Right Back After This

Episode 23

When Riz leaves the cabin, his body shaking, cold without someone else's touch, there's excitement that isn't quite stamped out by the worry. Ares had only tried to bring up the subject of 'leaving' once more, to which Riz had excused himself for being tired, and besides, he heard the first beep go off, so he should probably leave, right?

Midnight lets the chill cling onto him, and he rests against the side of the cabin for a moment. He's on the lookout for cameras- and who he knows is watching. "Hey," he says softly into the darkness.

A moment. He hears an intake of breath, a subtle noise in the night, and he knows where to go.

It's a leap of faith, the spike in his heart he'd get if he jumped out of a plane, not quite sure his parachute was working. He rounds the corner, and there, resting against the wall, stare hardened and jaw set, is Colian.

"I have- five to ten minutes?" Riz says, rubbing his hand over the spot under his skin. "Before my mic turns back on."

Colian nods sharply. "Cameras?"

This is it, this is the moment. Kiel managed to get a few words, but this is the start of a pattern- this is the first time Riz has been in control. "I don't think so. But there could be."

"Does he hurt you?"

"What? No. I'm okay." Riz finds himself leaning forward, a comforting touch on Colian's arms- is it too much? Is Colian a stranger? If an actor has never left the stage, never said a word that isn't scripted, can he call a stagehand his friend? "That's the trade-off for this," he says, tapping his jaw. "And I wouldn't do it if I didn't want to."

"He is taking advantage of you," Colian says, a glower in his words. "He knows you have nowhere else to turn."

Riz shrugs. "I'm not as dumb or helpless as I act, I promise." Really, it's the other way around. That's just not something Riz wants to say when Ares might eavesdrop. They're still not completely free; the cold air in Riz's lungs is still not quite fresh.

"Why do you act at all?" Colian asks, and Riz hears two beeps, vibrating through his bone. Colian scans his jaw with well-concealed alarm, and Riz shakes his head.

"We have exactly five minutes now," he says. "I act because it helps people other than me. And I wasn't exactly doing anything with my life before this."

"We do not have time for full introductions," Colian says, "but I must know if the story told about you is true. I do not believe it is."

"You mean the biography you'll find on my wiki?" he asks with a snort. "Yeah, it's wrong. I'll tell you all about it sometime."

"We will find our time." Colian motions towards the cabin Riz is staying in. "You should go to sleep. You can do this at any time, correct?"

"Turn my mic off? Theoretically. I've got to use it sparingly, but..." Riz looks out at the ocean. How big is that body of water, how much of it is human-made? Nothing beyond the coldness of space and the inside of each other's minds seems to be safe from humanity. "...that conversation's important to me."

"First dates often are," Colian says, and all of a sudden Riz is on fire. Riz covers his mouth, but the shock isn't all bad. That is the leap of faith: wanting to hear Colian speak, but not knowing what he would say. Not knowing that he'd say that. "I hope it does not offend you to say such a thing."

"No," Riz says in far more of a squeak than he intended. "I will- I will be there. I mean. I'll find a place for that to be."

Colian tilts his head. Riz is good at trying to pick out the expressions someone's hiding, and that's the only reason he can catch Colian's smile. "It is not all an act, is it? You are easily flustered."