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An empty roadway glistens in the evening, the wet pavement from an earlier rain reflecting the sparkle of scattered streetlights overhead. A small young woman stands pensively staring at a green-slatted wooden wall, apparently lost in her distant thoughts. Footsteps behind her at first go unnoticed, but as they move conspicuously in her direction the sound draws her from her reverie. She turns to find the person she had been waiting for approaching with a glowing smile.
Her companion’s hard-light face looks counterintuitively soft under the gentle off-white of the street lights. The joy in her eyes is infectious, but if that weren't enough to make Cadet Oxton smile, her outfit would have done it. For a person who is perpetually unclothed, Echo did a wonderful job dressing up to go out.
As she makes her way over, Lena sees that she is wearing a light blue summer dress that ends mid-thigh and matches her own blues, the bottom edge flowing lightly on a flirty breeze. A black sash with a cute bow brings the dress in at her waist, and a stylish white mini-jacket covers her shoulders and upper back, the small metal buttons purely decorative and obviously never meant to clasp.
Echo typically floated, but tonight she had formed a pair of slender blue feet to slip into low black heels which clicked with a clearly practiced gait on the cobblestones. Three bands of thin criss-crossing black straps ran from a loop around her big toe to mid-foot, then back to ankle bone, and finally wrapped low around her ankle in a tight circle.
The simple elegance and class with which Echo had dressed herself made Tracer self-conscious at her own choice of outfit. She had put in a mix of tiny skull and heart studs along her row of ear piercings, and she was wearing a pair of worn and torn punk leggings. She had on a light jacket as well, but hers was denim and covered in an array of symbolic patches and metal riveting. It was clear she loved the jacket by the wear and repairs on it, and it was in good shape for all the time she had obviously spent with it. Tracer’s hair was gently spiked, her hands in her jacket pockets fiddling with their unimportant contents, and her toes pointed inward in a pair of black Doc Martens with purple laces. Tracer’s shirt peeking out from under the jacket is an unidentifiable small band shirt with some kind of screaming fuzzball for a logo barely visible as she pulls her jacket tight in front of her.
“Oh, wow, Echo! You look.. um.. well you look really terrific! Gosh, I wish I even knew HOW to dress that nice!” Tracer blushes as she takes in Echo’s appearance and looks down and away, not wanting to stare or make Echo uncomfortable. Still, she hadn't realized how beautiful her legs were until they were framed by a cute skirt. The thought deepens her blush immensely the moment she has it.
“Are you kidding? You look so COOL, Tracer! I did my best, but my clothes are just pretty! Yours tell a story! I had no idea you had such style! What is your T-shirt? Is that musical group?”
Tracer’s confidence returns and her blush lessens but doesn't disappear entirely as she focuses on her own outfit in a new light.
“Oh, all this is nothin’ special, really. I mean, the jacket is *kinda* special and I take good care of it, but the rest is just my normal clothes. The shirt is from a concert when I was 15, a local group called the.. uh.. the Skuzzy Wankers.”
She pauses for a second and the blush comes back full force.
“In retrospect, maybe not the best shirt to wear on a first date, huh? I just knew it was comfy and clean so I…” She cuts herself off, feeling like she’s digging herself a hole. “A-A-Anyway they weren't actually very good, haha! It was just the first concert I ever went to with money I earned myself, so I wanted a souvenir.”
Echo, completely unfazed by the band name and the accidental admission of untidiness, is delighted with this teensy bit of Lena lore she didn't know. “That’s so neat! I’d actually love to hear more about the concert, and what you did to earn the money! Oh, but I bet you’re getting hungry. Sorry I took so long.”
Tracer’s stomach mercifully misses its cue to growl, but she is definitely ready to eat. “Aw, no way, you’re not late at all! Being casual doesn't really have a set time anyway. But, now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit famished. I kind of forgot to eat lunch today. And breakfast” Lena admits with a guilty smile. “But hey, that just means that dinner is going to taste AMAZING!”
She giggles at the thought of her great grandpa's lasting wisdom, ‘hunger is the best sauce’, and then realizes that Echo probably has no idea about that phenomenon.
