a/n: Hope does her best to explain more, but Quincy doesn't take this part as easily.
Ooops all dialogue and very little editing. Oh the tenses!
All the good things belong to Monolithsoft.
Hope didn't allow herself to react to Quincy's anger. She tried to speak thoughtfully. "It's precisely because of the guns and giant robots that kissing is a problem." Her calm wasn't perfect. She had spoken a little to loudly, especially managing the last part, and she was afraid that she was blushing. She patted the space beside her, but Quincy did not join her. At least he stopped pacing, waiting for her to continue. "It's not so much the kissing," she said. She surely must be blushing now; once she started, she never could stop. She examined the pavement at her feet. "It's the worry about obsessive behavior. Destructive behavior. We've seen terrible things, Quincy."
Quincy's shoulders relaxed and he took a step towards her. To her surprise, he half-knelt in front of her, catching her lowered gaze. "I'm sorry, Hope." Something about looking down into his eyes made Hope know how genuine this short apology was.
"You don't need to say you're sorry," she said.
Quincy shook his head. "No, I mean it. To me all these facts are like cramming for a test, but for you it's lived experience. I gotta try to remember that, if I remember anything." He stood, brushing off his knee, and walked over to the fence. He leaned his head against the metal grating. "Sorry to be a brat about it. On my end the choices feels extreme, but I don't know what you've had to fight against."
"You have a point, truly you do. Petalose syndrome is extreme, but we've lost the ability to see that. We've had nothing but bad options, terrible ones, for so long. The things that have happened, the things we've needed to do to survive..." She couldn't continue.
She was trying not to shake. It had been some time since she'd had to do this speech. Something in her voice must have betrayed her, because Quincy was by her in a flash, holding her hands, gripping them even, as she struggled to control her emotions. She was not going to start crying in the breezeway beside BLADE Tower, she was not.
"I'm grateful that you're here," Quincy said softly. Hope believed him. His smile told her he wasn't lying. She found that she could manage a small smile back. So much for being a professional.
He stood up then, repeating the motions of dusting his knees casually. "I'm definitely lucky that you were at the, whaddya call it, Mim Hospital."
"Oh, I came with you."
"Thank you for being such a good friend."
"Well, we were on a mission together."
"Good teammate, then."
"Actually, it was independent projects..." Hope couldn't help being honest.
She was glad, because Quincy laughed. "Friends to just casual acquaintances arc."
"I didn't mean it like that," she protested.
Quincy took a calculated and possibly teasing look at her over his shoulder. "You aren't the person that caused this, are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the girl I love."
"No. No no no no," sputtered Hope in surprise, and by the last ridiculous "no" Quincy was laughing again. She had to laugh at herself a little.
"I didn't mean to offend you," he assured her, "but I'm working with limited resources." He tapped his head, then shrugged. "Might as well try the easiest option. So who was she? Is she?"
"I don't know. As far as I know, you never told anyone."
"Not even my good friend Hope?" There was a lingering trace of anger, a flash of bitterness, in the way he said it. He shook himself a little and started pacing again.
"I didn't even know you were sick, well, not sick with petalose syndrome."
Her honesty didn't have the same effect this time. He stopped at the screen again, leaning and hanging on to it with his fingers. His fingertips went white as he gripped it, and he sagged a little. "What now? How do I wait through the next 48 hours?"
"I have an idea," offered Hope. "We can start with the best view of the city."
a/n: This is the end of the first third of my drafts, roughly.
Next up: View, interrupted by Nicole.