WARNING: Mentions of drugs.
"So, you're telling me that on that device," Tris starts, pointing to the shiny round disk in Eric's hand, "there is a recording of people acting out a book like the one I was reading in the library earlier?"
"Well not exactly. The book thing was more just to give you an example of what kind of stories they tell through the tv shows. They actually write scripts specifically for the shows."
"Okay. So, someone writes a script, which is a story, and then someone else is recorded while they read it."
Eric laughs.
"No. Everyone in the story is acted out by a different person and they treat it like its actually happening. They aren't just reading out the script. They have it memorized, and they pretend they are the people doing the things in the story. When you watch it, it feels like it's real."
"But doesn't that look silly?" Tris asks genuinely. "I mean, the book I was reading took place in a town with lots of difference locations. I mean its not like they could go around filming all over the place so how are you supposed to make that feel real?"
"But they do move around and film all over," Eric says sighing and rubbing his forehead.
Tris stares at him incredulously.
"Okay, fine. Let's say I believe you. What do we do with that –"
"DVD," Eric interjects.
"Right, what do we do with that DVD in order to watch the tv script thing?"
"So that took me a while to figure out," he starts, eagerly. "I found the DVDs in the media centre at the library and assumed they had to be paired with some old equipment to work. I was able to figure out what they went with pretty easily because the player had the same DVD symbol on it as the DVD cases do. But the library doesn't have any power, so I snuck the player back here and when I did that, I realized that while it fit and seemed to work, the player doesn't have a screen. Which meant I obviously needed another piece of equipment to make it all work. Well, I found what looked like a large screen in the media centre and it did fit to the player but there was no way to test it there and I couldn't sneak the screen back here, so I was back to square one."
He pauses briefly, making sure he isn't boring Tris before continuing.
"After some more digging, I found what turned out to be a really old version of a laptop computer and it had what looked like a DVD slot in the side of it, so I brought that back here. That's how I was finally able to see what was on the disks. Its kind of a pain in the ass though and the screen is small and shitty so I started working on trying to convert the DVDs to files that I could transfer to my datapad and then cast on my broadcast screen. I thought it would be easy enough but every single one of the DVDs turned out to be encrypted. At first, I was decrypting them one by one myself, but it was taking me forever, so I ended up writing a program that allowed me to bypass the encryption and rip the data. From there I transferred the files to my datapad and streamed the shows on my broadcast screen," he says proudly. "But it's a pretty slow process even with the program and with very little spare time, I don't have too many options for broadcasting yet."
Tris stares at him silently, stunned by what she's just heard.
"You wrote a program that bypasses an encryption?"
Eric nods in response.
"You are full of surprises," she says in awe.
"What can I say, I'm a man of many talents," he says with a wink.
"Apparently," she replies. "So, what are the shows about?"
"They're all different in some way," he says shrugging. "I'll grab my datapad and you can look at what I have. I'll give you a bit of a description and you can pick something from there."
Eric walks over to the kitchen and grabs his device off the counter, tapping it a few times before returning to the living room and passing it over to Tris.
"Here."
Tris scrolls through the list. There are about ten different titles, none of which mean much to her.
"What's the first thing you ever watched?" she asks.
"Why?"
"I think I would like to experience it the way you did. Starting from the first one you saw."
Eric scratches the back of his head.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"I don't know. It's a bit of an odd one to start with. Don't get me wrong, it's actually one of my favourites, but if I could have picked, I don't think it's the one I would have gone for first."
Tris raises an eyebrow.
"Right, well now I definitely want to start with it. If you like it, I'm sure I will too."
Eric breathes in deeply before taking the datapad from Tris and leaning back into the couch.
"Alright. Here goes."
Tris settles in a little closer to Eric as the show begins and music starts playing.
"What's that?" she asks, pointing at the screen.
"An airplane. You used to be able to fly around the world in them."
Tris turns to him with wide eyes.
"People could fly?"
He chuckles. "Yes, years ago."
She turns her attention back to the screen and watches with fascination as an older lady starts talking to a man in a multicoloured shirt. She'd never even thought about how before the factions were created people wouldn't have been restricted to specific colours.
Tris continues to listen and realizes that the woman is a teacher.
"A father came in in a three-piece suit and defended Tiffany, a bald girl with a nose ring," the lady complains.
"I'm pretty sure I saw two bald girls with piercings just walking down the hall yesterday. I think she'd have a hard time at Dauntless."
Eric smiles to himself.
Another older lady, this time with blonde hair, walks through the door and joins the conversation.
"One sad person after another," the blonde lady says.
"Rose, you work at grief counseling. What do you expect, comedians?" the first lady replies.
"What's grief counseling?" Tris asks.
"A grief counsellor helps you work through your feelings and emotions after going through a traumatic experience or experiencing the loss of a loved one. We have them in our society too."
"We do?"
