Codename Alpha: Intervention

Even with Eric absent, lunch was still fairly ordinary. It was another pasta and sausage dish, once more with noodles. Once more, I wasn't complaining - it was still quite good. Falco and I chatted for a bit, but mainly focused on our food. More than anything, though, I was thinking about David. I was very excited for the afternoon, since we'd have more time to do things without a Q&A thing taking up the bulk of the afternoon. Additionally, tomorrow was one of my off days, giving us both feasible leeway to stay up all night, if need be, something I hadn't done in quite some time.

I was fairly certain that he'd also caught me watching from my table multiple times, which I had little doubt he, or at least his friends, probably found creepy. I was still just happy to see that the people representing nations that ostensibly hated each other on the surface seemed to be friendly up here.

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Falco asked, bemused, after I had quickly looked away from David glancing in my direction, both of us making eye contact.

"You most certainly are, my friend!" I exclaimed, in a grandiose voice, laughing. "Nah, but, he's a nice guy. Especially considering that he's an alien. Honestly, I'm hoping you can get to know him more sometime."

"Man, someone's happy today, huh?" He said in response, smiling. I nodded in agreement. "More than usual, too. I think it fits you. I'll still do my best to keep from calling you Brownie in his presence." He was quiet for a bit. "I guess everyone's acting weird today..." He then muttered. "At least in your case, it's a good thing."

"I know, right?" I exclaimed, however not in a grandiose voice. "I was working with this guy named Molotov earlier, and like... I don't know much about him, in all honesty, but I could tell that even he was acting funny. Funny's an understatement, really. And, not to mention..." I simply broadly motioned towards where Eric usually sat.

"Yeah, where the hell is your brother?" He asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm just as clueless as you," I sighed.

Nonetheless, the rest of lunch went on as normal. After the bell rang signalling that our break was over, I was able to get a few words in with David, telling him that I'd been unable to read anything he might've sent me, and that I was still very excited for when we'd meet up later that day. Afterwards, as I continued on with the rest of my duties, it was really all I could think about. I wasn't in a position to try and send him a message over the computer, either, but after checking in with Tretyakov, she confirmed that he was at least attending to his duties as well.

Eventually, the time came for dinner, which today was some fried chicken with various vegetables. As I was waiting in line to serve myself, I was frequently glancing around the mess hall, and throughout the line, to try and see if I could spot Eric. Sadly, I couldn't.

I served myself, and thanks to the distinctive scent of humans that I was slowly starting to grow accustomed to, I realized that David was right behind me. "I know you're there," I said, suddenly becoming worried about the possibility that there wasn't actually anyone there and I was about to massively embarrass myself. Looking up at the windows, though, I could see him behind me in the reflection.

"Damn it, I was gonna try and scare you," he laughed, walking around to my side. "You good if I sit with you? The rest of the Columbia crew is sitting with the people they've met, so... and how'd you know I was there?"

"I could smell you, man. And sure, did you think I was going to turn you down?" I said, laughing, as I sat down. I motioned for him to take Eric's seat across from me.

"You could smell me? Jeez... anyways, it doesn't hurt to ask," he answered, as he sat down as well. "Where's... Eric? Your brother, right?" As he sat down, I noticed that he had a laptop bag slung around his shoulder, evidently quite prepared for our meetup.

"Indeed he is. Eric's... somewhere. I don't have a damn clue, and it's really worrying me."

Before either of us could continue, Falco walked up carrying his own tray of food, and sat down as well. "Hey Conrad," He said. "And... David, right."

"Indeed," he answered. "You're... Valka, correct? I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that, I'm still trying to learn names in your language."