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[She's had her angry outburst at the actual machine, and after a couple of days of thinking about it, now she's just irritated. Naturally, the slightly hypocritical angle of her annoyance given what happened between her and R doesn't occur to her while she's squinting at the rest of Hadriel.

Julie, of all people, should understand that one individual in a horde can make all the difference.]

Are any of you actually trusting this Null that was so conveniently left here? Seriously, anyone believing a word it says must have hit their head. For all we know it's just tricking us so it can send its location back to the others and they can find us again.

Should just set the fucking thing on fire, bury it in a hole and forget about it.

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I'm not patronizing you. You're right, it's a risk. And I thought of the possibility that it's being honest but was left behind for this purpose. That they knew it would be infected and could infiltrate our ranks. All the more reason to get it to trust us so we can find out for sure. Driving it away will hasten an invasion.

Now consider what we could gain if we could study a live one.

It's here and we're not under attack yet so I think the best course of action is to play along and learn as much as we can from it. Hunting it down and killing it won't make us safer if it's been a trick from the start, and if it's not then we killed a potential ally and got nothing useful out of this.

I don't trust it, Wash. I don't trust it, and seeing people practically waltz up to it holding flowers just gets me so fucking mad. We've been through enough.

I'm going for a walk.

I don't trust it either. And we have, but the fact is this isn't over yet. The loss or gain of a single ally can change the tide of a war, I've seen it. Mercy aside, if there's any potential advantage to be found here we need to look into it. Even though the emotional response is to just kill it because it was an enemy.

[ He's had to work with ex-enemies before. Has been saved by them. Hell, he was the enemy for awhile there and came around himself. It's not unheard of, much as his instinct is to eliminate the threat. ]

Do you want company?

Not really.
But I should probably have it.

I can meet you.

Yeah okay.
Bridge near spire 2.

Sure. I'll be right there.

[ Julie will beat him, seeing as Wash is coming from the imported houses. But he's there pretty quickly and, surprisingly, out of armor. He's decided to go without it as long as there's even the slightest threat of Null hijacking but he is still armed. A pistol on his hip, a battle rifle strapped to his back in case she wants to wander anywhere sketchy, and several knives on his person. ]

Hey, Julie.

[ Does she look as angry as she sounded over text? ]

[Julie is stood on the bridge, her arms folded on the balustrade and her chin resting on top of them, body leaned over almost entirely to allow the position.]

Hey. [She says, without looking around to him or moving much at all. In person, she looks about the same as she sounds, and how she sounds isn't angry.

Just tired.]

[ He comes up beside her, setting one hand on the rail as he leans against it himself, though he stays upright to keep proper watch. ]

Something else is bothering you, isn't it?

[She pushes herself up with a hiss of breath and lets her arms swing back, the momentum taking her a few steps away from the side of the bridge.]

Lots of things bothering me. [She tells him with an idle shrug, linking her hands together behind her neck.] And none of it matters.

Who told you that? Of course it matters.

[ If anyone knows about keeping shit bottled up until it explodes one way or another, it's Wash. He's... sort of working on it, though he mostly just tries to deal with his issues alone. ]

I'd be a hypocrite to tell you that you should talk about it, but I'd listen.

[She looks at him sidelong, like she's trying to figure him out. Julie doesn't talk about her problems. She drinks and smokes pot and forgets about them for just long enough to make the bearable.

Here, though, there's not enough shitty whiskey and leaf to keep her mind off things, and so her thoughts turn back into the worst parts of her head over and over. It's been enough to nudge her into turning to therapy.

But she smiles at Wash like she hasn't a care in the world, and shrugs her shoulders again gently.]

I'll tell you mine if you'll tell me yours.

[ Wash considers that, then shrugs back. He doubts Julie would be able to help at all with what's currently got him the most concerned, but as long as she keeps the problem quiet he doesn't mind telling her. ]

Alright. No gossiping, it involves a bunch of people besides me.

... huh, that was easy.

[She always got the feeling Wash wasn't much of a sharer. Does he actually want to hear what's on her mind that much? Julie mimes zipping her lips and throwing away the key, then looks at him expectantly.

Take it away, Wash.]

[ She's got him pegged right, actually. He doesn't share personal things, but this is mostly a practical dilemma and plenty of people know now anyway. While he might not be ready to announce it to Hadriel at large, the people he actually likes? Should know so they can run for the hills if it actually happens. ]

Well. I spent most of the last Null attack being controlled by them, and don't have a plan to keep it from happening again.

[Well. That's not what she expected to hear.

Julie doesn't react visibly right away. She doesn't step back, or suddenly start looking at him like she's worried about what he might do. Mostly, she just looks at him, her eyes slightly narrowed.

Then, she puffs out a sigh.]

Wow. Really sucks to be you.

[ That gets a sharp huff of what could be laughter, but it's bitter. ]

Yeah, it does. But they're not in my head anymore, so it could be worse. At least even if we don't find a way to keep them out, we can get them out. I'm just going to go without armor for awhile so I'm less of a threat if Name turns out to be full of shit.

