02-05-2026, 02:13 AM
Elliot’s beaming smile was dangerous. In this setting, there were precious few distractions to hide its effect on Cassidy. He felt himself being drawn in, as if gravity had suddenly shifted toward the other side of the table. How easy it would be to close the distance between them! His fingers flexed instinctively — an imagined touch. He’d made a mistake in overestimating his own restraint. Cassidy was no stranger to infatuation, but this was something else altogether. To anyone watching, he would have seemed fully enthralled by the conversation.
“How are you making out?” Ian asked tentatively, perhaps thrown by the intensity of Cassidy’s attention. “After everything? That happened, I mean.”
That was enough to knock Cassidy back to reality. His smile softened, a hint of regret creasing his brow. He’d lost patients before, but never his own crew. The seats around them seemed to grow emptier. Was it going to be like this every time? He shook his head and composed himself, not wanting to burden the young engineer.
“It was a tough one, but I’m proud of my crew. They stepped up today, even though none of us knew what we were in for,” he replied. It was a classic deflection, one that he’d employed many times in the wake of a tragedy — enough that he found himself doing it instinctively. It had the advantage of being completely true, which masked the non-answer at its core.
He glanced down at the toolkit that Elliot had brought along with him, having not noticed it before. Of course! The engineer had been looking for him, just not for the reason he’d hoped.
“Did Nurse Manx send you to take a look at my gear?” He asked guiltily. He held his cybernetic arm toward himself, inspecting it. The metal frame had survived the heat of the shuttle fire intact, though a few of the wires under the surface of his wrist had fused. The sensation was like a persistent tingling on the tips of his fingers. “You can take a look if you want. It’s a little tricky for me to mess with it myself.”
Cassidy stretched the heavy cyberware across the length of the table in a surprisingly casual gesture. Ordinarily, he would have felt some apprehension about letting someone tinker with his machinery, but somehow this felt natural.
== Tag Elliot ==
“How are you making out?” Ian asked tentatively, perhaps thrown by the intensity of Cassidy’s attention. “After everything? That happened, I mean.”
That was enough to knock Cassidy back to reality. His smile softened, a hint of regret creasing his brow. He’d lost patients before, but never his own crew. The seats around them seemed to grow emptier. Was it going to be like this every time? He shook his head and composed himself, not wanting to burden the young engineer.
“It was a tough one, but I’m proud of my crew. They stepped up today, even though none of us knew what we were in for,” he replied. It was a classic deflection, one that he’d employed many times in the wake of a tragedy — enough that he found himself doing it instinctively. It had the advantage of being completely true, which masked the non-answer at its core.
He glanced down at the toolkit that Elliot had brought along with him, having not noticed it before. Of course! The engineer had been looking for him, just not for the reason he’d hoped.
“Did Nurse Manx send you to take a look at my gear?” He asked guiltily. He held his cybernetic arm toward himself, inspecting it. The metal frame had survived the heat of the shuttle fire intact, though a few of the wires under the surface of his wrist had fused. The sensation was like a persistent tingling on the tips of his fingers. “You can take a look if you want. It’s a little tricky for me to mess with it myself.”
Cassidy stretched the heavy cyberware across the length of the table in a surprisingly casual gesture. Ordinarily, he would have felt some apprehension about letting someone tinker with his machinery, but somehow this felt natural.
== Tag Elliot ==