Tseng went walking in the halls in between the cabins, pacing in large, nervous circles, until he found himself out on the deck of the ship again. He walked around the various cargo crates, trying to find the place where he'd left Scarlet, hoping she'd still be there, but after several minutes of no success, he decided, in defeat, to return to the hallway. Elena's words about camaraderie kept ringing in his ears, not because of any particular eloquence on her part, but because of his own questions as to how much he wanted to buy in to her idea of what the Turks should be. Elena was a people person, a woman who got attached to other people, not because of any feminine cliché, but because she chose to, because she believed that that was the only way to get something out of life.
Tseng had always thought that he disagreed with her on that issue, had told her multiple times that she was crazy to try and form bonds in a world when they were easily broken by everything from forgetfulness to a gunshot. Tseng was a man of many means, and he'd been a man who had been privileged to many lovers over the years, and still, to this day, he couldn't say that he found any of them worth endangering your life, or your outlook on the same.
And yet, he realized, she had him wandering around in circles on the deck of a ship, searching for a woman with whom he'd shared the occasional intimacy, but nothing else, traveling with a band of wanted men, watching their homes get burned to the ground over the news that they couldn't stop long enough to discuss, because none of them were willing to bring in the others.
And speaking of that woman, he noted, glancing around in frustration, he had no idea where she'd escaped to. He had an insane urge to find her, to tell her that it was going to be all right, because they'd decided that she could stay on with them. Fighting down this desire, Tseng turned around, and made for his cabin, steeling himself for Elena's rebuke.
When he got there, however, there was only Reno, lounging on his bed, reading through his news journals with a disturbed grimace on his face. Tseng stopped in the doorway, and waited a few moments, until Reno looked up to meet his gaze.
"You didn't tell me about Fort Condor," Reno said, raising an eyebrow. Tseng shook his head, crossing to the bed, and seating himself next to Reno.
"I didn't tell anyone about Fort Condor," he said, then corrected himself. "Well, I showed Rude, but he didn't seem to put off by it."
Reno rolled his eyes. "Rude makes an effort to seem like he's not too bugged by anything." Then, with a half-accusatory, half-respectful look, he added "You taught him that, you know. He was never this taciturn, until he came under you."
Tseng sighed. "I'm just wonderful at bringing out the best in people," he muttered. Reno regarded him for a long time, then shrugged.
"Yeah," he said, with no rancor in his voice, "You are."
The two of them sat on the bed, leafing through the other sections of various news, until the door opened a crack, and Elena and Rude let themselves in. Without speaking, the two of them flanked Reno and Tseng on the bed, leaning over their shoulders to take a look at the journal.
Elena whistled appreciatively, and buried her face in one hand. "This just gets more and more exciting," she said with a sigh. Rude chuckled.
"Just like old times," he murmured. Elena nodded reluctantly. "Running from the authorities."
"We used to be the authorities," Tseng corrected him. "We were running from the bad guys."
"Who are now the good guys," Elena added helpfully.
Reno shook his head." Let's keep this to the basics, shall we?" He insisted. "We're the good guys. Anyone who isn't us is the bad guys. Anyone who isn't immediately classifiable is still a bad guy. Guilty until proven innocent. And the goal of our mission, as our own newfound heroes, is to get the hell out of here before the bad guys, i.e. everyone else, find out where "here" is. Got it?"
Elena chuckled. "Well, when you put it that way," she said, with a smile.
Rude poked Reno in the side. "Who made you king?" He asked.
But Tseng just looked at him for a long time, before scanning the faces of the other two, and then sighing, and shrugging with a little smile. "Got it," he said. Then he stood up, and walked over the ladder. Climbing up it, he heard Elena whisper something inaudible to Reno, before she stood up to return to her own room.
"Hey," she called from below him. "I'm going back to my cabin. I'll see you two in the morning."
"Night," Tseng called. "We're getting off this ship the day after tomorrow."
"Sure thing, boss," Elena called. "Night."
She walked to the door, turning around to raise an eyebrow at Reno. "Coming, bunkmate?" Then she stepped out, letting the door close behind her with a click Rude made a face at Reno, who pretend to ignore him, until Rude, in one fluid motion, shoved Reno off the bed and onto the floor.
"Bedtime," he insisted. "Get out."
"Whoa," laughed Reno, standing up and running a hand through his rumpled, flattened hair, "All right, all right, g'night to you too."
Back in his own cabin, Reno found Elena sitting at the desk at the far end of the room, scribbling something in a notebook. He walked over as quietly as he could, peering over her shoulder. She turned briefly to check the clock on the wall, and, noticing him, started, and almost fell out of the chair. "Jesus Christ, Reno," she muttered, "Don't sneak up on people, no matter how good you are at it."
"Nah," Reno grinned, "That's Rude's department, I'm the loud one, remember?"
"Oh yeah," muttered Elena, glaring at him, "I remember."
Reno glanced down at the papers in front of her, not quite quick enough to read them before she snatched them away and hid them in the drawer beneath her. "What you writing?" he asked. She didn't respond at first, but only shrugged, and shook her head. Then, after a moment, she added, "just a journal. Diary kind of thing. Just to keep track, in case…" She trailed off.
Reno cocked his head at her. "In case of what? In case you get old and senile and can't remember your friends?"
"Just in case," Elena countered.