[h1]Eli and Henry[/h1]
[sub]Written with [@JunkMail][/sub]
[hr]
Eli was still laughing out the last bit of the speech stuck in his head, seated somewhere else in the hub. He’d seen a good few freshmen laugh at it as well, and that was pretty much a mission success to him. Alleviate some of the tension. No one would believe him when he’d tell them it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. As he was seated there, he looked up to his left, seeing Henry approaching, no doubt to thrash him into the artificial dirt. But Eli didn’t wipe that smile off his face for even a [i]second[/i].

“Enjoy that?” Eli asked aloud.

“I hate you.” Henry stated firmly. He huffed. “Yes.”

Eli straightened his back, pointed at Henry, and chuckled. “Ahhh, I couldn’t help myself. Came to me while you were walking up there. I have that kind of music saved for occasions like this.”

“You have a playlist for these situations?” Henry said incredulously, half confused and half impressed. “So you [i]DO[/i] think about me!”

“Yeah, yeah. I played Rasputin once when Orlov was walking through the concourse. Remember that? His skeleboys started dancing and then [i]he[/i] joined in. Perfectly synchronized too, like they [i]rehearsed[/i].” Eli sighed, again lightly chuckling. “Ah, sometimes, the moment is just too golden to pass up. But… ah, honestly, I really just felt like giving the freshmen something to laugh at, make the transition from ground to space a little more lighthearted. You get that, right?”

“Of course…” Henry said, a small smile gracing his features. He clapped Elias on the back as gently as he could and continued. “Y’know- for a guy who considers himself such a hard ass, you sure care a lot about these kids.”

“I’m a hard ass by ear. They get the [i]impression[/i] that I’m just an irate code monkey when they first hear about me, then I either [i]slowly fade[/i] into the recesses of their thoughts, or they approach [i]me[/i] and then, well…” He motioned his hand back and forth between himself and Henry. “[i]This[/i] happens.” He reclined a bit, taking a look around the room. “Or maybe I’m just mellowing out the longer I stay up here. I dunno.”

Eli’s PDA began buzzing as he sat there. He took it out of his coat pocket and, looking at the screen, said, “Huh. It’s Trevor.” A moment later, reading through a message, he muttered, “Fuck…”

“What is it?” Henry said, watching as Eli stood up, still reading the message. Eli paused for a moment more before replying, “Sunflower Group’s hitting an Academy planetside. Like, right now.”

“Well shit, where on Earth?” Henry pressed, leaning towards his friend trying to read the message.

“Greece.” Eli replied, “Trevor said the attack started about twelve minutes before I got the message. Didn’t even know he was keeping track of that part of Europe…”

“How many are injured?” Henry questioned, grabbing a seat and sitting down. He leaned forward and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “And how many are…” He trailed off, prompting Eli to fill in the blank.

“Hold on, he’s updating.”

A moment passed, and a new message popped up. Eli sighed. Henry just shook his head in disbelief. “Sixty-seven dead, hundred and two injured.” Eli read it aloud, “High grade explosives detonated all over the grounds.” Another pause before he continued, “Trevor says reports came in of UAVs with null tech. Major strike first, sweep up the survivors second, that’s what they’re doing. And this Academy’s out in the countryside, they’re gonna be on their way out before anyone else gets there.”

Henry leaned back into his chair.

“Fuck.”

Henry rubbed his snout and averted his eyes.

“Makes me glad we’re safe up here, y’know?”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Eli replied, “[i]Null tech[/i] is a major step up. Trevor’s been keeping track of recruiting hearsay and they’re all over the eastern hemisphere, so that means they’re upgrading their transportation too. They’re starting to get… I dunno, [i]ambitious[/i].” They both paused for a moment more, before Eli brought up something else. “There’s gonna be news about it, that’s for sure.” He said, “Do we… let it up here? I mean, [i]right[/i] at the start of the new year?”

Henry hesitated for a moment. He seemed to contemplate whether it should be shared, and then decided against whatever he initially thought. “Yeah, it should be shared. Not our right to hide things. Will let the students know in a few days. After the dance for sure.” Henry mused, the gears in his head already turning, trying to spin the situation in such a way that he could use it as a learning device.

“Yeah. Alright. Sounds good to me.” Eli replied, “Zoey already knows, I’m betting.”

[i]“Can confirm, Doctor Winzer.”[/i]

“Yep, there she is.” Henry commented offhandedly. His body seemed to have slunk down, as if some invisible puppeteer had released his strings and reduced him to [i]this[/i] over his normally very animated demeanor. “Damn… Can you call Orlov? I’m feeling cards tonight, just to get my mind off of it, y’know?”

“Oh, yeah.” Eli replied, “Poker with a guy spouting angry Russian about the SG. That’s [i]just[/i] what we need.” He sighed, stood up, and nodded to Henry. “I’ll go see him about it, shoot you a message when and where. You just… take care, for now. Yeah?”

Henry waved Eli off. “You know me, will be back to normal in no time. You two schmucks have a way of cheering me up.”

“It’s those skeletons.” Eli replied as he walked away, “They’re a riot.”

As Elias left, Henry took a deep sigh and fixed his shirt, put on a happy face, and stood up again, walking towards the crowd to meet and greet his new class.