Echo stares in frank concern when Tracer says she hadn't been eating, but before she has a chance to remind her that she (above all others) needs to eat because of her condition, Tracer pushes onward.
“Oh! I guess you probably wouldn't know about that yet! So when you don't eat, your body sorta… changes its expectations. Food that would be a 3 or 4 outta 10 is suddenly like a 9, because you just need to eat SOMETHING. My Great Grandad always said ‘hunger is the best sauce’ and that's what he meant!”
Echo realizes that Tracer is actually doing fine despite not eating, so she refrains from lecturing her about taking care of herself. She does, however, make a mental note to check in on her during the day sometimes to be sure she hasn't forgotten to eat. Instead of admonishing her, she responds to this new information.
“Ah, people do that with significant others, too, I’ve read! Apparently, if people don't date anyone for a long time, they will lower their standards to expand the available pool of potential partners. It’s like your mouth is desperate for a date!”
Tracer is caught completely off guard by this comparison and chokes on nothing at all, snorting and coughing her way back to stability and almost getting a cramp from laughing that hard while being so very hungry. “Hahahahaha! Wow, Echo that was the funniest thing I've heard all week, cause you're absolutely right! Well come on then, let's go find my mouth a date.”
With that, Tracer holds out her hand automatically for Echo, who takes it readily. That, in turn, gives Tracer a moment of panic as she realizes she’s holding Echo’s hand as a DATE and not just as a friend. She stomps down the potential embarrassment in her mind and grips the hand gently and warmly as they walk, arms swinging together softly in sweet youthful happiness.
Lena rounds the corner at the end of the block and stops in front of a gaming pub called Daeggerd’s. She lets go of Echo’s hand and presents the establishment with a ‘Ta-da!’ flourish.
“Welcome to Daeggerd’s! I know you can't eat, but I figured here I can eat, and we can play some board games together so you don't just have to watch me stuff my gob!”
Echo, having previously had no idea such an establishment existed, practically has stars in her eyes as she looks in the window at the old adventuring-tavern decor and multiple walls competed in shelves of board games.
“What a WONDERFUL idea, Lena! I was excited to just watch you ‘stuff your gob’ and have you tell me all about it, but now you don't have to be self conscious about eating while I just sit there!”
Lena snickers at Echo saying ‘stuff your gob’ and walks up to hold the door for her. “M’ lady.” she says dramatically with a bow.
Echo walks in with a light curtsy. “Why thank you, miss” she says as she passes.
The bartender of the small establishment, an Omnic named Michael, shouts over to the door as he continues working a one-man operation behind the counter. “Hey, welcome ta Daeggerd’s! Find yourself a seat and feel fr… Ho. Ly. Shit! Is that little Lena Oxton I see?!”
“Michael, it's been a long time, hasn't it!” Lena exclaims as she walks over and hugs the relatively small frame of the bartender.
“And who is this gorgeous woman with you? She’s not looking for a handsome bartender, is she?”
“Ha! Nice try old man, she’s all mine tonight. Meet my good friend and date for the evening, Echo.”
“Echo, what a pleasure!” Says Michael as he takes Echo's hands in both of his own. “Lena here used to be one of my favorite customers before she up and left on me. I was worried I’d go broke without her patronage!”
“Well I’m glad she brought me back with her! I’ve never been to any pub before, let alone a gaming pub!”
“Oh this is more than just a gaming pub” Tracer chimed in. “This is MY gaming pub!”
“Heeeey now, no usurpers allowed in here, or did you miss the sign?”
Tracer laughs and playfully pushs at the Omnic who ruffles her hair lightly in response. “Michael here used to feed me in exchange for doin’ things around the shop. He really helped me out back then, and I got to play LOADS of fun games to boot!”
“Ya know, now that ya mention it, my profits have actually been a lot better since you left. What was I thinking, letting you back in here?”
“Well tonight I’m buying!” said Tracer. “What’s on the menu this evening?”
“Are you kiddin me? Honey, you can have anything you want. How about a classic reuben with some corn chowder?”
“Oh my god that sounds incredible. I would kill for that sandwich.”
“What day we just make it an even $20 and no one has to die tonight?”