[ He can't dictate what the others do, not really, but at least two of them will follow his lead here. Three armored soldiers is better than six. ]

Your turn.

Huh, right, my turn.

[That was the deal, wasn't it. In truth she'd hoped he wouldn't come through on his half, so she wouldn't feel like she had to tell him anything.]

Okay, psh... I haven't had a good drink or a joint in... months, probably? Used to deal with my problems that way. Push them down, you know... Weed's good for that. [A shrug.] Where I'm from... showing any weakness to the Dead trying to kill us means you die. And it's not that they pretend to be Living. They don't. It's that they could be someone you saw last week. They could be your best friend, or your brother, or your mom. But if you... hesitate... that's it. You're done.

[She scrunches her nose up, shoves her hands into her pockets, then takes them out again and flexes her fingers.] Seeing people cosying up to this thing... just because it shows a bit of something that looks like human emotion? It's not right. It's too dangerous. I can't place the lives of everyone here on the idea it might be telling the truth and they have no right to place my life on that possibility!

[Julie slams one tightly clenched fist down on top of the bridge wall, then hisses and holds it close to her chest.]

I spent too long wanting to die already, Wash, to feel even close to being okay with that.

[ Wash listens quietly, a little surprised by how open she's being. And he absolutely understands where she's coming from, even if his own life experience isn't a zombie apocalypse. It's still been a lot of loss and suffering. Julie more or less punches the railing and he's reaching out to examine her hand, formulating a response, and honestly wondering if he should offer to find her some weed or decent booze, when she says... that.

Everything he was planning to say about war strategy and people's intentions, his own intentions, flies out of his head, and he freezes mid-reach. Because that life experience? He's been through. Actually, with his hand still outstretched towards her and his short sleeves, she can see the evidence of it on his forearm. For another moment, he just breathes, then completes the gesture and tugs her wrist gently, to check her fingers. ]

You don't feel that way anymore?

[She resists the pull on her arm, though not enough to keep him from moving her.] It's fine, it's not...

[Julie huffs out a sigh and submits to the examination - a scuff on the side of her hand, nothing more than that. It will probably bruise later. Her eyes follow the scar on his arm while her own short sleeves show, this close up, the thin lines of scar tissue marked across both of her forearms from wrist to elbow.]

I don't know. Sometimes, maybe.

[It doesn't take much for Julie to talk. A kindness. Someone who actually seems to be listening. Things she doesn't really get at home, save for from her best friend, who has enough of her own problems.]

... I guess it doesn't make sense if I say I do, if I'm so mad about people risking my life without my permission.

[ Wash checks her fingers anyway, avoiding touching the scratch but gently pressing to make sure she didn't do any actual damage. It seems fine -- he lets her hand fall, recognizing the cutting scars for what they are but not touching them or commenting on them. Just like he knows she's looking at his. It feels like a quiet understanding passes between them, without having to acknowledge the damage out loud. ]

It makes sense to me. Sometimes... even if you don't want to live, somebody else making the decision for you isn't acceptable either.

[ That was sort of the case with him, at least. He was basically running on pure spite, at one point. Not really wanting to live, but being too stubborn to die by someone else's hand. ]

I guess part of it is about staying in control, too? It's hard to explain.

[Makes sense, he says, and some of the tightness in Julie's chest loosens. She nods, rubbing the side of her hand as she stands there and just breathes, finding something soothing in the company of someone who actually understands.]

Yeah, it is, but you get it.

[That scar on his arm tells her that much. There's more than one way to try and end your life, and Julie supposes she spent more time trying to kill her soul than stop her heart. It all come down to the same thing in the end.

She smiles very slightly, and exhales a long sigh before she looks at him.]

You know, I think I like you better out of the suit.

[ Wash smiles back, faint and sort of sad at first because this isn't the best thing to bond over, but then a little broader at her comment about him being out of armor. ]

Believe it or not, you aren't the first person here to tell me that.

[ In almost those exact words, actually. And while he's vaguely uncomfortable being out in the open without it, it's true that there are some things he can't really do in armor. Like offer a hug, which he suspects Julie might need. It's still weird to reach out to anyone, though, so for now he just steps in to lean against the rail, bumping their shoulders instead. ]

Look, this mess with Name... I think it's right to be wary, and natural to be angry. But I don't think anyone engaging with it is stupid enough to actually do anything that would risk the city, like letting it contact its people. If it is bluffing, we'll take it out. We've just got to find it first, and know either way.

It'll be okay, Julie.

I'd believe it.

[She lightly bumps her shoulder back against his in turn, idly rubbing the side of her hand while they lean against the side of the bridge.]

If it's so natural to be angry, why are people so god damn surprised about it. [Julie huffs out, kicking lightly against the rail with one foot.] But that's just the thing, isn't it... We don't know anything about it. We don't know if it's being honest, and if it is... which I don't believe for a fucking second... we don't know if it's going to transmit whether it likes it or not.

[The young woman frowns, shaking her head.]

And I bet Fear won't move us from here until it's gone. So... one way or another... they'll find us.

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