It was surreal how young he felt as time passed after Tani finished patching him up. Instead of sitting in a decrepit van, in a swamp, in the middle of the human world, for a moment Randall could pretend that they were reliving their college years. It was summer break and they had rented a van to go to one of those folk concerts that more people attended for the acclaim rather than the actual music. Instead of eating half-done ramen noodles mixed with crayfish and earthworms out of a pair of stained, paper take-out boxes, they were eating a stir-fry bought at one of the event booths. Instead of the chirrup of insects and the clanging of machinery in the distance, he could hear the uproar of a swarm of college students over the thrum of instruments.
And although—not so far beneath the surface—he remained in a constant state of outrage over everything that had happened, trading stories helped lift his spirits. They bounced questions off of each other, piecing together the vastly diverged paths that had led them both here.
"So you were in the big leagues, huh?" Tani asked with a smirk, poking at her food, "That's pretty impressive. I mean, I can't say I'm too surprised though, the way Monsters Inc. filters its scarers."
Oh, if she could've seen how far that was the truth now. Although they still managed to siphon the cream of the crop, the company was so desperate to gather as much scream energy as possible that they weren't at all picky anymore over who they hired. Kids were harder to scare, so more recruits were brought in to try to find any way to get so much as a faint shriek out of them.
He only shrugged though, "Yeah, well MU's connections helped, so I just kept working hard, hoping to break some records." He didn't want to go into too much detail there for two reasons: The risks of bringing up Sullivan by accident or pushing her away if she thought he was just being cocky. The whole reason they had split apart in the first place was because he had acted more like the RORs: He didn't want to widen that rift. "Have you always been here? Here, here?" he questioned, "To be honest… If I ever hoped for the best, I'd have thought you'd have been exploring wherever you could."
"Guilty is charged," she answered with a somewhat awkward grin, "I did wander around for a while—mostly because I didn't know what else to do—but then I started getting curious, you know? You'd be surprised how similar this place is to back home. Got chased around a couple times, might've started a local myth here or there… And I eventually bunkered down here." She pointed a thumb to one of the algae and age stained windows. "I've got all of the junk I can plunder and all the leftovers I can eat."
"Is it really safe here?" he wondered aloud. Tani had clearly laid down some kind of life in the van, but they were way too close to humans for his own comfort. He had only opted to hide out here in the first place because he was close to dropping and there hadn't seemed to be anything else but swampland for miles.
"No human's sniffed me out yet. I think this thing's stuck so far in the ground that they just decided to leave it alone. Besides, we're far enough away from the rest of the junk that no one drops by." She motioned the outside with the bent fork she used, "There is a dog out there, but he's chained up half the time and is fine once he gets used to you."
That made Randall… a little relieved… Not much, but enough that he was able to heave a sigh and relax some of the tension cramped in his sore muscles. As if a newfound hunger took over him, he scooped a few more large bites of his food into his mouth. It was far from fine dining, but it was better than anything he imagined he'd get his hands on in the human world: For what it was, it worked.
"My turn again," Tani rocked forward as she swung her legs out from under her, crossing them together. "What did you do with all your time when you weren't working? Or do you mean to tell that you've lived in the factory for all these years?"
After swallowing, he drew his lips backs into a firm, unamused line. Actually, if they were talking recently, then he practically had been living at Monsters Inc. for years. Building and designing his scream extractor had taken a long while: There had been more than a few long nights where he had accidentally fallen asleep on a steam pipe and woke up the next morning with barely enough time to run to the scare floor—showering in the men's room and eating from snack machines and whatever anyone left in the staff room fridge. Before that though, maybe watching TV? Lots and lots of TV, going to the occasional company picnic as a requirement, and…
"See the family," he said. Granted, it wasn't like he had much of a choice, "My brother works for the company too; his son even sticks around the daycare. So I'll get dragged off some on the weekends for dinner now and then. You spend your whole week with screaming kids and end up leaving with one, it's about all the company you could want."
A sad, distant look on Tani's face made Randall wish he could take back those last words. Even though she smiled still, the pain read in her eyes. He had to get them both back to the monster world. He didn't know what they'd do after that, but maybe Tani could see her own family again and maybe someone would want his technology, even if it meant doing some more under the table work to get it sold. Maybe they could escape somewhere away from the eyes of the CDA or the crooks that ran the scaring companies—giving some time for a little payback too, of course.
"One way or another, we're going back to Monstropolis." Randall stirred his food in thought. "I don't know what it'll take, but I know we're not living out the rest of our lives here."
"No offense, Randall, but we don't know how far this whole thing with the humans goes up," Tani propped her cheek against her hand. "There might not be anywhere we could go if we're on some kind of list. You and me could end up just getting tossed back here at best or locked behind bars at worst."
You don't even have a clue how right you are there… "It'll take time to come up with a plan," he admitted. More than anything, he still thought it would take time for him to go off the CDA's radar. "But I know more than a few places we could hide out." There were plenty of maintenance shafts, pipelines and tunnels at scaring companies that they could hide out in and all they'd have to worry about was a stray technician or security camera—and he could guide them through those thanks to his camouflaging abilities. The trick would be finding a way back through a door without getting noticed. Again, he could probably make it through alone just fine, but he wasn't going to leave her.
