hexaflexagons | [psl] Tex & Connie Espionage AU

He grins and hands her a package of the mousse. "You're damn right," he says. "Gourmet options are probably why I'd keep doing this even if they did keep the mess open late," he adds. He selects a package of the devil's food for himself and pulls the top off. There's a container of spoons next to the fridge and he grabs one to begin enjoying the pudding.

Connie takes the cue and snatches up a spoon of her own, quickly digging into her own mousse. "Oh, that is good stuff. Definitely what I needed after all..."

She gestures vaguely with her spoon.

"Being lost in space is scary as fuck, isn't it?" he says. "Don't know if you were really listening to my part of the briefing but I was left drifting in space tonight too."

York's usual jovial demeanor fades and he frowns slightly, spooning up a portion of the pudding.

"You know, it's his damn fault my part of the mission went bad, and he's the one who punishes me for shit like that?"

His score on the leaderboard had gone up post-mission, but it didn't escape his attention that Wyoming's score was awfully close to his now.

Connie bites her spoon. In some ways, it was her fault that York's part of the assignment had failed; the 'Insurrectionists' had been prepared for their arrival. They were never going to make it in through the leader's hangar.

"I heard. I'm sorry York, it's... definitely scary," she says, and though she was never actually lost herself, she means it. The mere idea terrifies her. She's never been a fan of the unpredictability of open space. "The Director's always been a little..."

She hesitates to finish her sentence. It's always hard to know when a complaint from another agent is safe to return in kind, especially the agents with AI on them.

"He sure is," York says, knowing any number of adjectives could be tossed in there. "More than a little, sometimes. Like, he assigns me this AI, right? Well, he's so busy being a little shit that he doesn't actually help me. Which was supposed to be the point."

He glances at her after taking another bite of pudding.

"I pulled him before my shower, just so you know."

Well, that's good to know.

"I'm going to be nice and not turn that back on you," she teases, though its a little less jovial than before, more to test the give of the atmosphere if anything. "The Director's never been very... consistent, in the way he tests us. These days, I don't think he's ever not testing me in some way or another. Today..."

She shrugs. She still doesn't know exactly what her new board position means for her going forward. Is she off the active mission roster? What does it change?

"Everything's a test, I think, yeah," he says. "Sometimes I get up in the morning and the scores have all changed even though there was no training and no missions."

He shrugs, finishing the pudding and then tossing the cup in the garbage can.

"Want a second?" he asks, grabbing himself a cup of the mousse.

"Yes, please," she answers, gladly digging into the second cup once it's in her hand.

She's hated the board since it first appeared. It never seemed necessary, it always seemed almost... predatory.

"Climbing's harder than falling," she says after a moment. "Guess that might have been my last mission with you all for a while, depending on the Director's whims."

"I've been busting my ass to get back up to third after the grenade incident," he says. He doesn't mention that he was second before Tex came along. He swirls some of the mousse with his spoon. "I can do holographic locks. I can. It's just hard to focus on the ones in the field with 9 million other things going on."

"Yeah, I can imagine. You've done well, climbing back up. Ignore everyone who's an asshole about the holographic locks thing, it's not your fault."

What she doesn't say is that she doesn't know if she wants to climb back up, herself. Not because she doesn't want to stay with the team—because she does, more than anything—but because the effort to do so feels beyond her.

There'd been a time she'd been sixth, a long, long time ago now, but that feels far out of her reach.

She'd shaken the boat too much to stand a chance.

York smiles gently.

"Thanks, Connie. I mean, CT. That's nice of you to say."

He leans back against the counter.

"Besides, I'll get it back someday soon. Whether or not this AI works with me."

She almost corrects him back again, but she doesn't. She became CT to everyone else for a reason. With Tex, it's different and maybe, if they somehow get someone else on board, it'll be different for them too.

"Exactly," she says, giving him a gentle elbow nudge. "And, thank you, for this. I needed this. Things have been weird lately. It's nice to just... eat some fancy chocolate pudding and talk."

"That's what I was counting on," he says. "Nothing a little fancy chocolate pudding can't fix."

Actually, he knows there's plenty it won't fix, but at least it makes you feel a little better for a while.

"Ain't that the truth," she says with a smile, eating another spoonful of what she has left.

And if she eats a little slower than before, it's because eventually this moment has to end and she has to deal with the actual aftermath of the mission. The longer she can drag it out, the better.

York sighs after he finishes his second cup, putting the spoon in the dishwashing area and throwing the cup away.

"Well, it'll be back to it in the morning, I guess. I have three lock-breaking sessions tomorrow. I might even try to squeeze in a fourth now."

"Don't push yourself too hard," Connie says. When she finally finishes her own, she holds it in her hand for a long minute before tossing it too.

Which is a cheap warning, coming from her. She'd spent every night slot she could get on practicing her unit without power. Had to mess with F.I.L.S.S's protocols to get away with it and everything.

"I'll try not to," he says. "It's just...well...it's a thing."

He was going to explain more about it but he thinks she kind of understands anyway.

"Yeah," she says with a reassuring smile, "it's a thing."

She sighs quietly, drags her hands down her face. She doesn't want to go back to her room; South will be there and she hates lying to her, which she'll have no choice but to do.

Not to mention she knows she won't sleep, regardless of if Texas actually manages to get away so they can talk.

"Thanks again," she says, finally accepting that she can't drag it out forever. "Really, York."

"You're welcome, absolutely," he says, as he starts to make his way out of the room. He's going to have to lock it back up. "Feel free to talk to me if you need anything else anytime, okay?"

Connie slips past him and out into the hall, turning on her heel to look back at him.

"I'll keep that in mind. Good luck with your locks practice," she says, walking a few steps down the hall backwards.

When they exit the room, Tex is standing there—well, not right there, but at a certain distance down the hallway where she feels Connie will be able to ascertain she's been waiting on them. Or at least on Connie. She plans to remain there until York meanders down the hallway toward the agent quarters, which is in the other direction from where she's standing.

This situation is made odder by the fact that Connie is walking backwards down the hall in her direction. She considers making a sound, a psst to draw Connie's attention, but that'll only make York notice the situation is weird.

York does notice it's weird. He stands there, his brow furrowed.

"Uhh...okay."

Connie cocks her head slightly at York's expression and finally turns around to face down the hallway properly, eyes widening when she sees Tex.

Oh. Well, she hadn't expected her so soon.

She spins back to York. "...well, anyway, see you around, York," she says, before spinning back yet again to leave. This certainly does nothing to alleviate the weirdness of the entire encounter.

York does leave after a moment of looking at them, throwing back a couple of glances as he makes it to the end of the hallway. There is a T-junction, where York is forced to turn left to make it to their quarters, and thus, can no longer glance back at them.

"Well, that was something," Tex says when he's out of sight.

"I didn't expect you to be in the hallway, in my defense," Connie says. "I have... no idea what he thinks just happened, but I'm sure it's nothing close to the truth."

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