受信箱

[newpest]

武 Лев Ковач

VIDEO | AUDIO | DISCO

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[newpest]

With you? I really don't fucking know.

[bcpd]

Oh, take a fucking guess.

[newpest]

Kristin, I got more important shit to be doing than this right now.

[Like sleeping.]

[bcpd]

[ And yet. ]

It wasn't personal, okay? I needed an example.

[newpest]

Believe me, I know how impersonal it was.

[bcpd]

And you know there was a reason. A good reason.

[newpest]

It's always a good reason to you. I can always count on that.

[bcpd]

What do you want to hear, Kovacs? That you're right, it was a waste of time?

[newpest]

Oh, for fuck's sake. This shit again? Call me when you have something worth hearing.

[bcpd]

Fuck you, Kovacs. At least I'm trying to do something here.

[newpest]

What's the fucking point! What does that even look like in a place like this? We're rats in a maze. Not very big ones, either.

[bcpd]

We're rats in a maze watching other rats tear each other apart. You think there's no point now? Do nothing except wait three months. It's not going to get any better.

[newpest]

And if I did shit? It doesn't get better that way either. Special advice straight from your local terrorist.

[bcpd]

It's better than sitting around and shrugging every time there's a sleeve death.

[ They aren't sleeved the same way here - so what, it's not important.

Kristin takes a breath, trying to figure out how to get to where she's trying to go. She doesn't actually want to fight with Kovacs; she's just not all that good at stopping. ]

If I could take it back, I would.

[newpest]

What part?

[bcpd]

All the parts that touched you.

[newpest]

[And all the things that mattered don't anymore.]

Don't sweat it.

[bcpd]

[ There's a pause, maybe more relieved than she wants to admit, and then - ]

Come over.

[newpest]

[Not yet, a voice in Kovacs' head warns, and for once, he can't identify who said it.]

Maybe later.

[bcpd]

[ Another silence, shorter than the last. ]

Okay.

[ She's about to put the device away, but something in her is determined to linger past the obvious goodbye. ]

Two days from now. It's a holiday.

[newpest]

[Earth holidays.]

Which one?

[bcpd]

Día de los Muertos. [ Not exactly teasing, but with a sort of amused warmth: ] You didn't notice at home?

[newpest]

I was busy.

[bcpd]

Well, you make an altar, remember the dead.

[ A pause. ]

It's not a holiday you spend alone.

[newpest]

You want me to remember the dead with you?

[He just manages to keep the-- something deep and dark, like shock or confusion but more-- from his voice. As a consequence, his words come across blandly, devoid of all emotion, including interest.]