It was as if she could read his mind, "You might be able to vanish on the spot, but the most I can do is release a few pheromones into the air to mess with someone's head for a while—and that's pretty much only on a good day. And you think we could both sneak back to our world even though we'd probably have to, in the least, cross a scare floor mid-operation?"
Rather than give an actual reply, he opted to challenge her back, "Where's the girl who could storm past the tanks at Fear Tech and hold her own against some of the fiercest monsters at MU?"
"Well, it's not hard to be brave against a bully when most bullies aren't really anything more than loud-mouthed cowards."
Inside, a part of him winced at that, but he pressed on, "So what about the guy who threatened you then? Isn't he just another bully?"
She didn't say anything at first, just bringing her take-out box to her mouth to shovel down more of the meal. After a few second's hesitation, she finally murmured through the thin cardboard, "A very powerful bully…" She harshly wiped at her lips once she uncovered them. "Believe me, if I had the chance, I'd hang that guy by the rafters from his tacky and overpriced necktie, but I don't want to end up alone in some underground prison because of it."
He shuffled closer, "You're not alone. Not anymore." But she couldn't meet his gaze. At least, that what he thought at first… Then he followed her eyes downward to find that he had subconsciously reached for her hand, his fingers mildly pressed overtop hers. Embarrassed, he hesitantly withdrew—instead balancing his weight on the limb in a lounging position. "And I know how to get us around once we're inside whatever factory we slip into. Do you think you'd still remember how to make it through the sewer tunnels?"
"Vaguely," she replied.
"We could probably use those to get around the city afterward," he nodded in approval at his own thoughts. He then quipped, "You might even get the chance to scare a few teenagers when we're down there."
She smirked back, "Just like in the good old days, huh?" She turned her gaze back to one of the windows and stared, although it was nearly impossible to see out of it. For the second time, she seemed distant, her mind in another place, another time that seemed completely out of reach. For a moment, she appeared to change before him into something tragically beautiful. Both good and bad memories danced in her eyes, played along the path of her lips as they twitched while she fought to control her emotions. The decade of isolation and pain had clearly worn on her, both body and mind, and yet there was something about the aura around her that seemed immortal: A hardened resilience to not only find a way to live through hardship, but thrive despite it. Like watching a volcanic mountainside bloom again with new life despite how wave after scorching wave tried to devastate it.
"It might work," she whispered, so softly that he didn't really catch it until she repeated the words again, "It might actually work… I just want to see home again."
He didn't know how to reassure her there. Even if they made it back alright, who knew for how long they'd have to lay low. In Tani's case, she was as good as dead to the monster world, but he imagined it'd be a lot harder for himself. If Waternoose had failed to keep their secrets locked tight, then the CDA might've already found the Scream Extractor in the tunnels and had shut down the factory to investigate further. Then they'd likely go to his apartment and tear it apart, searching for whatever they could to incriminate them both. He didn't know whether or not Sullivan or Wazowski would admit to throwing him in the human world—he kind of doubted it, they could still be punished in some way for taking it on themselves to banish him—but that would be the only slim chance he had of the hunt turning away from him. He'd be the target of every curious eye until the chaos blew over and Monstropolis moved on to whatever news followed.
Then there was the question of what would happen if Tani did see her family. Sure, he wanted to take her to them as soon as he could—even if it meant he still kept himself hidden in the meantime—but by her own story and for her own sake it looked like Tanith Hartbrooke would have to stay missing. Would they really be able to keep their secret quiet? He remembered her mother being a well-known individual in the scaring industry too. On the chance she knew more than she let on, would she try to defend her daughter or fight to keep her silence? And nothing good would come out of the reunion if the elderly reptilian knew about him.
"We'll figure something out." Randall spoke as quietly as she did, the comment was more to himself than to her.
A sudden pang washed over him and, with a grimace, he put his hand to his head. It still hurt. As he seethed a hushed groan, Tani snapped her attention back to him. "Well, we're not doing anything until we're sure you can walk and see straight at the same time. You've got a big enough bump on your head I wouldn't be surprised if you had a concussion."
"Thanks for the reassurance…" he mumbled sarcastically, setting aside his food so he could lay most of the way down.
She snorted, "You should know that the only sugar-coated thing you're ever gonna get from me is a peppermite stick." Setting aside her own, nearly finished meal, she took one of the blankets and began to hang them on pins strung along a thin cord around the roof of the van, covering the windows to darken the already dimmed space further. "Just get some more rest. You need it."
He wouldn't argue with her. If the continued pain in his skull wasn't convincing enough, how exhausted he still felt was. So he snatched a small bundle of fabric close to him and piled it under his head. He watched her settle back down and start eating again, this time in silence as the both would just glance over to one another from time to time, soaking in the mid-morning calm.