[hr][center][h1][color=f49ac2]Owen Childs[/color] & [color=009496]Tahlia Spade[/color][/h1][/center][hr]


[color=f49ac2]“Hey, Sunshine, just the woman I wanted to see! Can I bother you for a minute?”[/color] said Owen, practically jogging to catch up with Tahlia as she made her way through the hall. To an outsider it would have almost looked like a scene out of a sickening high school movie where the guy stops the girl by quickly pressing his arm against the wall to block their path to class while managing to not accidentally clothesline the girl. The only difference here was that they were ten years too old (much like the actual actors), trapped in a tin can floating out in the middle of space, and that the smirk that appeared on Owen’s face when he uttered the pet name ‘Sunshine’ was more goading than flirtatious. Besides that, he might as well have been asking her to the Homecoming dance. Owen, however, assumed he’d just be lucky if she didn’t just knock his arm out of the way and blow right by him.

Tahlia’s eye twitched at the word “sunshine”.  She knew exactly who it was, but she wanted to see his face, out of some vain hope that she was wrong.  Her eyes followed the man’s arm up to his face.  Owen; exactly the person Tahlia did not want to see at the moment.  All Tahlia wanted to do was get to the cockpit and try to learn as much as possible about this planet they were headed towards.  But of course, this man wanted to play 20 questions, and evidently had to exacerbate his point by intentionally blocking her way.  Irritating as it was, it had been less than an hour since they woke up, and it was too early to be burning any bridges.  She decided to play it cool.  [color=009496]“I’m a bit busy right now.  I’d like to know what we’re headed towards,”[/color] she said, gently pushing Owen’s arm aside and beginning to press on.

[color=f49ac2]“Really, why?”[/color] he asked, raising an eyebrow. [color=f49ac2]“Doc already told us we’re headed to some mysterious Planet X where we will likely discover that it, just like Earth, is also now uninhabitable.”[/color] Owen paused, and then tensed his lips. [color=f49ac2]“Seriously, it’s important,”[/color] he added, hoping that she wouldn’t know that he would’ve said that regardless of any actual circumstance.

Reluctantly, Tahlia stopped herself.  As much as she didn’t want to, she sensed some small sense of urgency in Owen’s voice.  She let out a small sigh and turned around to look at the man.  [color=009496]“If you must know, I’d like to know as much about the planet as I can from what the ship has...  I dunno, scanned?  Anyways, what is it?”[/color] she asked, placing a hand on one hip.

[color=f49ac2]“Two things,”[/color] he said, holding up two fingers as if to reinforce his statement before turning to lean against the wall, still blocking her path. He lowered his voice so that hopefully nobody else could eavesdrop; Echo, true to her namesake, had proven that it was easy enough with the tomb-like walls. [color=f49ac2]“I’m worried about the Doc. He was always a little off, you know, but in a sort of endearing way. Now, though, he just seems...well...you know what I mean, right? Surely I can’t be the only one who noticed how he’s no longer playing with his full deck.”[/color]

Tahlia shifted her posture and softened her expression somewhat.  It was refreshing to see Owen being more down to Earth for once.  She only wished that the circumstances leading up to it weren’t what they were.  [color=009496]“Yes, of course I’ve noticed.  I can’t imagine what the guy’s been through; having to live in this tin can, alone, for two years.”[/color]  She sighed and crossed her arms.  [color=009496]“I don’t think he’s a threat to anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about,”[/color] she finished, going back to her usual deadpan expression.

She looked away for a moment, as if thinking about something.  Echo was acting pretty uncharacteristically as well.  Tahlia wondered if it would be a good idea to bring it up.  It was possible that she just needed time.  Still, it was probably worth mentioning.  [color=009496]“You may want to check on Echo as well.  I talked to her a minute ago and she’s...”[/color]  Tahlia paused as she searched for the right words.  She found the task more difficult than she would have thought.  [color=009496]“I don’t know.  She’s definitely not herself though.  You should talk to her.”[/color]

[color=f49ac2]“You’re telling me that Darlin’ doesn’t always start work in her underwear?”[/color] said Owen with a quick smile. He held his hand up as if to hush Tahlia before she had a chance to snap at him. She was right, of course, Echo wasn’t acting quite like her normal self. True, she was being the typical busy body that ended up making her the poster girl of the project, but it seemed different. Desperate, almost. Owen remembered the first words she had uttered after thawing out: [i]“I always had a clear goal. Something to work toward. I don’t know what to do anymore.”[/i] So much for the future being a break from sitting in front of a chaise lounge mumbling ‘I see, I see’ while he rubbed his chin.

[color=f49ac2]“I’ll make sure to sit with her after Benji. And it’s not necessarily that I was worried about him hurting [i]other[/i] people, per se…”[/color] Owen trailed off. He never was great at being discreet, and he knew for certain that Tahlia would get his implication. [color=f49ac2]“Just could you keep an eye on him—just when I’m not around? Let me know if you see anything unusual.”[/color]

Owen’s instincts did not fail him.  Tahlia had definitely started to take a verbal crack at Owen when he stopped her.  In it’s place, she let out an annoyed sigh and let him speak.  When he mentioned Benji’s state, Tahlia got the message.  Even she had suspected such tendencies earlier.  She simply nodded and let Owen finish.  [color=009496]“You say that as if I wasn’t planning on doing it already,”[/color] she quipped, then quickly added [color=009496]“But I know what you mean.  I’ll look out for him.”[/color]  That being said, Tahlia turned back towards where she was going.  [color=009496]“Now, if I may, I’d like to get down to the cockpit and see if I can gather anything.  I doubt this ship has a CIC, so that would be the next best place,”[/color] she said, beginning to head off again.

He started to raise his hand to stop her from going—he felt like addressing the issue of old outsider—but then stopped himself. That issue would be brought up soon enough, he decided, and he had already taken more time from her than he thought she’d spare; it’d be best not to push it. Owen watched her as she strode away and, for a moment, felt a tinge of regret that he hadn’t even asked her how she was doing between the whole being lost in space and missing a hundred-and-two birthdays. He almost called out to her right there with some line about how he’d be there if she ever needed to talk, but then thought better of it. First of all, it was a trite sentiment that was completely noncommittal and tended to only serve in regards of making one look as if they actually cared instead of actively cared. Secondly, he doubted she’d even take him up on it.

[color=f49ac2]“Okay,”[/color] was all Owen said, lamely, as she crossed a threshold and left his sight, the hastily added ‘thanks’ too muted that he wasn’t even sure if she would hear it, let alone if he even said it aloud in the first place.