"Yeah, it's a career option in Amity. But they go around to other factions or meet with you there if you want/need them to. I'm not surprised you didn't know that though considering Abnegation teaches you that talking about your feelings is selfish. I doubt many Abnegation have utilized their services."
Tris nods and turns back to the screen, not wanting to miss anything as a third lady enters and starts talking about dating.
Tris finds it odd listening to three women who appear to be in their 50s discussing dating, but so far, she is impressed by how realistic the whole thing seems to be. If she didn't know any better, she would think she was actually watching someone's life.
"What's cocaine?"
"It was an illegal substance that apparently was supposed to make you feel euphoric, energetic, and hypersensitive," he explains simply.
"So, kind of like the peace serum?"
"In a way, yes, its affects would be similar to an extremely large dose of peace serum. But the peace serum is highly tested and regulated and doesn't have any of the negative side affects. Cocaine on the other hand caused a lot of health issues and deaths."
The two continue to watch in silence. Tris has more questions, but she's worried Eric will get annoyed with her if she continues asking them at this rate and she also doesn't want to miss anything.
"Sophia's home burnt down."
"Oh, that's terrible!"
"Not to me. It was a retirement home, and you know what they did?"
"What's a retirement home?" Tris blurts out before she can stop herself.
Eric laughs and, this time, pauses the show.
"It's a building with apartments like ours, but it's meant for the elderly who are no longer able to work."
Tris scrunches up her face.
"Wait, so in their society when you're too old to work you get to move into a specific apartment building just for seniors?"
"Yeah. They have a cafeteria like ours and spaces they can get together and hang out."
Tris blinks.
"What if you're sick? Or too old to really care for yourself?"
"Some of the residences have medical staff and assistants who take care of the people who need it."
"Wow. That…I mean. When we get old, we just get kicked out and have to live factionless until we die. We work our asses off for our faction and, in the end, it means nothing. But they really get to just move and continue their lives in nice apartments with all their friends around?"
"I don't think all of the places are as nice as you're imagining. But yes, it does seem like a much more humane way of living out your years."
Tris shakes her head in disgust and disbelief of her society.
"Okay, you can turn it back on."
Eric does as requested and the two continue to watch, but Tris is too distracted to pay attention.
Why couldn't they have retirement homes now? She wonders.
There are so many complaints about the factionless, but at the end of the day a great number of the factionless are simply people who used to be part of factions until they were deemed unable to contribute to society. Of course, Abnegation and Amity have their own way of dealing with the elderly, but between Dauntless, Candor and Erudite the number of people who are kicked out simply for growing old is alarming.
"Can you pause it," she says to Eric suddenly.
"It's a type of religion," he says after pausing the show.
"What?" she asks, confused.
"Oh sorry, I thought you were going to ask what a Southern Protestant was. What's up?"
"Why don't we have retirement homes?"
Eric turns to face her.
"What?"
"We just get kicked out. Like we're no one. We spend our entire lives living and working for the benefit of our faction and then one day they just kick us out. It's heartless. I don't understand why we don't have retirement homes."
Eric shrugs.
"I really don't know, Tris. That's just the way it is. I'm not saying its right, but as far as I know, it's how it's always been."
"But why has no one tried to change it?"
Eric straightens up in his seat.
"I've actually given this a lot of thought, and I think it probably comes down to logistics and faction cooperation. In order to set something like that up we would need multiple buildings that could house a large number of people, are equipped with kitchens and recreational space and have space that could act as an infirmary. And that's just the bare minimum. Once we have the space, we would have to figure out how to run electricity and plumbing to it. We would have to furnish it, stock it with food, hire management staff and medical staff. We would need medical supplies and cleaning supplies. We would need janitorial staff and admitting staff. We would have to determine criteria for when people will be admitted and so on. All of that requires cooperation from all five of the factions. Especially Amity and Erudite. Amity might be on board with the concept, but they already have their own senior housing within their faction so I don't see why they would agree to this and Erudite are unlikely to see the benefit of setting something like this up. It would take a lot of persuading."
"You really have given this a lot of thought."
"I had the same revelation as you when I first watched this, and I think about it all the time, but it would be a massive undertaking and even with my experience in housing and my position as a leader it's just not something I've ever felt I could handle starting on my own. And with leadership not at full capacity it's not like I could recruit anyone else to help. Plus, without an assistant I barely get a break. Especially with overseeing initiate training. How could I ask someone to spare up some time for me when I can't even spare any of my own time?"
"What if you did have an assistant? Do you think it would be possible then?" she asks eagerly.
Eric smiles.
"Maybe. I mean I'm pretty used to doing my job alone so having a second person to take on some of what I already do and to work with on this would be a start. But Max would have to approve it before anything real could happen. And if I did get an assistant, they would have training to go through before this could even be a thought," he says looking at her pointedly. "And even if, and that's a big if, Max were to approve of it, it would likely be an uphill battle the entire project and could take years to complete. That's if it ever even gets off the ground to begin with."
