“Hey, Seth,” Slough said while spinning around slowly in the small office chair within the outpost’s communication center. It was a vast room filled with many outdated computers, radios, and other buttons and switches Slough had no knowledge of. Seth paid no attention to Slough and continued to examine the inside of a dusty, worn-out radio she had pried open and hollowed out. “Seth…” Slough persisted. “Seth. Hey. Pssst. Seth. Hey Seth. Seth. Hey Seth. Seth, Seth, Seth, Seth-” “What!?” Seth finally snapped as she looked away from the radio and at Slough, who was still spinning carelessly in the chair. “What do you think the lad and his girlfriend are doin’?” “Excuse me?” “You know, Atlas and Vanana.” Slough stopped spinning in his chair for a moment, “Or is it Vandana? Something like that. What do you think they’re doing?” “Whatever it is, it’s a blessing.” Seth answered before returning back to her examination of the radio. “Oh? Why’s that?” “Because you’re not with them.” Slough put a finger under his right eye and drew it down to his chin, mimicking a teardrop, “Ouch. That hurt, y’know. Ah well," He shrugged. "What do you think they are doing though. For real?” Seth didn’t respond, she just tried to ignore the Scottish Hunter and resume her studies. She wanted to badly throw the radio she had dissected at him, but she had to control herself. She needed to just block him out and do what needed to be done: somehow find a way to reach out. “Know what I think they’re doing?” Slough continued, not caring that he might very well be talking to himself now. “I think they’re probably doing some sort of romantic thing with flowers and whatnot.” He snickered, “Maybe they’re reading each other cheesy poems about their love. Hey! Kind of like you and Ra did!” Slough said with a devilish grin. Seth froze for a moment at the mention of the past, but decided it best not to engage and just continued to focus her attention on the radio. But now, sadly, Slough had her ears. Whether she wanted to listen or not. The grin disappeared from Slough’s face and he shifted uncomfortably where he sat. “Ay, what do you think the lad ate while being stuck out here? I haven’t seen any wildlife. Probably lots of fruit. Say, when do you think Banker will be back? He said he would go out to patrol, but that was what? An hour ago? Two? Maybe he's getting something to eat... Can Exos eat? One time at the Tower Cayde mentioned that he liked a ramen shop, does that mean he ate there? Do you eat-” “COULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!?” Seth turned her back to look directly into the Hunter’s brown eyes. “I… HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX THIS DAMN RADIO FOR THE LAST THIRTY MINUTES! AND ALL YOU HAVE BEEN DOING IS TALKING ABOUT RANDOM NONSENSE. Why do you [i]care [/i]what Vanara and Atlas do!? What does it matter to you what he ate!? And since when do you care about the similarities between a [i]damn [/i]watermelon and a [i]freaking [/i]cantaloupe!?” Slough frowned, “I was talking about watermelons and cantaloupes a while ago, Seth. You’re a tad bit late there.” “SHUT UP!!” Seth shouted once more. With a sigh, Slough rolled his eyes and disregarded Seth’s request. “You know what your problem is? You never know when to just loosen up. You always have to be busy -- always have to work. This is why you and Ra never would have worked-” With clenched fists and a yell, Seth jumped onto her feet and tackled Seth out of his chair. She pressed her armored knee against Slough’s spine as she pinned him onto the cold metal floor and kept his right arm in a lock behind his neck. “My problem!? You’re the one with the problem! You always annoy me, you never shut your mouth! What have I EVER done to you!?” she shouted while pulling back on his arm, putting the man in enough pain to finally make him speechless. Or so she hoped. But to her unexpected surprise, Slough began to laugh. Caught off-guard by this, Seth accidently relieved some pressure from his arm and back, which was a mistake. As soon as she gave him the window he needed, Slough grabbed the hand that was holding his right arm and with the help of his captive arm and his legs, he heaved Seth off of him. Seth was flipped over Slough and she landed with her back against the floor. “Never did anything to me, huh!?” Slough asked while he got up onto his feet, “That’s a damn lie and you know it!” he shouted. Seth was shocked, she had never heard Slough curse before. Or even ever raise his voice. Usually he was very passive and annoying. She'd never seen him angry. Seth rolled off of her back and stared into Slough’s eyes, she could practically see the sudden hate in them. “You know what you did to me, lassie?” Slough asked in a cold, hardened tone. “You took away my brother!” Seth opened her mouth to protest, but Slough continued to speak. “It was supposed to be just us three! Me, Ra, and Banker! It was just supposed to be us! We weren’t a fireteam, we were brothers! Family! But then you, you joined our fireteam -- [i]nay[/i], you [i]infiltrated [/i]it. And because of you, because of you, one of my brothers is dead. That is what you did, lad. So don’t [i]ever [/i]tell me that you didn’t do shit to me! Because the day he died was the day you broke my family.” Seth looked down for a moment and then back at Slough, she could see the light reflect off of a single tear rolling from the side of Slough’s face. Something she's never seen before in her entire life. “I’m sorry, Slough.” she said. “I never knew that.” Slough nodded and wiped away the single tear with his gloved right hand. “Yeah, well now ya do… Do you want to know why I annoy you so much? Why I constantly talk to you about seemingly random topics? Why I randomly mention Ra?” He didn’t wait for a response. “I do it because I want to see if you care. Banker and I took time after his death to mourn him, to say our farewells. But you, you never showed any emotion. You never even said goodbye to him. All you ever do is work -- all you ever did was work. But still he died for you. Still, he loved you enough to push you out of the way of that scorch cannon. And still, still all you do is work. Like it didn’t matter.” “Of course I care.” Seth interrupted, “Why do you think that I work all the time? Because I like it? No! Because when I do nothing, when I’m not distracted… I… I remember him. And I… [i]miss [/i]him. I can’t handle it, Slough. I’m not like you; I can’t just express whatever I’m feeling. It’s harder for us Exos, we can’t even cry…” Seth stood up and continued to look at Slough, “I’m sorry, Slough,” she placed a slightly shaking hand on his shoulder. “I never realized he meant so much to you too.” Slough opened his mouth to speak, and for a second it looked like he was trying to, but no words managed to escape his open mouth. So instead he just said walked away. He brushed past Seth and put his hand on the metal handle of the door. “Good luck on your radio.” Slough said before opening the door and walking out, saying nothing else and leaving Seth alone in total silence.