“You got it!” Suddenly Tracer gasps. “Oh hell yeah, my spot is empty! Come on Echo!” This time she grabs Echo's hand with no hint of trepidation or self consciousness and leads her companion over to a central bench-seat along the back wall beneath an archway of large antlers and two bookshelves loaded with eclectic board games. In her home element, Tracer is completely at ease and just thrilled for the chance to share this place with someone else.
She quickly scans the shelves and pulls two games down.
“Okay! Here's our starting options. They’re each only about 15 minutes long and they’re cooperative, so we don't need to work against each other.”
“Alright, tell me first about… ‘Bayou Billy’s Building Bonanza’” says Echo as she settles down onto one of the bench seats.
“Okay, so this game LOOKS like a little kid game, but actually it's a super tricky balancing game where you gotta stack these animals, but you have to pick the one for me, and me for you. The more we get onto the tower the more points we win! But you gotta plan out who is gonna end with which pieces. My record is 23 out of 30.”
“Alright, and what is ‘Witch of Torindas’?”
“This is a pretty straightforward mini dungeon crawler where we have to draw cards. We take turns making up a story to explain why the new problem is there and how it gets in our way. Then we fight it based on the dice and our character’s skills, and if we can collect 8 pieces of treasure from defeated monsters we win!”
“Let's do both, but start with Billy so we’re not doing the hands-on tumbling-tower one when your food gets here”
“Oh, good point. Bayou Bonanza it is! So first we get the crocodile….”
The tower collapses at a mere 9 animals, but armed with experience the duo tries again and manages 19 before a daring attempt to dangle a monkey from a giraffe’s horn ends in disaster. Just as they're congratulating each other on a series of wise decisions and careful placements, Michael arrives with the food.
“Alright, one Reuben and a bowl of corn. And hey, Lena, don't even worry about the bill, I’m just so happy to see you again, and in the company of such a beautiful woman, that I feel sufficiently compensated. Oh and uh, drinks on me too. My up-and-coming protege Lenny just got here - he can get ya anything else ya need. And hey, Echo was it? You look drop-dead gorgeous, and it was a pleasure to meet you. Take care of my little girl though, ya hear? She’s somethin’ special, this one.”
Tracer blushes anew as Echo reaches across the table to grab her hand while looking at the barkeep. “Absolutely, Mister Michael. She’s been a wonderful friend to me, and I’m certainly enjoying my time with her tonight as well. I don't think ‘special’ even does her justice!”
“Ey, that’s what I like to hear. Anyway, you two have fun” he says, winking at Tracer. It's an art for the average Omnic to wink, and an even greater art to read that wink, but Tracer doesn't miss it at all. Echo does, though, and the absolutely *furious* blush that colors Tracer's face has no origin she understands.
With that, Michael takes his leave and Tracer turns her full and glistening-eyed attention on the sandwich which was just set before her. It is nothing less than a work of art. The meat, sauce, and sauerkraut distribution is so exceptional that a professional food photographer would weep at the opportunity to capture its beauty.
“Echo,” Tracer says with no small amount of awe in her voice, “Have you ever seen a more perfectly built sandwich?”
Echo, smiling and happy, matter-of-factly replies “no, I haven't.”
“Part of me wants to say it's so beautiful I can't even eat it, but that’s a straight lie. It's so beautiful I can't NOT eat it. It'd be downright criminal to leave it sitting there.”
“Also you would still be hungry.”
“Also I would still be hungry.” Tracer agrees, her stomach finally betraying her with a vicious rumbling growl. She barely even notices it as her mouth begins to water in anticipation of the first bite, the corn chowder completely forgotten. “I’m goin’ in”
She reverently grabs the sandwich with both hands and pulls it up before her face, her every sense focused on this exquisite piece of culinary craftsmanship. Her eyes scan the crisp sear of the marbled rye bread, her nose sampling the robust flavors. With all the love of a mother setting her baby down for a nap, Tracer sinks her teeth into the sandwich, the meat shearing off cleanly under the lightest pressure, the strings of sauerkraut covered in sauce trailing onto her lips as she pulls the bite back and chews in slow, savory ecstasy. She doesn't want to swallow it, because it’ll mean not having it in her mouth anymore, but the rage of her empty stomach demands satisfaction, and she relents only on the knowledge that another bite awaits her. There is nothing in the world but her and this marvelous sandwich.
