[ The warning from the gruff man comes too late for it to do any good, although Fern is fully willing to simply ignore the android if talking with him becomes more trouble than it's worth. So she thinks it's fine for now.
She chews a bite of hot dog as Thomas responds to her, though her expression pinches with confusion as that term crops up again. Company retreat. She had seen something similar written in a journal clutched in the metal hands of another one of the androids, one of the lifeless ones, and she hadn't been sure what it was about then either.
He speaks of his mother, as if he doesn't realize that there's no way he could have been birthed. (As far as she knows. Maybe things work very differently on other planes.)
Suddenly both Thomas and the bar's other patron have their eyes on her, and Fern heaves out a sigh.
But yes, she did bring this on herself, and so she gives a snappy reply to shut things down. ]
What about her? She's dead.
[ Thomas lapses into a beat of uncomfortable silence, murmuring an apology before he excuses himself to clean up the mess he made. It seems that Fern at least got him off their backs purely by making things awkward.
She glances back to toothpick man, pitching her voice low so that Thomas hopefully doesn't eavesdrop. ]
no subject
She chews a bite of hot dog as Thomas responds to her, though her expression pinches with confusion as that term crops up again. Company retreat. She had seen something similar written in a journal clutched in the metal hands of another one of the androids, one of the lifeless ones, and she hadn't been sure what it was about then either.
He speaks of his mother, as if he doesn't realize that there's no way he could have been birthed. (As far as she knows. Maybe things work very differently on other planes.)
Suddenly both Thomas and the bar's other patron have their eyes on her, and Fern heaves out a sigh.
But yes, she did bring this on herself, and so she gives a snappy reply to shut things down. ]
What about her? She's dead.
[ Thomas lapses into a beat of uncomfortable silence, murmuring an apology before he excuses himself to clean up the mess he made. It seems that Fern at least got him off their backs purely by making things awkward.
She glances back to toothpick man, pitching her voice low so that Thomas hopefully doesn't eavesdrop. ]
... What's a company retreat?