Hickory

Sunday Fun

"What happened to your neck?" Elijah asked in concern as Chloe showed them into the front parlour. Gavin was getting sick of answering that question. For the past couple of days, he'd been interrogated by everyone. Miller, Tina, Fowler, Hank, and Aaron. Aaron had been incredibly sensitive to it, insisting they kept their usual sessions much more tender. On Friday night, he'd more or less treated him like a pillow princess. He'd kept him lying down, spread open on his back and wanting for nothing as he was softly taken over and over. It wasn't what he usually went for, but he was sort of grateful. Even the slightest jerk of his shoulder had been painful that day. It was still pretty irritating now.

"Some fucker got me with a knife. No big deal, barely a flesh wound." Gavin waved it off and tossed his shoulder bag onto one of the large black sofas as they entered. They were in the main living area at the moment. It looked a lot different from during the funeral. There were more furnishings, and the space looked a little brighter with a few vases of colourful flowers scattered about. He could probably put that down to Chloe. He doubted Elijah was the one doing the flower arranging in his free time.

"A knife? My god..." Elijah trailed off with a look of horror as he stepped closer. He seemed almost anxious as he eyed the dressing that climbed his throat. Chloe had reacted similarly when he'd told her at the door. It was almost sweet, the way they worried. He couldn't blame them though. Being told the job was dangerous was one thing, seeing the evidence of it first-hand was a little different. Not that our first meeting wasn't just as dangerous. Hell, Nines would have killed me and Goldilocks if they hadn't raised that door in time.

"Did you catch him? He's not out there waiting for a second shot, is he?" Elijah asked, green eyes flicking between them warily. Gavin huffed fondly as he tapped Nines' chest with his knuckles. He was standing in his usual idling pose with his hands behind his back. He didn't even react to the touch, though his expression held a certain amount of pride.

"Don't worry, Nines ran him down. It was an accident though. He was hiding in a dumpster and I spooked him," Gavin explained as they moved to the seating area to relax a little. Chloe bustled about behind Elijah's bar, making drinks before joining them. Gavin didn't know what she handed him, but it was fruity and dangerous, too easy to drink. He couldn't even taste the alcohol he knew must be inside. She'd poured some chilled thirium out for herself and Nines so that they could feel involved, too. "So, what are you working on? You mentioned projects," Gavin said finally as he sat back on the large sofa.

"We've been making a lot of headway in android food production. Chloe has been helping to refine the taste sensors, allowing them to differentiate sweet, sour, and bitter...I'm not too sure of the actual flavours, but we've made a little progress at least." Gavin didn't understand even a fraction of the technical details. What he did understand was the passion and enthusiasm. This was the first time he'd seen Elijah truly alive. He was enthralled with his work. He spared no detail as he tried to tell him exactly how he'd reached his current breakthrough.

Nines seemed to understand a lot better, being the sounding board he couldn't. He asked questions, offered tentative suggestions, and argued theories in a way that he wasn't equipped to deal with. Gavin could tell that Elijah was pleased to have someone new to bounce ideas off. Chloe could only do so much. He'd even been talking to Josh and Simon about this project, sending emails and simulations back and forth. As a professor, Josh already had the mental capacity to understand such things. And Simon had actually been downloading technical programs and learning robotics from scratch the human way so that he could become more effective and diverse within Jericho.

They touched on Jericho briefly, too. The organisation had officially found a new home inside Cyberlife Tower. It was still the business headquarters, but twenty of the upper floors had been handed over to Jericho to use as their base of operations. It made organising things easier since Markus could simply take the elevator up one floor to Elijah's office. He even had a desk set up there for the longer days. He spent a lot of time with his creator, much to North's annoyance. She didn't exactly trust humans, especially men. She got on well enough with Chloe though, which was a good thing considering the amount of time Markus kept her trapped up there.