Echo watches what appears to be an almost religious experience playing out before her very eyes. She wonders at just how incredible the symphonic sensation of eating must really be to bring such unrestrained pleasure. Not for the first nor last time in her long, Echo wishes that she, too, could eat.
Tracy groans in satisfaction on her third bite. “Oooohh my gooooood this is soooooo good. I was so excited about games I forgot I was dying of starvation.” She opens her eyes to find the chowder and sees Echo staring at her with a mixed look of longing and happiness, and she is suddenly very self-conscious of making such a huge deal of something Echo can't participate in.
“Oh, jeeze, I’m sorry Echo, it’s not THAT.. what I mean to say is”
“No, no, it's quite alright! I’m actually loving how happy it's making you! If I can't eat the sandwich, at the very least I can imagine and replicate the feelings it gives you, and that’s wonderful in its own way.”
Tracer, abashed but also still very hungry, looks from Echo to the sandwich again, torn between two strong needs.
“Are you sure?”
“Oh yes definitely! And you’re expressing your desire for the sandwich so outwardly that it really helps me enjoy it by proxy!”
Embarrassed at having gotten so consumed with consuming the meal, but not wanting to deny Echo what little she can give, Lena tries to lose herself in the sandwich again. “Okay, well then I’m gonna eat this sandwich for both of us. Do you want me to describe it?”
“Would you please? That would be wonderful!”
As it turns out, losing herself in the sandwich again is no trouble at all for a girl who lives by the moment and enjoys life immensely. Tracer closes her eyes again as she takes another bite and really tries to think about the sensations.
“Right. Okay, well, I'm not really much of a poet but I’ll do my best for you. Let's see… the first thing I notice is the smell. Hot butter mixed with the savory and salty juice of the corned beef, the lightly fried bread matching the zing of the dressing and the acidity of the sauerkraut. They all snuggle down together under a blanket of hot Swiss cheese, and you know it's gonna be amazing before you even take a bite.”
She holds the sandwich with two hands and flexes her index finger over the top of the sandwich.
“When you pick it up, you can feel the crisp, buttery crumbs rolling beneath your fingers, and the stiffness of the bread promises to be a very satisfying crunch. The heat of the food, too, lets your mouth know it's in for a real treat.”
She burrows her teeth in the bread and slowly tears off a bite, again sighing in satisfaction at the Omnic bartender’s uncanny cooking prowess.
She chews thoughtfully and swallows, paying more attention to her act of eating than she would have thought possible. Without opening her eyes again, she continues as soon as she swallows.
“The first moment your teeth sink through the bread, little pebbles of sandwich break free and spray your tongue with the rich salty butter and the sharpness of the rye. Right behind that, you get the dressing and the sauerkraut, and they wash over the butter and bread. But you don't lose them, they dance together.” She takes another exploratory bite, trying to conjure the language to express the next stage of the process. “You only have that dance for a second though, cause the meat is so succulent and juicy that its savory taste is like a tsunami of flavor. It rolls up all the other tastes and lifts them up like a… like a velvet pillow holding a jeweled crown. It tastes… beautiful.”
Echo, absolutely enchanted, listens with her own mouth slightly open in sympathy.
Tracer takes another bite, focussing on the other elements of the food she hadn’t described yet.
“Swiss cheese is sharp and distinct, but it comes near the end, after you chew it a little bit. The earlier flavors all blend together, and then the bread and cheese release their flavors only as you really chomp down and mix everything together. They feel, and taste so… warm. It really is like a blanket wrapped around the other tastes, keeping them cozy and snuggled together.”
Another bite.
“The texture changes too, and that's a big part of it. The first crispiness of the bread gives way to the hot smoosh of the meat coming to pieces in your mouth. You use your tongue to roll everything over onto your back teeth, and then when you bite down the bread crunches first, then the meat and cheese smoosh and release a HUGE burst of flavor, and then the sauerkraut is also a crisp texture again right at the end of the bite. Your teeth close down on the crunchy cabbage and it bursts out a big shock of vinegar that really highlights the other tastes.”
