Vacationing

[sentryslinger]

[Continuing this thread, in which Spy has convinced Engineer to spend a vacation with him. Fishing, fine dining, and some enemy bonding ensue.


Engineer steps into the elevator, hitting the button for their floor, pulling at his collar to loosen that next button.]

Hey, thanks again for the dinner and the suit. I'll have to put it to use some other time to justify your spendin' money on all this.

Comments

[not_onyourside]

Well we had bozh dunk quite a bit zhat day. Also eet might have been because I fell out of zhe truck while he was driving.

[Actually what little he remembered about that night centered around Sniper destroying his pants and covering him with flour and then stealing the bouncy ball and also falling out of a moving vehicle.]

[sentryslinger]

This wasn't the same night you got into the scrumpy, wass it?

[not_onyourside]

No. Zhen we would bozh probably be dead.

[Oh ho ho. There's a third king. Spy's luck might be changing.]

[sentryslinger]

[Engie draws- still just those two queens. That'll have to do.]

Well, if he crashed a drunk on account of you fallin' out of it, I'd say he was just worried about you.

[not_onyourside]

Maybe.

[Or concerned their precious cutout cow cargo might be damaged.

Spy lays down his three kings, mentally calculating what should come off next should he lose.]

[sentryslinger]

Well dang. And here I thought I might do okay this round.

[Two queens don't help him this time around, so the next thing to go is the glove he'd had over his bare hand, worn to help with the fishing earlier. In the light of the room, there's a faint scar visible along the underside of his left arm, one at about the same level as where the Gunslinger is on his right. Looks like he tried it the other way around at some point.]

And here you told me you had no friends.

[not_onyourside]

[He eyes that scar briefly before going back to the cards. He's not really in a position to question anyones scars when he barely wanted to acknowledge his own.]

Spies are not allowed to have friends.

[Which isn't entirely Engie's point.]

[sentryslinger]

Not allowed, but that doesn't mean you don't.

[not_onyourside]

[He shuffles the cards for a while, letting the sound fill the silence instead of responding to that. It's true that he and Sniper are friends, even if the other man usually refused to admit it. But he's not sure what benefit there would be in telling Engineer that. And further Sniper would be mad at him if he found out. He treated their friendship like a dirty secret to hide from everyone.]

Zhen I do not.

[sentryslinger]

[Engineer just laughs.]

You really think I'm going to believe that?

[not_onyourside]

[He shrugs as he deals out the cards.]

Believe what you wish. I do not see how zhis ees of such great importance to you.

[sentryslinger]

[He takes his hand, looking it over.]

I'm only interested in knowin' why you're so adamant about not admittin' it. It might be breakin' a rule, but it's not as though you haven't been doin' that plenty as it is.

[not_onyourside]

[He's silent for a while, organizing his cards without really seeing them.]

Because I zhink Sniper would be mad at me for telling anyone.

[sentryslinger]

[His brow furrows.]

Why's that?

[not_onyourside]

I zhink he believes eet makes him weak.

[sentryslinger]

And what do you think?

[not_onyourside]

I cannot tell him what to zhink.

[sentryslinger]

That ain't exactly what I meant.

[He rearranges his cards.]

I think it's good to have people you know you can trust in this line of work. What we do— it ain't easy, knowin' someone you work with might turn his back on you if the job called for it.

[not_onyourside]

Trust ees a rare zhing mon ami.

I am ever surprised at what people will do when offered enough money. As eef zhat will buy zheir happiness.

[sentryslinger]

It sure doesn't hurt, but that's one of those things it won't buy.

[He draws a couple of cards.]

Well, even if this Sniper friend of yours doesn't want to call it that, I hope you won't mind if I call you a friend of mine.

[not_onyourside]

[Considering he nearly drops his cards, it's a minor miracle he responds at all.]

You barely know me.

[sentryslinger]

Well, I know you trust me enough to take me on a much needed vacation, don't mind learnin' a thing or two about fishing, will take a nap in front of me without fearin' I'll kill you in your sleep, and I know you won't do the same to me. We kept each other alive durin' a blizzard, and you were even willing to hide me in your base when you had no reason to- you had more of a reason to just let me freeze to death out there. I know a little about where you came from and how you got here, why it is you do your job, and what you want to do if you manage to make it out of your contract alive.

I might not know your name, but I think that's a good start, don't you?

[not_onyourside]

I suppose zhat ees true.

Zhank you.

[sentryslinger]

[He smiles.]

You're welcome, Spy. And now that I've said that, you might not even want to talk to me on account of this.

[He lays down his cards. Meet his four tens.]

[not_onyourside]

Just softening zhe blow were you?

[ His two eights are nothing. He's certainly not going to take his shirt off and be uncomfortable the whole time, which leaves his trousers.

Off they go, neatly folded and laid to the side. It's rather cold to be sitting around in his underpants, but he has a temporary solution; opening that second bottle of wine. ]