Third Floor Common Room, Sunday Morning

[rebelseekspizza]

It'd been a couple of days since they'd last heard from Kathy, and Dante was restless. Worried, even. He was trying to give her some time and space to work through last week, but it was... turning out to be a lot of time.

And so, in the vaunted spirit of finding distractions elsewhere, he'd picked up some pizzas and headed down to the dorms. At least there wouldn't be shit to worry about at the dorms.

Now, there were a bunch of pizzas laying around, Dante's feet up on the table, and a drink the narrative would charitably call soda in his hand.

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[justice_undone]

Breq was on her way out for a walk and to find something for breakfast, when she picked up the smell of pizza. She wasn't going to steal someone else's food, but she had found that most people here were willing to share, and pizza wouldn't be too bad for breakfast.

In fact, it would be a very good breakfast, but Breq wasn't going to admit to herself that she had developed a preference for certain kinds of food.

"Good morning," she said, noting that she hadn't spoken to this person before.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Morning," Dante said, noting to himself he really didn't spend enough time in the dorms these days, if there were people walking around he'd never met. "Breakfast pizza?"

[justice_undone]

"I'd like that," Breq said, face expressionless as usual. "Thank you."

She took a seat opposite Dante. "I don't think we've met. I'm Breq."

[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, the expressionless face thing was off. (Kinda made him think about V-- nope.)

"Don't think we have either," Dante said easily. "I'm Dante. Senior."

[justice_undone]

"Junior." Breq added a deliberate smile and reached for a pizza slice. "It's kind of you to share. We don't have pizza where I'm from."

She really should consider to skip the gloves, she told herself. No one would care, and it wasn't like she was truly Radchaai anyway.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You kidding me?" Dante said, slightly more at ease, but not quite there. "Pizza's the best thing anybody's invented on this planet."

[justice_undone]

"I do like it," Breq said. "Why do you think I stopped here?" She took a bite, forgetting to smile this time. After swallowing, she continued: "But really, the best thing?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yep," Dante said, unrepentant about that answer. He took a bite. "Unless they don't have sex anywhere else. Then it's that."

[justice_undone]

"It sounds like you know your priorities," Breq replied, not judging either of them. "And in that case, it's even more generous of you to share it."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Eh, I know pizza brings everybody out in the dorms," Dante said, with a casual shrug. "You liking it here? Where you from?"

[justice_undone]

"I don't mind it for now," Breq said, taking another bite before continuing. "I'm from a universe no one I've met here has heard of. We have more advanced technology, space travel, plenty of inhabited planets. So it's different from here, in many ways. And what about you?"

She took another bite of her pizza slice.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm from Earth, just an Earth like 50 percent more fucked-up than this one," Dante said lightly. "And it's got a city this place doesn't have."

[justice_undone]

"Does fucked-up mean you don't miss it?" Breq asked. "Or that you do?"

In her experience some people missed fucked-up places more than they knew.

[rebelseekspizza]

"It's home," Dante said, shrugging. "Does it matter?"

[justice_undone]

"To some people it would, I think," she replied. "But that doesn't mean it has to, of course."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I gotta go back there every now and again to sort out some of the shit that's going on there," Dante said. "It's not leaving me anytime soon, so why worry about missing it?"

[justice_undone]

Breq had encountered that kind of reasoning before, and had no opinion either way.

"If you were worrying you probably wouldn't be able to stop doing so easily," she observed, trying to wipe a tomato sauce stain off her glove.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You miss where you're from?" Dante asked.

He was never one to linger long on philosophical discussion.

[justice_undone]

"There isn't much of it left of it," she said. Which was neither quite true or an answer to the question. "I have to deal with that eventually. But there are people I miss."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Friends, or...?" Dante asked.

[justice_undone]

"Yes," Breq replied, looking at Dante. "Friends I cared very much about."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm sorry," Dante said. "You come here by choice?"

[justice_undone]

"No. But I could have ended up in worse places. This is good for now, until I decide what I have to do next."

She reached for another pizza slice, then continued, changing the subject to something lighter:

"What do you like doing here?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Throwing parties, playing some music, eating food," Dante said, mouth twisted. "Hanging out with my people. Not a lot to do on the island, the real fun's in Baltimore. But this place is all right."

[justice_undone]

"I went to Baltimore for the Halloween celebration," Breq said. "With green paint on my face. I've found plenty of good music on the island though, especially since I started working at Groovy Tunes."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You work there too?" Dante said, sounding surprised. "Cool. I have Fridays."

[justice_undone]

"I have Wednesdays." Breq was expressionless as usual, but she was pleased to meet a fellow employee.

"I've borrowed books at the library about the history of music on this planet. I suppose I could say I collect songs, and I've been travelling a lot before I came here, so I've picked up quite a few."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Do you play music, too?" Dante asked. "Still looking for some people for a band."

[justice_undone]

"No," Breq said. "I sing, but badly." Of all the voices she had has, why was she stuck with this one?

"What kind of music do you play?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Rock mostly," Dante said. "I got my guitar going for me." Beat. "You ever try an instrument?"

[justice_undone]

I've tried the keyboards and the guitars in the shop," she said. "And others too. I've travelled a lot so I've come across a few different ones. Stringed instruments aren't that common among the people I could be considered to be a part of."

She held up a gloved hand. "Difficult to play with these on."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So why keep them on?" Dante asked. "You really that into gloves?"

[justice_undone]

It was an amusing question, not that it showed on her face.

"Where I'm from people wouldn't want to be week without gloves," she said. "The idea of nudity varies from place to place, but I guess you know that. For me it's just out of habit now."

Her ancillaries had always worn gloves when around people.

"It was easier playing the guitar without them."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So take 'em off," Dante said, shrugging. "Nobody here is going to care."

[justice_undone]

"I know," Breq said, taking another bite from her pizza. "As I said, habit. Do you play any other instrument than the guitar?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nah, though I'm thinking about getting a bass," Dante admitted, going for a pizza slice.

[justice_undone]

"What kind of instruments are you looking for for your band?" Breq asked next.

Perhaps something she could pick up easily.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Bass and drums," Dante said. "Anything else's cool too, though."

[justice_undone]

"Perhaps I could try the bass," Breq said. "With or without gloves. Unless you want someone who already knows how to play."

She added a deliberate smile.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nah, we learn as we go. Punk-style," Dante said.

[justice_undone]

Breq had listened to punk. She got what he (by now she was fairly certain he was the right pronoun) meant.

"Let me know when you want to start practicing," she said, reaching for another slice.

[rebelseekspizza]

"We used to practice Sundays," Dante offered.

[justice_undone]

"I have no plans for Sundays," Breq said. "At the boards?"