"That's a lot of ifs," she says a bit deflated. "But don't you think it's important to at least try? Don't you think we all deserve better than to be thrown out like yesterday's trash? Don't you think…"
Noticing Eric grinning, Tris stops.
"What?" she asks. "I'm serious."
"Oh, trust me, I can tell," he says, his grin widening. "It's pretty hot seeing you be this passionate."
Tris blushes but narrows her eyes at him.
"I'm trying to talk to you about something that is important to me and you're sitting there thinking about how hot you think I am?"
Eric chuckles.
"First of all, I'm pretty much always thinking about how hot you are. Secondly, I'm perfectly capable of multitasking. I can listen to what you are saying and think you're hot all at the same time."
"You're ridiculous," she says, failing to hold back a smile.
"I know," he responds, leaning in close to her. "But it's not my fault you're hot. And it's not my fault you look insanely good in that outfit."
Tris' face to heats up at his newfound closeness and she swallows hard. Her eyes flit down to Eric's mouth, and she subconsciously pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth.
"You need to stop doing that?" he whispers looking her in the eye.
"Doing what?" she whispers back, her heart beating faster and faster as she feels his hot breath against her skin.
"Biting you're lip like that."
Tris blinks and releases her lip.
"I…" she starts, but her mind goes blank and her mouth shuts as Eric rests his hand gently at the base of her neck, his eyes never leaving hers. They continue looking at each other as he runs his thumb gingerly across her slightly swollen lip causing her mouth to open slightly.
Eric raises an eyebrow and Tris can tell he's requesting permission. The nod she makes it nearly imperceivable but it's all he needs to proceed.
He closes the gap between them, pressing his lips firmly to hers as she reaches her arms up and wraps them around his neck pulling him as closely into her as she can.
This isn't the first time they've kissed today, but there's something different about this kiss. It's passionate and needy and their position on the couch makes it feel much more intimate. Their tongues begin to battle, and Eric's free hand makes its way to her lower back as he leans forward slowly lowering them both until Tris' back is flat against the sofa and he is hovering over her.
Tris repositions herself slightly, creating a gap between her legs to accommodate Eric's thigh as the pair settle into a more comfortable position. They continue kissing frantically as Tris' fingers make their way into Eric's hair gripping him tightly.
They break apart momentarily to catch their breaths and when Eric leans back in his lips find a new home against her throat.
Tris let's out a moan and her eyes roll back behind her lids as Eric locates her pulse point and begins gently sucking on it. Instinctively, she hooks her thumbs in the waistband of his pants and pulls him into her, desperate for friction.
His hand moves from her lower back to her side and begins to slowly slide up under her shirt until she feels the tips of his fingers running along the edge of her bra.
Suddenly, Tris' eyes shoot open.
What am I doing? She thinks to herself. This is too fast. You have to stop this.
Her thoughts are forgotten as Eric starts trailing kisses from her neck down to her collarbone, but when his fingers reach for the clasp of her bra she starts to panic.
"Eric, stop," she says urgently, pushing on his chest.
He stops abruptly and looks at her.
"I can't do this," she says desperately, propping herself up on her elbows beneath him.
"I'm sorry," he says, sitting up and shifting to make room for her to do the same. "I didn't mean…" he starts, running his hand through his hair. "I thought…"
"Don't apologize," she says, adjusting her shirt. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"I should have asked – "
"No," she practically shouts. "You did everything right and I was into it, but it's just too fast. We barely knew each other until yesterday and now we're…I mean, it took months to get to this point with…not that this is…but it's just…I'm not ready. I didn't mean to make you think we were going to…you know…tonight. I – "
"Tris, stop," Eric says, cutting her off. "You didn't make me think anything. You're right, it is fast. I just got caught up in the moment. I wasn't expecting anything from you, okay?"
"Should I just…should I just go?" she asks nervously, standing up.
"What?"
"I mean, I can leave. It's kind of late and you're not getting…any…so…"
Eric reaches up from his spot on the couch and grabs her hand.
"I don't care that we aren't going to have sex. This was never about that. I just want to spend time with you. So please, sit your ass down and finish this show with me," he tries to finish playfully.
Tris takes a deep breath and sits down on the edge of the couch as Eric reaches for his datapad to restart the show. It takes a few minutes, but as they resume their viewing Tris slowly relaxes back into the couch.
"What's a dog track?" she asks.
Eric smiles and breathes a sigh of relief as he starts to explain.
A/N: Hello all! I hope you are having a lovely Wednesday. I thought a nice light and fluffy-ish chapter was in order before we head into the shitstorm that is coming ;) Thank you all for your continued support. I hope you enjoyed the update and get ready to move on from our couple's day of dates.