Tracer opens her eyes slowly and refocuses them on her companion.
“Is… is that alright? Am I doing okay and making sense?”
Echo’s eyes are filled with stars as she imagines the simultaneous sensations of eating, the thousands of tastebuds each reporting their own analysis to make a complete picture. She supposes the myriad of sensitive nerves in the mouth are giving constant updates as the food is processed, and the brain sends signals of approval and satisfaction, waves of reward hormones to encourage eating this delicious food. So lost is she in Oxton’s vivid descriptions that she doesn't even register for a moment the request for feedback.
“Lena, it’s beautiful! No one has ever given me so much detail about eating before! You must really love food!”
Tracer, indeed a great lover of food, smiles sheepishly. “Heh, yeah, I do really like eating. Until I started working here, food wasn't so great growing up, so I really learned to appreciate it. And I can tell ya, Michael really outdid himself on this one. He's probably the best cook I know, and he put his all into this sandwich. I’m in absolute heaven, Echo.”
“I think you described it really well, and I am very satisfied in my own way. If you don't mind, I would really enjoy just watching you enjoy yourself now that I know what you’re experiencing. You can go ahead and eat without worrying about me. This has been a wonderful treat for both of us!”
Tracer, wanting to ensure she was being considerate and fearful of being accidentally rude, wavers momentarily. But then, she ALSO wants to eat that sandwich REALLY bad, and the biological imperative wins out. It turns out that it takes no effort at all to forget everything else again and fully submerge into her meal. The experience of trying to eat thoughtfully slowed down her rate of consumption, but not by much with how delicious it was. She finishes shortly and describes the corn chowder, which was entirely forgotten again until the sandwich was finished. Afterward, she orders a glass of water and sits contented for a moment in the afterglow of a well-loved meal.
Echo adores every moment of it and is only pulled from her trance when Lena sits up more and announces that it's time for another game.
“You sound like you have one in mind.”
“I sure do! This is another cooperative game, but it's longer and more complex. Gimme just a second to find it.”
She wipes her hands clean and uses some sanitizer to help remove the grease of the food before she gets up. Tracer wanders the pub a moment until she exclaims in satisfaction and grabs a nearby wooden step ladder to reach the higher shelf. The box she pulls down is an unassuming average-sized board game box, and she sets it on the table triumphantly. On the box cover, a woven-textured white field hosts a small detailed mound of soil with a single blue flower rising from its apex. The title is a wispy eleven scrawl that reads simply: Rebirth
“And what is this game about?”
Lena takes the cover off carefully and sets it aside, revealing a folded board with a number of small wooden plant figures which have interlocking tabs to stack them. The board itself is mostly just a detailed picture of a small dirt mound like the cover, but with a series of lines ranging in from the outside edges. A number of empty squares and circles march around the periphery with no apparent indication of their purpose. Tracer starts setting up the board as she explains.
“The year is 23,240, and humanity is long gone. People and Omnics alike have either left or died, and Earth is a barren wasteland. But a vault door finally breaks, and light and water seep in to find an ancient cache of seeds stored and forgotten in ages past. On this one remote oasis in a scorched plain, preserved life starts up again.” She begins shuffling cards as she continues. “It’s our job to guide the new plant’s evolution as it attempts to adapt to a brutal new environment. Random events threaten it constantly, like solar flares, tropical storms, dormant plagues, and even some other survivors that have been roaming the harsh Earth and mutating for centuries. Now suddenly there’s a tender, unhardened plant that they crave it, not unlike my sandwich, and we have to build up our defenses before the world loses this last flowering plant all over again.”
“This sounds intense! I’m excited to try it out!”
“It is! I love this one, but it lacks the head-to-head competition of a lot of other complex games, so it's hard to find people to play it with. It’s also actually SUPER tough to win because you don't have a lot going for you at the start. The sun is dim through the changed atmosphere, the temperature is all wrong - you've really gotta fight to live long enough even to adapt in the first place. And then if you do, it might be too little growth too late! I’m REALLY excited to share it with you!”
