Eli Freeman, ca. 2042 (Half-Life futureverse OC) - somewhere Milliways-ish

[vance_freeman]

"'The common headcrab, Xenogenus calvacaris, was widely thought to be a parasitic lifeform, but further study revealed...'"

The young man who just walked in has dusky skin, a mop of curly red hair, and vivid green eyes, the latter of which are focused entirely on the clipboard full of papers that he's reading as he walks.

"'...is actually a mating instinct mistakenly inflicted upon a human target. By an unfortunate coincidence...'"

The white rat on his shoulder is trying to get his attention. "Eli?"

"'...closely resembles that of a female headcrab in heat. As a result--'"

"Eli."

"Hm?"

"Look up."

He does, and blinks a couple of times at his surroundings. "Oh. How long ago did we walk in here?"

"Eighty-six words ago. You really need to stop pacing around while you're editing."

"C'mon, you know I think better when I'm on my feet..."

"Not well enough to pay attention to where you're going, apparently."

Comments

[vance_freeman]

The moment Eli's clipboard hits the table, the rat-daemon leaps down on top of it and turns to face her human. "Oh, no, you don't. You're not doing any more revisions until you eat something. You haven't had a bite since breakfast."

"You sound like my mother," Eli mutters, rolling his eyes. "Fine, I'll order a sandwich."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo smirks. "Maia doesn't even bother with the TLC. Watch this. Maia, ten-letter word, two Os, 'not a woodpecker, but...'"

"'Peckerwood'," Maia responds, idly examining her claws. "Or, you know, you could just write in your name. It's not like anyone can tell the difference."

"See? No respect." He motions to a nearby waitrat. "Get this man a sandwich. My tab." He looks to Eli. "You preferential about the kind?"

[vance_freeman]

Eli shrugs.

"Something substantial," says his daemon. "With a lot of protein."

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo turns to the waitrat. "Jerk chicken on wheat. With mozzarella and Swiss. Go on, now, didi."

The waitrat scurries off.

"So," Voodoo says, turning his attention back to the crossword, "what've you got on that clipboard?"

He's guessing it's a textbook, but you know what they say about assumptions.

[vance_freeman]

"The second draft of the definitive text on Xen lifeforms, that's what." Eli grins.

[boston_bruiser]

That gets Voodoo's attention. He looks at Eli over the rim of his glasses. "What makes it so definitive?

[vance_freeman]

"No one's written about it before," explains Eli. "No one whose research is intelligible to the average layperson, anyway. That's what I'm working on."

[boston_bruiser]

"Well, that's good," Voodoo says, penning in four-down. "Comes a time you might be on par with Father Mendel for this sorta shit." He pens in thirteen-across. "How's Hope?"

[vance_freeman]

"She's doing fine," says Eli. "Helping Mom build some factory robots upstate."

[boston_bruiser]

"No shit. Send 'em my best if you see 'em, huh?" he says, penning in another answer. "I'm guessin' that has to do with a re-industrialization? The robots."

[vance_freeman]

"Yeah, we're hoping to get some vehicles built for proper transportation. I mean, teleportation is fine, but it takes a shitload of energy."

Oh, hey, his sandwich is here. Eli takes it and starts eating.