A/N: Second chapter, getting pretty heated. We're getting somewhere. Hope someone enjoys this read.

Dinner time came quickly. Vincent still wore his suit all tied up in spite of the cool air that leaked into the main compartment of the Rabbit. Re-l watched as he opened a can of pet-food smelling meat, earning a crinkled nose from Re-l as it slid onto a place in front of her. Still, from their conversation before, it seemed necessary for her to swallow back her ill feelings and eat the bounty he displayed before her. She looked up at him, to which he gave a sympathetic angled look as she dipped her spoon into the meat mound and took a bite. The taste was not as bad as the smell of it, but she closed her mind and continued eating. As she swallowed a second bite, she watched him prepare his own plate, working carefully with a knit browline trying to shake the shaped meat out.

She grabbed a bit of the dressing she once repelled to change the taste a bit, in hopes of gaining the strength to finish the meal. He looked up at her and laughed, his eyes focused on her expression as she tested the meat with a careful, slow slurp. She shuddered but swallowed and shook her head helplessly letting out a bit of a laugh. "That didn't help at all," she muttered, meeting his gaze.

"I'd settle for a little salt," Vincent said in return.

"I'd sell my guns for a little pepper," Re-l countered, leaning back. She continued eating, the shivers dissipating with time.

Vincent shook his head, taking a moment to tap his hands together and mutter a quickly-worded prayer before diving in himself. She ate uninterrupted for a while, the silence between them filled by the sounds of Pino's playing on deck and the breathing between them as they exchanged glances between bites. He was taller now, it seemed. Although she realized this long ago, she wasn't sure whether or not his realization of his Proxy self had actually physically changed him, or if perhaps he just seemed different because of what happened in Ramdeau. He certainly looked less weak, less fragile. And she knew without much convincing he was much stronger than her, and yet she was calm. The proxy inside was no less dangerous than before, but there was a level security in knowing that, for once, something was stronger than her.

His eyes, green and reflective, hooded a bit as he watched her in a way she was not accustomed to and even became somewhat flustered internally as she thought of something to say to break his concentration. "So do you suppose we will run into the Creators soon? You would think we would have come across some human contact beside dome-born by now," she interjected as calmly as she could sound.

"I mean, the world is huge. Mosk is not so far from Ramdeau on the map, and we haven't even seen a fourth of the world leftover," he answered. "It is bound to happen eventually, certainly."

"I guess it is a little farfetched to expect all of the ships of the Boomerang Project to still be intact when the domes didn't even last half of the time for the world to heal. I can't help but be anxious about it," she admitted. Vincent shrugged.

"I am also anxious. Part of me feels somewhat bitter about being put into the world for the soul purpose of death when I am no longer useful. There's nothing poetic about being charged with destroying what I created because it no longer suits the plan. But the part of me that wants goodwill is anxious over what will happen overall," he said, looking at his hand carefully. "I no longer feel… separated from this part of me. It is all the same skin. Which makes me anxious as to which part of me will come out upon meeting the Creators." He looked at her with a sheepish smile. "I would hate to drag everyone down with me if I don't react well."

Re-l searched his lonely gaze carefully. "You would probably react better than I would," she said in all seriousness. He laughed. "While in Ramdeau, I never felt I had a purpose so well-written as everyone else around me. When I discovered most of that was pre-programmed, I felt even more lost to finding that path. The more I learned about myself, the more pissed I became that I was not even a factor in the grand plan."

"Does that make you angry at me?" Vincent asked. "I had a purpose and I abandoned it."

"Not really," she said, looking at her meat. "If anything, it taught me that purposes can be chosen."

"I love you."

Re-l paused. She had heard it before many times. He muttered it to himself as a mantra time to time, when he was sure she was asleep or when he was watching her from afar. But it always shocked her how direct he was in these rare moments. She looked up at him in a timid way, slightly shaken by the abruptness. His eyes were intense again, locked and focused with no wavering in his voice or being, and he sat across the table with a firm lip and a held breath. He seemed to be held back, perhaps by his own sense of morality or his own timid nature, but he looked through her in a way that froze her. His eyes began to shift from her eyes to her lips to her throat to her hands and back, taking her in as her face seemed to warm. His hands rested on the table, and he pushed a bit of pressure on it to keep himself calm. Normally, at her shock he would apologize, but he just watched her drink it in, and lacking the layers she did she felt vulnerable and bare.

