[video]

[zippity]

How's it so many of you are runnin' about and not bringin' back any stories with you? Some of us could use it you know! Instead of havin' 'em all dumped out when they drop those spots on the news, anyway.

[Ahem.

Tracer is broadcasting from the monitor room, where she's clearly been serving out her duties with as much patience as she can muster (read: not a lot). Even with all of the activity, Tracer can't deal with the tedium. She's rigged up a way to continuously spin herself in a chair while she spends time dispatching Legionnaires as is expected of her. Even with that, she's incredibly restless, and has herself perched in the window, lounging on the sill in a manner that probably would be considered unsafe if she weren't capable of rewinding time around her.

Overwatch's systems were mostly automated. When a warning went out, the Strike Team left -- and that was the end of it. This dispatching nonsense makes her thankful that it never got quite as large, but also makes her nostalgic.

That's not the only thing, but. Well, its a big part of it. And while she's trying to think of a way to bring up that first thing without outing herself, she can be seen tapping her fingers nervously on the big glowing machine on her chest.]

...speakin' of stories. How many of you lot got families back where you came from? Maybe a better half...

[She pauses here -- not too long though. Don't want to be suspicious.]

...do you think they're still lookin' for you? It's been a tick, hasn't it?

Comments

[mylawn]

The world was ending.

[He says that like it should be obvious, but she doesn't remember what it was really like, to be standing on the brink of potential extinction.]

Overwatch was the only way we were gonna win.

[vata]

Hm.

[A litte hum answers him, contemplative enough. Not exactly the speech of the year, but she imagines if she asked Gabe why he signed up, he'd say the same thing. Or something close to it.]

Okay.

[She folds her arms. Shrugs. Simple as if it was the weather they were discussing, and nothing else so entirely world-ending as this.]

[mylawn]

[Well, that's not exactly what he was expecting. Jack is silent for a long moment, studying her and expecting more of an answer to that. Clearly she's thinking about something--just refusing to voice it, and that puts him the slightest bit on edge.]

Did I pass the test?

[Because that's what this feels like, a little bit.]

[vata]

Yup.

[Gold star, Morrison.

Acknowledgement done and dealt with, she turns on her heel to face the city skyline, watching it for a few long, long beats— as if she's willing some part of it to move. really move. A light to turn off in a window somewhere, a silhouette to pass by.

She knows better.]

You know, I never thought I'd miss it.

[mylawn]

[His lips part slightly, as if he's about to reply to her, but his mouth sort of freezes as he realizes he has nothing to say. Not to that, at least. Jack wants to tell himself that her approval means absolutely nothing, but it doesn't, really. If he wasn't looking for her to accept him and all his failings--the very specific failings that shaped her experiences--then he wouldn't be here in the first place.

No use pretending. Maybe he's a little relieved. He'll watch her for a few moments, trying to discern what she might be thinking before she goes ahead and voices it.]

It's something familiar. [And home is far away, after all.] You're allowed to be a little sentimental.

[vata]

You're not.

[He is.

She'd seen the photograph he kept. Not even real, just...imagined. She still hasn't mentioned it to Gabe yet— maybe she's just waiting for the right moment to bring it up. A detail kept close to her chest. Another promise that she's still valuable, just in case things ever turn on their head.

Somewhere, beneath all the camaraderie and loyalty, Sombra knows better than to pretend he sees her as she sees him.]

[mylawn]

[He shrugs, because she's found the picture and already knows that he has a little trouble letting go. Is being sentimental dangerous? Yes, a little. He tries to keep it close to the chest.]

Sometimes you need to remind yourself why you do it in the first place.

[Sometimes it makes him sad, more than anything, but it's what he fights for, even if everything in that picture is long gone.]

[vata]

You think you'll go back?

[Head canting off to one side, curiosity slipping slowly to the forefront: a gauge for all the things she wants to ask, but can't just yet. Not without tipping her hand to the table.]

After this is over, I mean.

[mylawn]

Yeah.

[That's not even a question. Jack was pulled from his mission, and despite Reaper's presence here, he's no closer to his answers. He needs to find out what happened to Overwatch, and there's no progress to be made here.]

Unfinished business.

[vata]

You mean finding out why it all happened.

[In the end, they're after the same thing, surprising as that doesn't somehow seem to be anymore. Maybe it's not a bad move, then: aligning their goals.

Carefully. ] You know there's another way, right?

To get what you want while you're still here.

[mylawn]

Who was behind it.

[He nods along, because she knows what he's after, by now. It's not that hard to guess. With that second comment, however, she gets his attention, though it sounds too good to be true. There's a lot that doesn't quite line up.]

I'm listening.

[Though what is he supposed to be able to do from here? Information is one thing--making these people pay is another entirely.]

[vata]

Legionnaire Legacies.

[It's a short, simple confession: she's watched the fallout of it continue on for months, now - how easily the galaxy at large could simply access anything they wanted by doing absolutely nothing.

A little easy mode, sure, but sometimes it's nice to cheat the system so thoroughly. Especially when you've been chasing a vicious ghost for ten years now...before most people knew there was anything truly wrong.]

[mylawn]

[Jack would be lying if he said he hadn't considered it--if he could get to the machine and use it for his own ends, or just wait for it to access either his or Gabriel's pasts to broadcast them, but then where would any of it go?]

So I'd have my answers, but I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

[Not as long as he's stuck here.]

[vata]

You have to start somewhere, right?

[Eventually they might go back— they might not even have a choice in it— depending on how everything works here. The Time Trapper. Chronoblivion.

Prepare for the best, plan for the worst, and always stack the deck in your favor if you have the opportunity.]

[mylawn]

Yeah.

[He seems like he's considering it, at least, but the Anywhere Machine is something so beyond him that Jack isn't quite sure how they're supposed to begin. Should he subject himself to a Legacy? Try to get a look at the machine himself? Would it even show him anything he didn't already know?]

Where do we start?