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From:

inthebiblicalsense

"Is he still here? I'd love to talk to him if so." His ship was a pile of ashes and crap metal now anyways, so it wouldn't be like he could ever fly her again unless it was some kind of simulation.

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm's expression creases for a moment and he looks at a spot near Abel's elbow.

"No. No, he left."

From:

inthebiblicalsense

"Oh." Well, that was awkward.

"Sorry." He doesn't want to add anything else to that for fear of shoving his foot further in his mouth. He could have left on his own terms, but judging by Malcolm's face, that probably wasn't it. He's suddenly remembering he has tea, which is more lukewarm now than it had been, like usual when he got himself something warm to drink and immediately forgot about it.

From:

abrightboy

"Oh. No. You don't have to be sorry. He got everything he ever wanted." He absolutely left on his own terms; Malcolm just has trouble letting go. "I'm happy for him." Sad for himself.

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Well, that made treading forward a little easier. He takes a sip of his tea, "Were you close then?" Because he would absolutely love to know more about you than just your sex life, Malcolm. It would probably help.

"When you're always moving forward loss is difficult." Who ever this was wasn't dead, but even so he was gone. It will be difficult for him as well, he thinks, now that he'd actually have time to grieve his losses. You didn't have much opportunity on the battlefield.

From:

abrightboy

"Yeah," Malcolm admits. "He was like... a mentor. He taught me a lot."

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Abel is reminded of Commander cook, how he had looked up to him before everything had fallen apart. Heroes, mentors, commanders, they tended to disappoint you if they stuck around long enough in his experience.

"valuable resources and friends are sometimes impossible to replace. Hopefully you have someone else who can fill that role for you if you still need it."

From:

abrightboy

"I did," Malcolm tells him. "But he left too. But I have another one now. He disappeared for a while, but he came back."

From:

inthebiblicalsense

"How long have you been here?" It would be good to know, if he's lost close friends like that so often, it might be better to try not to get too close, though Abel isn't entirely sure how he can try and prevent it. It was good being around people who actually enjoyed talking to him.

From:

abrightboy

"Almost two years now," Malcolm tells him. "I just graduated my second inmate. I just had my first ever first anniversary with my soulmate that I met here. It's a great place."

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Abel tries his best not to make a face when he mentions his soulmate. Alright, yeah, Norton, he can see it. Fucking with feelings and soulmates definitely are in line with the gossip. "Congratulations, those are both things to be proud of. I'll have to peak at your notes, get some pointers."

From:

abrightboy

“I’m hoping to get another inmate at the end of the month. Will thinks they should give me a vacation first, but it’s not like we can go anywhere and honestly working keeps me out of trouble,” Malcolm says with a shrug.

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Abel had been taking a vacation of sorts since he got here and he had not enjoyed very much of it at all. "I can understand that. I haven't known what to do with myself half the time since I got here and it's gotten me in trouble a few times." Thankfully not a lot, and he feels like he had kind of fixed that one conversation since he hadn't just stormed away, but it was awkward sometimes, going to the Gym. Ah well, Jacob could judge his form all he wanted so long as they could stay civil.

"Is...Will your soulmate?" He knows already, but if he slips up later it will help not give anything else away. Besides, it might be a good thing hearing it from Malcolm rather than the Gossip chain.

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm will talk about Will all day long if asked, so good plan.

"Yeah! Will Graham. He works in the kennels and you might see him around walking or training his dogs. We had the same job in our worlds, investigating murders."

From:

inthebiblicalsense

"Oh! So does that make you a detective as well? Or were you part of a forensics team?" Its definitely an interesting career choice. He'd been witness to enough people die over the years that he isn't sure whether a job like that would disturb him, but it certainly wasn't something most people could do.

"I haven't met Will, though I love dogs, so that will at least give me a good starting point if I catch him out on a walk. How long have you known each other?" Since he doubts they started the first day they met, but it wasn't unheard of. He'd done it anyways, though definitely not on purpose.

From:

abrightboy

“I’m a detective. A profiler, specifically. Him too. We use behavioural psychology to study and hunt killers. I’ve known him for a bit over a year. He was here for a few months before I knew… about his feelings. We just celebrated our first anniversary in port,” Malcolm rambles happily. “We’ve both lectured at the same detective school in our different worlds too, which is neat. We’ve both worked for the same law enforcement agency.”

From:

inthebiblicalsense

He can see how being so similar might be a comfort. Abel isn't sure he'd enjoy having a partner that was so close to himself, they'd never talk to each other if all they did was work anyways, but having a friend with shared experiences here would be valuable.

"That makes a lot more sense to me. I was thinking soulmate was you being too much of a romantic, but it definitely fits given the context." That embarrassment is starting to bleed away now that he has more information, adding a few footnotes under Norton's original assessment. "I'm sure that it's nice to have someone who has shared in most of your experiences, even if they weren't with you to do them."

From:

abrightboy

“We’re perfectly matched. But… we’re not exactly the same. We have a lot of differences, too. Complementary differences. So we can help each other. So we can be stronger together,” Malcolm explains.

From:

inthebiblicalsense

"It'd probably be boring if you were. I don't think many people want to date themselves." He smiles, though Cain had certainly not been very complementary. Perhaps if he had actually met the real him and not some version of himself that had been completely made up, it might be different. There was no real separating him here though.

From:

abrightboy

“Exactly. Do you want to see a picture of him?”

Malcolm is already taking out his phone. He’s been taking all kinds of pictures of Will. Abel may recognize the Barge staircase the photo is taken in when Malcolm hands it to him.

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Abel is secretly amassing cute pictures of happy couples, and despite the sting of jealousy, it makes him smile, considering Will. There had been a lot of very attractive men on board the Sleipnir too, but it's a little different when you can consider most of them on the Barge to be some kind of available, even if it's just to look. Expressing open interest hadn't been safe or appropriate, but he is thankful it's not like that here, passing the phone back.

"He's cute. I like his curls." The way it almost makes his hair look messy but purposefully so reminds him of Ethos. "You have good taste, obviously."

From:

abrightboy

“I know, right? I like his curls too. This one is my favourite so far…” He shows him another picture, and then he’ll tuck his phone back into his pocket. “We started taking a lot more pictures recently. We realized we’re living a life we want to remember now.”

From:

inthebiblicalsense

"I'm sure I've said this too many times already to practically everyone i've met, but it's nice, meeting so many queer people." He smiles at the other picture, finding that Malcolm looks pretty handsome too when he's showing his partner off. It's the kind of happiness that comes with enjoying your life, like he said, and it's very attractive.

"Makes me feel normal for once."

From:

abrightboy

“You’re… made to feel not normal where you’re from? For that? I’m sorry,” Malcolm tells him genuinely.

From:

inthebiblicalsense

Abel pulls a face, shaking his head, "No, it's...My father is a conservative politician. If I'd been interested in women it probably would have gone better for me, but he didn't want a media scandal." The way Malcolm looks at him though, sorry about it almost swings him right on back to being uncomfortable.

"I never really trusted anyone with telling them after what happened when I came out to I came out to my parents. Just-" Cain. "Hard to get used to it not being a secret."