was difficult for everyone, so Bernice commented on the newest tidbit of information. "So- Old High Gallifreyan relic drawn on a napkin. What does it say?"
Roda read it aloud. It sounded less like the sing-song Bernice sometimes heard and was more familiar with- and more like a garbled cough with a lot of phlegm.
"Gesundheit. But... what does it say?" Benny asked again.
"Excuse me, what? Yes, Braxiatel. I was reading- fluently- a dead language, in the hopes your girlfriend would pick up on some clues about it." She sipped her drink, repeating the coughing sound.
"That was it? I thought you were choking on your drink." Benny glanced around, somewhat apologetic that she assumed that.
"It's better written," Roda nodded. That was an understatement. It was a pretty carving- but that was about it.
Braxiatel shushed Roda. "Bernice is an accomplished archaeologist hired on merit and now one of your colleagues. Please do not simply refer to her as my girlfriend." It was still the word. So... infantilizing. And the fact that it was more than that didn't help matters.
"Yes, sorry. I was snipping at you, Braxiatel, not Professor Summerfield. Honestly, I can read it fine, but I don't have a hope in Skaro of figuring out what it's getting at. Looks like gibberish even to me. That's her expertise, right?" She pointed to Bernice. There was no context for any of this, and maybe it would make more sense with somebody whose job description was trying to fit things into context.
Benny tapped her chin thoughtfully and sipped at her drink. "If it looks like nonsense to a fluent speaker-" she was about to say something, but got cut off by Brax.
"If she's fluent and not just humiliating herself by lying about it..." he rolled his eyes. To him, Roda was practically a troubled teenager. The idea that she knew any of this and wasn't making it up for clout was absurd and the chances were ridiculously low. But Benny continued.
"Thank you, Brax. ...It could be some sort of password- or in code," she explained.
"Could be," Roda nodded, resting her chin on folded hands. It was an interesting hypothesis, at the very least. And she wasn't giving her the flack that Braxiatel was- probably taking what she said with a grain of salt, but not dismissing it altogether. "But... no idea what it's for."
Benny clicked her tongue, resigned to looking for a different avenue. These searches always had to start off difficult. "But- alright, if we can't get at that, then what's the actual material? We need something we can search it up from. Chemical analyses, tests on its properties, that sort of thing."
Brax looked over at the white orb floating a few feet from him, removing his half-moon glasses and clearing his throat to speak up and give the robot an order. "That, I'm afraid, is going to take a rather lot more effort. But I'll do a search on the record of Gallifreyan objects here, check if there's anything from the era that seems similar and do a test on that. Joseph, please mark that as a point of interest once you're reconnected to the database."
"Indeed I will, Mr Braxiatel," he beeped.
"Good."
"And I can donate my old textbooks, they might have something about that," Roda pitched in, huffing. Those might be of some use, if they were lucky. "Alright. So subjects to research, a 'doodle,' and about 12 percent of a plan." She paused again. "...Itinerary."
"Roughly 2.38 percent, actually," Joseph corrected.
Jack swung by Roda with a fresh glass of... something green. He hadn't been paying much attention, just refilling glasses and tuning out the chatter, save for her last sentence. Rocking back and forth on his heels, he chuckled. "All things considered though, that sounds a like a lot more than you were expecting.'
"Yes it is, actually," she huffed back.
Putting a hand to his heart, Jack went for soft and cheesy. "At least we've all gotten something truly fulfilling out of this experience."
Roda raised an eyebrow. Either she didn't pick up on that, or wanted to know if he meant anything by it.
"What about you? Any suggestions?"
Jack shook his head and waved it off. "Oh no, probably not, I'm afraid. Unless you told Irving about the incident- I don't have a word on the matter."
Brax tilted his head forward suspiciously at the remark.
"Incident?"
Roda sighed and put her head in her hands. "No, didn't tell him about that, but thanks for the reminder."