“Well then let's see if we can undo the ravages which are ostensibly our own people's faults!”
The two play the game a couple of times over, trying different strategies but ultimately losing their flower each time, first to a passing insect cluster, and then to a sustained drought they just couldn't overcome.
“Wow, you weren't kidding, this IS hard but fun!”
“Ugh, we were doing so WELL, too! Kinda makes you marvel at how much life there is now in the real world, huh? *Sigh* well, we probably don’t have time for another game; the shop’s gonna be closing soon.”
“That’s fine, I’ve really enjoyed what we did play. I’m supposed to get back soon anyway, but maybe we could walk along the canal for a little bit before we have to go?”
“Yeah, I’d really like that! I’ve got drills early tomorrow too, so I also gotta head home before too much longer. Let me just go square up with Lenny and we can get going, yeah?”
Echo collects the dishes politely at the table and then stores the games back where she saw Tracer get them from. She walks up to Tracer afterward just as she’s insisting on paying the assistant barkeep and saying good night.
“Okay, all set. Are you ready to go, Echo?”
“Yes let's.” Echo says as she takes Tracer's arm in her own. Tracer starts at the unexpected move but then squeezes Echos arm tight against her body for a moment. They smile at each other and then set off into the night.
The streets are still barely wet, but it has dried quite a bit since they went into the pub so many hours ago. The two walk along the empty sidewalk at the edge of the canal for a while, talking about stars, food, and the games they had. They stop on a small footbridge and lean on the railing, looking out over the water together.
“Hey, Echo, I… I really had a wonderful time tonight. I never been on a real date before, and I liked it a lot. Thanks for going out with me.”
“Believe it or not, I also have never been on a date before,” Echo smiled back at her teasingly. “But even if I had, I think this probably would have been the best one yet. I had a great time tonight too, Lena.
A brief moment of quiet happiness passes between them before Echo continues.
“It was really sweet of you to pick somewhere we could go and both do things, but even sweeter of you to tell me all about the food. Genuinely, thank you. That really meant a lot to me.”
Tracer scuffs her boot against the wood of the bridge with her hands in her pockets, looking down without seeing anything. “Aw geez, that was all nothing, really. I mean, what kind of person takes someone on a date where they can't do anything? It was the least I could do.”
“Well I think it was wonderful.”
The two lapse into another warm silence for a moment and just stand contentedly, side by side over the water.
“Hey uh.. Echo. I was wondering something.”
“What’s that, Lena?”
“Have you um. Well, have you have ever thought about.. uh.. kissing someone?”
“I hadn’t” come the reply, Tracer’s tense shoulders slumping a little before Echo continues. “Until today it hadn’t ever once crossed my mind. But to tell you the truth, I was actually just thinking about that right now.”
The sudden despair she had felt makes Tracer a little slow to realize what Echo was getting at.
“...Oh, wait, really? I mean, uh, yeah? Yeah me too!’
“Mmm hm. Really”
“Um. Didja maybe wanna… I dunno. Maybe try.. kissing.. me?”
A pause as Echo turns her head and smiles at the VERY nervous girl next to her. “Yes, I think I’d like that.” Lena is obviously bright red even under the dim lighting above the waterway as Echo turns bodily to face her. She takes Lena’s hand as the cadet also turns and looks up into Echo’s eyes.
Echo bends forward so their foreheads are almost touching and Tracer shivers a little bit in anticipation, her heart thudding in her eardrums as her breaths come faster and shallower.
Echo whispers, her mouth mere inches from Tracer. “You probably already guessed it, but I’ve also never kissed anyone before.”
“Well then, I… guess we’d better make it count?” Tracer whispers back on what little breath she still has. Their lips part slightly as they meet, Tracer's slick with a pineapple chapstick that Echo can’t taste, and Echo’s soft and buzzing lightly against Lena’s. The kiss is slow, lingering, and full of feeling. Tracer reaches up to hold Echo’s head as she readjusts, her lips pulling free and coming back to the warm solid feel of the taller girl’s genuinely soft, silky mouth. When Echo’s hands move to Tracer’s waist to hold her, Lena all but melts in her arms, falling deeper into the kiss.
