#fun fact: the event here did happen in the sequencer GC sandbox

[zeebreezin]

🎲 maybe Bev could give Josie a kiss 🤔

Oh, to finally find friendship in someone else in your field, but find yourself on opposite sides of a conflict you could never truly grasp the scale of…

#39 - A Hesitant Kiss

The tales of London most Sequencers had heard growing up painted the fallen city as a dismal. Cold, and dark, and full of purposeless people struggling to find meaning. The dreary cobblestone streets were filled with disorganized souls pushing this way and that, with misery around every corner. Everything was drowning in chaos, in expression, in colours the young engineer couldn’t see. Nothing like the warm, bright, efficient life on the Geode, where everything ran in time with everything else.

No, nothing at all like home.

Professor Ashwood’s lab wasn’t quite as chaotic as the streets outside, far from it. Everything had its proper place - though some of it relied on a color coding system Beverley couldn’t quite grasp - and when the professor was at the helm, the laboratory ran with an efficiency any of his superiors would’ve been proud of. Not like they would ever know, of course. Beverley had tried his best to keep his hours in Professor Ashwood’s laboratory out of his reports to his superiors - after all, they knew that part of his posting here was to study. There wasn’t anything of note about that. He was there to learn. The soft comfort that came from finally donning the protective gear and entering the laboratory proper, wearing a smile that almost felt his own, well, that was clearly only the passion for his studies. The place was familiar, and calming, but that was all. Nothing of note. Certainly nothing outside his expected role here. He’d learned so much from the professor, after all.

That’s what made this difficult.

Beverley wasn’t exactly a hard figure to miss, parting the small crowd of fellow students as he walked towards Professor Ashwood’s office. The hustle and bustle of the crowd still set him on edge, with chaotic threads slicing through his vision at every turn. So much talking, so many different warps and shifts - it was enough to make Beverley’s head pound, if not for the dark lenses buffering out the worst of it. He didn’t wish the crowd could’ve stalled him for longer, that someone might’ve called out to him and delayed his journey. No, of course not. He had work to do.

He couldn’t help but hesitate before knocking on her door, though. Beverley’s hands shook, slightly, old scars prickling with half-forgotten pain. The script he’d written looped in his mind, over and over again.

Please excuse the disturbance Professor, I just wanted to let you know I’ve been assigned a short task on the Admirality’s orders, and I’ll be gone for some time.

Simple, polite, and to the point. There wasn’t anything to be worried about. Beverley knocked on the door, trying to suppress the hope that she simply wasn’t in.

“Please, come in.” Josephine’s voice, calm and professional as always.

Beverley’s pale form had to stoop a touch to enter her office, a bright smile on his face as always. Golden thread twisted elegant knots in his stomach. “Professor Ashwood! I hope you’re well- could you spare me a moment, perhaps?” He said, fighting to keep his voice light.

Please excuse the disturbance Professor, I just wanted to let you know I’ve been assigned a task on my superior's personal orders. I’ll be gone for some time. I don’t know when I’ll be back. It’s a simple, nothing to worry about.

“Can I help you with anything, Mr. Beverley?” Josephine’s voice cut through his thoughts. She stood in front of him. He knew exactly what to say. He’d had it in mind all day.

“I, ah, well…” Beverley swallowed dryly. “I’m… I’m going to be absent, for some time. Admiralty business, I’ve talked it over with the deans of course, I merely wanted to say my goodbyes in person.”

He could see the gears turning in her head - why would he be called out on business as a student sponsored by the admiralty? Why would such business take him out of classes? Beverley continued speaking, rushing to fill the air - he couldn’t answer her questions without risking something far worse.

“You’ve been a wonder to learn from, Professor- I truly mean that, you’ve…” Complicated everything. “Aided me greatly, in so much.”

Please excuse the disturbance Professor, I just wanted to let you know I’ve been assigned to build and detonate several explosives on campus for the purposes of killing your colleagues. This is what I was made to do, you know. Don’t worry - I won’t be back.

She had to be talking at this point. Consciously, Beverley knew that Josephine had to be speaking to him, and that he was responding. It was all a blur, though. He was thankful she couldn’t see his eyes behind the glasses. Gold crackled lightly in his gaze, trying desperately to keep the honey-gold grip on his mind intact.

Beverley reached out to shake her hand. And then he was holding her hand. And then.

“Thank you so much. I can’t say it enough, Professor. And I…” Fear was bleeding into his tone. The handshake had gone on for too long. A headache was blooming in the corner of his temple. Then all of a sudden, Beverley raised Josephine’s hand to his lips, barely a kiss. The tremble in his voice was even clearer. “Something glorious is coming, Professor, I’m sorry. For your sake, I hope you never see me again.”

Then, with more fear in his heart than he’d ever admit, Beverley ran.