Brax looked between Roda and Jack. He'd spilled it. Well, this was awkward.
"Something I should know about?"
Roda's head fell into her crossed arms, and her answer was muffled. "The cliff notes, probably."
Jack made a face, and tried to spin it in a lighter way, but was bound to rip the bandage off wrong with how things went between them. "Err- well. Irving... you know how I used to be a lawyer?" he stammered out.
This already wasn't going places Brax liked, and it showed, every inch of his features looking suspicious.
"Yes?"
Roda pitched in. "And Gallifreyan biology is basically early eugenics?" and failed to elaborate any further, ruining the more pleasant approach Jack was going for.
Brax's expression fell only to puzzlement. "...What?"
Jack failed to word it well, and it just let the ball drop. "Well, I... maybe threatened to bring a founding member of your society to court?"
"WHAT?"
In a much quieter voice, he added, "...Please don't fire me."
Roda raised a finger to draw Irving's attention back. "In Jack's defence, Omega was being... really abrasive. And it was hilarious."
Brax took a sharp exhale and straightened his cufflinks. "Of course he did, he's Omega." Pausing for dramatic effect, he added a harsh stare. "...I'm watching you, Jack."
Jack's eyes darted left and right, never landing on Irving again, feigning total ignorance. "Did you hear something? Nah..." Pretending nothing happened and that no one was even in the bar, he not-so-discreetly slipped away into the back room.
Bernice groaned. "Goddess! Can't we just have one single normal day around here!?"
Falling back in her chair, Roda sighed. "Apparently not."
"...Maybe I was better off in that TARDIS..." Benny muttered to herself quietly, staring down into her gin. There were days when she missed that, even with the lows, and even though there were no constants, there was nothing to remind her of the pain of her past. She could run from everything, and right now she wished she could.
That immediately drew Brax's attention, and his voice softened. "Benny, don't say that..."
Noticing Brax's worry, she brushed it off, but was still obviously annoyed and melancholy. "-I wasn't seriously thinking it. I'm just... tired. I won't just run away, Brax," she promised.
Not at all reassuring, he promised back, in a particularly ominous tone, "We both know I would find you if you did-" then paused for a moment, running across what he'd just said and the connotations of the way he phrased it- "...That came across rather creepier than intended."
Roda shot a glance. "You think?"
"It's probably just the booze talking..." Benny commented.
Not about to get involved in a possible lover's quarrel, getting up and taking her coat, Roda pointed towards the door. As their constantly derailing train of a roundtable finally managed to reach the station, she got off while it was still there. "...Right. Well, I'm gonna... go. But if you find anything and need me to go break and enter, or if Bernice needs help translating those textbooks when I deliver them, you know how to find me. On that not at all creepy note, I'm off." She pulled her coat on and started walking out, waving goodbye.
But Benny shouted back, trying to distract herself from what was said. "Wait- Roda! Wanna come back sometime when Jack's not hiding, have a proper night? Get to know each other a bit?"
She froze and just thought about the offer for a bit. "...Why not? Suppose I'll pull the books out early and bring them to you later. Lemme know if you have any questions then, then!" She waved properly this time and pulled the glass door open, about to walk out across the green, but let go and turned around again.
"Probably gonna be too drunk for note-taking, let's just have fun," Benny smiled. A break would be welcome. From all of this. "Tomorrow?"
Roda nodded and turned back towards the door. They could sit back, relax. 'The Redjay' probably needed that too.
"See you soon!" she waved.
Joseph broke away too, following Roda out the door while it was still open and bobbing in the air akin to nodding. "I must go connect to the database to fulfil your request. I will be waiting in your office, Mr Braxiatel."
Tired, he sighed. "Alright, Joseph. Goodbye."
And that left Bernice and Braxiatel sitting together again at a table, alone. That last comment of hers about things made the silence bitter and strained, and Brax's eyes wrinkled with concern as he placed a hand on hers.
She wouldn't leave, would she?
