“Yeah, definitely. And you’ve got food here, right?”

    "Yes Ma'am. Would you like a tour?"

"Sure!"

Shreya must be tired.

Shreya has been awake for a lot of degrees and dodging dysofrags for many of them.

Nonetheless, Shreya somehow fails to appear fatigued at all.

Well, it's a small station, the tour can be pretty quick: showers, cafeteria, gym - Deskyl scoops up her nest on the way out - and finally bunks.

Shreya fixes herself a meal, fetches a bag from her SLAYER and then retires to the bunkroom.

(The bag contains a medkit, emergency rations, a change of clothes, and a fuzzy toy that squeaks when you squeeze it.)

She checks in with Deskyl one last time before bedding down. "Four degrees sleep, one degree prep, then we launch?"

    "Yes, Ma'am. Sleep well."

Back in the cafeteria, she gets the deck of cards Artha's princess printed for her and offers to show Devika a game with them.

"Sure. I like card games."

She remembers liking card games.

She remembers teaching Adita to play cards, one degree after curfew at the academy (the degree right before the two of them were almost abducted).

She doesn't know if she has ever actually played cards before.

The game she shows her is fairly simple, meant for two players but easily enough adapted to three, with enough of an element of chance to keep her emotion-reading from being too much of an advantage.

She waits a few hands, until Devika has the hang of it and doesn't need to spend quite so much of her attention on her strategy, before asking: "Deskyl would like to know how much you're comfortable with her telling Shreya about you, Ma'am."

Devika plays a few more cards.

”You should tell her anything you think might be relevant to the mission.”

Deskyl nods.

    "And aside from that?"

“Is there anything to know about me aside from that?”

    "Of course there is, Ma'am. You have a past, even if it's not the past you thought you had."

The thought of sharing the details of her real past doesn't actually phase her.

"Funny." She plays the rest of her cards and then passes the turn to DZ. "My fabricated past somehow still feels more personal and more private than the real thing?"

    "That makes sense, she says. It's what you have the most feelings about; the rest is too new."

"After this mission, I should have a better sense of what feelings to hold onto."

Deskyl nods.

    "It's going to be hard, but you'll be okay."

"I will."

Play continues.

DZ cleans house.

Degrees while away.

Yawning, rustling sheets and intermittent squeaking are heard from the bunkroom.

Shreya packs her things, showers, changes back into her whiplash suit and then reports in to Deskyl.

Well, it's Devika's show, mostly.

    "Do you have a plan in mind?"

"Could we talk about that in transit?"

    "Of course, Ma'am. Do either of you have anything you'd like to do before we go?"

Both of them give a negative response.