metalogs | [CLOSED] Be It Ever So Humble...

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[CLOSED] Be It Ever So Humble...

Who: Dr. Rebecca Holiday

sixthdeadliest
What: Six brings Holiday back to Little Love, Kansas, and the house the Alliance gave him.
When: Backdated to after Holiday arrives and meets up with Six.
Where: Little Love, Kansas
Content Warnings: Potential talk about their nightmare world but otherwise should be fine.

Six hadn't been kidding when he'd said that Little Love was remote. The rural town was quite spread out with the common meeting places being the stores in the town proper. They'd stopped into several of them upon arrival. Holiday needed things after all: spare clothing and other personal items. Not to mention more groceries now that it was more than just Six at the house.

Of course, it took a while to get through even the quaint local shops. In a small town like Little Love, everybody knew everybody and was in everybody's business. Six walking around with a strange woman had immediately gotten people's attention. They knew the ninja reasonably well by this point given how long he'd lived in town and had helped out. He'd even been assisting in "reinforcing" the various buildings, not asking any questions on why so many renovations were going on and not asking about any strangers who'd suddenly come to live in those places that had been renovated. (Getting around some of the standing orders of Fantastic.)

By the time they finally rolled up to the house in Six's new (to him) truck, it was late afternoon.

He pulled into the garage in the spot closest to the connecting walkway. "I'll make sure you get a key and a code for the alarm."

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This was a strange, strange day. It'd started out very strange and just got stranger as things continued.

It took her several hours before she really started to accept the possibility that she wasn't dreaming - that she was somehow in another dimension and hanging out with a version of Six she hadn't seen in years. The concept was still buzzing in her head, making her a little dizzy. How was any of this possible?

She'd had to get used to certain impossibilities over the past seven years. Nothing new about that.

What was quite new, and even harder to get used to, she was embarrassed to admit, was the domesticity of shopping for personal items and groceries with Six. Since Rex's disappearance, she'd gone grocery shopping with him, sure. But never with this version of Six. And they never bought clothes and tampons and hair products, that was for sure.

He had a very cute truck that was, of course, green - he earned a cheeky comment about it - but Holiday was mostly silent on their drive to his house. She was still absorbing everything.

And as they pulled into Six's garage - his garage at his house, his completely normal average looking house that was practically pulled out of one of Holiday's domestic fantasies she'd long given up on - she felt a buzzing in her head again.

This was a lot. There was a lot going on.

She held the bag in her lap closer to her chest and looked up as he spoke. "...thank you."

Living with Six wasn't weird. It wasn't new. But it was a lovely-looking family home and there was a small part of her that still hoped something like this was in her future. It was hard not to think about it, at least a little.

Honestly, it was almost a good thing he'd occasionally gone shopping with Five when they'd been training under One: Five teasing him with feminine products had made them less embarrassing to be around. He hadn't even twitched at pulling one box of tampons off a higher shelf for her.

The past five years had held a lot of strangeness, but this was the strangest thing of all in his opinion: Being a part of a small town and going shopping for basic necessities with Holiday. Had he ever imagined such a thing or something similar before? Perhaps when he'd been very young before the world broke him and One put him back together as best as he could.

He shut off the truck before lowering the garage door via remote. "You're welcome."

There was an awkward pause. Holiday had changed. Not that he hadn't expected such a thing given it'd apparently been about two years since she'd last seen this version of him (she'd yet to fully explain that). Whatever she'd gone through as the slow war of attrition that was the ongoing battle against the nanites had put her through the ringer.

"There's no telling how long we'll be here," he said awkwardly. "Might be long enough for you to save up enough of the guild stipend to get a used vehicle like I did."

She took a deep breath as he spoke, nodding slowly. Just seven months ago, she'd had to suddenly start many parts of her life over again. And here she was, doing it once more.

At least Six was always by her side.

Holiday actually felt very comforted by that thought and gave him a small smile. "It's been a while since I had a car of my own. Could be nice."

All she drove lately were giant armored trucks or borrowed Providence vehicles. She'd love to have a little sports car, maybe something in red. Or light blue.

She got up from her seat and exited the truck, grabbing as many bags as she could. She kept feeling the urge to thank Six again and again, but knew that he would brush it off. They were friends, after all.

If she asked him, he'd recommend her getting something with four-wheel drive. Being this far out in the country, the roads being perfect all the time wasn't reasonable.

