Who: Washington (narrative) What: AI's are annoying. Where: His apartment When: Sunday night Warnings: language. Status: Complete, narrative
Wash had turned off his lights extra early and lay down on the couch with a headache bad enough it was making it hard to see straight. It was a headache like he hadn't had in a long time and it should have been familiar but honestly he was assuming it went along with running into a guy that he had thought was the Director when he ran into him.
Seeing someone that much like the Director had pretty much thrown him for a loop. Wash hadn't even thought about warning York that there was a guy out there that looked like the Director but wasn't. There was still that part of Wash that would always be there that felt like he shouldn't have broke ranks against Project Freelancer but he'd mostly learned to ignore that part.
He wasn't having any luck with sleeping through the headache and he was getting tired of it. Drinking himself to sleep wasn't generally an option (where did you actually find alcohol where he was usually stationed?) but it was starting to sound like a good idea.
"What the fuck is this? Wash...what the hell?"
The voice was in his head. He'd worry about his sanity except he'd hosted this voice in his head once before. Well, one of this voice. There was more than one. It was complicated.
"Church?" The headache had receded a little once Church started talking and Wash sat up and rubbed his hand over the back of his head where the implants were on all Freelancer personnel.
"Well who the hell else would it be? I mean have you let another AI in your head? Okay it wasn't me it was Alpha but since I have all the memories it kind of was...you know what, forget it. Have you let another AI besides me in your head?"
"Epsilon...Church...you know I haven't. And I wasn't expecting you. Not since you..." Wash wasn't sure he should finish that sentence knowing that people came from other times than where he was from.
"Deconstructed myself and died? Yeah. I was kind of wondering about that myself. Why are we in this primitive fucking place? Never mind, you remember it so will I. It'll just take me a minute oh my god what the fuck? The data speeds here are fucking frozen molasses! Church went quiet for a minute and Wash assumed he was catching up on memories. "Hey...Wash. I know this wouldn't be your choice what with how we met and all."
Well at least having to have the awkward conversation about the first time he'd been paired with Epsilon distracted Wash from trying not to think about Carolina and how hard it had hit her when Church deleted himself to save them. He knew he couldn't really keep that memory from him but he'd been trying to anyway. "You aren't the same person you were then. And there's nowhere else for you to go so I'll just have to live with it. I guess it's good to have someone else from home here. But I have to say you are giving me one hell of a headache."
"Yeah that wears off pretty fast." Church didn't sound too sympathetic but he hadn't expected him too. "Look you sleep off the headache and I'll look around your primitive network and catch up on what's happening here."
Wash wanted to get online and warn York but there was always an adjustment to having an AI in your head and Church was a lot more complex of an AI than the other fragments. "...okay...don't mess around...too much..." He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the arm of the couch.