Then, the door to the compartment clattered open and Pino skipped in, shouting, "Vince, Vince, there are furry things!"

Re-l felt embarrassed as if some great thing had been interrupted. She now felt hot and stood up suddenly to cool her head as Vincent reluctantly looked away toward Pino, inquiring, "What do you mean?"

"Furry things are running along the ship, travelling about 2.38 units faster, you have to come look!"

"What furry things, Pino?" Vincent said in his usual tone.

"Don't know, Pino has never seen or had them recorded," Pino cried, her doll-like eyes alight in her usual gleeful way as she ushered them with her hands. "You have to look Vince!"

"Okay, okay, in a moment," Vincent said, rising from his seat, and Re-l felt him tower over her again in a way that made her feel small. He glanced at her, his eyes burrowing into her skin before walking toward the Autoreiv. She was bouncing all the while as they exited the compartment. Re-l decided, after a few steady breaths, she out to follow. She climbed the stairs after them and found the landscape to be something utterly new from the usual frozen lands to now a land patched in small tufts of green scattered across the wasteland. And the furry things Pino had been calling about were lean, thick dog-like creatures that soon rounded away. Kristeva watched Pino more than the animals, but both Pino and Vincent were enthralled in the dogs.

Vincent placed his hands on the side rail and watched then gather, howling and yelping as they furthered themselves from the Rabbit. Re-l watched them leave and looked around to see what else there was to view. "What are those?" she asked.

"Wolves, I think," Vincent answered. They had seen a couple animals, but none so obvious as these.

"Wolves!" Pino called after them. "Wolves!"

"I said I think," Vincent clarified, wagging a hand at her helplessly, though Pino was now too determined.

"Wolves!" she called after the animals, but they were too far away to matter now.

"Wolves can be dangerous, Pino. And do not hang onto that rail, it is unsteady," Kristeva piped from her position at the rudder. She was an Autoreiv of few words, thought pointedly kept her eyes on Pino whenever possible.

Re-l smiled, walking toward the edge, watching the animals disappear into the brush. "I have never seen a wolf," she said calmly, looking over to Vincent who shrugged.

"Neither have I," he said softly. "I'm surprised they aren't extinct."

Re-l looked out into the expansive horizon. "Some things thrive against the odds, I guess." She watched the sky as rays of light graced the world below with sweetened rays of light. Instinctually she looked to Vincent, who seemed lost in the thought, but his demeanor had lightened. She went to rest her weight on the railing as she often did until she was stopped by a stiff hand at her shoulder. His thumb pressed against her collarbone. "Vincent?" she asked, but her voice was light.

"The railing is just taped, remember?" he said, but his eyes watched her in full awareness of his touch. She made no moves to remove it.

"Right," she said, waiting for him to move. "Thanks for the warning."

He removed his hand on his own and folded his arms. "Well, it would be trouble if you fell off at the speed we're going now," he joked shyly.

Re-l looked him up and down. "So you're saying you wouldn't catch me," she began, a playful edge to her voice.

"That's exactly the problem, I'd probably go down with you," Vincent admitted, eying her from the corner, the green shimmering at her. She couldn't help her nerves, but smiled at him and nodded.

"I suppose you would," she concluded. "Well, now that the furry things are gone, I'm going to go finish that meat. Can't let good protein go to waste."

Vincent nodded, looking to Kristeva. "You are fine here, aren't you?"

"My energy cells are at sixty-three percent. I have a few more hours before I must recharge," she replied. Infected or not, she was an Entourage first. Her voice remained stiff and factual, as it would have been if she were human at all, Vincent surmised.

"Then I will let you refuel in a couple hours for giving me a break, Kristeva," Vincent said calmly.

"Of course," the Autoreiv said.

Vincent then followed Re-l to the lower compartment, closing the door behind him. He looked at Re-l for a moment, half-lidded eyes searching the room for occupation. Her body was slight but toned, her hair cat-eared and neat, her eyes shadowed and dark, and yet she looked small. And the way she glanced at him timidly and unsure made him feel guilty and intrigued to wonder what she had to say now. He flicked his fingers behind him on the lock and stepped away from the door. They were alone with the hum of the Rabbit filling the silence.