Then again, Providence HQ was out in the middle of nowhere by necessity. She'd likely be familiar with getting a sensible vehicle.

He raised an eyebrow at her trying to grab as much as possible and picked up several bags. There was still plenty that they'd have to make trips for. Was her trying to get as much as possible in one go because of something he hadn't experienced?

He added time travel and alternate timelines to the list of things he despised.

"Once the food's put away, you can pick which of the bedrooms you want." He paused. "I already took the master suite."

It had a fireplace, and he hated winter. Sue him.

Of course he did. It would've been weird if he hadn't, considering he lived alone.

"I'll be happy with anything, really," Holiday said softly, walking towards the door to the house.

Normally she'd like a big closet, but...she did not have a lot of clothes anymore. Maybe she'd plop herself close to the washer and dryer instead.

She stood by the door, waiting for Six to grab some bags, too. "Y'know, I never really imagined you with a house like this."

(A little bit of a lie. She had imagined it many times. Just never thought it could be real.)

"Neither did I," Six admitted. "The only house I ever spent a considerable amount of time in was Master's home, and it was built in a more traditional Japanese style. Everywhere else I stayed were Motel 8's and my assigned quarters at Providence."

The walkway wasn't particularly long, but it was fully-enclosed to keep the rain and snow out. The other side of the door connected it to the Family Room with its own fireplace and large windows. Connected to that was a full-sized kitchen with a closet pantry.

"Watch the step up," Six warned as he entered the kitchen, heading to the counters to set his current load down. "I'll get the rest of the bags while you take a look around."

Holiday stared while he casually talked about his experience with what was technically homelessness. Six had a habit of saying things that probably sounded normal to him, but really made her want to hug him.

She opted not to comment and silently followed him, in awe of how cute and charming the Family Room was.

"Sounds good," she muttered, looking around the kitchen. She didn't grow up poor, but she'd also never lived in a house like this - with a kitchen like this. It was very nice.

She started pulling groceries out of the bags and organizing them into fridge, freezer, and pantry sections. Clothing and toiletries stayed in the bags to carry upstairs later.

Holiday really wanted to just explore this place. She wondered if Six had any art or personal effects around.

Art? Personal effects? Six? Holiday, have you ever peeked into his quarters?

It didn't take long for Six to come back with the last of the bags as promised. He didn't comment on her obviously not having taken advantage of his offer to let her look around while he put the groceries away. Instead, he focused on organizing the rest of it while taking note of where Holiday had put things for when he inevitably had to look for them later.

"Any preferences for dinner tonight?"

He typically put together something filling that could be eaten over a couple of days.

(She's definitely seen his room at Providence, but she couldn't remember if he'd know that or not. When was the first time she walked in there to help him with something? So hard to remember.)

Holiday would look around after groceries were put away. She didn't want to seem like an unhelpful guest.

"Oh, um..." Dinner? Was Six planning to cook her dinner?? She was going to have a heart attack. "How about something with these chicken thighs?" she asked, holding them up.

This situation was going to take some getting used to. She'd need to help him cook and clean or something, right? Gotta help out around the house.

"Sure. You can help me clean the dishes when we're done."

It only made sense to divvy up the chores. And the last time he'd seen an example of Holiday's cooking was...well...

Bless her, she tried.

Yes - cleaning the dishes. That was an appropriate response to him making her dinner. That was a good start to feeling like she wasn't going to bother him.

Six making her dinner was still playing in her head over and over. It wasn't even that strange anymore, but their dinners usually consisted of microwave meals these days. Something homecooked was absolutely new.

"I can definitely do that," she answered with a smile, helping him put groceries away. It was a little tough when she didn't know where everything went, but she could help with the obvious things.

Given the limited resources they had at the dam, homecooked food was probably low on the priorities list...though this version of Six would be disgusted by the idea of nothing but microwave garbage. (No real nutritional value to speak of. It was a wonder their group hadn't starved to death.)

Six was patient, correcting her when necessary to get their food put away.

In an attempt to dispel the awkward, Six explained, "Master taught me how to cook. Easiest way to prevent someone trying to slip you something is to make it yourself."

Chicken thighs...hmm...

"How does chicken and rice curry strike you?"

"Sounds amazing," she said with a big smile.

Holiday loved when he talked about his Master and his life before Providence - it didn't happen often, but it always made her feel like someone he really trusted. Since he lost his memories, he flip-flopped between telling her absolutely nothing and saying things he figured she already knew, which was a very different experience for her.