After a moment, they part, Tracer's hands sliding down Echo’s face regretfully as Echo’s own hands slip from her sides.
Echo speaks first, “Wow. That was..”
…
“...Amazing?” Tracer supplies
“Yeah. Amazing. I really enjoyed that a lot.”
Tracer giggles at the stunned look on Echo’s face “hehe, yeah me too.”
“Lena, I think I might like to do that again some time.”
“Mmm, well uh, that makes two of us then.”
“Does… does that make us girlfriends?
Tracer feels her heart smash into her eardrums once more, her chest fluttering with unexpected excitement and anxiety all over again.
“I… I dunno. … do you want it to?”
The briefest moment’s pause, an agony and an eternity for the girl standing next to her before Echo speaks again.
“Yes, I think I do want that. Lena, let's be girlfriends.”
“Yeah? I mean, Yeah! Yeah, let's do it! You're my girlfriend!”
Echo laughs and smiles as Tracer's face lights up with excitement.
“Heck yeah, I’ve got a CUTE GIIIRRRLLLFRIIIIIEEEEEEEENNNND!!” She yells out over the canal.
A window opens from a nearby apartment. “HEY THAT’S GREAT, BUT I GOT A MEETING AT 8:00! COULDJA KEEP IT DOWN?”
Tracer shrinks back down and the two of them giggle together about it. Echo grabs Tracer’s hand and starts walking them toward the train station, her heels clicking against the wood sharply in stark contrast to Tracer’s oddly heavy bootfalls.
Tracer does a squiggly little hop-dance while holding Echo's hand, her feet clip-clipping into the damp wood as they come to the edge of the bridge, and Echo suddenly grabs her with both arms in a tight hug. Tracer squees with delight and kicks her feet excitedly as Echo lifts her off the ground and twirls her around once.
“Aw wow, what a great night! I got a bangin’ sandwich and an even MORE bangin’ girlfriend! (AHHHHH!!) I don't wanna go back to the barracks yet! How am I going to sleep tonight?!” She says with a barely suppressed explosion of emotion.
“Well how about you text me on the train, and then from your bunk until you get sleepy?’
“Oh, I will NOT get sleepy texting you. Echo you’re my (GIRLFRIEND NOW! I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!)” Tracer whisper-yells
Echo gets caught up in the excitement as they near the train station, swinging Tracer's hands and doing a little tappy dance of her own. “(I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND TOOOOOO!)”
They both do their own little dances in the station for a minute, giggling together and trying to compose themselves as the train pulls in for a quick stop to drop off one passenger and pick up another.
Echo sighs with a mixture of both profound happiness at the turn of events and disappointment that the night is ending. “Okay, Miss Oxton, it's time to go home. But! I expect messages waiting for me when I get back to the lab, and you better make sure to book your next leave to come and see me again, okay?”
“Psh, as if they could even stop me! Oh, God, I wish I could rewind and play the kiss over again! That was incredible!”
“Well maybe we can just do it again next time?
“I would sure love to give it a go” Tracer replies with a smirk. “But how about just one more *little* kiss goodnight before I take off?”
“As if you could stop me.” Echo says back. She tilts Tracer's head up by the jaw for one more smooch.
Their lips meet again, Tracer’s breath tickling the sensitive construct lips, and then Echo pulls away, squinching her face in delight.
“This was easily the best date I’ve ever been on. Thank you so much for bringing me out here tonight Lena. It was really the most wonderful time ever!”
“I’m REALLY glad we did it, and I’m glad you liked it too. This was so much fun, I really don't wanna leave yet.”
“Me either, but we’ll DEFINITELY see each other again soon, okay?”
“Okay, I promise! Goodnight Echo!”
“Goodnight, Tracer!” Echo says as her new partner steps into the train. Lena scans her ID before taking a seat as close to Echo’s spot on the station platform as she can get. The cadet looks out the window giddily and mouths the word “girlfriend” as the train pulls away. Echo pulls her wrists up to her face, her loose fists rolled backward as she does one last little happy dance, heels clicking away again at the cobblestones of the station walkway. She sighs again happily before she starts back to the lab, already eager to get back and read her text messages.