[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190711/87008b871fd60a65defb1b3dec454b29.png[/img][/center][right][hr][color=gray][b]Smith's Rest, New Anchorage | The NC Hangar[/b]
January 16th, 2677 (Before the New Pilots Arrive)
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[indent][indent][indent]Percy had followed Zach to a proper [i]dead[/i] overhead light, and was holding the ladder for him so he could climb back up into the ceiling. There was a tense halt to the conversation they'd been having - or was it just [i]Percy[/i] that thought it was tense? Zach seemed pretty nonplussed, according to his observations. Then again, the guy was kind of hard to read in general, even after living with him for years. Not that he didn't have his own expressions, obviously, but his two default faces were a calm half-smile and an angry-looking neutral face. Like, maybe he was just focused; or he could be stewing in a quiet anger, pissed off that Percy took Ana from him. Maybe Zach was thinking about what he was going to do for dinner when he was done with this work. Maybe he wanted to make the job take as long as he could [i]make[/i] it take, to avoid going back to a house devoid of the little girl he'd considered a daughter. Maybe Percy was thinking entirely too hard about what was going through Zach's head. Maybe it was just plucky elevator music in there. Maybe he was thinking about something funny he'd read, his hands going on autopilot as he did his engineering- or would it be electrician?- thing.

[color=6ecff6][b]"Moore,"[/b][/color] Eli said, yanking Percy back to reality.

[color=lightsteelblue][b]"Jesus, Eli,"[/b][/color] Percy gasped, his hand firmly placed on his chest, [color=lightsteelblue][b]"You scared me."[/b][/color]

She seemed unphased by her startling of Percy, stiffly gesturing away from Zach and towards the open space of the hangar instead. [color=6ecff6][b]"Can we have a word?"[/b][/color]

Now there's only two ways this could go. He could take that request for "a word" for what it was and say [i][color=lightsteelblue]Oh, yeah, of course, just give me a second to make sure Zach's gonna be alright by his lonesome,[/color][/i] or he could take that in the way that's far more entertaining.. For him, at least. To hell with anyone that didn't find it funny.

[color=lightsteelblue][b]"How's about... [i]discombobulated?[/i]"[/b][/color] Percy replied with a lopsided, toothy grin. [color=lightsteelblue][b]"That's a good word, I think. Haven't found a use for it myself, but I'm sure you could."[/b][/color]

Both pilots could hear Zach snort from above them. They didn't hear the soft [color=indianred][b]"Fuck's sake, Percy,"[/b][/color] that followed, though.
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