Holiday grabbed two of the bags - the ones with her clothes and other necessities. "I'll head upstairs and look around a bit."

(She kind of wanted to ask if she could help with dinner, but she didn't need to embarrass herself at the moment.)

Perhaps one reason for the flip-flopping was because there wasn't much he could say about his past...and most of it that wasn't classified in some way, shape, or form were memories he wanted to forget.

He nodded his head. "It'll be good to have someone else around. It's unnerving how quiet this place can be sometimes."

At least when training under One, there'd been the chaos of the Numbers training to deal with. None of them had gone EVO and they certainly weren't superpowered, but they were more than skilled enough to give the illusion of having supernatural powers.

She gave him a little smirk as she left the room. "Happy to make your home a little more comfortable."

Upstairs she went - and immediately saw the bathroom door. She peeked inside - decent sized, very clean. Nice. Then she wandered around and checked out each bedroom (even the master bedroom, but only for a moment) and then decided on the bedroom next to the laundry room with the walk-in closet.

It was a good size, bigger than her dorm at Providence HQ and much bigger than the room she had at the plant. Holiday liked the view of the backyard and being near the laundry room, since she was carrying all the clothes she owned.

Quickly, she put the clothes away and took a seat on the bed. It was nice. This was weird. But it was nice.

After getting everything ready and setting it all to simmer, he went looking for Holiday. Not that it took long to find her. As large a space as the house was, there really weren't that many places to check.

He knocked on the doorframe, waiting for permission to enter. Hopefully Holiday wouldn't be too unnerved by how quietly he moved around.

Then again, she'd been working with him for a while now. She was probably used to it.

She was very, very used to it. Holiday smiled and stood up to open the door for him.

"Hey," she said with a small smile. This was very weird and very nice. "Smells good."

"Can't take credit for that," Six said with a shrug. "Lots of fresh air out here."

He walked in and took a look out the window.

"You picked a good room. Even if there really isn't much to look at right now."

There were the beginnings of an obstacle course and training grounds but otherwise there really wasn't a lot to look at. There was just too much land. A strange concept for Six.

She smirked at him and watched as he walked over to the window.

"Thanks. It'll probably take me a while to fill up the room, but it'll be nice to have so much space again," she said thoughtfully. Her room at Providence had plenty of her things, but when they moved to the plant, there wasn't a lot of time to grab personal items.

Holiday joined him at the window, smiling at the obstacle course. "It'll be like watching you train in the Petting Zoo."

"With less potential mauling," Six said dryly.

He wasn't allowed to use his magna blades on the Zoo residents, after all. If he got turned into a chew toy, that was on him.

Holiday smiled at the memory. Their makeshift zoo at the plant was...not ideal. Not that studying them was her priority anymore, but the Petting Zoo was something she missed most about Providence.

She was struck, once again, by the fact that the Six she was currently standing next to still technically worked for Providence. He still trained in that very zoo. Once again: weird.

"Unless some weird plant monsters decide to invade Little Love, right?" she said cheekily.

"You joke about it, but you weren't here the last time the potatoes turned sapient and tried dragging people underground to 'plant' them."

Absolutely dead serious.

Holiday stared at him with an incredulous expression. The contrast of the silliness of his words paired with the very serious look on his face was just too much, and she suddenly let out a short laugh.

She covered up her mouth with her hand and turned back to the window. "I'm sorry. I'm sure it was terrifying at the time."

"I wouldn't call it 'terrifying' either. It was just odd."

Which wasn't bad for Little Love.

"Reminded me of some of the smaller EVO issues back home."

"We've certainly had our share of strange EVOs."

Six probably wouldn't even know about the EVO that caused a sleeping plague. Or the giant frog that almost destroyed New York City.

She glanced over at him again. "Thank you again. For letting me stay with you."

Six raised an eyebrow at her. "There's no need to keep thanking me for it."

True, technically she wasn't his Holiday but she was still Holiday.

She smiled softly and pushed some hair behind her ear. "I know."

It felt like she was interrupting his life in this new world - which was a strange thought, considering he lived alone in a gigantic house. It was pretty clear that she wasn't interrupting anything.

Standing there next to him, staring out a window at the yard below - it felt very nostalgic. She let out a quiet sigh, exhaling the memory. That was a long time ago.

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[CLOSED] Be It Ever So Humble...

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